PeterRS

I should have added that i was referring to the period between the two World Wars when the USA adopted an isolationist policy. Certainly a lot of shit has been stirred since the end of WWII. I always wonder how George Bush Jnr has not been strangled in the media for his comment about his meeting with Putin. "I looked the man in his eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. . . I was able to get a sense of the soul of the man." That from the so-called leader of the free world!! God didn't help the world, unfortunately, as Iraq and the Middle East was to discover! And do we yet know what Trump agreed with Putin during their unique one-on-one meeting in Helsinki with no others present apart from translators? Did he agree to Putin annexing more of Ukraine, I wonder? Another leader of the free world this time proved to be a liar, arrongant cheat, narcissistic, fraudster, racist - virtually a mafia boss. So much for the system of allegedly free elections!

You didn't offer a committed partnership as an option!!

It's understandabe that those living in America or who sympathise with America's actions throughout the world will jump to its defence in the face of both allegations and the truth of its history. Let's not forget that Americans wanted nothing to do with the world outside its borders until it was attacked by Japan in December 1941. The strategy of its war and the supreme heroism of Americans in fighting that war should never be forgotten. The same way Britons should remain forever proud of the way they fought the early part of the war in Europe all but on their own. Once peace arrived, both America and Britain changed. Britain was bankrupt. Anti-colonial America pushed it and other countries to give up their colonies - with the exception of France whose murderous reign in Indo-China was allowed to continue. America was suddenly thrust into the role of leadership of the free world. Instead of acknowledging that the Soviet Union had lost almost 27 million in fighting the Nazis whereas the USA had lost around 300,000 fighting the Japanese, communism became the evil enemy. With the Soviets getting their own atomic bomb and a China, exhausted by more than a century of war and humiliation largely at the hands of colonial powers, taken by Mao from America's "friend" Chiang Kai-shek, the spectre of world communism formed America's view of the outside world. No one can or should call what America then did over the next few decades "stupid choices." If that is the case, then the present crisis with Iran is a result of the "stupid choice" America and its British ally made in forcibly removing the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran in the early 1950s in favour of propping up the corrupt, undemocratic Shah. The reason? They wanted the flow of cheap oil to continue. Everything now happening in Iran results from that one action. The Korean War was largely a result of a "stupid choice" - or perhaps a "stupid error" is more exact - made by the US Secretary of State Acheson. Was the murder of 3 million Vietnamese a "stupid choice"? Were the affects of American action and the rise of the murdering ISIS in Iraq a "stupid choice"? Is Biden's announced policy of unilaterally abandoning a legally binding Treaty to respect a one-China policy a "stupid choice" that could thrust this region into a war that could all but anihilate Taiwan as we know it? Blustering into a situation that it helped to create by reneging on the agreements in the Cairo Declaration and ratified in the Potsdam Conference whereby post-war China would be returned to China could result in horrific consequences. Does Biden seriously believe that his countrymen will enter into a war with China almost as far away as Vietnam was? How can the USA counter China's massive forces that are vastly more prepared and lethal than Putin's in Ukraine? We must all accept and take responsibility for the "stupid choices" of our own nations throughout history. Britain must face up to the consequences of its annexing so many nations during its age of empire. What is happening today in Myanmar is a direct result of Britain's "stupid choices". Britain's partition of India was not merely a "stupid choice", the way it was put into effect was a criminal act that resulted in the deaths of millions. Belgium, Portugal, France, Holland and Japan must do likewise, given that their overseas colonisation was arguably much worse for the peoples colonised. In this respect Germany has given us all an example in the concrete actions it has taken after its "stupid choices" in the Nazi era. Nor can many countries today dismiss the horrific actions and results over centuries of the slave trade, no more than we can the effect of tearing children from their birth parents in Canada, Australia and perhaps elsewhere to place them with unknown parents assumed to be far better able to bring them up and make them decent citizens. Just as we as individuals have to own up to the mistakes and "stupid choices" we have made in our own pasts, so must nations.

Since the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong's main English Language newspaper) has a paywall, I am printing below an article from September 26. What tourists need to know about Covid restrictions in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan Fully vaccinated travellers can enter Singapore without a Covid test and no quarantine. Malaysia allows all tourists to enter regardless of vaccination Removal of hotel quarantine measures for ‘zero-Covid’ holdouts Taiwan and Hong Kong means outbound travel will be easier during the holiday season Travellers from Singapore to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia can finally start putting together travel plans, as a number of destinations from across Asia look to welcome tourists after a lengthy period of border restrictions. For “zero-Covid” holdouts Taiwan and Hong Kong, the latest removal of tough hotel quarantine measures has meant that outbound travel will be much easier during the holiday season. After Hong Kong’s long-awaited announcement that overseas travellers will no longer need to be confined to hotel rooms for quarantine starting on September 26, flight orders out of the city surged, according to Trip.com. In fact, bookings for trips to Japan’s Osaka by Hong Kong travellers soared 7,300 per cent from the previous weekend, according to the travel website. Nonetheless, some Covid 19 restrictions still remain in place in key asian tourist destinations,. here are some things you need to know if you are planning to visit Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong or Taiwan in the coming month. Singapore Now a year into its ‘living with Covid’ strategy, Singapore allows fully vaccinated travellers and children under 12 to enter the country with no pre- or post-arrival testing and no quarantine requirements. Face masks are not required in indoor settings, except in healthcare facilities, public transport and on board some flights and ferries. Unvaccinated short-term visitors aged 13 or older will also be able to enter the country with no need to apply for approval. However, they will be required to provide a negative test 48 hours before arrival in Singapore and must buy travel insurance to cover the duration of their stay. There are stipulations to not being fully-vaccinated, as you will not be allowed to enter events with more than 500 attendees. All visitors will also need to download the TraceTogether app to verify their vaccination status and submit their electronic health declaration form at least three days before arrival. Malaysia Malaysia has kept things simple – all travellers are allowed to enter the country regardless of their vaccination status. Also, no pre-departure or post-arrival Covid-19 tests are required. Malaysia also does not require tourists to use the country’s contact tracing app, MySejahtera. How is Malaysia doing this? The Health Ministry said they will increase the monitoring of traveller’s health symptoms at all international points of entry. The government is also trusting travellers to self-monitor their health and go to a medical facility if they are unwell. Malaysia has also scrapped its rule requiring masks indoors, but they remain mandatory on public transport and in healthcare facilities. Thailand Travellers to Thailand can show their proof of vaccination on entry, or for those who aren’t fully vaccinated, a negative Covid-19 test issued within 72 hours of departing for the country. Visitors no longer need to apply for the Thailand Pass – an online platform to submit documents – before entry into the country. Masks are now voluntary in the popular tourist destination, and nightlife venues have begun operating at pre-pandemic levels, remaining open for longer hours. Japan Since June, Japan has allowed some tourists to visit on package tours organised by travel agencies. However, the country is set to abolish a slew of border controls starting on October 11 to revive its tourism industry. Japan will allow individuals to enter and reinstate visa waivers for travellers from some countries. It will also scrap its cap on daily arrivals, currently set at 50,000. Travelling to the island country might still be a bit of a doozy for the uninitiated. Only those who have received their third vaccine shot are exempt from providing proof of a negative Covid test on entry. For all other travellers, a Covid test conducted within 72 hours before departure is required. There is no law in Japan requiring people to wear masks, but they are still near-ubiquitous in public places like trains and shops. Hong Kong Hong Kong has lifted one of the world's toughest pandemic control regimes by ending mandatory hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals on September 26. Incoming travellers will still be required to go through three days of home medical surveillance, and tourists can stay in a hotel for this period. During the monitoring period, visitors will be able to go outside but will be restricted from entering places such as bars or restaurants. Incoming travellers also need to take a PCR test on days 2, 4 and 6 after arrival, and a rapid test every day for seven days. Overseas entry into Hong Kong also requires that tourists be fully vaccinated, and a pre-departure test will still be required. However, a self-administered rapid antigen test (RAT) taken within 24 hours before boarding the flight will suffice, replacing the existing PCR screening requirement. At the airport, tourists can expect to get tested for Covid-19, but no longer have to wait for their results there. Face masks continue to be mandatory both indoors and outdoors in Hong Kong, and a vaccine pass will still be required to visit most premises and to dine out in the city. Taiwan Starting on September 29, Taiwan is set to resume visa-free entry for citizens of countries that previously held that status. It will also increase its weekly arrival limits for international travellers to 60,000, with no more PCR tests required upon entry. Travellers must undergo a three-day quarantine followed by four days of self-monitoring. However, things might be looking up for keen visitors. Taiwan is aiming to end mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from around October 13. It is also set to raise its weekly limit on international visitors to 150,000 people and lift its ban on tour groups. Like Hong Kong, the mask mandate remains in place in Taiwan, but contact tracing and vaccinations checks are no longer required.

I find it more than staggering that one group of businessmen whose businesses in pre-Castro Cuba seemed mostly be be slightly shady at best (or who took advantage of and did little for Cuban labour) and another group of individual exiles who number a mere fraction of those living in America are able to exert such influence on the politics of both parties. It's another example of US politics being massively out of date and requiring a complete overhaul as I have suggested in previous posts. Lest I am accused again of USA bashing, what has been happening re the politics in my country - the UK - is another total shambles. That a party leader can be elected by a tiny fraction of an ageing die-hard electorate is nonsense. Sterling crashing through the floor in her first actual work week is an example of the type of idiot this procedure can elect to high office.

Slightly off topic, I have never understood why the USA has imposed such strict sanctions against Cuba for so many decades. Wasn't Cuba a den of vice for the mafia prior to the Revolution? Did the USA tolerate all that? I can understand the action against the island following the nuclear weapons discovery but that matter was resolved through back channel diplomacy between Kennedy and Kruschev. 6 decades have now passed. The Soviet Union ended 3 decades ago. The USA fought a long war against Vietnam which ended almost 5 decades ago. The countries are now friends with almost $100 billion of trade between them even though Vietnam is run by a one-party communist government. Cuba offers many of its people two items which cost a fortune for many citizens on the USA - free education and free healthcare. It also has a higher literacy rate than that in the USA. Why is the country crippled by continuing US sanctions? Why does Washington regard it in the same light as Iran?

So a vacation in The Philippines with a couple of boys a day probably costs roughly the same as in Thailand.

I will never forget my first visit to this extraordinary and stunning city. It was a three-day week-end in a goriously sunny October in 1978. Since then I have returned three times, twice with my bf of the day. Once with a Thai friend was in 1991 on a trip which we started in Grindelwald in Switzerland at the foot of the famous Jungfraujoch cable railway that takes you well above the snowline. We then drove over the Alps for a night by Lake Garda before three days in Venice where we enjoyed great weather, before driving over the amazing Dolomites to Salzburg, Munich then Zurich and home. The second was more recently in 2003 with my Taiwan bf when unfortunately we hit the period for high tides coupled with heavy rains. The day after our arrival St. Mark's Square was flooded and we had to crawl with other tourists along the raised platforms. Yet both young men showed the same sense of joy and wonder. St. Mark's Square in August 2001 St. Mark's Square in October 2003 A colonnade at the side of St. Mark's Square in December 2020 Venice has been slowly sinking for centuries. It's partly due to the piling of the buildings and the city's substructure. But it is only relatively recently that the city has seen regular virtually annual flooding. It was not supposed to be like this. As illustrated in an excellent article on today's BBC website, the lagoon barrier (name Mose - Experimental Electromechanical Module) was supposed to stop flooding from the sea. Conceived in 1991, as a result largely of Italy's labyrinthine politics, work was not even started until 2003 and was supposed to be completed by 2011. It is hoped - hoped - it will finally be ready by the end of next year. Sadly, with rising sea levels it may already be almost out of date. The gates will not be raised until there is a sea water rise of 110 cms. St. Mark's Square floods at a level of 90 cms. Each time Mose is put into operation it will cost the city over US$300,000! As bad if not worse than the flooding has been the effect of the wake of the motor boats which ply the Grand Canal and which has adversely affected 60% of the buildings. Part of the Grand Canal Three mildly positive issues are that since last year the port for the mega cruise ships which had frequently dwarfed St. Mark's Square was moved away from the city. Also from next year a daily charge of €5 will be levied on tourists. A limit will also be placed on the number of daily tourists which until recently outnumbered locals by 100:1 over the course of a year. Will Venice still be around in 100 years? It will be desperately sad for future generations if it sinks below the waves. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220927-italys-plan-to-save-venice-from-sinking Photos 4 and 5: copyright Getty Images from the BBC article

If I recall correctly, even after his column was axed he still wrote book reviews for the Bangkok Post. The only problem with his regular columns was they were focused almost entirely on the girly bars. Only occcasionally there would be a nugget or two about the gay scene. But it was always fun reading those columns.

Surely it is corruption - and only corruption - that keeps these bars open? If drink prices were reduced to 200 baht and the content of the brown envelopes distributed at the end of every week/month significantly reduced, I'm prepared to bet that harrassment would follow, if not a closure order. I have occasionally looked at the chaturbate and similar sites. I have to agree that while I am all but exclusively interested in Asian guys, some of those Columbians with their smooth skin, winning smiles and great bodies could certainly tempt me.

Whether Thais wear helmets is beside the point. They are Thais living in Thailand. Doing what feels right is also basically selfish in my view. On the Skytrain the other day, everyone in the three cars I checked was masked, including farang and all tourists, apart from three Germans who had masks on but had moved them under their chins and were chatting and laughing loudly. If the looks from the Thais on the train could kill, those guys would not have got off the train.

It seems to me that investigative jouralism outside certain western countries is a dying art. That article includes a section of particular interest ot Asia. But even that comment requires a clarification that is not mentioned. In order to marry in Taiwan one of the parties must be a Taiwanese citizen. – Taiwan first in Asia – While much of Asia is tolerant of homosexuality, Taiwan became the first in the region to allow same-sex marriage after a landmark ruling by its Constitutional Court in 2017.

Obviously quite a good job to have. Monitoring just this site enables someone in the USA to build up quite an eye-catching collection of naked bodies 🤣 🤣

Try riding the Skytrain or MRT without a mask. Or even in a taxi.

Surely the answer is simple. If you really prefer and want to be with Thai and/or Asian boys, you have no choice. It has to be Thailand or another Asian destination. If you prefer Spanish-speaking South American boys, you have no choice. It has to be Brazil or elsewher ein S. America. I read in other forums here that Columbian boys are very much an attraction. The fact that Brazil is cheaper than Thailand is hardly likely to persuade many to switch their vacation plans in my view.

I wonder which restricting plan this one is. No. 6, 11, 18? Every time there is a new President, lo and behold there is a new restructring plan. And they never work!!

Delta has been mentioned a few times as the best US airline. In the 2022 poll it comes in at 24. But in several previous years it has been pipped by Jet Blue and Virgin America.

We all rant about airlines. It's rather like a national sport! 😀 But please remember that the Skytrax list was compiled from passenger surveys from September 2021 till August 2022. I also think there is virtually an inbuilt feeling amongst many surveyed that they should vote for their national airline.

I heard a story about a virtuoso classical pianist named Cherkassky who died in 1995 before the internet was used for airline bookings. For much of his life he lived in London. His hobby was learning much of the massive two-volume ABC Airlines Timetable published every month. He then enjoyed going into a travel agency and telling the lady behind the counter that he'd like to book a flight from London to Sydney. "That will be no problem," would be the regular reply. "Oh, but I think there may be a problem because I want a number of stops and I want the cheapest ticket." He'd then reel off a list of cities and dates he wanted en route. Typical would be Basle, Lodz in Poland, Ankara, Ahmadabad, Chiang Mai (being gay he frequently visited Thailand), Urumqi, Kagoshima and Surabaya. A stupefied lady would then tell him she'd do her best but it might take her 2 days to do all the checking. No problem, he'd say, but it must be the quickest individual flights and the cheapest ticket. 2 days later he'd return and see the same lady. "Well, sir, you really gave me a difficult task but I've finally got information on the ticket you requested." She'd then give him a print out of all the flights, flight changes en route, stop-overs and arrival time in Sydney. At the bottom would be the price. "And you can confirm this has the fastest connections, the earliest arrival in Sydney and the cheapest price?" Yes sir, would be the reply. In his high-pitched voice a smile would come over his face. Looking straight at her, he say, "You're WRONG!" He had worked out a better routing at a slightly cheaper price! And of course he didn't even want to book any ticket. Not a pleasant man!

I can't believe the USA has a 20% youth unemployment rate! 😀 But the article points out yet another problem on Xi's ever enlarging plate. I don't think China has faced so many problems since the Cultural Revolution. Compared to what is facing Xi, the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 was merely a blip. It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall to hear many conversations going on in Zhongnanhai, the compound for government leaders in Beijing. Is anyone likely to challenge Xi for the leadership as he must surely be vulnerable to being dethroned - but only if there is a movement amongst a number of the leadership and a credible alternative candidate prepared to take him on.

That's a rather strange media comment. I wonder how many of those likely to be drafted have enough money in their bank accounts to pay for the massively inflated flight prices out of Russia since the conscription plan was announced, and then to pay for a stay in Thailand? As of September 21, ticket prices to Thailand had risen by between 4 and 5 times the pre-covid price. And to get into Thailand they will have to show evidence of a prebooked ticket out of Thailand. I expect immigration will be on an increased check for Russians coming in to the country on one-way tickets. Then, there are not that many seats available out of Russia to Thailand. Several airlines suspended flights between the countries since the invasion of Ukraine. Reopening of charter services will not start until the high season. So an large influx of Russians seeking to avoid conscription is surely extremely unlikely. https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-to-fly-in-russian-tourists-on-chartered-flights-this-high-season

Cathay Pacific was always at or near the top half dozen. Clearly its massive reduction in flights due to covid have resulted in its drop to #16. For two or three years Hainan Airlines was near the top as its service was pretty spectacular based on reports both by posters here and on the Skytrax website. But it overstretched itself and had debt that a year ago was $170 billion! The annual report listed "major uncertainties" about its ability to continue flying. The restructuring has clearly affected route structure and service. As a regular on Qatar for long haul, I agree its biz class is very hard to beat. I am really surprised about the inclusion of Swiss, though. On the Skytrax comments site, the last ten comments starting 23 September have been frightful. Out of a maximum of 10, flyers have given the airline 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1. This is partcularly bad given that one comment for Premium Economy has a 1 and one for biz class has only a 2. This is worse even than Scoot where the last 10 economy comments were 1, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2. The annual survey apart, I do think the overall Skytrax comments pages are misleading because they lump all classes together. About 4 years ago I wrote to Skytrax suggesting it is fairer to likely passengers to split the comments into separate sections. By including biz and first class, the overall general star rating is inevitably skewed upwards. I got no reply.

Demand for Hong Kong flights has resulted in long delays on Cathay Pacific's website. CX will add 200 pairs of both regional and long haui flights in October. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/cathay-pacific-increase-flight-frequencies-after-hong-kong-eases-quarantine-2022-09-23/

Taiwan has announced it plans to lift quarantine measures on October 13. Plans - but has said if the still high number of daily cases do not continue to decline, the plan will be delayed. Like Hong Kong, though, some restrictions will remain and visitors will not be able to eat in restaurants.

With sterling seemingly on an extended crash through the floor, I'm sorry for those who still have not booked their flights out of the UK. The currency is now at its lowest against the US$ in 37 years and there's no end in sight.