Minister of Defense concludes trip to Russia

[rooster59]

Minister of Defense concludes trip to Russia

Itiporn Lakarnchua

BANGKOK, 26 February 2016 (NNT) – The Ministry of Defense has reported the outcomes of the Minister of Defense’s recent visit to Russia.

Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan was accompanied by high ranking members of his ministry as well as top officials of the Royal Thai Police, the ministries of commerce, industry, science and technology, foreign affairs and Deputy Prime Minister for economics Somkid Jatusripitak while visiting Russia this past February 23-25.

Upon arrival, the minister passed on policy to the Thai ambassador to Russia and Thai officials stationed in the nation, calling on them to adhere to the government’s Roadmap for development and to foster ties with Russia on security and economic development. He said Thailand aims to cooperate with Russia on 5 main issues, namely; trade, science and technology, energy, security and tourism.

On the second day of his visit, the minister and his entourage met with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who remarked he looked forward to meeting with Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha again at the ASEAN-Russia leaders’ summit in May this year. The two sides reviewed continuing collaboration between Thailand and Russia in military and security matters as well as mutual support in economics. The defense minister urged the Russian leader to spur energy investment in Thailand and utilize the Kingdom for his own country’s food stability. Both sides agreed to continue to build upon the 120 years of relations between them.

On the final day of the visit, the Thai delegation met with Russia Minister of Defense Gen Sergei Shoigu, who welcomed the group with a ceremony performed by the nation’s honor guard and discussed military ties with them.

Their final visit was with Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, where they talked about security threats such as terrorism and transnational crime.

-- NNT 2016-02-27

[Gsxrnz]

I hope he didn't come back with a case of submarine envy.

[arthurboy]

Will the junta soon announce that Thailand is to become the ASEAN hub of military hardware manufacturing?

And will it invite China to set up weapon build facilities here, too?

So many questions, so little time...

[NongKhaiKid]

Russian Air force using U-tapao soon, only courtesy visits of course.

[sharecropper]

Congratulations Thailand - best friend of two of the world's worst countries - China and Russia - because nobody else that matters will talk to it. Russia mischief-makes wherever it can and China supported the Khmer Rouge, currently props up North Korea and every tinpot dictatorship in Africa, and is currently stoking major conflict in the South China Sea.

Very strange bedfellows.

[muskoka]

Congratulations Thailand - best friend of two of the world's worst countries - China and Russia - because nobody else that matters will talk to it. Russia mischief-makes wherever it can and China supported the Khmer Rouge, currently props up North Korea and every tinpot dictatorship in Africa, and is currently stoking major conflict in the South China Sea.

Very strange bedfellows.

it's a bit more complicated than that

After Vietnam had invaded Cambodia and set up a new government, the ousted Khmer Rouge leadership, including Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, retreated to the jungle along the Thailand-Cambodia border. Instead of becoming pariahs, they continued to play a significant role in Cambodian politics for the next two decades. The Khmer Rouge would likely not have survived without the support of its old patron China and a surprising new ally: the United States. Norodom Sihanouk, now in exile after briefly serving as head of state under the Khmer Rouge, formed a loose coalition with the guerillas to expel the Vietnamese from Cambodia. The United States gave the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition millions of dollars in aid while enforcing an economic embargo against the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government. The Carter administration helped the Khmer Rouge keep its seat at the United Nations, tacitly implying that they were still the country's legitimate rulers.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl04.html

During his reign as National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski played an important role in determining how the U.S. would support the Pol Pot guerrillas. Elizabeth Becker, an expert on Cambodia, recently wrote, "Brzezinski himself claims that he concocted the idea of persuading Thailand to cooperate fully with China in efforts to rebuild the Khmer Rouge.... Brzezinski said, " I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. I encouraged the Thai to help the DK [Democratic Kampuchea]. The question was how to help the Cambodian people. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could not support him but China could."

An Unholy Alliance

The U.S. not only permitted the Khmer Rouge to use the refugee camps in Thailand as a base for its war against the new government in Phnom Penh but it also helped Prince Norodom Sihanouk and former Prime Minister Son Sann to organize their own guerrilla armies from the refugee population in the camps. These camps are an integral factor in the ability of the Khmer Rouge, the Sihanoukist National Army (ANS) and Son Sann's Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) to wage war against the Hun Sen government.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/US_PolPot.html

[MZurf]

Congratulations Thailand - best friend of two of the world's worst countries - China and Russia - because nobody else that matters will talk to it. Russia mischief-makes wherever it can and China supported the Khmer Rouge, currently props up North Korea and every tinpot dictatorship in Africa, and is currently stoking major conflict in the South China Sea.

Very strange bedfellows.

Not strange at all. The present regime resembles the regimes of those two countries in many ways.

[IAMHERE]

If you can't be with the one you love, be with the one you can.

[connda]

Time to upgrade to Sukhoi aircraft.

[istinspring]

Congratulations Thailand - best friend of two of the world's worst countries - China and Russia - because nobody else that matters will talk to it. Russia mischief-makes wherever it can and China supported the Khmer Rouge, currently props up North Korea and every tinpot dictatorship in Africa, and is currently stoking major conflict in the South China Sea.

Very strange bedfellows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_United_States_support_for_the_Khmer_Rouge

educate yourself next time before poasting.