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There were also sporadic
continuations of on going disputes ( err, wars ) with Vietnam
& Burma during this period.
Vasco
de Gama rounded the (South African) Cape of Good Hope and sailed
across the Indian Ocean in 1498.
The fate of the
entire non European world became
one of conflict with the Europeans and their dreams of colonial
empire.
Colonial economic and
political policy was designed to milk ( = steal / rob / plunder ) the colony of
it's resources & enrich the
'mother country'. The first Europeans to reach
Thailand were the Portuguese in 1511.
Followed in rapid
succession by the Dutch, the English, the Spanish, and the French traders.
From that first Farang step
forward, things became complicated for the Thai Kings The Spanish made the
Philippines
their
regional capital, the French focused on Indochina, the Dutch
were occupied with Indonesia while the Brits ruled over Malaysia
& 'most' everything west of Thailand all the way to the Mediterranean
Sea.
Thailand was an island of soverngnty
in an area spanning 1/3 of the globe.
& Thailand remains an
island of sanity in that huge geographic region today! The historical record of the last 500 years shows a brilliant
'chess game like strategy' executed by Thai kings.
The Thai kings choose to loose selected 'small battles' but win
the larger societal war.
Thai proverb, "the tree that bends with
the wind is the tree that survives the storm"
The
ever so wise Thai kings of the Ayutthayan period offered small trade
concessions & grants to avoid all out colonial
hostilities.
From 1600 - 1941 the Thai
Kings were engaged in constantly increasing & shifting demands from
the European builders of world colonial empires.
1st it was the Dutch whose demands became unreasonable (more & more generous trade agreements) & King Narai finally resisted the increasing Dutch colonial demands for domination of the Thai trade options.
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Even though the Dutch had a generous trade agreement they wanted to dominate & control Thai imports / exports.
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Rounding the cape of Good Hope, where the Atlantic Ocean & Indian Ocean currents collide presents some of the most violent 'ocean swell action' on this planet. Modern hull 1000'+ oil tankers bounce like corks, cannot imagine what a 100' rounded wooden hulled top heavy sailing vessel was like.
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OK, I'll stop complaining about the 14 hours in tourist (cattle car?) class.
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The purpose of Ambassador Kosapan's mission to Versailles was to offer a trading post to Louis XIV in Singor (now Songkhla) in southern Siam, where the Compagnie des Indes Orientales and a handful of troops would establish themselves and provide a counterweight to the all-powerful Dutch.
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King Louie XIV dispatched 1400 troops to Ayutthaya.
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The ever so gracious Dutch politely agreed to return to the originally negotiated agreement.
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Thank goodness the French had their eye on the colonial-ization of Thailand.
Score: Thailand 1 Colonialist 0
The Thai then severed relations with the French to avoid becoming the last piece for a 100% French Indochina.
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Score: Thailand 2 Colonialist 0
King Phra Petraja closed Thailand's doors to the west for over 100 years. Score: Thailand 3 Colonialist 0
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By granting land to the colonialist the Thai King avoided war.
In American baseball it's called a 'sacrifice bunt'... run scores.
Score: Thailand 4 Colonialist 0
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Thailand had actually declared war on the British Tea Company, British National Opium Distribution, 100 years earlier.
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The British Government's "Tea Company" was the first international drug cartel. Spreading opium from one milked colony to their other 'valued colonial possessions'.
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The first international drug lord was the British King.
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Seems I've read that opium poppies are 'milked' of the opium .. & The British Empire was certainly for any colonial milking it could achieve.
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Keeping the British Empire at bay was like controlling 21st century hooligans at the World Cup!
Much like modern day fast food, the immediate gratification of the '
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The "super sized colonial edict land order" was transmitted through an extremely functional British cannon barrel.
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Unfortunately, more traditional Burma only offered 'sit down land'
& please no "After Thai Land ..colonialist will be land hungry again in hour.." jokes!
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But... actually the Brits did slowly, seemingly insatiable kingdom that it was, consume more & more Burmese territory.
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Bit by bit from 1823 til 1886, when the Brits occupied the entire country and there was no more Burma.
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The Brits gave up on the Burmese colony in 1935.
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112 years ..3 wars fought... then Milk & Run diplomacy ..
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& historically significant Burma / Myanmar remains a society destroyed by colonialism, a country controlled by a cut throat junta until today.
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2005: US Secretary of State Condi Rice includes Myanmar in the US Axis (now the Quadal of evil?) of Evil.
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As a direct result of British colonial policy Burma / Myanmar remains a ruined country until today.
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Colonial demands continued into the 20th century! In the 1893 Paknam Incident, French and Siamese ( Thai ) gunboats engaged in a gun battle that set the stage for the Franco-Siamese Treaty Convention of October 1893. Under a 'colonial kangaroo court' French Colonial Cambodia forced the Thai to abandon part of it's soverngnty: Battambong, Siam Reap ( Angkor Wat ), Champasak and Lanchang Score: Thailand 4 Colonialist 1 Above: Siem Rep just above & to the right of "Tonle Sap Lake" .. on the edge of the green color & well inside Thailand! LIFE Magazine, July 1939. Only the canny rule of King Chulalongkorn in the late 19th Century saved Siam from being swallowed by Britain and France like the rest of the peninsula. In May 1941 an international court returned to Thailand the same territories taken in the 1893 French land grab. |
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A series of incidents between French colonial forces in Indochina and Thailand escalated into open war in late November, 1940
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During the Franco-Thai war, 1940-1941, Japan supported Thailand .. supplying bomber aircraft.
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The war ended on January 28, 1941, after Japanese diplomatic intervention.
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France was forced to cede a considerable amount of previously taken territory back to Thailand.
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The Thai only wanted back what the French Colonialist had taken in 1891.
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Or, Thailand kicked France's butt & took the stolen property back.
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Before Vietnam in the 50s booted the Colonial French, the Thai had done it 20 years before!
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This last colonial land / territory / border dispute with French Colonial Cambodia was settled in Thailand's favor by the 1941 Tokyo Accord.
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An international court ruled the 1893 land grab by French Colonial Cambodia to be illegal & invalid.
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Score: Thailand 5 Colonialist 0
.. previous Colonialist point ruled invalid & disallowed.
International boundaries were arbitrarily reassigned by the French colonialist as they abandoned their dream of world empire & abruptly abandoned their dependant colonies after World War II..
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The French Colonialist needed to make an arrogant declaration of score:
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A quick border relocation as they "turned out the lights".
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The location of the Thai Cambodian border remains an area of 'negotiation' between Cambodia & Thailand until today.
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A recent, 2003, incident in Phnom Penh: Cambodians demonstrated in front of / stoned the Thai Embassy after a Thai movie star stated Siem Reap ( Angkor Wat ) should be in Thailand.
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Thailand's fans of soverngnty are insisting on a review of this questionable and typically arrogant colonialist edict.
Score:
Thailand 5 Colonialist 1
The era of European colonialism ended with WW II.
Interesting, :-o, that the Japanese ( Tokyo Accord ) were assisting the Thais resist European Colonialism 6 months before Pearl Harbor.
Bangkok newspaper Thai Mai, 1939: " What can small nations situated in the battle zone do? If Siam takes the side of Japan and the predicted troubles in the British and French colonial empires do not come off, then Siam would be in an unpleasant position."
Thailand is so placed on the map as to be a natural steppingstone for Japan in a drive against the great British base of Singapore at the end of the Malay peninsula.
Thailand desired to be completely neutral. Thailand was caught in-between global military powers.
On the 8th of December 1941 the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Thailand.
The Thai forces resisted as best they could, but were overwhelmed by the numerically superior Japanese forces.
Thailand was controlled by the Japanese during WW II but is historically considered to be part of the Allied efforts.
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The first Japanese forces entered Thailand on December 8.
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Due to the international date line Thailand was on the 8th & Pearl Harbor was on the 7th .. Actually Thailand was invaded a few hours before Pearl Harbor was attacked.
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The Japanese invasion force landed at four different places along the Thai coastal provinces, including Samut Prakarn south of Bangkok.
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Japanese controlled Thailand was bombed by the Allies during WW II.
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Bangkok was a regular target of allied bombs.
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WW II era 'dumb bombs' were very accurate, they hit the ground 100% of the time.
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Most major cities ( civilian population centers, there were few military targets ) in Thailand were bombed during the war.
The Japanese brutality in Asia is infamous.
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Japanese atrocities in Thailand building the Siam Burma Railroad were among the worst of WW II.
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Post WW II military courts, 1946-47, in Japan returned several 'SE Asian' war crime convictions.
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12,000 Allied troops died on the Siam Burma railroad.
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50% of Thai citizens that were Japanese prisoners of war died. Less than 10% of German military POWs died in captivity!
The infamous "Bridge on the River Kwai" ( Japanese war atrocity movie fame ) is a popular tourist day trip from Bangkok.
2005: A sunken Japanese World War II-era train train complete with steam engine & caboose has recently been located next to a current Thai bridge, Chulalongkorn Bridge over the Mae Klong River in Ratchaburi.
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Local Thai were used as slave labor by the Japanese to build a bridge, part of the Japanese Siam Burma Railroad network.
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Local lore has it that the Thai workers made the bridge weak intentionally.
The intentionally weak bridge collapsed with the fully loaded train.
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Japanese soldiers 'tested' the load-bearing capacity of the Mae Klong Railway Bridge by having a fully crewed & loaded train run over it.
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Excavation depends on the current bridge structural integrity.
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The Mae Klong is 10m / 30' deep at this point.
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If you are into WW II Siam Burma Railway history, Ratchaburi is a short drive down highway 3274 from the River Kwai site, on the way back to Bangkok.
The Karen tribe of the Thai Golden Triangle & Burma fought the Japanese with extreme vigilance.
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The Karen fought a war that greatly benefited colonial British interests in SE Asia.
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The Karen guerilla action was the most successful Allied guerrilla action against the Japanese in WW II.
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The British promised the Karen an independent country for their cooperation with the allied war plan.
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The more assets Japan dedicated to SE Asia the fewer resources it had for the rest of the Pacific region.
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Many Karen villages were destroyed by the Japanese.
The Karen tribe is famous for the 'long neck women'.
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Then the British Post WW II Labor Party reneged on the promises made by the wartime allegiance.
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It is said that Winston Churchill was upset when the Post WW II British Labor Party choose to forgot their good friends & warrior allies .. The Karen were sold out after WWII.
In 1949 the brave warrior Karen began a civil war against the post WW II Burmese government with large quantities of stashed WW II weaponry.
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The Brits supplied weapons to the Burmese government to fight their former warrior allies.
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The communist military government of the Socialist Republic of Myanmar, Burma, is one of the most ruthless governments in the world today.
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The Mon and Karen have fought a 60 year guerrilla war against the brutal Burmese / Myanmar government.
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2006: The Mon & Karen struggle with the brutal Burmese Junta continues until today. Current escalation of Karen guerrilla activity is due to a 36" oil pipeline that transverses their traditional ethnic homeland.
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The Myanmar Junta is building natural gas pipeline from Myanmar to Thailand. Problem is it passes through Karen ethnic territory.
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The Junta has been hired by the 'oil project participants' to 'protect' the pipeline.
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"As the Unocal official's denial of company responsibility for the forced road-clearing attests, it is impossible to operate in a completely abuse-free environment when you have the Burmese government as a partner.." the embassy report concluded.
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The Karen's primary problems are with the ruthless Myanmar government not the Thai, but the Karen's traditional homeland spans the Myanmar / Thai border.
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The pipeline will provide the Junta $400m per year.
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The Thai government is also a participant. The 36" pipeline project is owned by a French company Total, a California company Unocal, along with the Thai & Myanmar governments.
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2002: There are allegations of slave labor as well as forced relocations of entire Karen villages. International relief organizations have set up large refugee camps to feed & house the Mon & Karen displaced by the project.
March 22, 2005. US oil giant Unocal has agreed to compensate Burmese ( Karen & Mon ) villagers over abuses committed during the construction of a gas pipeline. www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4371995.stm
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Court documents demonstrate Unocal Management did not stop Burmese troops guarding the project from abusing the indigenous people.
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To avoid the entire & detailed truth coming out regarding Unocal's US management's complicity in allowing the mass murder / rape during sworn testimony Unocal agreed to a huge out of court settlement.
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2004: Rumor had it, Unocal would be controlled by Chinese investment / management .. & to design / build a pipeline from Russia to China to circumvent US control of the sea lanes used by oil tankers. Chevron Texaco the world's fifth-largest oil company, beat out rival bidders such as Italian oil group Eni and snatched the prize at the last minute from state-run China offshore producer CNOOC Ltd.
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2005: The sale of UnoCal has turned into a major international news story.
US President George Bush in July, 2003 signed into law the "Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act", saying "The United States will not waver from its commitment to the cause of democracy and human rights in Burma".
Bush's "Burmese Freedom
& Democracy Act"
actually consists of a series of
economic sanctions against one
of the poorest societies on this
planet.
To foster better relations and
to demonstrate a spirit of
cooperation, in
2003, the US imposed economic
sanctions on the people of
Burma!
US
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Daley said the sanctions - imposed in late July,
2003 - had immediately disrupted all of Burma's industry.
According to Mr.
Daley, "more than 40,000 people
in the garment industry alone have been thrown out of work, many of them ending up in the sex
industry". see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3161498.stm
80,000
Burmese lost their jobs in less than
2 months due to the US sanctions.
The
US government has acknowledged that the US
economic / trade sanctions have deprived thousands of Burmese workers of a regular source of income.
Problem
for the individual citizens is
that they still get hungry when their source of income
is taken away by political
decisions far removed from them.
The
decision made by the US
government is to literally
starve a people because of civil
rights abuses rendered upon
those same people. ??
J
Thanks, Condi!
April,
2005: SYDNEY
(Reuters) - A London-based
Christian human rights group
says it has collected strong
evidence of a chemical attack on
Karen rebels by Myanmar's
military government.
anuary,
2005. Condi Rice , US
Secretary of State, includes
Myanmar on the US's 'bad boy
list'.
September,
2006: Of every 1,000
children born in eastern Karen,
Kayah or Mon states ( on the
Thai border) 221 will be dead
before their fifth birthday.
The report
compiled by mobile medical teams
of the Thailand-based Back Pack
Health Worker Team, document the
terrible state of affairs in
Myanmar, considered the "rice
basket of Asia" when it won
independence from Britain in
1948.
Thankfully the relief organizations have filled the basic needs of survival for an entire ethnic group.
Spring, 2005. HUGE refugee
camps for displaced Mon & Karen.
