US supports Thailand’s role as regional leader, says Pompeo

[holy cow cm]

20 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

America and it's allies couldn't even beat half of one of the poorest countries in the world (North Vietnam).In fact well and truly got their collective <deleted> kicked and were sent scurrying home with their tails between their legs.China is armed to the teeth.

And look who supported N VN directly with weapons and soldiers. Do you think over 300k of Chinese soldiers while also being trained and supplied with Chinese armaments and food is enough? Russia also backed and supplied them. More to it than that! But this topic is not about VN or wars, so we best keep on it.

[sup3r1or]

Of course they do, because the US has a good history of removing people from power and installing radicals and puppets. 

Pompeo in particular is known for being very warm to Saudis and Israel while both countries massacre people in the neighbours. As long as it benefits their interests. 

In any war with China they will use Sea as battleground, never close to their soil, so the people will become collateral damage. 

[ujayujay]

11 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

As sad as it is the US had to take this stance and path to welcome the new government even if it was gotten through ways that are very questionable. China is the biggest danger that needs to be halted at any measure. 

No, USA, not China!

[Charlie1]

I support Pompeo's role as a regional leader in the madhouse.

[bipper]

What puppets did they not support around the world to further their own interests?

 

He would be better served sending a force into Cambodia/Lao to clean up the millions of unexploded cluster bombs they lied for years they never dropped on the poorest of the poor. The ones that are killing/maiming 300+ per year mostly children, as he speaks.

[Eric Loh]

Pompeo stance much resonate with his boss love for dictators and authoritarian leaders. 

[MartinKal]

1 hour ago, holy cow cm said:

More complicated and intricate than that. China still needs every country to hold hands with them as they need to suck everyone's raw material and food to feed the 1.4 billion people they have. their country will starve if cannot.

 

Unfortunately they are very pushy in taking what they want under another you don't understand us guise (but untrue), per-say like the South China Sea, or Tibet, or Hong Kong, and Taiwan which they will invade as they say it is their sovereignty of right. And then in other areas suckering nations with horrendous loan handouts which can never be paid back. They act as they are always being persecuted. picked on and misunderstood, but far from it.

 

So technology whether it be nuclear or biological could wipe them out quick ( and devastate the world), but the diplomatic way under peace is by aligning allies to keep the middle line and not keep moving it. Can the USA with allies like India, EU, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Vietnam, etc, and more be unified enough to make a smart difference? Yes. So it is not only 327 million people of the USA, but as always a joined effort. Philippines is going to fall to them with this Duterte loose canon at their helm. so there maybe a quick war skirmish with them, I hope not, but if there is then so be it as they are over always over stepping their boundaries now where the world is becoming smaller having more population with less raw material, food and water.

Not a fan of China. But then not a fan of many things nowadays.

Good explanation. I add...

 

China is the Middle Earth. It is not interested in globalization and all that, what it really wants is to be an inward-looking self-sufficient nation.

 

But at the same time it wants to celebrate in 2049 as being the world's number one military and economic power.

 

Of course, these goals are totally incompatible.

 

So its strategy is that on the East it defends itself from attack from the US. And on the West and South it builds these three Silk Roads so that it can suck the raw materials in from Africa and pump out the finished goods to Europe and Beyond.

 

The incompatibility is resolved when you realize that the Chinese are extremely nationalistic and proud of their ancient and powerful history, and grasp that there are only two future things that interest the Chinese: the stock exchange and the economy.

 

These are the two mamelons the elite leadership uses to feed the people and retain its power.

[holy cow cm]

9 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

No, USA, not China!

Hardly. 

[MartinKal]

39 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

America and it's allies couldn't even beat half of one of the poorest countries in the world (North Vietnam).In fact well and truly got their collective <deleted> kicked and were sent scurrying home with their tails between their legs.China is armed to the teeth.

It is not true that China is armed to the teeth. China spends about 200 billion dollar a year on Military while the US spends three times that figure.

[simtemple]

11 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

As sad as it is the US had to take this stance and path to welcome the new government even if it was gotten through ways that are very questionable. China is the biggest danger that needs to be halted at any measure. 

I'd say the biggest threat to regional peace are the sociopaths in Washington. How many have they murdered in South East Asia alone?

The rise of China and Russia as dominant world powers can only be welcomed. We are now witnessing the decline of the "Evil Empire", whose army's sole purpose is to steal oil and gold, on behalf of Wall Street scum and the Military Industrial Complex. 

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

His goal will be to maintain American visibility amid the negative environmental impacts of China’s vast infrastructure development projects in the Mekong, notably hydro-power dams and navigation improvement.

So who will Thailand favour... USA or China..

we already know the answer, USA want fair trade deals, while Thailand want China to build & pay for everything. Thailand will soon be Chinas sub-contractor.

[holy cow cm]

5 minutes ago, simtemple said:

I'd say the biggest threat to regional peace are the sociopaths in Washington. How many have they murdered in South East Asia alone?

The rise of China and Russia as dominant world powers can only be welcomed. We are now witnessing the decline of the "Evil Empire", whose army's sole purpose is to steal oil and gold, on behalf of Wall Street scum and the Military Industrial Complex. 

USA has its pitfalls, but you are so far off and from realism.

[holy cow cm]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

So who will Thailand favour... USA or China..

we already know the answer, USA want fair trade deals, while Thailand want China to build & pay for everything. Thailand will soon be Chinas sub-contractor.

Thailand always likes to play both fields of kissy kissy. But aligning themselves too closely with China, you got it right, if not extremely careful they will become China's boy.

[bipper]

8 minutes ago, MartinKal said:

It is not true that China is armed to the teeth. China spends about 200 billion dollar a year on Military while the US spends three times that figure.

[holy cow cm]

53 minutes ago, passiflora said:

Why West leaders are so afraid (or ass licking) of prayuth and Thailand? 

If you have to ask that, then you need to go back, read up and educate yourself for the why.

[Isaan sailor]

Thanks to a greedy Bank of Thailand, LoS is sinking fast. They prefer their foreign hot money inflows from short term bond sales, over the fortunes of the tourist and export industries.  And BTW, BoT never cares about expats supporting Thai families.  A regional leader?  Sure, since they ink bilateral trade deals with ChiComs.

[FarFlungFalang]

36 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

And look who supported N VN directly with weapons and soldiers. Do you think over 300k of Chinese soldiers while also being trained and supplied with Chinese armaments and food is enough? Russia also backed and supplied them. More to it than that! But this topic is not about VN or wars, so we best keep on it.

Yes my cousin had the same reply which doesn't change the fact that they were repelled.Of course you are right in saying it is more complicated,much more so now but with America building walls around it's borders send signals of non engagement is not a promising sign that it is as confident as it once was. America's current administration seems to lack the persuasive power to acheive much more than rhetoric.Reason certainly fails when itchy fingers hover uncertainly over the triggers of weapons.Also if you say that China and Russia were in cahoots in Vietnam then it is likely that would also occur in any future actions making it a formidable team indeed.Like I said it's a big ask!   

[Jimdandy]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

We support transparency and good governance around the world and will continue to work with the Thai people and the Royal Thai government to this end, Pompeo said on Tuesday.

What he didn't say was he always wears a pair of really dirty rose colored glasses...

[nickstav]

31 minutes ago, RobboR said:

That's what he's coming over here to sample!

Recon for Trump.

[FarFlungFalang]

31 minutes ago, oslooskar said:

And what happened to the Chinese when they invaded Vietnam in 1979? The Americans lost 58,000 men in all their years of fighting in Vietnam. How many Chinese soldiers were killed in Vietnam in less than a month of fighting?

Well to tell the truth I wouldn't have the foggiest idea but I have heard it said by people who there that the south Vietnamese did most of the killing of the opposing side not the Americans who were severely hampered buy the lack of local knowledge and skill in that type of engagement.Also you may quote those horrific numbers but I would ask; a)was it successful?and b)was it worth it? 

[Burma Bill]

Quote:-

"Thailand’s role as a regional leader"

Oh really, I thought Singapore was the "hub" of ASEAN.

[owl sees all]

56 minutes ago, bipper said:

I do not agree with these findings at all.

 

My research shows that the present US military expenditure is more than 1.5 trillion USD a year. This figure is not 3% of GDP, as is often quoted, but over 7%, and is then bolstered by FED money printing.

[soalbundy]

41 minutes ago, oslooskar said:

And what happened to the Chinese when they invaded Vietnam in 1979? The Americans lost 58,000 men in all their years of fighting in Vietnam. How many Chinese soldiers were killed in Vietnam in less than a month of fighting?

A drop in the ocean for the Chinese

[Baerboxer]

2 hours ago, onera1961 said:

Does Pompeo know that Thailand is called the Land of Sex (LOS) and they allow brothels (aka bars) built to pimp their daughters to old, creepy sexpats for marriage? They are sure leaders in sex industry. 

 

Gee Whiz it's so good to know that Western people know all this; just like there own countries are all free from sex abuse, brothels, pimps, illegal and legal drug abuse and just perfect.

[mikey00]

2 hours ago, onera1961 said:

Does Pompeo know that Thailand is called the Land of Sex (LOS) and they allow brothels (aka bars) built to pimp their daughters to old, creepy sexpats for marriage? They are sure leaders in sex industry. 

Someone's not getting any

[spidermike007]

Thailand clearly does not deserve to be the region's leader. They are certainly one of the least progressive nations within ASEAN (Brunei does not even count), the Indonesian economy is far larger, and the government is a civilian government. Thailand does not deserve any of this. It is only due to Trump's fondness for a perceived "strongman" that they are even getting this nod of approval, so even that is based on utter ignorance. 

 

When Pompeo says we support transparency, what he means is that they want to be able to see what every other nation is doing, but insist on being the least transparent administration in US history. For good reason. They have alot to hide. Transparency under Prayuth is as bizarre a concept as transparency under Trump. 

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, Charlie1 said:

I support Pompeo's role as a regional leader in the madhouse.

By the way, is Bolton still in Mongolia? 

 

Is Pompeo going to join him? 

 

Will they then fly together to Turkmenistan, which is another major regional leader? 

 

The US needs all the help it can get to counter Eurasia integration... 

 

[Pedrogaz]

Apart from the fact I cannot abide Pompeo and disbelieve everything he say, he is 100% wrong on this....can you see a competent nation like Singapore being led by Thailand and the likes of Prayut? It is preposterous. 

Regionally we will be led by a country with smart people who can communicate effectively and actually get things done....clue, definitely NOT Thailand.

[alfalfa19]

pompeo, former director of the CIA, has fond feelings for thailand,  as they had (and may still have) some rendition/internment/torture centers there. 

[owl sees all]

2 minutes ago, alfalfa19 said:

pompeo, former director of the CIA, has fond feelings for thailand,  as they had (and may still have) some rendition/internment/torture centers there.

There is a 'special' area on the 2022 between Penn and Bandung. 2.5k of heavily guarded rendition/internment/torture underground chambers.

 

When I lived near there I would watch the helicopters going in at night. locals said, in the past, they often could hear screaming at night.

 

It's all very respectable now. Voice of America transmit from there; don't ya know.