US imposes sanctions on Thailand

[JD]

Just noticed this, I,m sure the Thai Authorities will now ban the imports of many US products in a tit-for-tat response.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5390284.stm

[The understudy]

The DCRM should not be suprosed by this move by the US as and they should not realiate back. This would only create a cycle Sanctions and reaction to Sanctions. The CDRM should stick to their pLan and get a New Interim Governemnt but should schedule the election date sooner than October 2007.
I'm now in the US right now and starnge things happening here as Gasoline or Petrol Prices are falling each week by 4 to 8 cents And the midterm Senate election is only eight weeks away and many states are battleing it out which party will get the upperhand The repubicans or The Democrats.
your's the understudy???

[matthew80]

Understudy: do you feel that the falling gas prices are a cynical move by the repubilcan establishment to shore up support before elections?

[Big Boy]

The understudy wrote:

I'm now in the US right now and starnge things happening here as Gasoline or Petrol Prices are falling each week by 4 to 8 cents

Prices are dropping at a fair rate in the UK as well. I guess its a worldwide trend rather than a vote winning move.

[chelsea]

Same going on in Australia with the fuel about 4weeks ago it was nearlt $1.50 (AUD) per litre for normal unleaded, it is now down to under $1.20.
The price ups and downs are only reflecting the price per barrel that oil is being sold to us at the present time.
If it suddenly shot up again to between $70-75 per barrel, the price would be up around the $1.50 per litre again.
It has been said here that if the prices keep going down as they are at present, we could see it down to about $1.00 per litre at christmas.

[PeteC]

24 million is lunch money. The yearly Cobra Gold exercise costs the USA more than that alone. I don't think the whole story is being told, but I guess they had to show some token of disagreement. The Pacific fleet still calls at Lam Chabang on a regular basis and releases it's men and money onto Pattaya. The Kitty Hawk ACC and all attending ships just left two weeks ago. I've heard more ships are due in shortly. Pete

PS: If not known, Lam Chabang (between Pattaya and Chonburi) is one of the few ports in Asia that can support nuclear powered ships.

[Guess]

24 million is lunch money.

Hear hear. What this uncessary gesture means I am not sure. The US have already denounced the coup as they had little chice not to bearing in mind everything time they invade a foreign country it is always under the auspices of restaoration of democracy they can hardly then be seen to support a coup not matter what the llegitimacy of the election.

In guess the sanction that seems only to be military so far is just support for democracy. I hope that the US fully intends to support any incursions by the Burmese should they happen. According to US policy this must be the most unacceptable regime on earth.

[Hublet]

As reported to day

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20 ... 02,00.html

THAILAND'S military government today brushed off a US decision to strip the kingdom of millions of dollars in aid money in protest at last week's coup.

Washington's decision to suspend $US24 million ($32m) in military aid was "the mandatory minimum action'' it could take, the permanent secretary of the foreign ministry said.

"I think they are measuring their response, keeping their eye on what's developing on the ground,'' Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn said.

The sanctions were imposed automatically under a US law which forbids assistance to the government of a country where an elected leader has been deposed in a coup.

General Winai Phattiyakul, the junta's secretary general, said the aid money had mainly financed training and education programs for the troops.

Gen Winai bristled at remarks by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who described the coup a "a U-turn'' for democracy in Thailand.

He said the nation had been headed for what he compared to a train wreck, amid fears that planned protests by opponents to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could turn violent.

"If you are riding a train, you see that it may derail or it may collide with the other train and will cause damage, or will cause loss of life of innocents, I think it makes sense to everybody that you either stop or make a turn,'' Gen Winai said.

"Either make a sharp turn or make a U-turn in order to avoid the tragedy to happen,'' he said.

"So this is the case when we made the decision to have the political change. We understand the position of the US, and we hope that the US will understand the position of Thailand as well.''

Mr Krit described last week's coup as a "stumble'' in Thailand's development as a democracy.

"There has been no substantive or real U-turn,'' he said.

"I maintain that there has been no going back to square one after all these decades of development of democracy.

"We have experienced a stumble, yes. We need to pick ourselves up. We hope that our friends will give us a hand to get up. Our friends are feeling inhibited by their own world view of what democracy should be,'' he said.

The sanctions by Washington jolted years of close links between Thai and US forces in the Asia-Pacific, which co-hosts the region's biggest annual American war games.

But some aid deemed crucial to US national security was spared, notably in counter-terrorism, a field in which the kingdom has emerged as a low-key, yet valued partner in the US battle against al-Qaeda.

[PeteC]

..... THAILAND'S military government today brushed off a US decision to strip the kingdom of millions of dollars in aid money in protest at last week's coup......

Don't you just love journalists? The above is the same crap they do with each and every story published. To me, "strip" means tearing away something from someone who already has it.

Sensationalist crap and wait, in days to come, depending upon who/what you read, it will turn into an all out severing of diplomatic relations. Bullshit. Can anyone give me a news source to read that actually tells a correct story anymore, without winding up people with incorrect words?????

Rice is a smart woman, just in the wrong career field. Pete