Thai Army Seeks Bt770 Billion To Buy Tanks, Guns And Bullet-Proof Jackets

[mark45y]

Please read what I have said carefully.

Tanks are a key part of coups but have little part to play in riot control unless you go for the Napoleonic approach which is unthinkable in any decent society today. Hence, only authoritarian states use armoured vehicles against their own people, see Tiananmen square or the suppression of the coup in Moscow 1993, when you had T80 main battle tanks pounding the White House parliamentary Building into a smoking ruin. A powerful image of intent and power that is unlikely to be repeated in any self-respecting countries. In April 2010 the RTA used APCs as protected buses and battering rams to move ground troops forward.

Tanks are the classic icon of a coup across the world, hence their continued appearance in most military coups and the old cliche of "parking your tanks on someone's lawn" as a statement of aggressive intent.

Crowd control happens every day in many parts of the world. You can buy crowd control vehicles on ebay for $10,000 used or new $50,000. With all due respect for your knowledge of armor. Lets say I wanted to control a crowd in Bangkok. I could put 5 tanks on the street or 500 crowd control vehicles with water cannon and other not lethal weapons. You would put the 5 tanks? I know your thinking is of strategic revolutions and dramatic coups but I am thinking of every day crowd control without a large loss of life. Tanks are too expensive, sorry. I think any rational person would opt for 500 vehicles designed for the specific job rather than 5 vehicles that are designed for a completely, radically different role. I am not thinking of Icons I am a practical man thinking of getting the job done.

[folium]

Tanks have a role in coups not for crowd control, unless the aim is indiscriminate slaughter on a great scale. When Thailand has its 19th military coup since 1932 watch to see what vehicles are on the streets and in every piece of news coverage.

read what I say and you will find that we agree on this. Cairo today underlines this, bunch of M60s and M1 Abrams doing nothing useful and utterly wasted, just makes the Egyptian army look completely impotent.

[mark45y]

Tanks have a role in coups not for crowd control, unless the aim is indiscriminate slaughter on a great scale. When Thailand has its 19th military coup since 1932 watch to see what vehicles are on the streets and in every piece of news coverage.

read what I say and you will find that we agree on this. Cairo today underlines this, bunch of M60s and M1 Abrams doing nothing useful and utterly wasted, just makes the Egyptian army look completely impotent.

Don't get me wrong. I think the generals should get new tanks. Boys and toys and such. Have to keep the boys happy.

My only point was with the poster a while back who said the tanks were to control the mobs on the streets of Bangkok. Tanks are not being purchased to control mobs on the street. Tanks are being purchased for the generals to play with. New tanks mean new training, new maintenance procedures, new tactics all sorts of new stuff. They might even require a few new Generals. New parts that have to be stocked and all those things have to be bribed for. It is a big new income source.

As far as tanks for PR and for coups the old ones do as well as the new ones because how many people really care if they are run over by a fuel efficient quiet new tank or an old noisy tank.

My point was new tanks are not being purchased for coups or crowd control. The old ones are fine for that.

Anyway since Thailand is a military dictatorship the boys will get the tanks anyway so it is a moot point.

[TAWP]

How about United Nations banning all arms trade? I mean not just the "illegal" arms trade but ALL. The countries who want to have arms would have to be able to produce them. Imagine Thai-made tanks, Myanmar made rockets and Lao made submarines .. ops sorry their lakes and rivers aren't deep enough .. maybe Vietnam subs. Or all the strongmen of Africa having to advance their economies to obtain more than machetes. Maybe that would make some difference to the people's ability to defend themselves from the corrupt and despotic regimes? The only problem is that UN is made of governments not people nations. It should in fact be called UG .. United Governments.

One of our biggest recent genocides was perpetuated with machetes and clubs. Thinking that the removal of gun-sales would remove war, revolutions or general problems is a pipe-dream.