Thailand Cambodia armed conflict -- where do western expats fit in this mess?

[fondue zoo]

1 hour ago, grain said:

Well as so many of old expats claim to be Nam Vets, and ex SAS, and ex Paras, maybe Thailand should send recruitment staff around Soi 6 and BuaKhao bars and sign these highly trained military specialists up and put them to good use. 😁

 

Yeah, wherever you go nobody was ever a cook or an accountant for the army.

Everyone has a specific set of skills and can snatch the life bar-stool right out of you.

 

 

[sammieuk1]

As a Brit I'm expecting a strongly worded letter to be sent from David Lammy to the Cambodians' to cease hostilities and make your way to Calais' where the French will assist you with rubber boats🤔

[carlyai]

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

Well, that rather points to what should be the heart of the question: For those of us - quite a lot - who live near the Cambodian border (in my case, Prasat Surin) the issues are practical ones.

 

The little stalls we eat at frequently in PTT down the road have all closed (on the ground that places like PTT are likely targets of Cambodian artillery or rockets ... though none have struck here yet). If Lotus closes, then our main sources of food will have disappeared and we will have to think about what that means in terms of staying put or moving.

 

So far the only worry has been the loud blasts that feel like an earthquake every time the Thai artillery about 2 or 3 kms away sends off a blast. Enough to have frightened most of my Thai Khmer family away yesterday having arrived from Phanom Dong Rak only the day before ... now in Muaeng Surin & Korat where they feel safe.

 

As for me & my b/f and 2 other family members still here, my personal view is it would take much more than this to make me abandon my home, my library, my everything that's important to me in my old age. But of course that view could change very rapidly when & if.

 

Meantime the village head woman has apparently ordered (suggested?) everyone leave. Sorry, I'm hard of hearing ...

 

Not my quote.

[John Drake]

Keep mouth shut and hope the best for any Thais in harm's way.

[Trippy]

2 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

But where to go.

This is the question.

If the stuff hits the fan, I'll go back to the US until it's safe to come back, no question in my mind.

I still have some family and friends there, to keep me busy.

[GammaGlobulin]

44 minutes ago, Trippy said:

If the stuff hits the fan, I'll go back to the US until it's safe to come back, no question in my mind.

I still have some family and friends there, to keep me busy.

 

I find your comment quite interesting because.....

 

It seems surprising to me that you might even think that the present skirmishes might grow so large, and so soon, that this might pose an existential threat to you, and others here, in this community.

 

Is there any justification for your worry that this might even happen?

 

Care to reply?

 

Just a question, and I am not saying that your view might not be incorrect.

 

Waiting....

 

 

[Mark1969]

 

13 hours ago, KhunLA said:

It's their problem not ours.

Not if it spreads...

[marin]

Just now, Mark1969 said:

Not if it spreads...

To where? What the heck are you talking about?

[hotandsticky]

6 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Nothing truer said about the Sexpats in Thailand - and something they will never understand.

 

 

Stunning one-liner! Off topic, but stunning..... 🤣

[VictorInBKK]

Im in Songkhla and learned about the conflict today. Would bet many don't even know about it in this province.

[Trippy]

26 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

I find your comment quite interesting because.....

 

It seems surprising to me that you might even think that the present skirmishes might grow so large, and so soon, that this might pose an existential threat to you, and others here, in this community.

 

Is there any justification for your worry that this might even happen?

 

Care to reply?

 

Just a question, and I am not saying that your view might not be incorrect.

 

Waiting....

 

 

I was just playing along, this isn't my first Thai-Cambo border dispute. Don't take my comments literal. 

[GammaGlobulin]

4 minutes ago, Trippy said:

I was just playing along, this isn't my first Thai-Cambo border dispute. Don't take my comments literal. 

 

I never take your comments seriously.

No worries.

 

[MarcelV]

Living in the deep south of Thailand, with frequent bomb attacks and beheadings by radical nationalists, this conflict hasn't been able to scare me yet. Inshallah this will all blow over soon.

[richard_smith237]

31 minutes ago, VictorInBKK said:

Im in Songkhla and learned about the conflict today. Would bet many don't even know about it in this province.

 

Its on every Thai news channel... almost endlessly...     only if someone doesn't watch TV at all would they be unware.

 

As far as our impact or how this impacts us - it doesn't if we don't live near the border areas.

 

Should we also avoid opinion?... No, IMO of course not - just like anyone else we (foreigners here) can of course have opinions, but as with anything we should be careful where we voice those opinions - i.e. we should keep our opinions private, but in localised discussion, why not voice our opinion?, especially if we are aware of the history, the politics and familiar with the Hun Sen - Taksin games that have gone on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hummin]

I do not see any reason to discuss these matters with my Thai family. Their Cambodian hate have flared up again, and her brother is stationed at the Border in Trat making them worry a bit more than they would if he still was in Bangkok. 

 

This is just another unsolved post Colonist conflict flearing up again which will be a bigger problem when things are escalating globally.  

 

Thailand is friends with China and USA, and both have offered help to solve the conflict. 

 

 

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, Hummin said:

I do not see any reason to discuss these matters with my Thai family. Their Cambodian hate have flared up again, and her brother is stationed at the Border in Trat making them worry a bit more than they would if he still was in Bangkok. 

 

This is just another unsolved post Colonist conflict flearing up again which will be a bigger problem when things are escalating globally.  

 

Thailand is friends with China and USA, and both have offered help to solve the conflict. 

 

 

Agreed. Don't bring up the topic with Thais.

The fact is that China is much closer to Cambodia than Thailand. 

[dinsdale]

Stupid thread. 

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Stupid thread. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[Celsius]

But how many have proclaimed their love for thailand in the drunken stupor.

 

Go to the front lines like you promised and don't laugh at Russians avoiding the war.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, Celsius said:

But how many have proclaimed their love for thailand in the drunken stupor.

 

Go to the front lines like you promised and don't laugh at Russians avoiding the war.

This conflict is totally different than the Russia-Ukraine war.

[Celsius]

Just now, Jingthing said:

This conflict is totally different than the Russia-Ukraine war.

 

Oh yes...everything is different once it affects you 

[darbie-foos]

they supplied the F16 to the RTA. 

[Hummin]

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Agreed. Don't bring up the topic with Thais.

The fact is that China is much closer to Cambodia than Thailand. 

Then China needs to come up with a total package, since Thai army mostly is equipped with weapons and weapon systems from Nato allies. 

 

They can keep their Air Force operative for long if they leaning more to China than now. There is a reason they where denied the F-35

[GammaGlobulin]

5 hours ago, mfd101 said:

it would take much more than this to make me abandon my home, my library

 

Can you say more about your library?

 

I am more interested in this, compared to my interest in warfare.

 

Can you say more about this?

 

Any first editions, by the way?

 

And, how do they hold up in this climate?

 

Terrible climate for preserving good books, might I add.

 

Bindings take a pounding in this humidity, not to mention, possibly, a rocket attack.

 

 

[connda]

Thailand Cambodia armed conflict -- where do western expats fit in this mess?

 

Last time I checked Cambodia was about 600 km to my Southeast, which makes it something I'm not particularly concerned about.  Thailand and Cambodia have be trading slaps over that chunk of territory for decades.  This is nothing new.

[swissie]

Everybody just stop shaking in your boots, unless you (as a Farang) have bought some land in the disputed area. In the rest of Thailand, happy hour starts at 5 PM.

 

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

why not voice our opinion?

 

Because if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, even if factually and morally completely right, you could end up seriously injured.  You're likely to see a very different side of some Thais if you say anything that isn't very much pro-Thai and anti-Khmer.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

why not voice our opinion?

 

Because if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, even if factually and morally completely right, you could end up seriously injured.  You're likely to see a very different side of some Thais if you say anything that isn't very much pro-Thai and anti-Khmer.

 

An impressively obtuse and intellectually dishonest reply, given how deliberately you gutted the context of my comment so you can grandstand.

Below is the complete comment you chose to omit

 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

i.e. we should keep our opinions private, but in localised discussion, why not voice our opinion?, especially if we are aware of the history, the politics and familiar with the Hun Sen - Taksin games that have gone on.

 

 

[BangkokReady]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

An impressively obtuse and intellectually dishonest reply, given how deliberately you gutted the context of my comment so you can grandstand.

Below is the complete comment you chose to omit

 

Actually, I left it out as it is irrelevant (IMO), due to the fact that you can never be sure that you aren't going to offend someone.  Even in a "localised discussion", talking with close Thai friends who you feel you know and trust, topics of this nature can completely transform people.  It's just the way people are in countries such as Thailand.

 

I thought you would know that, and the fact that you apparently don't prompted my comment.  No obtuseness or intellectual dishonesty here.  (Not my style.)

[Packer]

Keep on doing whatever you're doing. 

 

Like that American walking around his moo bahn completely naked threatening people with a golfclub.