PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A Thai air force official says that Thailand has put jet fighters and C-130 aircraft on standby as war rhetoric heats up with Cambodia in a tense border dispute.
The air force official, Group Captain Montol Satchukorn, called the moves «precautionary measures» a day after Cambodia issued an ultimatum to Thailand to pull back its troops from the border.
Montol told The Associated Press on Wednesday that jet fighters were on standby at bases nationwide and C-130 transport planes were on alert in the capital, Bangkok.
Both sides said they had deployed additional troops to a disputed stretch of jungle near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, which has been a source of enmity between the two countries for decades.
The air force official, Group Captain Montol Satchukorn, called the moves «precautionary measures» a day after Cambodia issued an ultimatum to Thailand to pull back its troops from the border.
Montol told The Associated Press on Wednesday that jet fighters were on standby at bases nationwide and C-130 transport planes were on alert in the capital, Bangkok.
Both sides said they had deployed additional troops to a disputed stretch of jungle near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, which has been a source of enmity between the two countries for decades.
8 comments:
Thailand, Bangkok: No comparsion there, because the enormity and complexity of the situation is much different (this time)than the previous conflict as you have ineloquently alluded (Laos '89)-- because if we're provoked, we can certainly tell you this: there will be no doubts that a full-scale armed conflict will lead to the destruction of Cambodia (perhaps, if you will, a SECOND "killing fields" for Cambodia. You may MARK my word!
Lt. Gen.
BAN HUAY CHAN, Thailand: When he was a young man, Damneun Pangsopha worked for a while in a doll factory in the big city, Bangkok, and he didn't like it.
"They think differently from the people here in Isaan," he said, referring to the rural heartland of Thailand's northeast. "In Bangkok it's all work and pressure, work and pressure. Not like here, where life is slower. Fish in the river, rice in the field."
The rice is ripening now in this village 400 kilometers, or 250 miles, northeast of Bangkok. As the farmers wait for the harvest, they gather in the mornings to pass the time, and they are angry.
"The people of Isaan are people, too," said Damneun, 48, who is now a farmer, like most people in this small village. "We also eat rice, and we also have an education, and they can't insult us like this."
The insult comes from the leaders of an anti-government protest in Bangkok who say that rural voters are misguided and ignorant. In the hope of changing the balance of political power, the protesters have put forward a new plan that would weaken those rural voices.
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Huge crowds have barricaded the prime minister's office in Bangkok for nearly seven weeks in what has become Thailand's most severe crisis in years, splitting the country along social, economic and political lines.
More than 400 people were left injured and at least two were killed after tear-gas-filled clashes between the police and demonstrators last Tuesday.
As the protesters see it, Damneun and rural people like him are the root of the country's problems. It is largely their vote - making them the biggest constituency in Thailand - that has kept the political opposition from power.
The proposed solution is to dilute the influence of rural voters by creating a mostly appointed Parliament that might better represent the aspirations and needs of a traditional urban, middle-class elite.
"That's not democracy," said Sawai Marongrit, 56, another farmer. "They can't win, so they try to find another way to fight. Because if we have an election, they'll lose again."
The farmers gathered in the shade here in Khon Kaen Province swagger a bit when they talk of their political clout. In the last election, in December, the party that won the rural vote, the People Power Party, took 233 of 480 parliamentary seats. It formed a six-party government coalition that makes up two-thirds of the legislature.
"If the Isaan people don't vote for them, the Democrats will never have a chance to win," said Sawai, referring to the main opposition party.
To put it another way, said Damneun, "The only way they'll ever win is if all the people of Isaan drop dead."
Thailand is sometimes described as two nations - Bangkok, and everything else. About 10 percent of the country's population of 65 million lives in the capital, and that number expands by several million when migrant workers, mostly from the north and northeast, are counted. Nearly a third of the Thai population lives in Isaan.
On election days, the city's taxi drivers and laborers and housekeepers and street vendors and factory workers head home to Isaan to vote, draining the streets of much of their life.
Wooed by populist programs like low-cost health care and cheap loans, the rural poor came together in support of Thaksin Shinawatra, who transformed Thai politics during six years as prime minister.
Thaksin was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is now in London, where he has fled to evade corruption lawsuits. But the rural base he created remains solid, and his supporters control the government.
"The people of Isaan and the poor people everywhere all like Thaksin," said Prasart Pangsopa, 54, who breeds cows and grows long beans, red chilies and rice.
The farmers here are one element in the destabilizing divisions that have become sharper and more emotional as the Bangkok protests continue.
The protesters, calling themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, are a diverse mix of royalists, military officers, business owners, social activists, students and middle-class homemakers whose common ground is a passionate discontent with the state of the nation.
These passions showed themselves last week when doctors at a Bangkok hospital said they would refuse to treat police officers wounded in the clash with protesters.
Separately, the pilot of a Thai Airways plane refused to fly three members of Parliament from the ruling party last week, calling one of them a threat to national security.
The anger runs the other way here in Ban Huay Chan, where the farmers spin spin violent fantasies of mayhem against the protesters.
I recently heard that the Cambodia's prime minister just pissed in his pants during the emergency meeting with his cheap military advisors on how to response to the Thai air superiority.
Welcome to Cambodia!
Invasion--
Dear Mr. Prime Minister Hun Sen:
The Cambodia's prime minister was one of the "killing fields" machines who , in fact, enjoyed the killings of those innocent during the Khmer Rouge era -- and, of course, he still does (while silently killed his opposition supporters).
Mr. prime minister, your people want to get rid of you (I'm sure you already knew this), because of your coward act against them -- now, us. Also, the words that came out from your (dirty) mouth are shamefully worthless. When you, for instance, on Tuesday, issued an ultimatum to our troops, and have your generals lied for you, so your dirty face could be save from your dirty tongue. Yes, Mr. prime minister, you're useless and worthless leader (subhuman) on the face of this earth, and -- indeed -- MUST be condemned for your complicit action against the Thai people and yours. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE ACTION AND CONSEQUENCES!
Signed: Bangkok, Thailand
Yes, that is the PM tactic. We have enough for the last 3 months.
All Khmer living in Thailand please start making the troubles.
Brother Vietnamese, our houses are just about to burn, we need you to put out the fire. Remember what you told us before leaving Cambodia: If the house is burned, let you know. "... Now you know...!" Oh! All the uniforms are ready. Let's put out that fire.
Brother Chinese, give us that arsenal transportation, preferably via your B-737 or Airbus-320 or 340. Our airport welcomes your forthcoming shipments.
On behalf of Cambodian people and government, we thank you our Vietnamese and Chinese brothers for their assistance in a time of crisis.
Again, we thank you very much.
Cambodian Gen.
Talk is cheap. Lets count the number of body bags in the coming days for both sides.....
Cambodian born Major, USAF
What is the use? There is no Khmer in Cambodia but Yuon.
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