On January 20th, 2022, the Thai cabinet extended the state of emergency nationwide by two months until the end of March 2022, ostensibly to deal with the local Covid 19 situation. The extionsion was proposed by the National Security Council (NSC). The NSC functions as the operations unit of the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration and is supervised by Thailand's Prime Minister, Dictator, Songwriter and the man of many words Prayut Chan-o-cha. This is the 16th extension of the special law. The government insistes that the extension is necessary to facilitate the swift and integrated implementation of measures to control Covid-19 for the sake of public safety. This special law was enacted March 26th, 2020, and gives Prayut Chan-o-cha wide-ranging powers, including a ban on large gatherings to prevent anti-government protests.

On February 15th, the Thai Royal Society of Thailand's (military) government renamed Bangkok - the country's capital - in a cloak-and-dagger operation. The official name of the capital is now Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. However, the name Bangkok may continue to be used until further notice. In the language of the locals, Bangkok was used extremely rarely, they always spoke of Krung Thep. The full name of the capital is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. So the new name is just another abbreviation. Bangkok, well, the old name dates back to the time when the village was still called Bang Ko (island village) or - named after its temple Wat Makok - also Bang Makok.

Swiss Ambassador to Thailand "warns" people of traveling there. Citing an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick an EU diplomat raised concerns about the authenticity of PCR tests conducted in Thailand, that mysteriously turned positive upon arrival despite being tested negative before departure. She suspects hospitals and public authorities trying to scam people or attempting to collect insurance money by forced hospitalisation of said cases.

Governments around the world have declared war on fuel-powered vehicles. Some governments even want to ban the sale of these vehicles altogether from 2030. From then on, battery-powered vehicles are to populate the roads. The first batteries were invented by Alessandro Volta and John Stringfellow in the 1800s. In the following years, efficiency and production methods were improved. Nevertheless, despite constant promises from politicians and industry, the production and also the disposal or recycling of spent batteries is still largely unresolved and is still in its infancy. The mining of the heavy metals used in today's high-tech batteries is already causing enormous environmental damage, which will increase to an unimagined extent in the coming years, not only because the batteries needed for cars are many times larger and thus require considerably more raw materials, but also because many mining areas are located in totalitarian countries where little attention is paid to the environment and the rulers like to optimise their bank accounts with the merciless exploitation of the available resources. Did you know that a normal car battery of an electric vehicle contains

• 8 kg of lithium
• 35 kg of nickel
• 20 kg of manganese
• 14 kg of cobalt

In addition, there are many more kilos of chemicals as well as iron, aluminium and plastic for the packaging. Multiply these values by the millions of EV vehicles that will be on our roads in the coming years and you will understand what a disater politicians and industry are forcing on us and our environment. It is incomprehensible that even environmental associations actively support this nonsense.