POTD: Royal Thai Army Soldiers with IWI Tavors

@Uncle Yar Thank you for the offical CCP statement

@Azlefty Mate, what the hell are you on? Do you realize the Royal Thai Military is a patron of the Chinese MIC? it has to do with coups. Happens after every 5 years of democratic rule, give or take.

Everytime there's a coup, the Americans stop selling kit and spare parts to Thailand (rightfully so). That's why all major systems are now being procured from Chinese firms. Tanks, IFVs, ground based MLRS, warships, even attack submarines.

In fact, the Thai military apparatus was assessed to be sufficiently connected to the Chinese state such that the Americans declined to make a sale of F35s to Thailand. After all, Thailand ordered 2 F35As. Two. A clear attempt to obtain airframes to aid the Chinese in reverse engineering F35 components and technology.

It's of my opinion that to the Americans, Thailand should either be contained or coerced into fundamental reform. Right now, the US can't fundamentally trust Thailand, and with the Vietnam issue long gone, Thailand provides little to US strategic interests while posing as a major conduit for US military tech to fall into Chinese inspection.

Furthermore, I posit the American strategy in Thailand went off the rails the moment the OSS didn't responded in a muscular fashion when the Thai militarists assassinated Anandamahidol - the 8th King of modern Thailand. Anandamahidol was in it with the OSS and the Seri Thai partisans, fighting off the Japanese occupation and their militarist collaborators towards establishing a democratic constitutional monarchy. Every Thai king since Anandamahidol has operated in active collusion with the militarist agenda. Think Francoism but Buddhist instead of Catholic.

@Azlefty TL DR read it all over again, buddy. The Thai Army and their Generals ARE in the CCP pockets.

@Uncle Yar You're not wrong about that, but that also doesn't mean you're not a CCP agitator, or a former member (sympathizer) of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) that was controlled from Beijing. Your open hostility and Marxist narrative regarding the Thai military and its leadership seems more than just casual observation. Thailand certainly has issues, but what nation doesn't? At least they aren't committing genocide like the Peoples Republic of China, or war crimes like all sides in Myanmar.

@Uncle Yar Mate, why are you surprised that every time the US has a self-righteous, liberal administration which believes it can influence and interfere in the domestic politics of a partner nation through sanctions that the PRC wouldn't take advantage of the vacuum? Unlike leftist American and other western socialist polities the PRC still understands realpolitik and navigates a course of diplomacy and trade that furthers their strategic national interests, as opposed to self-righteous ideological neocolonialism. As a Thai Marxist, your insistence that the United States should effect a coup to further your domestic political ambitions is disturbing and pathetic. Of course, looking at the results of America's ideologically driven disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan that saw the leading terrorist factions taking power I can see the logic in your desire. We know the PRC, while a good dark money and weapons ally to the Thai Communist Party terrorists, would expect complete vassalage from an ethnically Chinese Thai Communist Party controlled Peoples Republic of Thailand.

@John Doggett I seen what Chinese Marxists do. They exploit the suffering of the peasantry, and then run off with that as justification to do a Khmer Rouge.

Ironically, I'm sympathetic to the plight of peasants precisely because it is a point of vulnerability for Marxist infiltration. They run with the social fact and use it to justify themselves sowing chaos in their wake.

At the end of the day, the best capitalists of modern history (the robber barons) knew that a more equitable wealth distribution is the oil that lubricates the capitalist society and economy. That's why they gave away their wealth in the name of philanthropy. To educate and alleviate the suffering of the poor, for they knew what the alternative leads to. At best, a dead market. At worst, Communist uprisings.

To acknowledge institutional injustices and institutional poverty is not Marxism. To use it as justification for mass murder and economically unsound policies, that is Marxism in practice.

@John Doggett Note how the disaster in Afghanistan and Iraq happened when the Americans left a power vacuum in their wake without adequately setting up a replacement social institution.

@John Doggett I may not be Thai, but I did grew up there, and have friends in the intelligentsia.

The Communist Party in Thailand deserved the boot. But be honest with me - they'd never gain traction among the peasantry if the peasantry weren't severely disaffected at the institutional level. And the bulk of civil deaths at the hand of the Thai regimes that came and went - they weren't armed cadres or their Chinese interlopers. They were peasants and university undergrads.

It is inherently anti-Communist to remove the primary source of Communist sympathies. The same applies with fascism. Frankly, they're rather similar. One's more international, the other's more nationalistic-centric. But the bases of disaffection is generally the same populist, demagoguery crap that would never fly if the people weren't being fuскеd over institutionally to the point of hopelessness.

@John Doggett Let me spell it in a way you can understand.

The existence of systemic extreme poverty for the common peasant IS in and of itself an agitation in favor of the CCP!

Fighting Marxist and Maoist influence means fighting poverty and institutional injustices. Remove grievance, no more Communist sympathies to mobilize into revolts and civil wars.

Be smart like the robber barons.

@Uncle Yar "Thailand doesn't want to be our ally, so we should force it to"
I hope you realize how deeply unethical and immoral your position is.

As for their Air Force, considering their most advanced fighter is the JAS-39 Gripen C/D, which cost 30 million a piece, and of which they possess 11, only purchasing 2 specimen of a 115 million fighter makes total sense.

@Uncle Yar Tatmadaw……isn’t that the Burmese, not Thai army?

@Uncle Yar While I dont give a crap about most anything you said. To answer your question about the tritium. I have three Meprolight M21 sights manufactured in 2015 and the tritium in all three models is still plenty bright enough that it will rival any new Trijicon product produced today.

@Uncle Yar @UncleYar - You're a communist? That's news to me...

@Uncle Yar Coercion and containment: two things that have failed spectacularly in the past and for which our ability to enforce erodes by the day.

We are no longer the kingmakers we fancy ourselves to be. The US is in decline everywhere due in no small part to us overplaying our hand for decades.

@TDog No. On the contrary, I know damn well what points of vulnerability Communists exploit to wreak havoc.

There's a rhyme and reason to the green revolution in India. Uncle Sam went there with seeds and fertilizer and helped Punjab farmers for a reason.

@john huscio Yeah, they are. I'm giving an example of how a society should be dealing with a corrupt and murderous state military.

@IOJ That is not what I said. I said: Thailand is a conduit for adversarial activity disguised as an ally - treat them accordingly.

The youth want reapproachment with the West, but that'd require intervention from the West given the political repression. If the West isn't going to respond in a muscular fashion, the next best thing they can do is plug that point of vulnerability and leave Thailand to flounder.

@Michael T. 8 years vs 14 years, however. Those things usually last 12.

@IOJ The airframe for JAS 39C costs 35 million ; the Thais spent about 77 million per airframe including spares and services. That's typical fare.

However, 11 specimen of a JAS 39C makes sense operationally, that's basically one under strength squadron that can be split into 2-3 flights.

What will you do with 2 F35As? None of their other jets have data link compatible with F35, so using as AWACS is expensive and impractical. It reminds me of the Yanks yoinking a Libyan Mi-25.

@Uncle Yar So which color will this "revolution" be ? Do you realize your replies are textbook glowie arguments ?

@Uncle Yar The F-35 cost a lot more than 115 million with spare parts and maintenance, so that scales. The F-35's datalink could be modified to work with their other existing aircraft. And with 2 F-35s, you can consider stealth strikes into enemy territory, which the JAS-39 cannot do.

@IOJ What I'm saying is that "I wish a motherfuскеr would".

You people always think America is the one instigating Georgians and Ukrainians to fight for their right for democratic rule and a sovereign foreign policy.

What I'm saying is that I wish America is half as assertive and proactive as you claim it to be.

@IOJ And whose territory would Thailand consider dropping small guided bombs into with a flight of 2 F35s?

To the immediate northwest to northeast of Thailand are nations without any serious integrated air defense network. Laos and Cambodia does not effectively contest their own airspace, and more importantly they have done nothing to incur the wrath of anyone.

Myanmar? They're bombing their own people. Theoretically, the Royal Thai Air Force could go "OP Praying Mantis" and wipe out the fleet with little trouble with current inventory, but given sympathies between Hlaing regime and the ruling regime in Thailand, that is just not going to happen.

To the south towards maritime Indochina are regional powers like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. All are more concerned with policing Chinese maritime expansionism with the kit to match. Thailand has neither the inclination nor the capability to contest either of their forces aerially, and 2 F35s buzzing them would only at best create an international incident, and at worst incur an аss-whooping.

Unless you want to operate at Russia's level of competence, you don't fly 2 aircraft to bomb a random border guard outpost just to miss by half a mile. Thailand procuring 2 F35s doesn't give them any new capabilities against anyone. It won't deter China, it won't make Thailand untouchable against her more capable neighbors, and it doesn't enable Thailand to better coerce anyone they already could.

So what else could one do with 2 specimen of highly advanced airframes? Study the hell out of it to better yourselves and your new allies. Just as the Americans studied Soviet airframes, Thailand is trying to do the same with F35s. Not that Thailand has the aerospace industry to exploit any lessons learned. But their good buddy China definitely does have the industrial foundations to exploit that knowledge, yet conversely can't get their hands on F35s.

Fact is, the Chinese already gleaned much knowledge about NATO air combat technology and procedures from cross-training with the Royal Thai Air Force. They sent their J-series Sukhois to mock fights against Jas 39s and got their аsses whooped. But it was a tremendous learning opportunity that directly influenced the development of the PL 15, specifically identifying what had to be improved from the existing PL 12 that couldn't hack it against NATO tactics and sensors.

The Chinese already has a treasure trove of information from the Jas 39 C, and probably knows about what legacy AIM120Ds can do thanks to Thailand. Of course Uncle Sam is never going to sell F35As to Thailand. Rightfully so, I might add.

@Uncle Yar I was just joshin' ya. I know darned well you're not any sort of communist. That anyone would call you one is just high comedy to me.

But as far as India goes, they're just the Taliban with nukes. The BJP literally copied the Nazis and espouse the same sort of racial supremacy (well, technically religious, not racial) as the Nazis did. We should not be aiding them in any way whatsoever. I know everyone thinks they'll serve as a counterweight to China, but in reality all they will do is exploit us and stab us in the back the first moment they get.

@Uncle Yar The F-35's MADL is completely interoperable with Link16 which the Gripen has.

@TDog "But as far as India goes, they're just the Taliban with nukes. "

Are you confusing Pakistan with India? Sure they were once a same nation/territory under British rule but they are two completely different countries with two completely different religious practices...

"I know everyone thinks they'll serve as a counterweight to China, but in reality all they will do is exploit us and stab us in the back the first moment they get."

Again are you confusing India with Pakistan? There are numerous border disputes between India and China. Pakistan actively works with China (see JF-17).

@Uniform223 Thanks for the correction! Still, for data link purposes wouldn't a dedicated AWACS cost less to own and operate, and have better range and field of view? Does the F35A as an AWACS platform offer anything more than an equivalent AESA radar and computing power strapped to an Embraer?

@Uncle Yar You are correct that the Half Life is typically 12 years and I realize that I am only at 8 however comparing my M21's to optics such as My Trijicon Tri-Power (purchased around the same time) the M21 is considerably brighter at this current date than the Trijicon product ever was. It could be that the amber color picks up the tritium better than the color red but that's for some scientist to figure out. I just wanted to let you know what my experience has been with that optic.

@Uniform223 No, I am not. The BJP are a bunch of Hindu nationalists who are highly intolerant of other beliefs. Pakistan has its own problems, but being the Taliban isn't one of them... for one thing, as distasteful as they are, the Taliban can actually get organized when they want to... Pakistan couldn't hold a soccer riot at a World Cup match if you paid them to. If you look closely at the BJP, however, they have instituted media and Internet blackouts in various areas, their press freedom actually ranked lower than China last year, and their party's philosophy is right out of Mein Kampf. Their religious practices may be different, but their fascist leanings couldn't be more identical.

And once again, no I am not. I know it's not the popular media narrative to point out that India is an opportunistic, back-stabbing, unreliable partner at best, but note that they have been the biggest violator of US sanctions against Russia. They have bought more from Russia than any other nation since US sanctions began, it did not vote against Russia when Russia invaded Ukraine, and India is currently seeking to replace the US dollar with the rupee. They talk a good game, but one only has to look at their actions to know that they are not friends or even partners and just because they have failed to supplant us doesn't mean they'll stop trying. They harbor delusions of grandeur and have actively sought to militarily dominate Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. And they also harbor designs on Afghanistan and Tibet... trust me, they're about as imperialistic as they come and don't have a neighbor they don't have territorial ambitions on.