Cambodia & Laos Defence Forum

[Aepsilons]

dont forget also the Khmer empire.

I alway love Khmer culture especially the Apsara dance.

I'm fond of the Rabam Ayuthaya,

Thai dance Rabam Ayudthaya Thailand traditional dance - YouTube

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

I'm fond of the Rabam Ayuthaya,

Thai dance Rabam Ayudthaya Thailand traditional dance - YouTube

Thai and Khmer traditional dance are very similar, they influenced each other culture through war, conquest and of course through cultural exchange during peacefull time.

 

[Carlosa]

Yes, if you want to consider the damage of civilian buildings such as an elementary school as a 'winning point'. A point of conjecture would be the patience the Royal Thai Armed Forces maintained, given, the Royal Thai Air Force could have easily decimated the Cambodian Artillery positioned near Battambang , had the Thai Government ordered for a full military response. Bangkok, however, was looking to find a diplomatic resolution to the situation.

You are not familiar with the facts. Thailand created the issue of Preah Vihear, not Cambodia. Thailand was not the one looking for a diplomatic resolution as you stated. The Thai military and the yellow shirts created an issue where there was no issue because of internal Thai politics.

The Thai government was complying with the world court orders (as it was supposed to do), but the yellow shirts and the military with their hard core nationalistic views, brought up the whole issue that the government was ceding that land to Cambodia and presented that to the public in fanatical self serving nationalistic terms as an act of treason to Thailand and the Thai army on its own started to mass near the border and started to provoke the Cambodian military into warfare, that's how the situation started.

The government was just a passive actor on all of that and it had to follow the nationalistic line in order to defend itself from the yellow shirts and in order to appear as it was defending the Thai interest. The army was in charge of the situation and together with the yellow shirts WANTED A WAR with Cambodia in order to present themselves as the defenders of the sacred Thai territory and show how they were going to punish the Cambodian aggressor.

By the way, beating on Cambodians (or Burmese) its a typical thing in Thailand since the Thais look down on them as inferior (and the same with respect to Laos or Vietnam) as they are often used as scapegoats (same as 2 innocent Burmese are being used now as scapegoats on the murders of 2 british tourists because the Thais want to save face and don't want to be seen as the ones that did the murders, all very typical in Thailand).

When Thailand started to have the upper hand, Vietnamese troops started to cross the border and that's when the Thai army backed down and a diplomatic solution was easily found, they did not want to face the Vietnamese army. The Vietnamese army was right to intervene, they have a defense treaty with Cambodia and Thailand was the aggressor.

That's the truth of how things happened.

 

[Carlosa]

The Preah Vihear Situation is an internal affair of both the Kingdoms of Thailand and Cambodia. It does not involve Vietnamese intervention, and the latter's intrusion into this internal affair would only succor greater diplomatic leverage in favor of Thailand. Do not be so deluded to think that the Thais are incapable, they have, for years cooperated with the United States and other key powers in ASEAN vis-a-vis CARAT, not to mention the power projection capabilities of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

Since when cooperating with USA and others is a good indicator of the capabilities of the Thai army? Can you explain in detail the power projection capabilities of the Thai army and how they can influence the outcome of conflict with cambodia? What specific knowledge of the Thai military do you have to be so sure about their capabilities? All the information that I have points to them being not very competent at all.

Can you point out to any recent history that shows the competency of the Thai army? The recent history that I know (including conflict with tiny Laos) shows the opposite.

 

[Aepsilons]

Since when cooperating with USA and others is a good indicator of the capabilities of the Thai army? Can you explain in detail the power projection capabilities of the Thai army? What specific knowledge of the Thai military do you have to be so sure about their capabilities? All the information that I have points to them being not very competent at all.

The Royal Thai Air Force have one of the largest air forces in ASEAN, fielding F-16s and JAS Gripens that provide it with a potent air projection. In regards to land warfare, through various campaigns to eradicate communist threats in ints own borders, have also crushed separatists movements in Surin. The Thai Army , which has been battling pro-separatist in the south, many of whom have association with terrorist groups such as Islamiyah Jeramiyah. They have the capability to rapidly deploy the Royal Thai Armed Forces (500,000). Through the auspices of CARAT exercises, the Thais have developed technological interoperability with the United States:

U.S., Thai militaries build relationships through technology | Article | The United States Army

 

[alaungphaya]

Without getting all racial, I will say that it annoys that the Thais would look down on 'Burmese'. The labourers that go to work in Thailand are rarely 'Bamar'. The Burmese proper go instead to Singapore or Malaysia. Ofcourse, in he media, the correct style guide is 'Burmese' but even still. One of my bugbears.

 

[Aepsilons]

All the information that I have points to them being not very competent at all.

They've managed to secure their borders, including the demarcation program with Laos; have a fairly stable border with Myanmar, have crushed islamic insurgents in their southern provinces of Songkhla, Patani and have established law and order in these hinterlands. I disagree with your prognosis to declare that the Thais are incapable, in my opinion, they are quite capable.

 

[cnleio]

This thread need clean, off-topic so far ... not Cambodian & Laos armed force pics

 

[alaungphaya]

Mainland South East Asian Empires? We win.

 

[alaungphaya]

I hope all east Asia nations unite together and stop all dispute so to avoid next.colonization too, bro.

Next war will be swarms of killing dragonflies robots. Let Asia be researching for that.

Very diplomatic. Like a Thai!

 

[Carlosa]

The Royal Thai Air Force have one of the largest air forces in ASEAN, fielding F-16s and JAS Gripens that provide it with a potent air projection. In regards to land warfare, through various campaigns to eradicate communist threats in ints own borders, have also crushed separatists movements in Surin. The Thai Army , which has been battling pro-separatist in the south, many of whom have association with terrorist groups such as Islamiyah Jeramiyah. They have the capability to rapidly deploy the Royal Thai Armed Forces (500,000). Through the auspices of CARAT exercises, the Thais have developed technological interoperability with the United States:

U.S., Thai militaries build relationships through technology | Article | The United States Army

The Thai army is essentially a counterinsurgency army. In actual warfare with another power is another story. Its a very corrupted institution where officers pay to buy their promotions.

Yes, they have some old F-16's and Grippens, some modern tanks and artillery, They look good in paper. They also have an aircraft carrier that they never used because they discover after the fact that they could not afford to use it. They also have modern helicopters and they fall from the sky one right after the other one because they DON'T MAINTAIN the high tech equipment. I remember one situation 1 or 2 years ago where 1 helicopter crashed, another one went out looking for the crash site and it also crashed; another one working in the crash scene crashed 2 days later. Have you ever heard of something like that from other countries? No, only in Thailand.

The Iraqis also had a lot of high tech equipment but ISIS routed them. That's my point about the Thai army, they look good on paper, but they are incompetent. That's why they never win (in modern times).

 

[Aepsilons]

Some pictures of the Royal Thai Army,

 

[alaungphaya]

VN army will come and help Camb army in Battambang, then Thai army will get a very high casualty if they dont retreat.

Thai Gens. learned well from their lost in Thai-Laos conflict in 1987 when VN army came to help Laos.

Don't underestimate the Thais. They know what they are doing. They are smarter than to blindly follow nationalistic pride in their thinking.

 

[Carlosa]

Very diplomatic. Like a Thai!

Yes, you know them well, we (foreigners living in Thailand, or that used to live there as in my case) also know them well and we know their real capabilities.

 

[Carlosa]

Some pictures of the Royal Thai Army,



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Beautiful pictures, the Thai army ALWAYS LOOKS GOOD in pictures. As I said before, they are all about looking good and saving face. Useless for anything else, particularly for combat.