Australia Cancels Top Contacts With Thailand

[george]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The Australian government has cancelled and banned all visits to Thailand by senior Australian government ministers in the face of a political crisis unlikely to be resolved by Sunday's snap election, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson told AAP that Thai political uncertainties had led to senior ministerial visits scheduled for this year to be abandoned, although routine cooperation programmes would continue.

"What we can't expect are major decisions to be taken by the Thai government during this period," he told the news agency.

"Thailand has entered a period of political uncertainty which could last for sometime," the ambassador told the news agency.

"We are charting new ground in terms of testing the current constitution, and the particular situation that we face of a challenge to a democratically elected civilian government is unique in Thai political history."

He also warned Australians travelling to Thailand to check travel advisories first.

"I think it's prudent to be watchful as to how things like political demonstrations can develop," he said.

He said that he April 2 vote was set for stalemate as the major opposition parties have boycotted the election citing corruption and irregularities in the process.

AAP cited Mr Paterson's view that the current political climate in Thailand was unprecedented given the challenge of civil society groups to Thaksin's grip on power.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

[ProfessorFart]

Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?

[stumonster]

Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?

I would have thought that was obvious - when you find that you have discovered a refreshing draught , the smart move would be to bottle it. this will allow you to enjoy at a later stage ....

good old government arse covering - SOP

[skippybangkok]

Idiots......... Sometimes it makes me wanna trade my passport in. What benefit will this bring Australia by going public with such info. If anything, it creates bad will. I was in Malaysia when Keating made those remarks about Mahadtir.

[h90]

yes they win a price for beeing wounderfull diplomatic.....

Normaly such things will be handled behind closed doors.

Idiots......... Sometimes it makes me wanna trade my passport in. What benefit will this bring Australia by going public with such info. If anything, it creates bad will. I was in Malaysia when Keating made those remarks about Mahadtir.

[george]

A very strong political signal from Canberra?

[dukkha]

Ambassadorial staffer, male late 50's, serious, strolling past me reading some document and naturally I could not resist a remark...it went like this:

Me: John Howard looking after you here?

Staffer: We having nothing to do with him...pause...but I can tell you Thailand is well and truly on his radar.

End of conversation.

This took place in the grounds of the Australian Embassy Bangkok less than four months ago...Canberra has spoken...and may not be the only capital to speak.

dukkha

[TokyoT]

I hardly find it idiotic when the Thailand Foreign Affairs Ministry attempted to put foreign ambassadors at easy and failed miserably.

Foreign ambassadors will be invited to listen to policies on megaprojects and the current poltiical situation. From The Nation - March 22nd

"On the election issue, most diplomats are worried about the possibility that there will not be enough MPs to open the parliament. However, Mr. Prinya said that the Election Commission has prepared plans for the possibility"

The foreign ambassadors were basically told don't worry about it "we have plans", but were not give sufficient reassurances in regard to what these plans are and how they would be implemented. Why bother having discussions in the current situation? There is no guarantee that talks today will be valid tomorrow. So better to save the money, and use the time where real returns can be had.

And as far as making the statement public - Maybe Australia feels it is about time the Thai politicians started acting like grown-ups and felt making the announcement public would benefit in this matter. And seeing as how the above-mentioned briefing was held last week, maybe Australia has been attempting to get real answers to issues "behind closed doors" and have been unsuccessful.

Of course I expect the All-Mighty Thaksin will shortly denounce these actions and make some comment along the lines of "Australia you are not my Daddy!"

Edited March 29, 2006 by TokyoT

[terdsak_12]

Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?

It's usually the French isn't it??

[Tolley]

Given Thailand's political history it is hardly surprising that the govt would issue some sort of pre-emptory warning.

The govt was pillored over the Bali situation for not issuing warnings so these days it issues warnings even where the risks may be relatively slight.

[TokyoT]

Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?

It's usually the French isn't it??

You may be confusing bottling with surrendering. As I think bottling it in this case would be more in line with “circling-the-wagons” rather than “throwing in the towel”.

In which case I heard a rumor that should a protester show up at the French embassy in BKK, and turn in any way violent, that Chirac has already authorized the embassy staff to offer land concessions of either the Norde-Pas-de-Calais, or Alsace regions of France - but only if the request is submitted in the French language.

[sriracha john]

I hardly find it idiotic when the Thailand Foreign Affairs Ministry attempted to put foreign ambassadors at easy and failed miserably.

Foreign ambassadors will be invited to listen to policies on megaprojects and the current poltiical situation. From The Nation - March 22nd

"On the election issue, most diplomats are worried about the possibility that there will not be enough MPs to open the parliament. However, Mr. Prinya said that the Election Commission has prepared plans for the possibility"

The foreign ambassadors were basically told don't worry about it "we have plans", but were not give sufficient reassurances in regard to what these plans are and how they would be implemented. Why bother having discussions in the current situation? There is no guarantee that talks today will be valid tomorrow. So better to save the money, and use the time where real returns can be had.

And as far as making the statement public - Maybe Australia feels it is about time the Thai politicians started acting like grown-ups and felt making the announcement public would benefit in this matter. And seeing as how the above-mentioned briefing was held last week, maybe Australia has been attempting to get real answers to issues "behind closed doors" and have been unsuccessful.

Of course I expect the All-Mighty Thaksin will shortly denounce these actions and make some comment along the lines of "Australia you are not my Daddy!"

Also to consider is the information put out by the government of Thailand on how they viewed their "foreign ambassador briefings":

Follow-up article to the one quoted above

[Maejo Man]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The Australian government has cancelled and banned all visits to Thailand by senior Australian government ministers in the face of a political crisis unlikely to be resolved by Sunday's snap election, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson told AAP that Thai political uncertainties had led to senior ministerial visits scheduled for this year to be abandoned, although routine cooperation programmes would continue.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

A misleading headline.... "top contacts" have been cancelled. All the article stated was that Canberra in it's infinate wisdom, has cancelled all visits of government ministers, untill such time as Thailand settles it's petty squables on the political front, and rightly so.

Comments such as "Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?" is typical of Fart.

Why send ministers, at taxpayers expense, when no benefit can be gained? It'a also a message from Canberra to shape up!

Edited March 29, 2006 by Maejo Man

[PREM-R]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

Is the Ambassador any relation to this bloke?

Sir Les Paterson Australian Cultural Minister

[thaigene2]

Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?

It's usually the French isn't it??

You may be confusing bottling with surrendering. As I think bottling it in this case would be more in line with “circling-the-wagons” rather than “throwing in the towel”.

In which case I heard a rumor that should a protester show up at the French embassy in BKK, and turn in any way violent, that Chirac has already authorized the embassy staff to offer land concessions of either the Norde-Pas-de-Calais, or Alsace regions of France - but only if the request is submitted in the French language.

..and after the ceding of territory, it will be decreed as a great french victory that everyone's grandfather fought to achieve, and France will demand to lead the parade down Rama IV, after which a new international Organization will be formed to further increase the number of french-language documents about the great putsch that no one will ever read (or can read for that matter),

[otherstuff1957]

In which case I heard a rumor that should a protester show up at the French embassy in BKK, and turn in any way violent, that Chirac has already authorized the embassy staff to offer land concessions of either the Norde-Pas-de-Calais, or Alsace regions of France - but only if the request is submitted in the French language.

Calais?, Alsace? Quite frankly, I suspect the Thai's would happy just to get those parts of Laos and Cambodia that were parts of Siam back!

[PREM-R]

Calais?, Alsace? Quite frankly, I suspect the Thai's would happy just to get those parts of Laos and Cambodia that were parts of Siam back!

Think you have got it the wrong way round, We speak Lao language here in Isaan because it was part of Laos prior to the Rattanakosin era.

[sriracha john]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The Australian government has cancelled and banned all visits to Thailand by senior Australian government ministers in the face of a political crisis unlikely to be resolved by Sunday's snap election, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson told AAP that Thai political uncertainties had led to senior ministerial visits scheduled for this year to be abandoned, although routine cooperation programmes would continue.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

A misleading headline.... "top contacts" have been cancelled. All the article stated was that Canberra in it's infinate wisdom, has cancelled all visits of government ministers, untill such time as Thailand settles it's petty squables on the political front, and rightly so.

Comments such as "Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?" is typical of Fart.

Why send ministers, at taxpayers expense, when no benefit can be gained? It'a also a message from Canberra to shape up!

did you notice it was contacts and not contracts that have been cancelled?

[Maejo Man]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The Australian government has cancelled and banned all visits to Thailand by senior Australian government ministers in the face of a political crisis unlikely to be resolved by Sunday's snap election, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson told AAP that Thai political uncertainties had led to senior ministerial visits scheduled for this year to be abandoned, although routine cooperation programmes would continue.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

A misleading headline.... "top contacts" have been cancelled. All the article stated was that Canberra in it's infinate wisdom, has cancelled all visits of government ministers, untill such time as Thailand settles it's petty squables on the political front, and rightly so.

Comments such as "Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?" is typical of Fart.

Why send ministers, at taxpayers expense, when no benefit can be gained? It'a also a message from Canberra to shape up!

did you notice it was contacts and not contracts that have been cancelled?

I sure did SRJ, but it just seemed to imply that John Howard and all his top ministers had planned to be here en masse. Maybe I'm reading between the lines again

[sriracha john]

Australia cancels top contacts with Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The Australian government has cancelled and banned all visits to Thailand by senior Australian government ministers in the face of a political crisis unlikely to be resolved by Sunday's snap election, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Bill Paterson told AAP that Thai political uncertainties had led to senior ministerial visits scheduled for this year to be abandoned, although routine cooperation programmes would continue.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-29

A misleading headline.... "top contacts" have been cancelled. All the article stated was that Canberra in it's infinate wisdom, has cancelled all visits of government ministers, untill such time as Thailand settles it's petty squables on the political front, and rightly so.

Comments such as "Why are the Aussies always the first to bottle it?" is typical of Fart.

Why send ministers, at taxpayers expense, when no benefit can be gained? It'a also a message from Canberra to shape up!

did you notice it was contacts and not contracts that have been cancelled?

I sure did SRJ, but it just seemed to imply that John Howard and all his top ministers had planned to be here en masse. Maybe I'm reading between the lines again

oh ok, I had noticed it in your original post as contracts and thought maybe you expected the article to be about business plans being cancelled or something like that.

as far as contacts.. those are held between nations on sorts of levels... with obviously Howard being the very top of the top... but I would still consider the quoted, "senior Australian government ministers," as being "top contacts."

[Maejo Man]

I had noticed it in your original post as contracts and thought maybe you expected the article to be about business plans being cancelled or something like that.

as far as contacts.. those are held between nations on sorts of levels... with obviously Howard being the very top of the top... but I would still consider the quoted, "senior Australian government ministers," as being "top contacts."

Sheesh you must have been quick on the button, it took me all of two minutes to edit out the typo OK I'll concede that "senior" can mean "top" in this instance, but I'm in a good mood at the moment, so I'll agree to anything

[sriracha john]

I had noticed it in your original post as contracts and thought maybe you expected the article to be about business plans being cancelled or something like that.

as far as contacts.. those are held between nations on sorts of levels... with obviously Howard being the very top of the top... but I would still consider the quoted, "senior Australian government ministers," as being "top contacts."

Sheesh you must have been quick on the button, it took me all of two minutes to edit out the typo OK I'll concede that "senior" can mean "top" in this instance, but I'm in a good mood at the moment, so I'll agree to anything

that's good way to be...

unless someone is asking you for a loan during that feeling...

as for the post, that's the thing with email notifications of posts.... they contain the first unedited version of any post... I know for sure lots of mine have gone out with mistakes... ***

AND also, I am guilty of misreading titles here myself... the visual acuity ain't what it used to be....

***edit

see below???? VVVVVVVVVVVV yet another misspelled post edited...

Edited March 29, 2006 by sriracha john

[Maejo Man]

as for the post, that's the thing with email notifications of posts.... they contain the first unedited version of any post... I know for sure lots of mine have gone out with mistakes... ***

AND also, I am guilty of misreading titles here myself... the visual acuity ain't what it used to be....

***edit

see below???? VVVVVVVVVVVV yet another misspelled post edited...

I don't think it's the "visual acuity" that does it, just seems to get confused somewhere between the eyes and the brain