For many, Thailand’s UN vote on Russia still a puzzle

[webfact]

Thailand’s abstention in UN vote on Russia’s annexation ‘a pointless exercise to please Moscow’
 

An activist Oleg Slabochpitsky, 33-years-old, removing a road sign reading ‘Moskovska Str’ or ‘Moscow Street’, after Kyiv City Hall recently voted to rename 142 streets whose names refer to Russia, in Kyiv. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Thailand’s decision to abstain from voting on a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that rejected Russia’s annexation of four eastern regions in Ukraine, far from proving its neutrality, is actually counterproductive and severely dents its international credibility, many experts believe.  

 

A direct instruction went from the government in Bangkok to the Thai permanent representative at the UN Headquarters in New York to abstain from voting on the UNGA resolution on October 12 that called on all countries not to recognize Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory, a senior official at the Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

 

“There is no other consideration behind the decision except to please Russia and President Vladimir Putin, who has been invited to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] meeting in Bangkok next month,” he said.

 

The UN resolution aimed to defend the principle of the UN Charter since the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia are temporarily occupied by Russia as a result of aggression, violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-abstention-in-un-vote-on-russias-annexation-a-pointless-exercise-to-please-moscow/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-10-17

 

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[todlad]

This is their policy. Clearly and openly stated months ago. They have done it for strategic, pragmatic reasons. They don't have to vote for or against the war simply because you don't like it.

[JoePai]

Dictators must stick together

[plus7]

4 hours ago, stevenrossvanduyn said:

The truth is Russia is bombing innocent civilians, hospitals, schools and no Thailand likes to sit on the fence when it comes to foreign affairs.

If you want, you can find videos from Ukrainian troops where they take positions in schools and kindergarden.

You must understand, that empty school and kindergardens are very suitable for soldier barracks. Also when destroyed, it is a nice picture for media.

As far as I know, Russia does not attack school with pupils and hospitals.

 

Edited by Moderation Team: A link to a Russian language site has been removed.

[perryjr2]

Thailand realizes how the U.S. & NATO have pushed Russia and none of this would have happened had the west simply negotiated peacefully. This was something the Biden Administration would not support because they support the sale of weapons and bombs to it's NATO customer as well as possibly adding a new NATO client Ukraine who would also need to be sold and armed to meet the minimum specs for membership. No one is fooled it's all for profit not for people. The west could care less about it's people or they would insist on peaceful negotiation.

[coolcarer]

19 minutes ago, gsohman said:

Historically Switzerland has been the world haven as a politically natural and has hence been available to opposing sides in any conflict as an impartially and unbiased country to which peaceful ideas and solutions can safely be negotiated and agreed.

Well history has been made then because Switzerland voted against the illegal annexations in Ukraine  by Russia

[plus7]

15 minutes ago, gsohman said:

Historically Switzerland has been the world haven as a politically natural and has hence been available to opposing sides in any conflict as an impartially and unbiased country to which peaceful ideas and solutions can safely be negotiated and agreed.

For many years, historically, Switzerland was known for its warriors mercenaries. Wiki said its zenith was reached in 15-16 century. When technical progress in warfare made single man negligible, the stopped this practice. Peaceful, they are only last 150 years. But I still remember ... ????

[robertson468]

What ever you do, do not mention that initially Thailand joined the Axis Powers in World War 2, until they realised that they were to weaker coalition and jumped ship.

 

Thailand sadly is still a very immature "democracy" and many Western Countries have little respect for a Country that lives from coupe to coupe.  Don't misunderstand me, the People, by and large are lovely and very friendly, but the political class would appear more interested in their personal life then "serving" the Country.

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

What ever you do, do not mention that initially Thailand joined the Axis Powers in World War 2, until they realised that they were to weaker coalition and jumped ship.

 

Thailand sadly is still a very immature "democracy" and many Western Countries have little respect for a Country that lives from coupe to coupe.  Don't misunderstand me, the People, by and large are lovely and very friendly, but the political class would appear more interested in their personal life then "serving" the Country.

They had little choice, join or die.  Along with their, TH's resistance that fought them, and gave great intel to the Allied force to help end the war.

 

Don't judge another, till you walked in their shoes ????

 

Ignorance is Bliss ... for some

[gearbox]

1 hour ago, crazykopite said:

Those who side with Russia should have sanctions imposed on them and I include Thailand 

Yep the home countries should ban their citizens to get retirement extensions ????

[AlQaholic]

Just to summarize: Russia occupied Moldovan Transnistria in 1992, Georgian Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008, Ukrainian Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014, then tried a blitz overtake of the whole Ukraine in 2022.

 

Include in this the fact that Crimea sits on top of Europe's largest Natural Gas reserves, and Donetsk also have considerable fossil fuel reserves. Then Putin's motives becomes a bit clearer. Putin engaged in a high risk gamble when he attacked Kiev in February and failed.

 

Where was the world outcry when Georgia was attacked in 2008? I suppose everyone was thinking, just another Chechnya thing, not our concern. Ukraine feels more European than any of those -stan countries. 

[connda]

The "We hate Russia and Russians" crowd is now becoming the "We hate Thailand and Thais" crowd.

If you don't like Thailand's Geo-political neutrality - pack up and leave.
Go back to your Western utopias which now have massive energy, food, and inflation problems directly related to attempting to 'punish Russia' with sanctions. 

Personally I commend Thailand for their neutral stance.  Stay neutral and maintain trade alliances.  Win-Win. 

Thomas Jefferson sums it up, "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."

Amen.

[coolcarer]

6 minutes ago, connda said:

The "We hate Russia and Russians" crowd is now becoming the "We hate Thailand and Thais" crowd.

If you don't like Thailand's Geo-political neutrality - pack up and leave.
Go back to your Western utopias which now have massive energy, food, and inflation problems directly related to attempting to 'punish Russia' with sanctions. 

Personally I commend Thailand for their neutral stance.  Stay neutral and maintain trade alliances.  Win-Win. 

Thomas Jefferson sums it up, "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."

Amen.

You don’t have to hate Russia to make a vote, you don’t have to hate Thailand to express a view on their vote and you certainly don’t have to leave if you do. What a feeble post

[gejohesch]

6 hours ago, 2baht said:

Fence sitters!

Indeed! Despicable <deleted> from Thailand:

 

"In explaining Thailand’s stand on the latest vote, Suriya Chindawongse, Thailand’s Permanent Representative to UN, said in a statement that Thailand chose to abstain because the vote “takes place during an extremely volatile and emotionally charged atmosphere and situation, and thus marginalizes the chance for crisis diplomacy to bring about a peaceful and practical negotiated resolution to the conflict that may push the world towards the brink of nuclear war and global economic collapse.”

 

But not surprising....

[spidermike007]

Is Suriya Chindawongse, Thailand’s Permanent Representative to UN actually suggesting FM Don has the negotiating skill, influence, and leverage to put forward a diplomatic solution to this crisis, and influence Vlad?

 

Or is this simply cleverly camouflaged double speak intended to look like they are not simply caving into Russia and China? 

[Saanim]

27 minutes ago, plus7 said:

Yes, because it is hard to find it on "unbiased western media"

Do you have any claims that those videos are fake ?

 

Actually, the same statement was found on the "western media" - if Amnesty International is considered as "western media"...

 

But sometimes obviously not.  I just mentioned that it was recently publicised by them and now I no longer see it here. Are the AI now illegal? 

 

The AI are functioning under wings of UN, with Dr. Agnes Callamard  as their Secretary General, she being a long time working for UN human rights departments.   

[gejohesch]

49 minutes ago, perryjr2 said:

Thailand realizes how the U.S. & NATO have pushed Russia and none of this would have happened had the west simply negotiated peacefully. This was something the Biden Administration would not support because they support the sale of weapons and bombs to it's NATO customer as well as possibly adding a new NATO client Ukraine who would also need to be sold and armed to meet the minimum specs for membership. No one is fooled it's all for profit not for people. The west could care less about it's people or they would insist on peaceful negotiation.

<deleted>

[Chongalulu]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Jeez, the world must be full of thick politicians or ignorant ones that cannot see what every single foreigner living here can see - It's about tourism and money - not about having good moral standards or supporting Russia ! If Russia has been say Peru invading Brazil, they would be condemning it to the roof tops

Except the stupidity remains; Russia ,from a thailand tourist perspective is pretty much dead for the foreseeable future. Putin has ensured Russia is economically severely damaged for the longer term so there really will not be Russians going on holiday in any numbers to anywhere,particularly relative to the Western nations whose stance by Thailand has been noted. No,they have simply aligned themselves with China,their ultimate masters 

[ThailandRyan]

3 hours ago, edogthong said:

A proxy war is when one country helps another to fight a third. So this is absolutely a US proxy war. The US installed Zelensky in the first place and he's been killing thousands of his own Russian speaking citizens in the affected regions for years. Btw, a majority of those people want their areas to belong to Russia. Let's not forget that there was a peace deal on the table, about to be signed in April but Boris Johnson rushed over to convince Zelensky not to sign it. Now, why on earth would he do that? Figure that one out and you'll begin to understand what's really going on. 

Is it just the US, or is Europe involved?  Trying to make it just about the US is a fallacy and is a belief by some that the US is the only one involved... So this is not a proxy war in the sense you believe.  You truly believe that there was a workable peace deal on the table? or a deal being rammed down another sovereign countries throat as the other country, in this case Russia, just moved in and took the land they wanted......your view is out of balance.

[mran66]

Whats the puzzle? 

 

Dictators usually don't criticize fellow dictators as that easily hits own foot later.  And if they do, it will be more subtle and diplomatic, kind of like expressing their own idea of dictatorship rather than condemning. Having Thailand condemning Russia would have been surprising actually.

 

Public explanation of why not to condemn is ridiculous of course.

 

[Thingamabob]

Thailand/Siam has endeavoured to remain neutral throughout most of it's history. However, It did side with the Axis powers in WW2 (at the point of a gun), and took on the French at a time when they were annexing Thai territory. It is also facing an ongoing insurgency in the south. Apart from those  instances Thailand has kept well away from international disputes, rightly so in my opinion. 

[bradiston]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I can agree that the world is changing, but IMO the winner won't be the greedy, decadent, soft, bogged down in stupidities west.

If, as you believe, Thailand is choosing a side, IMO they are choosing the winning side.

Since when has abstaining amounted to choosing a side? I wonder if the other 42 countries that abstained would accept they were, in reality, voting for "the winning side". If the winning side is made up of those that voted against, then I think they will be busy in the next transfer market. Kim Wrong'un in goal? Lukashenko up front? Assad midfield? Trouble is, with only 5 players, they might find themselves a bit stretched. A complete bunch of tossers.

 

Walk on, walk on...

 

[metisdead]

A number of off topic deflection posts and replies have been removed.  Please remember this topic is about:

 

For many, Thailand’s UN vote on Russia still a puzzle

[Saanim]

6 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Since when has abstaining amounted to choosing a side?

 

There have been so many conflicts in the world, some very serious ones even in Thailand's  neighbourhood. I guess that nobody was ever outraged by Thailand's side taking or not taking. 

 

Perhaps there were some (outraged). But it would  be well off-topic, won't it be?   

[PomPolo]

1 hour ago, connda said:

The "We hate Russia and Russians" crowd is now becoming the "We hate Thailand and Thais" crowd.

If you don't like Thailand's Geo-political neutrality - pack up and leave.
Go back to your Western utopias which now have massive energy, food, and inflation problems directly related to attempting to 'punish Russia' with sanctions. 

Personally I commend Thailand for their neutral stance.  Stay neutral and maintain trade alliances.  Win-Win. 

Thomas Jefferson sums it up, "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."

Amen.

Such a stupid post.

 

SCENARIO: China align with Russia and take the actions as their chance to annex Taiwan, the world becomes more involved.  China decide to continue their invasions of South East Asian countries, firstly Philippines and eventually Thailand.

QUESTION: Which way will Thailand vote in the UN resolution in this scenario?

[hotchilli]

Thailand does what Thailand does best, plays both sides or all sides for it's own benefit.

Same as trade deals..... 

[John Drake]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I can agree that the world is changing, but IMO the winner won't be the greedy, decadent, soft, bogged down in stupidities west.

If, as you believe, Thailand is choosing a side, IMO they are choosing the winning side.

I agree with the gist of your post. But every now and then, the US does something right. Last Friday, the Biden administration imposed wide ranging chip export restrictions on China, especially concerning design tools. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/12/us-chip-export-restrictions-could-hobble-chinas-semiconductor-goals.html  It's far more ranging and effective than Trump's tepid showroom tariffs or controls on things like Huawei. And God help Thailand if it tries to take advantage and serve as a false front for Chinese firms trying to import technology through Thailand.

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Untrue. See Seri Thai, the Free Thai Movement.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thai_Movement

 

Japan overran the whole of South East Asia, including Taiwan. Anyone heard of Pearl Harbour?

Seri Thai did not begin to have the effectiveness of the Viet Minh or MPAJA. Read up on those movements. By the way, it's spelled Pearl Harbor, not Pearl Harbour.

[KhunLA]

40 minutes ago, John Drake said:

By the end of WW II, the Japanese were afraid to venture outside the major population centers in Indochina, because of the Viet Minh. In Malaya, the MPAJA made life absolutely miserable for the Japanese from 1942 until the end. There was nothing comparable in Thailand. Nothing.

That's 1 opinion ... 

You may want to enlighten yourself:

https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/the-free-thai-movement-and-the-soe/

 

Have a nice day

[coolcarer]

2 hours ago, perryjr2 said:

Thailand realizes how the U.S. & NATO have pushed Russia and none of this would have happened had the west simply negotiated peacefully. This was something the Biden Administration would not support because they support the sale of weapons and bombs to it's NATO customer as well as possibly adding a new NATO client Ukraine who would also need to be sold and armed to meet the minimum specs for membership. No one is fooled it's all for profit not for people. The west could care less about it's people or they would insist on peaceful negotiation.

There was never any hope of a peace deal. Putin made it plain to the world on the 22nd of Feb as he invaded that Ukraine’s claim to being a sovereign nation was entirely baseless and denied that a Ukraine had ever been a real statehood. The only reasons it was Ukraine now was because of a series of bumbling mistakes by previous Soviet Leaders.

 

This was never about the annexation of these territories, the goal was and remains a complete takeover of Ukraine. The only reason it’s not already in Russian hands is he was mislead into thinking Ukrainians would welcome him with flowers.