webfact Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 US ambassador declines to give comments on Thai politicsBANGKOK, 27 February 2014 (NNT) – The US ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand has denied to give any comments on the ongoing political uncertainty in Thailand, while dismissing a rumor that she was being transferred to South Korea.During her visit to Khao Yai National Park, US ambassador Kristie Kenney refused to give her thoughts on the current political situation in Thailand. She also disclaimed a report that said she was moving to South Korea, saying such rumor was false and she would be serving in Thailand until the end of 2014 after having been given a 1-year extension on the post.Her visit to Khao Yai National Park was to celebrate the strong relationship between the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee and Thailand's Khao Yai National Park.Ambassador Kenny, the first female US ambassador to Thailand, has been serving since January 2011. She was selected by US President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the United States Senate.-- NNT 2014-02-27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 15Peter20 Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 I bet she thought the waterfalls in Khao Yai were 'GREAT!!!!!!'. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EyesWideOpen Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Fookhaht Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rijb Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 She works for POTUS as an ambassador. She's not his press secretary. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyesWideOpen Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! I said comment, not take sides....... In the past, the United States has been more than happy to take sides with rebel fighters against a dictator, and give aid as well. Just take a look at what happened in the middle east in countries like Libya. So clearly the situation here in Thailand is not quite so easy to see. But I am also sure that the United States has a favorite horse in the race, they are just not saying who it is........ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davejones23 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! Surely she's intelligent enough to make a comment without alienating either side. Do you always alienate people when they ask you a question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rijb Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script> How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationshipcould be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no commentis in effect a type of comment.Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! Surely she's intelligent enough to make a comment without alienating either side. Do you always alienate people when they ask you a question? I think you just did. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davejones23 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! I said comment, not take sides....... In the past, the United States has been more than happy to take sides with rebel fighters against a dictator, and give aid as well. Just take a look at what happened in the middle east in countries like Libya. So clearly the situation here in Thailand is not quite so easy to see. But I am also sure that the United States has a favorite horse in the race, they are just not saying who it is........ But well all know which side they favor. But they favorite is looking likely to lose, so they have opted to keep quiet while they work out out to change sides. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smedly Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. correct, as I've said before various statements in the past from all foreign governments have been generally neutral over the last few months despite PTP on occasion using out of context selective quotes to make it sound otherwise - no foreign government has actually endorsed either side which from the Thai governments position is a snub 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metisdead Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Off topic posts and nonsense posts and replies have been removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thait Spot Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 I hear that the minister for education was quite smitten by Ms Kenney's cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chainarong Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It is not the place of an ambassador from any country to make a comment on the internal wrangling's of a country , the comments are sent each evening on the scrambled electronic system back to their elected head of state, in this case the President or foreign Affairs department, sure would be interesting to read some of the comments especially from the five spying eye's 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chainarong Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script> I hear that the minister for education was quite smitten by Ms Kenney's cat Meow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Fat Haggis Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! I said comment, not take sides....... In the past, the United States has been more than happy to take sides with rebel fighters against a dictator, and give aid as well. Just take a look at what happened in the middle east in countries like Libya. So clearly the situation here in Thailand is not quite so easy to see. But I am also sure that the United States has a favorite horse in the race, they are just not saying who it is........ That's not quite true, the Regimes of Both Syria and Libya at the time were considered part of the Axis of evil who had their fingers in pies by supporting Terrorism and Terrorist Organisations through the past 40+ years. NATO took down the Libyan Regime using airpower and opposition elements on the ground, it wasn't a sole US venture, it was very much a joint effort, even the French played a significant part in the destruction of the former Libyan Regime. Same in Syria, many countries advocated the removal of Bashar Al Asad and his Regime, however that hasn't quite worked out has it? Opposition received billions in aid from Western Countries, and a few others as well. You cannot compare Thailand to either of those countries as there's no (open) armed conflict going on and Thailand doesn't have two groups hell bent in killing their opposition unlik Syria and Libya, I'm sure the TVF forum members will correct me on this one, bear in mind I have said "Two Groups" If the Reds really wanted to, I'm sure they could repeat 2010 but it's not in their interest to do so (at this time). The US Statement has always made it clear that it see the current Governement as an elected Democratic one, although again, I'm pretty sure many would refute that point, it's not just the US that see's this, I think you'll find that most countries with embassies within the Kingdom agree, I don't recall any National Country's Leadership call for the resignation or the removal of the current Government, and no country as far as I'm aware has recalled their Ambassadors in support of an "unelected peoples party" 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyesWideOpen Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It is not the place of an ambassador from any country to make a comment on the internal wrangling's of a country , the comments are sent each evening on the scrambled electronic system back to their elected head of state, in this case the President or foreign Affairs department, sure would be interesting to read some of the comments especially from the five spying eye's Ok so I guess we have to wait for Wikileaks to get the real story. I have read those leaked comments from the previous ambassador a few years ago, it certainly made for some amazing reading to say the least...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post starkey_rich Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 Not like an American . Not giving their opinion on anything. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRSoul Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 That she spat on the ground before answering could be construed to have meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Briggsy Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 The Ambassador knows that Thailand will remain a strategic ally of the US despite the see-saws of power between the political parties backed by the rural vote on one hand and the military - civil service nexus - business nexus on the other. The Ambassador knows Thais do not react well to public criticism. The Ambassador knows that Thais love to gossip behind closed doors. The Ambassador wisely avoids public comment. Well done, Ambassador. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulfsailor Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! I said comment, not take sides....... In the past, the United States has been more than happy to take sides with rebel fighters against a dictator, and give aid as well. Just take a look at what happened in the middle east in countries like Libya. So clearly the situation here in Thailand is not quite so easy to see. But I am also sure that the United States has a favorite horse in the race, they are just not saying who it is........ It's pretty easy to see which horse their favorite is. It's the horse allowing a US naval base in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan7444 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Quite frankly as a US citizen I believe she did the exact correct think and the US should keep their bloody noses out of different country's internal politics unless invited to the table. Her prior comments, although probably well intentioned, resulted in demonstrations in front of the US Embassy which is never a good thing to occur. Hope she keeps this "neutral" position in the future since comments from the Embassy officially represent the position of the US government. Let the UN or other "invited" parties work on a solution together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fookhaht Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Not like an American . Not giving their opinion on anything. There you go. Not just anyone can be an ambassador. Especially those who may have a tendency to make snap judgements which are ethnocentric in nature. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54321 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 it should be about truth and nothing else. if an ambassador feels unable to commment they should not be in a position to comment How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationshipcould be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no commentis in effect a type of comment.Make a comment, and immediately alienate an entire political party and their supporters?Get real! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbamboo Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 How odd not to give a comment, as her very existence is based upon the relationship between Thailand and the United States. This relationship could be radically affected by a change of governments here. Guess she wants to sit on the fence and see who wins...... For me, no comment is in effect a type of comment. Could be. The most obvious response would have been to trot out the usual American line about the rule of law, democracy etc., but she didn't. This could mean she's taking the traditional Swiss approach (wait and see who's winning before deciding who to support) or perhaps Michelle's had a word in hubby's presidential ear. Or maybe she's just as fed up with the political kindergarten here as the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVGerry Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Americans have read the tea leaves and they don't know whether the Shinawatras will make it through this mess or whether Thailand will see a new government. Whatever the case is, better keep quiet now then praise the clear winner later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jingthing Posted February 27, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2014 I don't think either side well represents the best ideals of American political values, so not indicating support to EITHER side is something I absolutely support! Thank you, Ambassador. Yes, the U.S. shows clear support to one side in internal conflicts SOMETIMES, but it's a case by case. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LomSak27 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 So the ambassador is supposed to make a comment everytime she goes to the bathroom, carpark or National Park ?! all the comments have already been made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nong38 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Although difficult it always best not to get involved in local affairs, you show your hand and maybe to the wrong people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonao Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Last time they made a political comment (in support of elections I believe) a yellow buffulo herd stampeded outside the embassy. Can't really blame them for not commenting. If comments need to be made, do it through a different channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thait Spot Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Last time they made a political comment (in support of elections I believe) a yellow buffulo herd stampeded outside the embassy. Can't really blame them for not commenting. If comments need to be made, do it through a different channel. BlueSky is best Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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