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Interview with US Ambassador to Thailand: 'We don't choose sides, we choose principles'

webfact

By webfact
in Thailand News

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LannaGuy Advanced Member

LannaGuy

Posted
Posted

"Principles?" Hypocrisy more like. Coup against democratic government in Egypt, more US aid for the Egyptian army; coup in Thailand, nasty comments from ambassadors.

Democracy with the US is like Henry Ford and the colors of the Model T car.

You can have any color car as long as it is blacksmile.png

correct and it will be any colour here as long as it's yellow and THIS is what they are working so hard to achieve before the inevitable happens

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Eric Loh Ruby Member

Eric Loh

Posted
Posted

Any democracy even as broken as USA or soft repressive like Singapore is better than a coup junta government.

A bold statement care to give your reason for making it. Where in the world is there a working democracy? The US though calling itself a republic, is, like Russia, an Ogliarchy, most of Europe are either socialist or Monarchies.

Don't think I have been bold. Just need to ask the questions whether the American government is governing well and wisely or is the Singapore government leveling the political playing field for all participants. In America, the public trust in government has been free falling for decades and public approval of congress is laughably low - just look at the polls since Eisenhower to Obama. And in Singapore, ask the question why the People Action Party continue to hold 90% of seats since 1959 and why formidable constraints imposed on authentic opposition figures. Democracy may have its flaw and idiosyncrasies but the rest are worst and have more problems.

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GAZZPA Gold Member

GAZZPA

Posted
Posted

It seems with this 'christian' nation, "thou shall not steal" has gone the same way as "thou shall not kill".

The US is abandoning Christianity by the day so don't worry. The result of which being that "the land of the free and home of the brave" will soon be an Islamic state as it becomes the religion most practiced in the US, so don't worry.

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GAZZPA Gold Member

GAZZPA

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Lot of USA bashing on here. Don't think its all sensible though.

Everyone has to admit that the USA like every country in the World is not perfect. The USA has its fair share of critics and I suppose being the number 1 global economy for over 50 years this is inevitable.

But for me I think a lot of criticism is unfair. The USA is caught between 2 camps, 1 it has a duty to do whats right for its own people above and beyond all else but 2 it has a global responsibility to behave appropriately in International matters being the number 1 economy. Thats more then a difficult line to tread and yes I suspect the US has been guilty of making decisions or forming alliances in the interests of its own country where it cold be considered abandoning its principles.

But, if I were an American citizen I think I would want my country to behave this way and look after American interests first despite its role as economic world leader.

Eventually America will not be the leading economy, everyone knows that and the world is chaining rapidly,, I would not be so quick to criticise knowing about the future uncertainty, but you may have a different view.

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kennw Gold Member

kennw

Posted
Posted

Lot of USA bashing on here. Don't think its all sensible though.

Everyone has to admit that the USA like every country in the World is not perfect. The USA has its fair share of critics and I suppose being the number 1 global economy for over 50 years this is inevitable.

But for me I think a lot of criticism is unfair. The USA is caught between 2 camps, 1 it has a duty to do whats right for its own people above and beyond all else but 2 it has a global responsibility to behave appropriately in International matters being the number 1 economy. Thats more then a difficult line to tread and yes I suspect the US has been guilty of making decisions or forming alliances in the interests of its own country where it cold be considered abandoning its principles.

But, if I were an American citizen I think I would want my country to behave this way and look after American interests first despite its role as economic world leader.

Eventually America will not be the leading economy, everyone knows that and the world is chaining rapidly,, I would not be so quick to criticise knowing about the future uncertainty, but you may have a different view.

But Sir It was the American Ambassador who chose to answer a question with the "principle" statement, the posts simply suggest it was a rather poor choice.

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Eric Loh Ruby Member

Eric Loh

Posted
Posted

Lot of USA bashing on here. Don't think its all sensible though.

Everyone has to admit that the USA like every country in the World is not perfect. The USA has its fair share of critics and I suppose being the number 1 global economy for over 50 years this is inevitable.

But for me I think a lot of criticism is unfair. The USA is caught between 2 camps, 1 it has a duty to do whats right for its own people above and beyond all else but 2 it has a global responsibility to behave appropriately in International matters being the number 1 economy. Thats more then a difficult line to tread and yes I suspect the US has been guilty of making decisions or forming alliances in the interests of its own country where it cold be considered abandoning its principles.

But, if I were an American citizen I think I would want my country to behave this way and look after American interests first despite its role as economic world leader.

Eventually America will not be the leading economy, everyone knows that and the world is chaining rapidly,, I would not be so quick to criticise knowing about the future uncertainty, but you may have a different view.

I will always be grateful to America for sacrificing so many of their young men and women to free us from the Japanese occupation in WW2 and spread of communism post war.

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SaamBaht Advanced Member

SaamBaht

Posted
Posted

Any democracy even as broken as USA or soft repressive like Singapore is better than a coup junta government.

A bold statement care to give your reason for making it. Where in the world is there a working democracy? The US though calling itself a republic, is, like Russia, an Ogliarchy, most of Europe are either socialist or Monarchies.

Don't think I have been bold. Just need to ask the questions whether the American government is governing well and wisely or is the Singapore government leveling the political playing field for all participants. In America, the public trust in government has been free falling for decades and public approval of congress is laughably low - just look at the polls since Eisenhower to Obama. And in Singapore, ask the question why the People Action Party continue to hold 90% of seats since 1959 and why formidable constraints imposed on authentic opposition figures. Democracy may have its flaw and idiosyncrasies but the rest are worst and have more problems.

Democracy is a messy business, as is having freedom of speech, the right of assembly, the list goes on. I'd rather take an inefficient democracy for a well oiled dictatorship any day. It's great to have places where you can still protest and speak out against injustice.

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trogers Platinum Member

trogers

Posted
Posted

Lot of USA bashing on here. Don't think its all sensible though.

Everyone has to admit that the USA like every country in the World is not perfect. The USA has its fair share of critics and I suppose being the number 1 global economy for over 50 years this is inevitable.

But for me I think a lot of criticism is unfair. The USA is caught between 2 camps, 1 it has a duty to do whats right for its own people above and beyond all else but 2 it has a global responsibility to behave appropriately in International matters being the number 1 economy. Thats more then a difficult line to tread and yes I suspect the US has been guilty of making decisions or forming alliances in the interests of its own country where it cold be considered abandoning its principles.

But, if I were an American citizen I think I would want my country to behave this way and look after American interests first despite its role as economic world leader.

Eventually America will not be the leading economy, everyone knows that and the world is chaining rapidly,, I would not be so quick to criticise knowing about the future uncertainty, but you may have a different view.

I will always be grateful to America for sacrificing so many of their young men and women to free us from the Japanese occupation in WW2 and spread of communism post war.

The present grandchildren of those who fought in WW2, and who are now in power, have lost all those precious principles of their grandparents.

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jobsworth Advanced Member

jobsworth

Posted
Posted

ngo's are just a front for the american cia and fbi. they should not be involved with Thai politics. Cambodia is introducing laws to curtail the power of ngo's. maybe Thailand should do the same. Thailand is for Thai people. It should not become another american colony.

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Muirton Senior Member

Muirton

Posted
Posted

what happens when two sides have opposing principles?

We choose the principles that would benefit us the most...?

Democracy is just a cover. Remember how we supported Saddam Hussein of very democractic Iraq? He won every elections since he came to power.

Wondering what happened to him though...

Democracy is just a cover for what? Please be specific or stop flapping lip.

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Muirton Senior Member

Muirton

Posted
Posted

what happens when two sides have opposing principles?

We choose the principles that would benefit us the most...?

Democracy is just a cover. Remember how we supported Saddam Hussein of very democractic Iraq? He won every elections since he came to power.

Wondering what happened to him though...

Democracy is just a cover for what? Please be specific or stop flapping lip.

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trogers Platinum Member

trogers

Posted
Posted

what happens when two sides have opposing principles?

We choose the principles that would benefit us the most...?

Democracy is just a cover. Remember how we supported Saddam Hussein of very democractic Iraq? He won every elections since he came to power.

Wondering what happened to him though...

Democracy is just a cover for what? Please be specific or stop flapping lip.
You need to read between lines...

We choose the principles that benefit us the most...irregardless of the character of the people in power nor how they bought themselves into power, nor should the election be rigged.

As long as there is an election and the adopted principles are to our benefit, you have our full support.

But should your principles have negative impact on us, there could be suspicion that you are developing WMDs, elections or no elections...

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