The Great Leader is losing some oompah.... start a military conflict.. people will not think of military junta, martial law, etc... and they will see the Great Leader as the saviour.... ahhhhh

The Great Leader is losing some oompah.... start a military conflict.. people will not think of military junta, martial law, etc... and they will see the Great Leader as the saviour.... ahhhhh

Shades of Gen Galtieri in the 1982 Falklands 'conflict' (which really means 'war', in which we trashed the Argies, travelling from about 10,000 miles away).

Scenario - have an internal crisis, start a war to deflect the attention of the populace and create a 'bad country, good country' situation, then lose ...

Can you actually imagine the Thai army actually WINNING a modern war ...? Seriously? Come on ...

Fancy having international egg on your face, Gen, all because of a bit of road ...? Rhetoric is one thing, but stupidity is something totally different.

The Great Leader is losing some oompah.... start a military conflict.. people will not think of military junta, martial law, etc... and they will see the Great Leader as the saviour.... ahhhhh

Oldest trick in the book.

I think it's amazing how little most people know about Asean. Most of the AEC objectives have already been met. While there is still work to do, compared to what has already been accomplished, there is not much left to do in accordance with the AEC Blueprint. Speaking of the AEC Blueprint, if there is an objective that people think should be a part of the AEC and it is not in the AEC Blueprint, then it is not part part of the Asean Integration process for the AEC.

Yes, it's quite funny to read all the comments on how the ASEAN countries aren't ready for free movement of labour and the removal of all trade protection in 2015, when those are not even AEC objectives.

Amalgamations of the Golden Triangle as ONE entity

It seems that some of the posters to this thread; WOW! me.. and I just want to say to them that>You so smart in imparting your knowledge as you see it. Seems to me that your trying to baffle with bulls**t the TV members with the unknown.

http://www.asean.org/resources/publications/asean-publications/item/asean-economic-community-scorecard-3

Just as an example, the "scorecard" (from 2012) indicates that the "Free Flow of Skilled Labour" is fully implemented.

The free flow of skilled labour for AEC is generally based around accreditations from one country being accepted in another. For Thais to use their skills, say for architecture, in another country, first they have to get accreditation from a central Thai based "architecture organisation". This is on top of having the relevant degree. There is no currently no central Thai organisation that gives this accreditation. The process to get accreditation is given hasn't even been worked out.

That would indicate to me that the "Free Flow of Skilled Labour" hasn't been fully implemented, in 2014, let alone 2012.

Thank you for making my point number one. It's amazing how little most people know about ASEAN. Maybe it's a technical thing like arguing over what makes a jet aircraft engine from Boeing better than an engine from a competitor? Maybe I should not be so critical of what people say about what is happening in ASEAN. For that I'm wrong. I apologize.

However, the AEC Blueprint is a pretty technical document that is easily misunderstood if a person does not have an international business background. And then again, most of the business instructors and academics at my university are clueless as well about ASEAN and the AEC. Maybe working knowledge of the WTO, international trade theory, and ASEAN would be the best combination.

About your comments....the scorecard reports on measures identified in the AEC Blueprint. There are 4 Phases to the AEC Blueprint. The document you pointed out only deals with Phases 1 and 2. We are now in Phase 4 of the AEC Blueprint. The measure from Phase II is fully implemented. No where in the AEC Scorecard that you pointed states that the "Free Flow of Skilled Labor" is fully implemented. However, it is schedule to be complete this year.

The "Free Flow of Skilled Labor" is based on visa arrangements between the ASEAN countries. See paraghraph A5 in the AEC Blueprint.

What you were talking about is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the AEC Integration process. The "Free Flow of Services" includes Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) for 8 service sectors. MRAs are covered by Article VII of the GATS agreement. Seven of the ASEAN MRAs are administered by the ASEAN economic ministers of the 10 ASEAN countries. The 8th, the MRA for tourism is handled by the tourism ministers of all 10 ASEAN countries.

For the Free Flow of Services...A service sector is defined by the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement for Trade in Services (GATS). Specifically, GATS W/120 universe of classification. There are 12 service sectors which contain sub-sectors containing other sub-sectors which leads to all the service jobs in the world. For example, teaching, banking, accounting, working in hotels, etc. are services covered by GATS. GATS identifies 4 modes of delivering a service to a consumer: (1) Cross border supply; Such as providing streaming internet service from the USA to Thailand such as GamePass from the NFL. (2) Consumption Abroad such as when a tourist from the USA comes to Thailand and stays in a Thai hotel. (3) Commercial presence is when a someone from one country invest in some form in another country such as a joint venture (FDI) (4) Presence of natural persons is when a person from one country comes to work in another country such as farangs working in Thai schools as English teachers.

I'm only familiar with the tourism aspect of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Tourism Professionals. (MRA-TP). The MRA-TP is administered in Thailand by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. They are also the organization that issues the accreditation in Thailand as well as verifies accreditation from other ASEAN countries for the 32 tourism certificates under the MRA-TP. Just because you're not aware of these Thai offices existing does not mean it hasn't happened yet. It only means you, and most everyone else, doesn't know about it.

"No where in the AEC Scorecard that you pointed states that the "Free Flow of Skilled Labor" is fully implemented."

Page 11, Table 1, 5th row, green column - "Free Flow of Skilled Labor" "Fully Implemented - 1" "Not Fully Implemented - 0"