Govt hires US firm to lobby US govt to set up naval base in Thailand: US Department of Justice

[indyuk]

1. Just marketing really. No organisation wants to advertise to their potential competitors, be the corporations or nations. In this instance security may be a factor as well.

Lets look at our selves. At the peak of out careers we didn't need a board meeting to spend sums of a few hundred of thousand of dollars.

[ehw200]

well I have just left Central America to get out from under the USA umbrella

noses in my financial affairs and apparently reading my e-mail and listening tmy phone conversations

governements there jumping every time big brother barks

looks like I need to find another country

if you thjink Pattaya is a brothel just wait until they build a base

I hope the government realises they will eventually become puppets and alienate China

[stoli]

$20,000 might cover the expense of one employee of the lobbying firm to fly first class to meet Yingluck for one hour to discuss the proposition.

Other than that, since we are no longer in PI, it might make good sense for us to be here. I would think that the US would find this attractive.

[bangon04]

$20k? That's it? I guess it was probably $2 million before all the tea money was divided. It's the first time in a while where a country is asking the US to build a military outpost in their country. Another way of begging for money.

Maybe they can buy some second-hand bases from the Philippines....

to put the second hand aircraft carrier and the second hand submarines

By the way, who paid for U-Tapao originally? Who paid for Sattathip originally?

Edited December 13, 2013 by bangon04

[Ulic]

So funny, I don't think most TV readers get it. In Thailand you have direct bribery/ corruption.

In the US you have legal lobby groups to get around the realities of politics.

[peecee]

The government spent some money without asking parliament. I was under the impression that the relativity small amount would almost be a petty cash chit with most governments.

$20k would not get much lobbying Washington, is not Bangkok. You would need to spend more than 10 times that amount to get any sort of result.

In most countries parliament is lawmaking and this is governance; supposedly once voted in the government are supposed to make these sort of decisions. Can't imagine why parliament needs to have a vote on this other than to grant fiscal limits if the amount of money required exceeds the amount set out under the law.

[LomSak27]

Given how Bush Jr and comapny disliked Thaksin, and the coup that happend when he was in New York and how Obama feels about both the Dems and reds

Good Luck!

[LomSak27]

Interesting putting this together with the info that Thaksin is backed by the USA

Thats a bunch of yellow uber natiionalist propaganda. Check out what Sy Hersh says about Bush Thaksin - Bush Abhisit and Obama

Basically the USA knows what it has to do to get something they want from Thailand - MONEY. End of story and end of "special relationship" or whatever claptrap they claim. The US will do nothing more than watch from the sidelines and support neither side

[GrantSmith]

Read again, The article states it was $20 million. of tax the country's revenue without approval.

Care to point out where it states 20 million - in either dollars or baht - pretty sure, even using the most unreliable exchange rate still couldn't make $20,000 equal 20 million baht...

2 million baht would be closer but still, a fair bit off the mark..

[ableguy]

20,000 are they joking ? What do they think that will buy. Not too long ago they denied USA access to a military airport to do research , myself I would tell them to look after their own defense .

Bribery is illegal in the USA and they will never. Be able to understand this concept.

[Thai at Heart]

Is this a story?

This is.chump change I am sure that the chinese are chuffed to hear this.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The government spent some money without asking parliament. I was under the impression that the relativity small amount would almost be a petty cash chit with most governments.

$20k would not get much lobbying Washington, is not Bangkok. You would need to spend more than 10 times that amount to get any sort of result.

$20k will just be a retainer.

Yes, that's right... The $20,000 is this instance is a misleading detail.

The amount is kind of like a downpayment, most likely, with subsequent services to be billed on an hourly or monthly or some such basis.

Any kind of lobbying like that being described in the document/article would involve substantially larger sums of money. But, at this point, the Thai government may only have spent $20,000 or some other larger amount because this campaign was just getting off the ground...

...Apparently in contravention of Thai law -- unless Parliament somehow/somewhere weighed in on this.

[eddie61]

In an associated report, the Shinawatra govt has paid the Chinese govt in rice to build a high speed rail access to the gulf of Thailand

[Thai at Heart]

In an associated report, the Shinawatra govt has paid the Chinese govt in rice to build a high speed rail access to the gulf of Thailand

Exactly. You think the yanks are going to offer a naval guarantee so that Chinese goods can get out by sea from Thailand?

[LomSak27]

Got some associations, or links, or just huh what conspiracy theories for the Leo swillers

[PeterSmiles]

The government spent some money without asking parliament. I was under the impression that the relativity small amount would almost be a petty cash chit with most governments.

$20k would not get much lobbying Washington, is not Bangkok. You would need to spend more than 10 times that amount to get any sort of result.

Read again, The article states it was $20 million. of tax the country's revenue without approval.

I have from a reliable source that Top Charoen has a stunning promotion, better go check it out.

would be represented by Davenport McKesson Corporation, the corporation would be entitled to upfront fees of $20,000.00USD

12,345.00

[bonobo]

$20,000 might cover the expense of one employee of the lobbying firm to fly first class to meet Yingluck for one hour to discuss the proposition.

Other than that, since we are no longer in PI, it might make good sense for us to be here. I would think that the US would find this attractive.

I just returned from the Philippines, and the government there is tap-dancing about yet another report that they asked the US to build a permanent base while the US keeps reiterating that they will support the PI, they will continue to have military cooperation and exercises, but they have no interest in a permanent base.

This is pretty much what they said to Vietnam as well when the Vietnamese floated the idea of the US taking over the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. Both Vietnam and the Philippines (along with Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei) lay claim to parts of the Spratleys, an area that China claims in total. The Philippines and China have squared off several times this year in the waters over the issue. The accepted thinking is that both countries would like the presence of the US Navy to counter China in the region and keep them from simply seizing the islands.

[unanimosity]

The 20,000 appears to be a "down Payment," a binding fee. The idea is great, but the terms and representation of this "deal" need to be transparent. Before any US taxpayer money is spent doing any due diligence at all regarding this naval defense base and zone in or around Thailand, there better be a "stable" country, government, process, and rule of law in Thailand.

This is why Indonesia is the logical location for any naval presence in the area, other than the Philippines, because of the strategic importance of the Strait of Malacca, the stability of the govt. in Indonesia, and the fact that it's the big o's homeland doesn;t hurt, although the push for the strategic military alliance with Indonesia began under Bush. Indonesia is slated to become the strategic partner in SE Asia.

[khaowong1]

The government spent some money without asking parliament. I was under the impression that the relativity small amount would almost be a petty cash chit with most governments.

$20k would not get much lobbying Washington, is not Bangkok. You would need to spend more than 10 times that amount to get any sort of result.

I agree. For $20,000, the lobbyists wouldn't leave their offices. 2 million would be more like it. Unless, a very large construction kick back was offered.

[PokerFace]

I worked for a major US consulting firm for over 15 years and retired over 10 years ago. I can promise you that $20,000 wouldn't buy even one week of a good firms time! Either the story is false or there is much, much more to it than meets the eye.

[sabaii69]

$20k should buy somebody lunch deck the halls with lots of swabbies

[Prbkk]

The 20,000 appears to be a "down Payment," a binding fee. The idea is great, but the terms and representation of this "deal" need to be transparent. Before any US taxpayer money is spent doing any due diligence at all regarding this naval defense base and zone in or around Thailand, there better be a "stable" country, government, process, and rule of law in Thailand.

This is why Indonesia is the logical location for any naval presence in the area, other than the Philippines, because of the strategic importance of the Strait of Malacca, the stability of the govt. in Indonesia, and the fact that it's the big o's homeland doesn;t hurt, although the push for the strategic military alliance with Indonesia began under Bush. Indonesia is slated to become the strategic partner in SE Asia.

Thailand is the obvious choice and the best solution. Temporary difficulties aside, it is a "old friend". Indonesia has never been a friend of the US, never will be.

[Publicus]

Lets hope this is unsuccessful as the US Government would be paying with a loan from China anyway as they are broke.

[Publicus]

Interesting putting this together with the info that Thaksin is backed by the USA

Thats a bunch of yellow uber natiionalist propaganda. Check out what Sy Hersh says about Bush Thaksin - Bush Abhisit and Obama

Basically the USA knows what it has to do to get something they want from Thailand - MONEY. End of story and end of "special relationship" or whatever claptrap they claim. The US will do nothing more than watch from the sidelines and support neither side

Prez Obama has been clear the United States supports the legitimately elected government of Thailand, so we know what that means presently and foreseeably into the future.

I seriously doubt the US Government would endorse an elite, unelected national ruling council regardless of which politician proposed it.

And Abhisit is the guy running around sqwalking that the United States is trying to contain China while killing the NASA research project supported by the Thai Ministry of Science &Technology. .

Thailand would be foolish not to try playing the US off against the CCP-PRC. There's a strong affinity between the PRChinese and the Sino-Thais and the CCP-PRC is a regional heavyweight. The US and Japan independently or together are a strong regional factor with Japan heavily invested in Thailand especially.

So Washington knows who their friends here are and the same is true in Beijing.

Thaksin got the slick Robert Amsterdam to represent him, so it would be inconsistent of the PTP controlled by Thaksin to get some bumpkin lobbying firm in Washington to represent Thailand to the US Government when Yingluck can pull out her phone to call her pal Barack just about any time.

So we need to know more about Davenport McKesson as to whether they are slippery or smart, or both.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Publicus

[Benmart]

"The US lobbyist was also hired to lobby for US military assistance in establishing a safe harbor zone around Thailand's waters."

​Safe from who exactly? Which begs the question... Who in the world is safe from the U.S.?

It actually makes Thailand a lot more 'unsafe'.

Thailand will just become more of a target if and when the US attacks North Korea and uses Thailand as a jumping platform.

Won't take long for a couple of NK subs to get here with a couple of nukes for the new base and BKK.

Someone and someplace is a potential target someday for someone for some reason. That about "Somes it up".

Speculation and conjecture comes to mind with these types of stories. Or, as someone said of one of my posts, "No video...it didn't happen". LOL.

[NeverSure]

I don't know whether the story is true or not. But has anyone considered the huge economic gain for Thailand if it happened? You can't just park a Nimitz-class carrier group anywhere without substantial work on a port.

Thailand badly wanted a deep water port and thought it was going to get it until the US and Japan announced it was building one in Yangon, Myanmar instead. Thailand was stunned. The US and Japan bought large tracts of industrial land there and just in the past couple of days on this forum there was news that GM is expanding into Myanmar, at first headquartering at - you guessed it - Yangon.

Thailand has been deliberately snubbed by the US and Japan for screwing around with China while the US and Japan try to protect various SE Asian countries from China's claims about islands, and trying to implement a no fly zone. Who but the US could/would have flown a couple of unarmed B-52 bombers through China's claimed no fly zone, just to prove to the world that they could and to cause China to lose face?

I could be wrong, but I think that if Thailand actually wants a US base, it's because it really wants a deep water port plus the economic activity. OTOH, Thailand appears to be too stupid to know it can't be pals with China and still get any goodies from the US or Japan.

The US doesn't need a base in SE Asia closer than Guam. Its main ships including subs are nuclear powered. They can make drinking water from seawater, run 25 years without refueling, and get supplies delivered by air or sea.

The Philippines is also stupid. If their islands are truly threatened by China, they will be begging the US to put carrier groups into Subic Bay which is already capable of handling them. Right now they just want the US to hang around and protect their stupid little asses.

So many criticize the US until someone is threatened, and then everyone calls for the US to "do something." Hypocrites.

[SheungWan]

Interesting putting this together with the info that Thaksin is backed by the USA

Thats a bunch of yellow uber natiionalist propaganda. Check out what Sy Hersh says about Bush Thaksin - Bush Abhisit and Obama

Basically the USA knows what it has to do to get something they want from Thailand - MONEY. End of story and end of "special relationship" or whatever claptrap they claim. The US will do nothing more than watch from the sidelines and support neither side

Prez Obama has been clear the United States supports the legitimately elected government of Thailand, so we know what that means presently and foreseeably into the future.

I seriously doubt the US Government would endorse an elite, unelected national ruling council regardless of which politician proposed it.

And Abhisit is the guy running around sqwalking that the United States is trying to contain China while killing the NASA research project supported by the Thai Ministry of Science &Technology. .

Thailand would be foolish not to try playing the US off against the CCP-PRC. There's a strong affinity between the PRChinese and the Sino-Thais and the CCP-PRC is a regional heavyweight. The US and Japan independently or together are a strong regional factor with Japan heavily invested in Thailand especially.

So Washington knows who their friends here are and the same is true in Beijing.

Thaksin got the slick Robert Amsterdam to represent him, so it would be inconsistent of the PTP controlled by Thaksin to get some bumpkin lobbying firm in Washington to represent Thailand to the US Government when Yingluck can pull out her phone to call her pal Barack just about any time.

So we need to know more about Davenport McKesson as to whether they are slippery or smart, or both.

During 2010 Thaksin went up the wall when the US leaked that it was monitoring his phone calls attempting to direct operations of the red violence to bring down the government at the time. Robert Amsterdam is nothing more than a highly paid huckster. Thaksin is a continuously destabilising player in a desired normalised stable Thailand and playing him with other than a very long spoon not a good idea. Stir in an anticipated VIP event somewhere in the near future and any announcements re lobbying represent that which the Thai government is very good at, namely making announcements.

[alfalfa19]

Doesn't the US already have some bases in Thailand? Oh, perhaps I am confusing torture camps with bases.

[Robby nz]

The thing says an UP FRONT payment of $20K.

What the rest of the contract is would be anyones guess.

Possibly the $20k would have been to lodge the application.

Would the company want to disclose how much they were getting for the whole contract when they can get away with stating a minimal amount ?

Of course the Thai Govt is going to deny it, that's what they have done every other time they have been caught out.

[Carl64]

Don't believe a thing on Facebook .