"hurt nation's diplomatic clout"

Your joking, right?

Correct, it sure is a stupid statement, Thailand has about as much "diplomatic clout" as a wet tissue.

Edited August 20, 201411 yr by Artisi

We will pick whomever we like, the world is not our father.

You cannot pick whoever you like and the world while not your father is most certainly part of your family. Your statement shows the typical Thai mentality which has stopped its progress in its own country and the rest of the world. If we adopted your mentality we would still be in the stone age which you are not far removed from.

Quite right, he was of course parodying then-P.M. Thaksin's famous comment, "the U.N. is not my father", as most of us probably understood.

Perhaps he should have used a smilie, to make that clearer.

From my perspective, "the World" doesn't have the moral high ground to stand on. And this was just an opinion piece and the views of specific individuals within one of Thailand main stream news outlets.

Foreign affairs and diplomacy are the missions of civilians, not the military, they said. "Having two coups within less than a decade is hard enough to explain," said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Quote of the month, for me anyway.

I though you might also like the

"The problem is that it is difficult for Thai envoys to explain to their foreign counterparts and the international community why Thailand needs to have a military officer as foreign minister when the country has plenty of capable diplomats, the officials said."

BTW what countries in like Western Europe have a diplomat as MoFA ?

I doubt you understand much about this.There was an international advantage for Yingluck's government given it had a genuine popular mandate unlike that of Abhisit.Kasit was an incompetent motormouth who did the country much damage during his tenure (think an aircraft in Germany for an example).Surapong just didn't make much of an impression but had better manners and attitude than his terrorist predecessor.As far as being welcomed in a diplomatic way the present Junta would give their grandmothers away for a sniff of this given their isolated pariah status being even banned from travelling to some countries such as Australia.

Surapong didn't make much of an impression? Tjeez man, he was good. From flooded offices he still managed to issue a shiny new passport for Thaksin and get it delivered within a few days. He also managed to keep up with it by lying that he didn't do such thing.

Imagine, so good and he wasn't even one of those capable diplomats the country has, according to the officials quoted in the OP that is.

BTW 'terrorist predecessor' ? Your bias starts to shine through a wee bit too much it would seem. Assuming he's not charged for terrorism, you are somewhat defaming the chap.

Edited August 20, 201411 yr by rubl

Singapores PM is a general. Put into place by his father. No free elections. No free press etc.

But the country has one of the highest standarfs of living in the world

Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Top brass taking power as leader, we have had a few of them in the past yeah, and how did it pan out?

BUT maybe he can be the exertion to the rule???

Yellow lovers, Hi-so, south elitists, you asked for it, now suck it up when it go's too sh*t!!!!!!

and have the stones to put your hand up when the question is asked.... yeah right, just like asking a Thai to say I'm sorry, I;m wrong, not gonna happen!!!

Singapores PM is a general. Put into place by his father. No free elections. No free press etc.

But the country has one of the highest standarfs of living in the world

But not everybody who lives in Singapore has one of the highest standards of living in the world. It's nothing to be proud of. http://sgagainstpoverty.org

More of the same "the sky is falling" BS...from the same group of journalist...

The "Brass" does not care what the world wants or likes...they have a vibrant culture to administer to while the democratic process takes shape...

The "World" does not have a clue...and IMO you journalist do not either...just shut up and cover something where you can make intelligent comments...

And what will the world do?

Keep laughing?

We will pick whomever we like, the world is not our father.

You cannot pick whoever you like and the world while not your father is most certainly part of your family. Your statement shows the typical Thai mentality which has stopped its progress in its own country and the rest of the world. If we adopted your mentality we would still be in the stone age which you are not far removed from.

In it with both feet !

You obviously know nothing of Thailand and it's politicians or you would have caught the dig at Thaksin, others did.

You wrongly presumed I am Thai and by trying to insult me insulted Thais instead.

Incidentaly I don't live in Nong Khai and am definitely not a kid.

Hmmm, The elite and powerful running a country as they know what's best for all, wow that has worked so good in the past hey,

I mean look at Cambodia, The killing fields was just a misunderstanding, Pol pot was just misunderstood yeah.

Maynmar, that was really great until some lady (Aung San Suu Kyi) kept putting her nose into it's business.

Idi Amin Uganda, he did such a great job at getting the country up and running and with people having full recourse too the law, right?

Augusto Pinochet, Chile, Hmmm that went well don't ya think? How many people just went missing cause they didn't agree with how some things were done?

But it all ok it'll be different this time, wont it?

The world will indeed not respect any " Brass " as a Foriegn Minister, or probably as a Prime Minister either.

A Military Dictatorship is exactly that, and Military dictatorships, or people useing Military might to gain dominance ( for what ever purpose ), through the course of history, have been widely condemned, and will continue to be treated with a great deal of mistrust and distaste around the world.

The good General and his NLA have the likes of Hitler, Gadaffi and Idi Amin to thank for the perception the world has on MIlitary rulers.

" even banned from travelling to some countries such as Australia."

Doesn't make Australia right.

The budgie smuggler even banned global warming. Well, at least till his kingship ends.

Edited August 21, 201411 yr by DekDaeng

We will pick whomever we like, the world is not our father.

You cannot pick whoever you like and the world while not your father is most certainly part of your family. Your statement shows the typical Thai mentality which has stopped its progress in its own country and the rest of the world. If we adopted your mentality we would still be in the stone age which you are not far removed from.

Is there a need to be rude to a citizen of a country that has a God given right to have his opinion, you also have the right to yours but how about at least trying to be nice while doing it. I'm a permanent visitor to this beautiful country and agree with this person " Thailand has the right to pick whom ever they wish and it's none of the worlds business ". There are many instances world wide of Armed forces personnel moving into politics' and many very successfully, Where a person has spent his adult working years should have nothing to do with if he can serve his country in this capacity or not, it shouldn't matter if he was a street sweeper, a doctor, a sex worker even and defiantly not a member of the armed forces ... If he is the best man ( or woman for that matter ) for the job this is the one and only thing that matters. I for one love what General Prayuth has and is doing here and if I was able to would vote for him in a heartbeat and most Thai's I have discussed it with feel the same, and seeing it's their country .... You go ahead and do what ever you wish and If anyone doesn't like it just mention a few of the None Military leaders of the World and what a stuff up they have made of things.