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Frankly, I don't know anyone who intends to travel that is deterred by silly CDC recommendations. If you followed the CDC advice, you'd only venture out to empty the trash.

While I agree Russia in not on a manufacturing par with the US or China, it is a superpower in areas other than its nuclear arsenal. It has the world's largest proven gas reserves, the second-largest coal reserves, the eighth-largest oil reserves, and the largest oil shale reserves in Europe. Russia is also the world's leading natural gas exporter and second largest natural gas producer. Russia is the world's top exporter of wheat. Not only is Russia the world's third-largest producer of gold, but it also has the fifth largest gold reserves. It's also a major producer of nickel, palladium, platinum, magnesium. And it was Russia that admitted China into the nuclear club, sharing its atomic secrets following the Korean war, something Putin casually reminds Xi Jinping of from time to time. So well its excursion in Ukraine doesn't bode well for the bear, it will be falling back on some valuable assets.

Actually, the idea is to curb Russia's imperialistic tendencies. Many in Europe don't think that's such a bad idea. That's a lot of conjecture in one mouthful. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for the navies of the US, UK, Australia and a few others, the entire South China Sea (to wit: the eleven-dash line) would be governed by China's imperialistic tendencies and blocked to free navigation. Given that there are only three superpowers, and two of them are Russia and China, the expectation for the third defaults to the US. Not everyone may always agree with its actions, but most are damn glad that it has skin in the game.

From The Thaiger Phuket welcomed its first group of Test & Go travellers entering the island province by sea and tourism officials say more visitors travelling on cruise ships and yachts will be entering under the quarantine exemption scheme. On March 1, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration eased travel restrictions, allowing Test & Go travellers to enter Thailand by land and sea, not just air. Under the entry scheme, travellers must undergo an RT-PCR Covid-19 on arrival. Those travelling by air must stay at an approved hotel or resort for a night while they wait for their results while those travelling by sea must isolate on the yacht or cruise ship. Yesterday, Phuket provincial authorities and relevant departments welcomed the first group of tourists who travelled from Singapore by the Malaysian yacht named “The Maggie.” The ship had docked at Ao Por Grand Marina, which was developed to be a so-called “smart pier” equipped with auto gates, CCTV with temperature detector, and passport scanner. The Director of Phuket’s TAT, Nanthasiri Ronnasiri, office shared that tourists from yachts and cruise ships are a target market as they have a high spending potential. She added that most groups came from European and Mediterranean countries, and some came from neighbouring countries.

From The Thaiger The Thai government says Covid ain’t stoppin’ this year’s Songkran celebrations but insists that disease prevention measures will need to be followed. What that means for the mass water fights that were emblematic of the pre-pandemic celebrations remains unclear for now. According to a (source), PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has given the green light for interprovincial travel and “all related activities” over the Thai New Year holiday, between April 13 and 15. However, spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana adds that the PM wants everyone to comply with disease prevention measures, – that is, Vaccination, Universal Prevention, Covid-free settings, and ATK testing. The CCSA meets on March 18 to agree on the measures that will apply to the Songkran holiday period, with the PM suggesting everyone taking part in water-throwing parties should have received a third vaccine dose and should also take an ATK test before and after travelling.

Imperialist games??? Could you please elaborate.

Sometimes an illusion is just--if not more--powerful than the real thing. We conjure vigorous sexual fantasies all the time that frequently outdo our real ones. Or to put it in a medical context, the placebo effect.

From Phnom Penh Post Foreigners wanting to enter Laos need to register to get a QR code (Vaccine ID) online at “laogreenpass.gov.la” in order to certify their vaccination status and RT-PCR test result, authorities have announced. The QR code also enables Lao authorities to track the risk status of circle 1 (C1) and circle 2 (C2) of foreign arrivals. To register for the QR code, an applicant needs to fill out a form online, giving passport details, a vaccination or treatment certificate issued not less than six months ago, a hotel booking, life insurance/Covid-19 insurance, and a Covid-19 test certificate issued not more than 72 hours earlier, which can be sent later. To proceed with registration, applicants must go to the “laogreenpass.gov.la” website, fill in the information fields and upload the application form. Once the form has been successfully uploaded, the applicant must wait until the Covid-19 taskforce has checked that the form has been filled in correctly. Once the form has been accepted, the applicant will receive an email with a QR code. For more information, applicants are advised to visit the “laogreenpass.gov.la” website or call mobile number +856-20-2880-0262. As of March 4, some 22 applications had been approved. Another 156 applications are pending and one was rejected, according to authorities in charge.

From Channel News Asia KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will fully reopen its borders on Apr 1 as the country begins to transition to the COVID-19 endemic phase, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Tuesday (Mar 8). Speaking at a press conference, he explained that with this development, international travellers entering Malaysia would only need to have valid travel documents to enter and exit the country, and Malaysians can travel freely to other countries with similar open borders. He added that foreign travellers will no longer need to apply via the MyTravelPass mechanism, and only had to download the MySejahtera contact tracing application. He said: “Taking into account the Omicron variant which is still in our country and other countries, there are some mandatory steps for both Malaysians and travellers.” For those who are fully vaccinated, there is no need to undergo any quarantine. They only need to undergo a COVID-19 Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test two days before departure and a professional COVID-19 Rapid Test Kit-Antigen (RTK-Ag) test within 24 hours after arrival in Malaysia. For countries that have not fully reopened their borders such as Indonesia and Singapore, Malaysians can utilise the vaccinated travel lanes that had been agreed on between Putrajaya and the relevant countries, the prime minister added.

From Richardbarrow.com Yesterday, 1,000’s of people received this email. The thing they all had in common was that they had signed up for Thailand Pass. Some told me they had only signed up a few days ago. Others said they used a unique email to sign up. If you get this email, do not reply

Reminded of the ancient axiom: "all glory is fleeting".

Russia and Germany were both pursuing nuclear weapons at the very same moment and would have used them had they perfected it first. Eighty-seven years after the fact I view it as a catastrophe and cruel. But at the time all of East Asia, much of Europe and northern Africa had suffered mightily at the hands of the Axis powers, and perhaps none more so than Russia. And you didn't hear any one of them complaining when the war abruptly ended with the signing of the articles of surrender in Tokyo Bay. Now eight other nations have since acquired them. And you don't seem to think it's likewise barbaric that your man Putin is now threatening to use them? Nor do you speak out against his dropping conventional weapons on innocent civilians in Ukraine. You remain fixated on the present and the destruction of those with whom you share a common language. That, too, is a catastrophe and particularly cruel.

I'm certainly not advocating the use of nuclear weapons. Nine countries now have that capability. But only one--Russia--has warned that it has placed its nuclear forces on high alert.

From Ted Talks

Nine nations possess nuclear weapons. If we were to follow your illogical line of thinking, tassojunior, then any one of them would be given carte blanch based simply on the fact that they have nukes. Brilliant!

In a situation like this, I prefer to go with Churchill or Patton.

And do you recall what happened about three weeks later? Japan surrendered to the allies, thus avoiding an invasion of its homeland, savings hundreds of thousands on both sides. And while on the topic, less not forget the Soviet's role in the episode. Prior to the nuclear bombings, Japan's leaders were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea. So Uncle Joe passed on an opportunity to avoid the Japanese catastrophe in order to gain some more of the spoils of war.

Duplicate post

If you really were serious about "wanting to see as few people killed as possible" one would think you'd would be calling on Putin to get the hell out. Instead, you're trying to justify why he went in. Sorry, my friend, but that sure sounds like an apology. By the way, you avoided the question you cited in your post: are you better off now than before Putin started his invasion?

Apologists for Putin need ask themselves one question at this point: are you better off today than before the invasion?

From Channel News Asia JAKARTA: Travellers from abroad can enter Indonesia’s Bali island quarantine-free starting on Monday (Mar 7), said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan. Speaking at a virtual press conference, Mr Pandjaitan said the government decided to make Bali quarantine-free given the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, where the caseload has subsided and the fatality rate is considered relatively low. The Monday announcement was brought forward by a week. Earlier, the government planned to allow foreigners to enter Bali quarantine-free from Mar 14. To travel quarantine-free, travellers must have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result taken before the departure and upon arrival, proof of a minimum four-day hotel booking in Bali as well as health insurance. They must also take another PCR test on their third day in Indonesia. Also from Monday, tourists from 23 countries entering Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport can obtain a visa on arrival instead of needing to apply for a visa pre-departure. Citizens of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States are among those eligible for the scheme. The government hopes the programme will help revive Bali’s battered economy.

From The Thaiger One public health official says Thailand has a “secret weapon” to bring back tourists… It’s cannabis. Some experts and officials hope that decriminalising marijuana, alongside declaring Covid-19 as endemic, will help tourism in Thailand bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. The public health official made the statement over the weekend at a medical marijuana conference at Surin’s Rajamangala University of Technology. Many experts and officials discussed the benefits of decriminalising the plant, not only for health purposes, but also for the economy. However, while cannabis cafes and shops have been popping up all over Thailand, the products won’t cause a ‘high’ as cannabis extracts with more than 0.2% of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, remain illegal. With Thailand the only country in Asia to partially decriminalise marijuana, Thailand has a “secret weapon” to lure in tourists after the pandemic subsides, according to Secretary of the Public Health Commission Chatchai Trakulrungsi, who spoke at the conference. Chatchai compared strains of Thai cannabis to “jasmine rice” in light of their uniqueness, which could be a big selling point on the global stage. He also claimed that nine out of 10 tourists want to try marijuana in some form or another (we have no idea where he got this information). T

So you're advice is to wait 11 years so the Putin can have a well-deserved "honorable" exit? And you think Putin plans to leave the Ukraine? There's one Russian we understand all too well. His intentions to invade the Ukraine were predicted with complete accuracy despite his denials.

If Putin succeeds in this venture, he'll be wildly emboldened. His next target will be Poland, encouraged because all he had to do was raise the specter of using his nuclear arsenal to get NATO to cower. He figures if it worked once, why not play that card again. Day after day over the next weeks and months, from the safety of our living rooms, we'll have to bear witness to the human carnage. And we'll do so knowing that it could have been avoided. If NATO checkmated the bear by placing a formidable force inside Ukraine before the invasion even got under way, it would have put Putin in the position of having to risk killing not only Ukrainians but also British, American, German soldiers and a host of others. Stop and consider how effective Ukraine forces have been on their own. Imagine now how the tide would turn if 50,000 NATO troops--and their superior firepower--also confronted the Russian columns. If NATO had the opportunity to go back in time a month or so, I think it would opt to poke the bear.

If our former employers had followed that line of thinking, we'd all have been out of work at an early age.😉