20 September 2006

More on Thailand

So the news of the rumoured coup in Thailand turns out to be true. I wonder what the US reaction to the affront to democracy will be. Will it emulate the reaction to the short lived 2002 coup in Venezuela or will the White House condemn this action? (I for one haven't a clue.) The appears to be no reaction as yet.

On the web site for the US embassy in Bangkok there is a news release from 2005 that the US provided training to Thai officials that included "the strengthening of democratic institutions, rule of law and human rights". Further on in the release we find that the US has also provided training to the military:

"As part of the 2004 Cobra Gold joint military exercises, the United States offered some human rights courses for Thai military personnel, including a seminar on the law of armed conflict and rules of engagement. In order to improve this training, the U.S. Government plans to provide more extensive human rights courses in the United States for Thai military officers, using International Military Education and Training funds."

I would guess that they skipped the Respect for Civilian Government session and had interrogation training instead.

We also find that coup appears to be good news for Tesco and the capitalist community as a whole seem to have embraced the news.

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