Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dave Chance]

Negotiations were started in 2003...the prime minister at the time , Thaksin, tried to force it through, but didn't succeed...in the wake of Thaksin's removal from office by coup d'etat in 2006, he then tried to engineer a revolution from abroad with his Red Shirts and multinational corporate backing...now Thai politicians are just coming out and naming the game

http://www.focusweb.org/node/729

(reported on in 2004)

THE third round of Thailand-US free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations ended on 8 April with great disappointment for civil society activists because people's demand and concerns were cast aside.

[i]When the free trade talks officially commenced on the 5 April, over a thousand people took to the streets, marching to the hotel where negotiations were taking place. Although the demonstrators could reach the hotel doors, it was still too far for the participants (and, of course, hotel guests) to realise what was going on outside the building. After a discussion with the police and representatives of the Thai negotiating team, fifteen representatives of the demonstration were later invited to discuss with the Thai team in the hotel. Forty-five minutes of meeting was, however, another disappointment: "We are just the negotiators, not the decision-makers," they said. "If we take IPR off the table, the US will do the same with other issues".

"Even without FTAs, Thai people are already consuming expensive medicines" is one of the arguments used by the Thai negotiators in an attempt to convince the public that the FTA with the US is irrelevant to the higher prices of medicines. Perhaps they do not know that the underlying reason is that Thailand has already succumbed to pressure from the US to extend the drug patent protection period from 15 years to 20 years (as stated in the TRIPs) eight years ahead of the deadline set by the WTO. That is, Thailand has already exceeded its TRIPS obligations in the face of US pressure. While other developing countries took the extra time to develop and strengthen their own pharmaceutical industries, Thai people were forced to buy expensive patent drugs since 1992, and domestic industries have been limited in their growth and capacity to provide more affordable alternatives. As a result, it is not surprising that drug prices remain high, even "without FTAs"

The whole process of launching, negotiating and concluding FTAs in Thailand is entirely detached from democratic values. The parliament is neither consulted nor required to approve FTAs. Nor is the idea of people's participation seriously encouraged. The outcome of the FTA talks is left in the hands of a few people in the government and carried out in a closed negotiation room. Until now, the expected benefits from the FTA with the US are not clear. US investors have enjoyed a privilege over other investors during the past 37 years through the Treaty of Amity but now they are demanding even more liberalisation. In contrast, in agriculture, where Thailand has an advantage, the issue of US agricultural subsidies, which leads to price decline in the world market, is not included in the discussion. The FTA with the US cannot mean anything except deepening the US and its multinational corporation's domination in the country. [/i]

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-today-thailand-tomorrow_12.html

These "red shirt" color revolutions are the work of former Thaksin Shinwatra and a myriad of foreign backers. Thaksin was a former Carlye Group member before taking up the Premiership in 2001. He pursued a campaign of power consolidation, elimination of the nation's checks and balances, and a program of economic liberalization (read: selling out the country to foreigners).

On September 18, 2006, Thaksin was in New York City standing in front of the Council on Foreign Relations giving them a progress report on "democracy" in Thailand. The next day the Thai military staged a coup and swept his treasonous government from power.

It was previously reported that since his ouster from power in 2006, he has been backed by fellow Carlyle man James Baker and his Baker Botts law firm, International Crisis Group's Kenneth Adelman and his Edelman Public Relations firm, and now Robert Amsterdam's Amsterdam & Peroff, a major corporate member of the globocrat Chatham House. His proxy political party maintains the "red shirt" mobs which in turn are supported by several NGOs including the National Endowment for Democracy funded "Prachatai," an "independent media organization" that coordinates the "red shirt" propaganda efforts.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/75618/sondhi-l-us-capitalists-behind-campaign-to-overthrow-the-monarchy/


Sondhi L: US capitalists behind campaign to overthrow monarchy
By Bangkok Pundit Feb 13, 2012 9:30AM UTC

Sondhi Limthongkul has revealed a plan by American capitalists to rule Thailand in a bid to exploit natural resources, including oil, in the Asia Pacific region, exposing Nitirat and Prachatai as receiving money from American corporate-backed funders in a conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy.

Sondhi said in an ASTV programme on 27 Jan that the movement against the throne headed by Nitirat was proof of what he had said since 2005 and 2008, and this was connected to the US attempt to exert its influence to reoccupy Asia Pacific.

�Don�t think that the US is our friend, because that country only cares about its interests and doesn�t want anyone to get in its way. Even His Majesty the King who promotes the Sufficiency Economy has been accused of being an obstacle of their reforms. Currently, the US has started to lose interest in the Middle East because its oil has been running out, and Europe is facing severe economic problems. So it has turned to Asia Pacific where a middle class is emerging and there are oil reserves in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea,� he said.

In a strategic plan for the US to conquer the world, American corporate-backed organizations including, for example, George Soros� Open Society and the US Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) have propagated a �universal discourse�, providing support for democracy in countries where there are subversive movements.

Several American organizations are behind Thai NGOs. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), for example, which is dominated by financial, energy, arms, food, and pharmaceutical capitalists, and which �has published an article stating that the Thai King is an obstacle to political reform�, is funding Thai NGOs and certain members of Nitirat.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has also given �nearly one million US dollars� to Thai NGOs, particularly Prachatai, �whose Director has been prosecuted for l�se majest�,� which has received �US$500,000 to train local leaders to understand the roles of Members of Parliament who are essentially red shirts.�

[rollo]

Just love the rhetoric.. The U.s. plan to take over the world. The description of the Thaksin government as treasonous. Nothing like an unbiased source. Totally useless article.

[Dave Chance]

Not entirely different from what went on during the "Arab Spring"

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28433

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

[rollo]

So the arab spring and the Thai FTA are related How??? The U.S. paid or forced a man to set himself on fire???? What???

[Dave Chance]

The links make it clear how the US involved itself in the Arab Spring.

Thai people claim the US also played a part in supporting the Red Shirts who aimed to topple the Thai King.

It wouldn't be the first time the US gov't has been involved in attempting to destabilize another country in order to create more economic/geo-political opportunities for itself.

[Hokie21]

Do you ever post anything that doesn't slam the US?

[Dave Chance]

The amount of info disseminated by the media/educational systems which support US gov't /globalist policies far outweighs anything posted here.

If anything on here is too much for you to handle, you can always skip over to the other threads...It's probably best that u stick to making corny jokes about cookie ads

[Hokie21]

lol

[rollo]

Your obsession with the U.s. in interesting. Are you aware that other countries such as Great Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Russia China have intelligence agencies and also have schemes and plans going on in many coutries. n it Libya is a perfect example where Great Britain Germany France and Italy had far gretter vested interest than the U.S. and played a much larger role in the regime change there. please dont take this personall but your love/ hate thing with the U.s. clouds your vision, to really seeing the complexities in the world order. I do not fault you , I fault lazy teachers and read more objective stuff and less writings that have an agenda. Hint: you tube is not a good source of information on world affairs.

[Dave Chance]

You make some good points, i.e. other countries involved.

However, it's no exaggeration to state that on the whole the US leads the pack.

Some people seem obsessed about downplaying the US role.

Youtube is merely a medium. There's some good stuff and bad stuff, it's up to the viewer to discern between the two.

[Kuros]

[rollo]

Do you have a source for your claim"the U.S. leads the pack" leads the pack in what?

[Dave Chance]