Thailand Never Been Colonised - Fact Or Myth?

[MAJIC]

And Pattaya has been colonised by the Brits.

Pattaya has been colonized by the Russians, the days of the Brits are over

Why feel the need to hijack an interesting thread with an attack on Brits? I suggest if you don't like it, go home.

And how can they attack the Brits? considering they also have been Colonised. And for 900 years,if you can't beat that.Go Home!

[Richard W]

I am still waiting for you to provide REAL links to informative sources which give empirical evidence (as per your claim) that Britain wished to COLONIZE Thailand after WWII.

I think the relevant article is http://home.comcast....ot/thailand.htm .

Richard.

[autan]

Thailand has always been a friend to the USA, especially since 9 June 1946. I can't think why can you. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Thailand was not punished after WW2 and perhaps the reason why the USA used Thailand as a major staging post in the Vietnam war. It could also be why NATO countries can use Thai Naval Facilities to dock their ships and give their personel shore leave. Just a thought.

[BookMan]

Thailand declared war on the US and UK on Jan 25, 1942. Few if any Thais were killed building the railway of death. Many Asians were killed but no or very few Thais.

I realize we will play the game that the Thai ambassador never delivered the declaration of war to the US. Well that is silly. An ambassador does not have the power to change a governmental decision and all those American bombers that bombed Thailand for years did not think so either. Nor did Thailand when it surrendered. All Thai diplomats were interned in the US in 1942 and the ones that wanted to go back to Thailand were sent back and exchanged for the American diplomats from Bangkok. Nor did the Brits in 1946 when they occupied Bangkok. Nor did Thailand when it gave back the territory to the French and Burmese.

The asian labourers were predominantly from Java

[Mosha]

I think the Thais view the Japanese occupation as a 'temporarily permitted alliance'.

Unless they were comfort women. The Japanese took them from every country they controlled.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Mosha

[Mosha]

I think the Thais view the Japanese occupation as a 'temporarily permitted alliance'.

I think they like to view it as pulling the wool over the Japanese eyes while the secretly helped the Allies.

There's a host of imagery from this period in photo archives outside of Thailand that is highly unlikely ever be displayed in the Kingdom.

There was a camp on La-Un where the Tamils from Malaysia and Thai resistance fighters were held, while building the Chumphon to Khao Fa Chi rail line. Although some Thais did volunteer to work on that line for a princely sum of 3 Baht/day. Which was more than the normal daily rate back then

[croweater]

Thailand declared war on the US and UK on Jan 25, 1942. Few if any Thais were killed building the railway of death. Many Asians were killed but no or very few Thais.

I realize we will play the game that the Thai ambassador never delivered the declaration of war to the US. Well that is silly. An ambassador does not have the power to change a governmental decision and all those American bombers that bombed Thailand for years did not think so either. Nor did Thailand when it surrendered. All Thai diplomats were interned in the US in 1942 and the ones that wanted to go back to Thailand were sent back and exchanged for the American diplomats from Bangkok. Nor did the Brits in 1946 when they occupied Bangkok. Nor did Thailand when it gave back the territory to the French and Burmese.

"few if any Thais were killed" "many Asians were killed but no or very few Thais" quite possible, but then,maby not.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Many of you are completely oblivious to the difference between colonization and occupation. Pretty much the whole of continental Europe has been occupied by another nation some of the time; that doesn't mean all of them were colonies, as per what a colony is.

Someone said that there was nothing worth taking in Thailand; interesting, but how was there less worth taking than in Malaysia, Vietnam or Cambodia? A lot of the stuff worth taking was agricultural produce (spices, cotton, whatever) which grows in Thailand just as well as it does in Cambodia or Malaysia. So I need some more arguments on this hypothesis.

[Mosha]

If you controlled the Malacca Straits, you controlled the the spice trade routes from further east to Europe. So Malayasia was important.

[Pseudolus]

I am still waiting for you to provide REAL links to informative sources which give empirical evidence (as per your claim) that Britain wished to COLONIZE Thailand after WWII.

I think the relevant article is http://home.comcast....ot/thailand.htm .

Richard.

That's not evidence - that holds about as much weight as anything written on TV.

Thailand has always been a friend to the USA, especially since 9 June 1946. I can't think why can you. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Thailand was not punished after WW2 and perhaps the reason why the USA used Thailand as a major staging post in the Vietnam war. It could also be why NATO countries can use Thai Naval Facilities to dock their ships and give their personel shore leave. Just a thought.

I think there is a lot of truth in this. Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people). So they wanted a place where their ships could dock, their service men could unload their frustrations, and they could push around and knowing that Thailand are basically the French of Asia, it was the perfect venue.

Interesting post earlier saying that Thailand never paid their reparations in terms of rice. No surprise there of course. Maybe they should be help to account now and be forced to hand it over, plus interest for 60 yrs late payment.

But as I understand it looking at this thread, and with some supplementary reading, Thailand had the parts that were of interest stolen by the British and the French empire int he north. In the middle of WW2 Thailand got a little cheeky and tried to take some back from the French (even though supposedly there were both on the same side of the axis of evil) and got back a fragment of the previously stolen land and declared that a famous military victory. What had really transpired though is that Japan, and no doubt Germany as well, had made the suggestion to France to stop farting about in Thailand and save ammo for the real fight, and not to worry because their mates Japan were about to march in and take Thailand anyway.

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Onwards they go then, ducking and hiding for the next few years. No Thai's were involved in the building of the Burma railroad as frankly even the Japanese could not work out a way to get the Thais working instead of sitting on the back of their carts supping booze. The Thai's of course believed they were making the dream happen though and eagerly conspired with the Japanese in their torture and death camps (any excuse to hurt the Farangs, even back then). End of the war comes, Thailand comes snivelling to the yanks saying "well, you know we never meant it, it was all those beastly Japanese people. Be our friend and you can turn our country into a brothel for your troops when Russia and China kick off, which they will, and we will never be communist. All the time the Brits are screaming "but those bastards were complicit in war crimes and need to be punished". The Americans though who had cleverly ensured they stayed out of the war until the allied forces were so in debt to them monetarily, held all the cards and as a passing whim told Thailand to hand over some rice to the ex British colonies, which they never did (Motto of Thailand....the Cheque's in the post).

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

[nontabury]

I am still waiting for you to provide REAL links to informative sources which give empirical evidence (as per your claim) that Britain wished to COLONIZE Thailand after WWII.

I think the relevant article is http://home.comcast....ot/thailand.htm .

Richard.

Maybe it was how she said, or maybe it was how she thought.

One thing I'm sure we can all agree on.Who in their right minds would want to colonise Thailand,the first thing you'd have to do would be to organise them,IMPOSSIBLE.

[Pseudolus]

Maybe it was how she said, or maybe it was how she thought.

One thing I'm sure we can all agree on.Who in their right minds would want to colonise Thailand,the first thing you'd have to do would be to organise them,IMPOSSIBLE.

I would say it would be very easy to colonise Thailand. All you would need to do is the following;

1. Give each house hold a pick up truck body (doesn't need to drive anywhere, so the shell will be OK).
   
2. Park it outside the parents house, fill it with fags and booze and invite the local men to sit on it all day. Food delivered by mummy 3 times daily.
   

That's about it. They'd all be happy as larry. Mum would have her baby boys close at hand, and the men would do what they would love best. Might need to chuck in a brothel or two on a rationing system. You'd just need to make sure that your country managed to take enough out of Thai natural resources to make it worth while and that would be the hard part.

[Thaddeus]

Pride is a funny thing isn't it, it can be justified when there is a reason to be, otherwise it is just baseless arrogance.

One word, twice.........

Tin Tin

[submaniac]

Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people).

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

Wonderful to hear your version of history. Remind me again, how well did the British do against the Japanese during World War II? How many battles did the British win against Japan? What is the number again? ZERO? Can we name some territory that was reconquered by the British forces from the Japanese during World War II (without U.S. assistance)? What is that you say, NOTHING? Britain was really doing a great job against the Japanese during World War II that it needed to drag the United States into the war. It was the United States Navy and Marines that took back the Pacific islands one island at a time to get within air strike range of Japan. It was the United States that developed the atomic bomb and dropped it which made Japan surrender. Britain really didn't do much in Asia other than SURRENDER.

[Trembly]

Many more Thais died building the infamous railway than the allied POWs.

No they didn't. It was Burmese, Malaysians, Javans, and Indians that were dieing like flies. There is a reason there is almost no anti Japanese sentiment in Thailand unlike in the rest of Asia, the Japanese basically left them alone.

Thailand at the time was under going a nationalistic period in which they wanted to reunite all of the Thai speaking peoples in to one country. That meant they wanted Laos and Shan territory in Burma, and even wanted part of China. The government was happy to cooperate with the Japanese and invade Shan state in Burma.

Thailand probably came out of WWII better than almost any country, so they did quite a good job. They didn't have mass atrocities from the Japanese like the Koreans and Chinese did. They invaded both British and French territory. The country was not carpet bombed like Europe and Japan although there was some bombing. And after the war, they were able to say they were forced by the Japanese, so the United States didn't even punish them. Worked out so good there is hardly even any memory of the war at all, much of the rest of the world is still arguing over it

Quite so.

It also useful to remember that the military dictator of Thailand at the time was a fascist who personally admired both Hitler and Mussolini (he kept a picture of Mussolini in his office) and was ideologically more or less in tune with the fascist military junta who were the de facto rulers of Japan at the time.

[chiangmaikelly]

I think the Thais view the Japanese occupation as a 'temporarily permitted alliance'.

Unless they were comfort women. The Japanese took them from every country they controlled.

No Thai comfort women. The Japanese paid. A lot of written history of comfort women. Never any mention of Thai women.

The Thais would have mentioned it because at the time they were trying to get our of paying war reparations and any negatives against Japan were made public.

[Trembly]

The museum at The Bridge is called the JEATH railway museum. The acronym is for the poor souls that took part in the 'action' Japan, England ,Australia, Thailand and Holland, I didn't grace it with my prescence.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Thaivisa Connect App

So the Thais during the war were similar to the Non Jewish Slovakia then? Basically the bitches of their conquering power, who pretended to themselves that they were sort of allies to them, and took part in and horrendous atrocities but come out the other side smelling of roses? Doesn't surprise me at all. anything for an easy life and a buck on the hip.

Perhaps the Yanks wanted to keep Thailand sweet though? The communist movement was gaining momentum in Vietnam, Korea was kicking off, and they needed somewhere for their soldier to get some R+R.

If you read accounts of POWs working on the Burma railroad though, it is clear that the Japanese treated the local Thais with disdain and not better than they treated any other conquered nation.

That's a rough way of putting it but ehm...............true

The communist aspect wasn't an issue immediately post war though......that came years later after the US realized they had lost the greatest chance in human history to " impose " their values of democracy and freedom on the World.

I put the word " impose " in brackets as I do feel that the core values of the US are worthy values. Another US foreign policy eff up caused by the professional diplomats and politicians being overwhelmed..........as well as the US allowing itself to be held hostage by the anti British Irish lobby.

Mental stuff.

You should not confuse US core values with US political incompetence. They are two separate things.

Does the US get no credit for defending a free Europe?

I give the US military-industrial complex full marks for opportunism and business acumen by selling war materials to all sides, waiting before the British coffers were drained and then dictating usurious terms for loans and lend-lease (to include the dismantling of empire in accordance with the antiquated but effective strategy of divide and rule) before entering the fray with the blood of their own good ol' boys, equipped with Government Issue all bought from you-know-who to ensure that their debtors are not invaded by someone who is unlikely to honour the debt. Rinsed and repeated after WWI.

'Free' my arse.

Edit : just to link this to the thread, the very fact that Japan entered Thailand at all was due the US's deliberate provocation (by economic strangulation) of Japan who duly struck out when they realised that they were cornered so that the US would have moral support for kicking the Japanese out of China and assume hegemony of far-eastern trade for itself (UK, France and Japan to exit left). No, I'm not bashing Americans, I'm bashing the American Govt of the time. And yes of course the Chinese were glad to see the back of the Japanese.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Trembly

[Berkshire]

Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people).

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

Wonderful to hear your version of history. Remind me again, how well did the British do against the Japanese during World War II? How many battles did the British win against Japan? What is the number again? ZERO? Can we name some territory that was reconquered by the British forces from the Japanese during World War II (without U.S. assistance)? What is that you say, NOTHING? Britain was really doing a great job against the Japanese during World War II that it needed to drag the United States into the war. It was the United States Navy and Marines that took back the Pacific islands one island at a time to get within air strike range of Japan. It was the United States that developed the atomic bomb and dropped it which made Japan surrender. Britain really didn't do much in Asia other than SURRENDER.

Good points. Comparing the Thai military to the Japanese is pretty much the same as comparing the British military to the Americans. Or I should say there's really no comparison.

[Trembly]

Many of you are completely oblivious to the difference between colonization and occupation. Pretty much the whole of continental Europe has been occupied by another nation some of the time; that doesn't mean all of them were colonies, as per what a colony is.

Someone said that there was nothing worth taking in Thailand; interesting, but how was there less worth taking than in Malaysia, Vietnam or Cambodia? A lot of the stuff worth taking was agricultural produce (spices, cotton, whatever) which grows in Thailand just as well as it does in Cambodia or Malaysia. So I need some more arguments on this hypothesis.

Precisely what I touched upon in my opening post to this thread, but it seems the irony was lost on some.

[chiangmaikelly]

the United States didn't even punish them.

DP25 is broadly correct......I highlighted that statement as it's highly relevant as to what happened next. I've had a good look at the workings of US foreign policy after the war at the best that can be said is that the US was overwhelmed. Too many people were making decisions with major implications way above their pay grade and this in turn caused long lasting and debilitating effects.

The status of Thailand was one such mistake.

The Other War:

FDR's Battle Against Churchill and the British Empire by L. Wolfe

On April 12, 1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States died.

Almost immediately, British agents moved to obliterate Roosevelt's policies and his postwar plans.

Orders that were being prepared for U.S. ships and marines to take Hong Kong and turn it over to the Chinese, were aborted. Other plans to prevent the French from retaking Indochina were cancelled, and American troops in the area were told to stand aside. The imperial flags went back up, as Churchill had been demanding, all over the world.

Edited August 30, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[BookMan]

Maybe it was how she said, or maybe it was how she thought.

One thing I'm sure we can all agree on.Who in their right minds would want to colonise Thailand,the first thing you'd have to do would be to organise them,IMPOSSIBLE.

I would say it would be very easy to colonise Thailand. All you would need to do is the following;

1. Give each house hold a pick up truck body (doesn't need to drive anywhere, so the shell will be OK).
   
2. Park it outside the parents house, fill it with fags and booze and invite the local men to sit on it all day. Food delivered by mummy 3 times daily.
   

That's about it. They'd all be happy as larry. Mum would have her baby boys close at hand, and the men would do what they would love best. Might need to chuck in a brothel or two on a rationing system. You'd just need to make sure that your country managed to take enough out of Thai natural resources to make it worth while and that would be the hard part.

You seem funnier Pseudolus ever since you updated your Avatar to Sid james.

[chiangmaikelly]

I am still waiting for you to provide REAL links to informative sources which give empirical evidence (as per your claim) that Britain wished to COLONIZE Thailand after WWII.

I think the relevant article is http://home.comcast....ot/thailand.htm .

Richard.

That is really an interesting article. It says, "That the United States, Britain, and Thailand had signed a treaty. Because of the puppet government that the Japanese set up in Thailand, Thailand was being ceded to the British Empire. This free country, for a thousand years, being ceded to the British Empire. We had said repeatedly, we will help any people who will help fight for their freedom. I couldn't believe it, I was so horrified"

[chiangmaikelly]

So the Thais during the war were similar to the Non Jewish Slovakia then? Basically the bitches of their conquering power, who pretended to themselves that they were sort of allies to them, and took part in and horrendous atrocities but come out the other side smelling of roses? Doesn't surprise me at all. anything for an easy life and a buck on the hip.

Perhaps the Yanks wanted to keep Thailand sweet though? The communist movement was gaining momentum in Vietnam, Korea was kicking off, and they needed somewhere for their soldier to get some R+R.

If you read accounts of POWs working on the Burma railroad though, it is clear that the Japanese treated the local Thais with disdain and not better than they treated any other conquered nation.

That's a rough way of putting it but ehm...............true

The communist aspect wasn't an issue immediately post war though......that came years later after the US realized they had lost the greatest chance in human history to " impose " their values of democracy and freedom on the World.

I put the word " impose " in brackets as I do feel that the core values of the US are worthy values. Another US foreign policy eff up caused by the professional diplomats and politicians being overwhelmed..........as well as the US allowing itself to be held hostage by the anti British Irish lobby.

Mental stuff.

You should not confuse US core values with US political incompetence. They are two separate things.

Does the US get no credit for defending a free Europe?

I give the US military-industrial complex full marks for opportunism and business acumen by selling war materials to all sides, waiting before the British coffers were drained and then dictating usurious terms for loans and lend-lease (to include the dismantling of empire in accordance with the antiquated but effective strategy of divide and rule) before entering the fray with the blood of their own good ol' boys, equipped with Government Issue all bought from you-know-who to ensure that their debtors are not invaded by someone who is unlikely to honour the debt. Rinsed and repeated after WWI.

'Free' my arse.

Edit : just to link this to the thread, the very fact that Japan entered Thailand at all was due the US's deliberate provocation (by economic strangulation) of Japan who duly struck out when they realised that they were cornered so that the US would have moral support for kicking the Japanese out of China and assume hegemony of far-eastern trade for itself (UK, France and Japan to exit left). No, I'm not bashing Americans, I'm bashing the American Govt of the time. And yes of course the Chinese were glad to see the back of the Japanese.

The Other War:

FDR's Battle Against Churchill and the British Empire by L. Wolfe

In November 1940, Roosevelt demanded an accounting from Churchill of British financial resources. What came back, in a classified communication, were the details of the London's effective bankruptcy: London could not pay for any aid. Roosevelt's advisers created the Lend-Lease program to meet this contingency.

Later in 1941 when discussing the Atlantic Charter Churchill said, “Mr. President, I believe you are trying to do away with the British Empire. Every idea you entertain about the structure of the postwar world demonstrates it.... But in spite of that, you constitute our only hope. You know it. We know it. You know that we know that without America, the British Empire won't stand.''

The Atlantic Charter. 1941

1. no territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom;
   
2. territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned;
   
3. all people had a right to self-determination;
   
4. trade barriers were to be lowered;
   
5. there was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare;
   
6. the participants would work for a world free of want and fear;
   
7. the participants would work for freedom of the seas;
   
8. there was to be disarmament of aggressor nations, and a postwar common disarmament.
   

Churchill signed it but didn't want to. Both the US and UK later wanted to forget about it.

[simple1]

Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people).

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

Wonderful to hear your version of history. Remind me again, how well did the British do against the Japanese during World War II? How many battles did the British win against Japan? What is the number again? ZERO? Can we name some territory that was reconquered by the British forces from the Japanese during World War II (without U.S. assistance)? What is that you say, NOTHING? Britain was really doing a great job against the Japanese during World War II that it needed to drag the United States into the war. It was the United States Navy and Marines that took back the Pacific islands one island at a time to get within air strike range of Japan. It was the United States that developed the atomic bomb and dropped it which made Japan surrender. Britain really didn't do much in Asia other than SURRENDER.

The British eventually stopped the Japanese in Burma (at Imphal) when they trying to reach India. The British, with Indian infantry defeated the Japanese in Burma.

[chiangmaikelly]

Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people).

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

Wonderful to hear your version of history. Remind me again, how well did the British do against the Japanese during World War II? How many battles did the British win against Japan? What is the number again? ZERO? Can we name some territory that was reconquered by the British forces from the Japanese during World War II (without U.S. assistance)? What is that you say, NOTHING? Britain was really doing a great job against the Japanese during World War II that it needed to drag the United States into the war. It was the United States Navy and Marines that took back the Pacific islands one island at a time to get within air strike range of Japan. It was the United States that developed the atomic bomb and dropped it which made Japan surrender. Britain really didn't do much in Asia other than SURRENDER.

The British eventually stopped the Japanese in Burma (at Imphal) when they trying to reach India. The British, with Indian infantry defeated the Japanese in Burma.

That's correct and didn't the same army come down and occupy Bangkok for a year?

[simple1]

If you controlled the Malacca Straits, you controlled the the spice trade routes from further east to Europe. So Malayasia was important.

Also the Japanese wanted secure sea route to Burma, remember they attacked British naval forces off Sri Lanka as well as British air assets to try and achieve this objective. Also the Japanese wanted access to the rubber and tin in Malaysia

[Berkshire]

Someone said that there was nothing worth taking in Thailand; interesting, but how was there less worth taking than in Malaysia, Vietnam or Cambodia? A lot of the stuff worth taking was agricultural produce (spices, cotton, whatever) which grows in Thailand just as well as it does in Cambodia or Malaysia. So I need some more arguments on this hypothesis.

I believe the "someone" you're referring to is that Pseudolus character, the Thai-hating whack-job who lost his credibility on these threads a long time ago. So you're basically correct--his assertions doesn't make any sense.

[travelmann]

"Thai version" Myth

"Rest of the world version " Fact

[chiangmaikelly]

Someone said that there was nothing worth taking in Thailand; interesting, but how was there less worth taking than in Malaysia, Vietnam or Cambodia? A lot of the stuff worth taking was agricultural produce (spices, cotton, whatever) which grows in Thailand just as well as it does in Cambodia or Malaysia. So I need some more arguments on this hypothesis.

I believe the "someone" you're referring to is that Pseudolus character, the Thai-hating whack-job who lost his credibility on these threads a long time ago. So you're basically correct--his assertions doesn't make any sense.

Tungsten I think was very important back in WWII. Thailand's maximum production year was 1943.

[simple1]

Thailand would never become communist (they lacked the will power I guess) and the Yanks were crapping themselves about Russia playing a fast one (well, can't blame them, out of all the countries in WW2, they lost a staggering amount of people).

Thailand therefore spoke to Japan. Imagine a schoolboy, spoilt brat mummies boy of course, talking to its teacher. Japan says "Right you, we are marching through and taking Thailand next week. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way". Thailand response is "By easy way, do you mean that we get to tell the world we are your partners and feel important, don't have to do much, apart from profit a little, can partake in war crimes and have no accountability, and pretend to all and sundry when you lose that we were always on the good guys side?". To which Japan said "yeah what ever. Sign that or we'll give you the Penang treatment.".

Is that about it? So historically Thailand is a bit of a weasel on the world stage?

Wonderful to hear your version of history. Remind me again, how well did the British do against the Japanese during World War II? How many battles did the British win against Japan? What is the number again? ZERO? Can we name some territory that was reconquered by the British forces from the Japanese during World War II (without U.S. assistance)? What is that you say, NOTHING? Britain was really doing a great job against the Japanese during World War II that it needed to drag the United States into the war. It was the United States Navy and Marines that took back the Pacific islands one island at a time to get within air strike range of Japan. It was the United States that developed the atomic bomb and dropped it which made Japan surrender. Britain really didn't do much in Asia other than SURRENDER.

Looks like you have forgotten that after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the Germans declared war on the USA, thereby 'dragging" the USA into a World war. Yes the US financed and project managed the development of the atomic bomb, and if it wasn't for the knowledge contributed by British scientists, it would not have been built in time negate the need for the US to invade the Japanese home islands