U.S.A. recession? Yeah. Nah. Maybe.
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND
The bad news:
New, documented Covid cases went under 2,000 for the second day in a row.
There were another 18 deaths by Rona.
24,435 active cases
705 serious cases
2,282 recovered
More, many, many more cases are on the way.
'Thailand's Doctor Fauci' stumbles again
Dr. Dean Prof. Prasit Watanapa M.D. has got every Covid prediction wrong for 27 months,
On Tuesday, the media-lionised university poobah said that Thailand's junta, yet again, had got its response to the SARS Cov-2 coronavirus outbreak wrong. Yet again.
"The government must heighten its Covid-19 control measures and issue a regulation mandating the use of face masks in poorly ventilated, closed spaces," said the Mahidol University 'expert'.
"We are facing a turning point and I'd like policy makers to send a clear signal that the number of new infections is escalating.
"I also suggest the government raise its Covid-19 prevention measures."
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2340237/
Dr. Dean Prof. Prasit's miscues and mistakes began in March 2020.
He predicted Thailand's Covid death toll (8) would soon surpasss that of Italy, the west's most unfortunate performer (8,000 deaths).
Covid-caused death tolls as of midnight on Tuesday:
Italy: 168,545
Thailand: 30,721
The War On (some) Drugs Goes On
Anti-narc cops made ten (10) simultaneous raids on Tuesday in the latest effort to take down the suspected narcotics network of 'Jojo Min Buri' - real identity Thanakit Srisaknok, 31, of the eastern Bangkok suburb.
Tuesday's raids came up with zero (nil) drugs. But the Narcotics Suppression Bureau's (NSB) Sayob Pairee task force raiders seized deeds to a two-storey house, an apartment building, plus 370,000 baht in cash - valued at 43.37 million baht in all.
Jojo Min Buri and confederates are the main sourc of yaa ba, ice and ketamine for youths in eastern Bangkok.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2340227/
THAILAND TOURISM WEALTHY
Thailand wants to lose its reputation for being 'cheap'
The very wealthy junta supporter Anutin Charnvirakul, serving as minister of health said the new, revised, super-size package was easy:
Aim Thailand to be a 'premium travel destination'.
Which means yet another round of Thai government propaganda that the country seeks only well-off foreigners to be tourists, or long-range visitors. Or investors.
This has been a stated goal since the 1960s, but has never happened.
PHOTO: If you're rich, you can have this view from your luxury hotel bedroom. And get a Thailand visa.
https://bityl.co/D4G1
Related
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3184107/coronavirus-thailand-discourages-discounts-wants-high
CHINA THAILAND DIPLOMACY
Prayut begs China for more mon... uh, investment
China's foreign minister and senior communist Wang Yi dropped by Bangkok on Tuesday, after three days in Myanmar and a pledge to conduct 'closer ties' with the Tatmadaw dictatorship.
Prayut told the Thai media that he asked Wang to try to "scale up" investment in Thailand.
"Thailand's strategic location perfectly positions it as a hub for regional logistics," he told the visiting Wang.
"He made a point of thanking China for facilitating shipments of Thai agricultural goods to China," according to Prayut's official spokesperson.
There was no public response from China.
Wang paid a 'courtesy visit' to Thailand's Government House in Bangkok and will fly out today.
https://bityl.co/D5N5
https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/chinese-fm-pledges-closer-ties-with-myanmars-military-government/
Best headline of the short Wang visit:
Thailand, China agree to carry on traditional friendship
China's only major investment in Thailand is a 'belt and road' high-speed railway linking Malaysis to Laos.
Work on that project is exceptionally slow.
U.S.A. THAILAND
Biden dispatches Blinken to Bangkok. Again.
U.S. State Department:
Secretary [Tony] Blinken will first travel to Bali, Indonesia, to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, where he will reinforce our commitment to working with international partners to confront global challenges, including food and energy insecurity and the threat Russia’s continued war against Ukraine presents to the international order...
In Bangkok
Secretary Blinken will meet with [so-called] 'Prime Minister' Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.
Blinken looks forward to discussing a range of issues, including building on the successes of Thailand's APEC 2022 agenda during our 2023 APEC host year, expanding health and climate cooperation, and addressing the crisis in Burma.
He will also meet with alumni of U.S. exchange programmes, tour the Thai Department of Disease Control's Emergency Operations Center, and visit a shelter and welfare center for victims of human trafficking.
The U.S-Thai Alliance is essential for advancing the President [Biden's] Indo-Pacific Strategy for a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient region.
It's the third chance for a Blinken visit. The previous two resulted in flyovers.
https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-travel-to-bali-and-bangkok/
GLOBAL WARMING ELECTRIC VEHICLES EVs
Here's yet another news story that you'll not see nor hear in Thai media.
Toyota's Chief Says Electric Vehicles Are Overhyped:
Akio Toyoda says converting entirely to EVs could cost hundreds of billions of dollars and make cars unaffordable for average people.
Toyoda said Japan would run out of electricity in the summer if all cars were running on electric power. The infrastructure needed to support a fleet consisting entirely of EVs would cost Japan between ¥14 trillion and ¥37 trillion, the equivalent of $135 billion to $358 billion, he said.
"When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline,’ do they understand this?" Mr. Toyoda asked
https://www.wsj.com/articles/toyotas-chief-says-electric-vehicles-are-overhyped-11608196665
Even if Prayut understands... does he care?
Related
Akio Toyoda Shares Toyota's Strategy for Achieving Carbon Neutrality
https://pressroom.toyota.com/akio-toyoda-shares-toyotas-strategy-for-achieving-carbon-neutrality-through-battery-electric-vehicles/
Also
Partly snark. Only 'partly'.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are dirtier than gasoline-powered cars and they are racists, too. If you doubt it, check this out:
https://issuesinsights.com/2022/07/05/confirmed-again-the-green-agenda-is-taking-us-backward/
THAILAND MARIJUANA SCHOOLS
One would think this is a slam-dunk no-brainer. One would be so embarrassingly wrong.
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017371
HAJ PILGRIMAGE SAUDI
The 2022 haj continues in Saudi Arabia.
It will be immediately followed worldwide by the biggest Muslim festival Eid al-Adha - Saturday evening in Thailand.
PHOTO: The 'greater haj': Pilgrims ascend Mount Arafat.
https://www.hajinformation.com/
THAILAND ENERGY INFLATION
On Monday, Thailand's ruling junta and its front-man 'prime minister' Prayut:
• ordered creation of two new committees to study the high oil prices
• begged everyone in Thailand to save energy.
An initial plan to 'deal with high prices of diesel and gasoline' for 3 months will probably extend until the New Year. Prayut personally himself will be in charge of the committees.
https://www.amarintv.com/spotlight/economy/detail/28783
CHINA CANADA ESPIONAGE
The kidnapped Canadian-Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua has gone on trial in Shanghai.
Xiao was snatched from a Hong Kong hotel five years ago by Chinese government thugs.
The Tomorrow Group founder faces some kind of Chinese Communist Party charges - but they're completely secret. Xiao is well-known to have connections to Chinese big shots, but, again, how big and what the connections are, is secret.
While Xiao has been kept away from the public, the remnants of his business empire have mostly been dismantled by authorities through seizures and restructuring. Much of it has been revamped into businesses of much smaller sizes, or remain on the brink of declaring bankruptcy.
Xiao was a student leader at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and it is unlikely that the Communist Party has forgotten.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-starts-trial-of-vanished-canadian-chinese-billionaire-11656937271
https://www.ft.com/content/c79b4813-6701-4d5b-8321-4af5ed413488
TECHNOLOGY CYBERSECURITY CHINA
[BLOOMBERG] Hackers claimed to have stolen a huge database from the Shanghai police archive.
If confirmed, the theft of billions of Chinese citizens' records would represent the largest (known) data breach in China's history.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-04/hackers-claim-theft-of-police-info-in-china-s-largest-data-leak
Allo allo allo wats this then?
No forced toilet sharing
The government of the United Kingdom is about to pass a law: all new office buildings, schools, hospitals and entertainment venues must have separate male and female lavatories.
Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch (yes!) wants to preclude non-residential buildings from being built solely with 'universal' lavatories.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/02/single-sex-lavatories-mandatory-new-public-buildings/
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/britain-bathrooms-buildings-men/2022/07/03/id/1077148/
DIPLOMACY CHINA MYANMAR
China's foreign minister called for 'political reconciliation' in Myanmar.
Wang Yi visited the country for the first time since the 2021 military coup.
[This is straight out of the 1962-2010 era of 'Things that don't work in Burma'.]
https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/international/2022/07/04/chinas-top-diplomat-visits-myanmar-amid-opposition-protest/
U.S.A. POLITICS INFLATION
When Joe Biden has lost Jeff Bezos...
Well, but c'mon, man. This guy owns a newspaper in Washingon!
Bezos slams Biden for 'misdirection' and 'misunderstanding' of markets in gas price tweet.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2022/07/03/bezos-slams-biden-for-misdirection-and-misunderstanding-of-markets-in-gas-price-tweet-n480453
Also
Biden's Latest Attempt to Shift Blame for His High Gas Prices Is So Bad Even Jeff Bezos Called It Misdirection (or Stupidity).
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/bidens-latest-attempt-to-shift-blame-for-his-high-gas-prices-is-so-bad-even-jeff-bezos-called-it-misdirection-or-stupidity/
Related
Chinese state media trolls Biden over demand that gas stations lower prices.
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/07/03/chinese-state-media-trolls-biden-over-demand-that-gas-stations-lower-prices-n480479
Island nations have grown skilled at playing larger powers against each other. This leverage will be important as they face the existential threat of global warming.
https://bloom.bg/3P1XrKS
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Tesla is killing off coal and gas plants with its giant battery projects
https://qz.com/2182975/tesla-is-killing-coal-and-gas-plants-with-megapack-batteries/
Just a warning, but c'mon man! 95 years of copyright? Really?
Disney could lose the exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse within two years: The iconic character's 95-year copyright expires in 2024.
OH MY! This is a microcosm of the Covid hysteria: No preparation, no early response, incompetence at every measureable level, use of armed force to ensure that the peasants know their ranking and places.
BAN GAY SEX ORGIES FOR TWO WEEKS TO SLOW THE SPREAD? Advocates warn that the U.S. is at risk of losing control on monkeypox. But they are focusing on the main avenues of contagion:
[And who knew there were 'monkeypox advocates?]
"New York City and Washington, D.C., began offering the vaccines to men who have sex with other men or may have been exposed to the virus. But both cities ran through their supplies less than a day after launching their local immunization initiatives. D.C. Health had to shut access about 10 minutes after making shots available."
It makes you almost - almost - sympathetic to the Bill Gates fallacy that we're not ready for another pandemic and only a stronger, better-financed government can make us ready.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3544371-advocates-warn-us-at-risk-of-losing-control-on-monkeypox/
CRYPTO SINGAPORE
The worldwide 'crisis' aka crash in crypto currencies is so bad that the exchange platform Vauld, based in Singapore, shut down.
A brief statement said Vauld was experiencing 'financial difficulties' - which is possibly true.
The exchange was backed by three well-known venture capital firms.
Details and more at:
https://www.asiafinancial.com/singapore-platform-vauld-is-latest-victim-of-crypto-crash
U.S.A. ECONOMY
Twelve (12) per cent of Americans deeply believe there won't be an economic recession.
-- Harvard-Harris poll
https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HHP_June2022_KeyResults.pdf
Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
