Royal Thai Armed Forces

The parade of armored vehicles in Thai Army Cavalry Center in Saraburi



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3841960.html

Royal Thai Army Day Parade

On January 18, 2020, a military parade was held in Bangkok in honor of the Royal Thai Army Day. For the first time, the parade was attended by Stryker armored personnel carriers acquired from the US Army acquired under an intergovernmental agreement with the United States through the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales (FMS).



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3909317.html

The Complete Guide: US Government Role in Thailand's "Student Protests"

Virtually every aspect of "student protests" in Thailand are funded and backed by the US and aimed at destabilizing a key partner of China, reversing Thai-Chinese relations, and advancing Washington's Beijing containment policy.

   Thailand is a key partner of China's and has pivoted toward Beijing at Washington's expense;
   Protesters are backed by pro-US billionaire-led opposition parties;
   US-backed billionaire-led opposition vowed months ago to "take to the streets;"
   US government funds core protest leader Anon Nampa via National Endowment for Democracy (NED);
   US also funds orgs trying to "rewrite" Thailand's constitution;
   US funds fake news fronts posing as "independent journalism;"
   Despite "pro-human rights" slant, opposition parties are led by worst human rights offenders in Thai history.


August 19, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The Southeast Asian Kingdom of Thailand has tilted too far toward China for Washington's liking.

Thailand is replacing its aging US military hardware with Chinese alternatives including Chinese-made main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, naval vessels including the Kingdom's first modern submarines, and jointly developed projects like the DTI-1 multiple rocket launcher system. Thailand and China have also conducted joint military exercises in recent years. Thailand has also purchased Russian Sukhoi 100 jets for the military.

The country - with nearly 70 million people and the second largest economy in Southeast Asia - counts China as its biggest trade partner, its largest source of foreign direct investment, the largest source of tourism with China providing more tourists per year than all Western nations combined, and a key partner in developing infrastructure including the already under-construction China-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail link that will only further cement these ties.

To reverse this trend - the United States is attempting to destabilize Thailand politically and economically - topple the current government and place into power a political opposition led by abusive billionaires who have specifically vowed to roll back Thai-Chinese relations.

This has manifested in protests the Western corporate media has claimed are "student-led" and "organic" despite what are clearly centrally led protests with easily identifiable leaders tied directly to US government funding.

The protests are leveraging a nation-wide network created by US government organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID, and other funding mechanisms to overwrite Thailand's indigenous institutions with Western-style alternatives across Thailand educational, labor, media, and political spaces.

For the complete article see the Land Destroyer Report and Alt Thai News for daily updates.

The spending of the Thai Armed Forces on the purchase and modernization of weapons has been significantly reduced due to the economic crisis caused by the introduction of quarantine measures against the spread of the pandemic. But not all programs have been phased out, so Thailand is modernizing its Gripen fighters, despite a general cut in defense spending.

This is reported by the Thai ArmedForce portal.

Although defense spending was one of the first to be cut, the upgrade program for 11 JAS-39 Gripen fighters, manufactured by the Swedish company Saab, was not scaled down to the MS20 standard. A similar package of updates was previously received by aircraft of this model, which are in service with the Air Forces of Sweden and the Czech Republic. Thailand's budget has allocated about $ 21 million for the modernization of fighters.

After the work carried out, the aircraft will be able to use the Meteor medium-range missiles and GBU-39 bombs. The radar station will be modernized, as well as the nuclear, chemical and biological protection system.

Note My like for Backmans post above is not that I like what is happening, but that it is being recognised and exposed.

Thailand received Chinese-built landing helicopter dock ship





https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4639669.html