Why does the US believe it has the right to impose sanctions on Thailand?

Question

The coup was welcomed by the King of Thailand and backed by most of the people - is it not hypocritical or an act of bullying on the part of the US to impose sanctions when it has no direct affect on its citizens or national interests. The coup was by all accounts bloodless with the former PM out of the country and who has beel alleged to have been thoroughly corrupt, whereas the US has a history of distablisation of democratically elected countries leading to vast amounts of bloodhsed...(viz. most Central and South American countries for starters - e.g. backing of the Cotnras in Nicaragua) so why do they feel they have the right?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5390284.stm

Lisa: yes - strangely - I did read the whole article - and my question still stands. It would be naive in the extreme to take anythign the State dept says at face value given the dubious trackrecord in interventions. If this were a standard policy one would accept it more willingly and yet sales of arms (as with the UK) tend to increase to unstable andeven so caleld rogue nations including Indonesia - in short places where humanitarian aid is more required than military intervention. I would be interested to see a list of top countries receieving US military "assistance" or "aid".

Answer 1

The US thinks it has the right to impose sanction because, for the last few decades the US has supported Thailand and there government, and is now worried that an anti-us government will come in to power.

It is not really a case of the US believing that it 'has the right', but a case of the US doing what it thinks is in its own interest. The US has a foreign policy of not supporting military dictatorships, and rightly so.
Hopefully Thailand will soon hold fare elections and the country can go back to being a democracy.

Answer 2

Last time I checked the US is a sovereign nation, meaning that it has the right to impose sanctions on any country it wants. And likewise, other countries can impose sanctions on the US or on other countries in the world. You might think that these sanctions are wrong-- and in fact I would agree with you-- but that doesn't change the fact that a sovereign nation has the right to impose sanctions. So really your question should be, "Should the US impose sanctions on Thailand?"

However, I suspect that your issue is that the US is the most powerful nation in the world and therefore its sanctions have a much bigger impact on other countries than those countries' sanctions have on the US. So it's harder for Thailand, for example, to protect what it sees as its interests than it is for the US. If that's the case, you should get over it. That's the way the world is, and no one's going to change the fact that the more powerful nation is going to exert its power to get what it wants. Maybe you can just glow in the fact that reasonably soon China and then India will challenge and then probably dwarf the US's power.

Answer 3

They have a right as a sovereign nation to apply sanctions to whoever they wish.
However I would agree with you that it seems inappropriate in Thailand's case. As you rightly say the PM is accused of corruption, the King has expressed his support and the people seem to have followed his lead. Given that the army have pledged that they wish a civilian government and early elections I shouldn't think US sanctions will last long as it is unlikely that the UN or any other country will follow their lead.

Answer 4

There is some doubts about whether the previous Government of Thailand was indeed corrupt; I have an old college friend who is engaged to a Thai lady, and he is adamant that the former Prime Minister did many good things for the rural population of the country, unlike any other Thai government.

As for US arms sales try www.dsca.mil/PressReleases/36-b/36b_index.htm

Answer 5

I not think the coup is backed up by most of the people. They just don't care. So is Thai style.
And be sure that the coming government will be as corrupted as the ones before. It never change. Thats also Thai style.

Answer 6

The US is not going to provide military aid to an unstable country. Did you read the entire article?

From your source:

State department spokesman Sean McCormack said the aid cut involved military education and training, peacekeeping operations and counter-terrorism.

Funding for humanitarian purposes would however continue, he said.

Answer 7

Simple, because they can. Just like you have the right not to like it. Maybe you don't like the word sanctions? All they are really doing is saying we aren't going to provide aid to a country. Heck the military aid they provided in the past perhaps helped in the over throw. Nobody has to help anyone, actually I'd prefer the US to stop sending money every where else and keep it here any way.

Answer 8

There is a cabal of very rich people who work together and control the world.
The ex-prime-minister of Thailand was one of those, working with his equally corrupt 'brothers' in America.
The new government are far less likely to listen to American demands, so America is using its usual bully tactics.
If I was in the Thai government, I would ban all Americans from visting Thailand in response to this stupidity.

Answer 9

The USA believes that it has a god-given right to impose sanctions on anybody they choose. How a country so undemocratic and riddled by self-interest thinks that it has the moral standard by which all others must be judged, is beyond comprehension.
Arrogance. Pure arrogance.

Answer 10

It seems to me that in certain countries there are corrupt people who are more than willing to make agreements with economically stabler countries. I mean in order for one person in the middle east, for example, to have a grand palace, millions have to starve. I think people don't realize that even though america has it's flaws, I bet that there are a lot of people who would rather be in america than where they currently live!