Military | THAISiDE

Top ten Strongest military in South East Asian countries

1. indonesia 2.Thailand 3.Philipines 4. Malaysia 5.Singapore 6.Myanmar 7.brunei 8.Cambodia 9.Laos 10. Vietnam

Bangkok to Yangon

With a return flights starting at just £40 (2400 baht) low season from Air Asia (booked well in advance) who now fly there daily, Yangon now counts as a viable excursion/visa run from Bangkok. This fact hasn’t gone unnoticed by locals either; I met dozens of Thais, Malays and Chinese taking a long weekend in the city. Arriving in Yangon the first thing you think is, hell the plane took a wrong turn and I’m in Bombay or Calcutta, Indian architecture, tea shops, chapatti stalls, Bollywood cinemas and dirt lots of dirt

My Take on Politics, Red and Yellow Shirts. Thailand

I have been reading so much on the ‘Red Shirts’ and the current shenanigans happening here in Thailand, well Bangkok. I am all for people having a voice and being able to express it. I mean I have been in plenty of marches in my day with the union when we wanted to express the point needed making. But here in Thailand we have the ‘Yellow Shirts or P.A.D - People’s Alliance for Democracy” and now the ‘Red Shirts or UDD - United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship’ who continually fight over the government

Military Beach Pattaya.avi

Military Beach Pattaya Thailand

Thai School Student, Army Reserve Force Training Thailand

Here in Thailand, teenagers have the option of being toy soldiers (Thai Army reserve Force) in years 10, 11 and 12 at school. If they decide to do this, they then are exempt from Thailand’s National Draft. (Thai school girls participating in the army reserves, they can do the mundane things but not participate in weapons training or anything deemed where they are too weak) Thailand drafts all males when the reach the age of 21, if you do not show up when reaching this age, if they catch you, you can be jailed or your military time is doubled.

Tak Bai

Prachatai/The Nation : Songkhla - A Thai court on Friday ruled that there was no misconduct on the part of security officials who involved in the Tak Bai incident five years ago that caused the death of 85 Thai-Muslims. Bernama news agency said the two-member panel on the post-mortem inquest concluded that army and police officials acted according to the law, used their judgment to deal with the pressing situation and did their best based on the circumstances of the situation then. The court said the officials were carrying out their duties and had compelling reasons to transport over 1,000 detained demonstrators from Tak Bai mosque to Ingkayuthaborihaan Army Camp in Pattani on Oct 25, 2004. The online said the incident happened when over 1,500 people took part in a demonstration in front of the Tak Bai Police Station to demand the release of six village defence volunteers who were detained on suspicion of filing false reports to the police concerning a robbery of government-issued shotguns

Moody’s Picking on Thailand

The Nation : Moody’s Investors Service has been fast to pick on Thailand. Earlier, it pointed out that the Thai economic downturn is going to be one of the worst in the region. Then it downgraded the credit outlook of Thailand from positive to negative

Recession

Bloomberg : May 25 (Bloomberg) — Thailand’s economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter, contracting the most in a decade as the nation slid into a recession. Gross domestic product fell 7.1 percent last quarter from a year earlier, after declining a revised 4.2 percent in the previous three months, the government said today.

Deconstructing Atiya Achakulwisut: Evil Farang Pick on Poor Thailand, Leave Burma Alone

Bangkok Post re: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi This is a democratically elected leader of a severely oppressed country whose people have long suffered under the heavy boots of the military junta. A leader who was not only robbed of her election victory but of her basic human rights for decades, who is now facing a real threat of being tried unfairly and put away in jail for five more years. Where is the outcry from the foreign media?