RICHARD E WARD Thailand's leaders are suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Recognizing that the U.S. will inevitably be forced to quit Vietnam, Bangkok's rulers fear that Washington might also leave them at the mercy of their own people.
There is now a virtual panic in Bangkok, best understood in historical perspective. Expecting Japan to emerge victorious from World War II, Thai rulers became allies of the Japanese empire. Thailand, occupied by Japanese troops, supplied Japan with raw materials for its war effort; as compensation Thailand seized parts of British Malaya and - Cambodia.
After the war Bangkok became a U.S. satellite, hoping to profit from the new American empire in Asia. "The reason we Thais are on the American side is because we have confidence in the U.S. victory, Thai Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman told Harrison Salisbury in 1967 Without any formal agreement to safeguard Thai sovereignty, the U.S. has constructed a complex of military bases • in Thailand, one of the largest in the U.S. empire. Thailand has not even a nominal right to be consulted about U.S. operations from the bases; planes from them bomb Vietnam and Laos and do those Another Bangkok project is the revenge in Thailand. Phoumi Nosavan's chief talk with Peking and Hanoi to se Phoumi Nosavan, former chief protege adviser is a one-time member of the Oakland, Calif. police force who came to Thailand to test counter-guerrilla equipment for the Stanford Research Institute, a top Pentagon contractor.
Thailand also sustains a rightist military organization in Cambodia. The June 12 Far Eastern Economic Review reported that, according to Phnom Penh, "the Khmer Serai, supported by a 'private' Thai society, had created a Cambodian Liberation commanded by...a Thai lieutenant colonel."
U.S. aggression in Vietnam has been enormously profitable for Thailand's bourgeoisie. Besides the U.S. military apparatus which protects the reactionary Thai power structure, construction of bases and other U.S. spending has produced an influx of dollars, used to offset Thai trade deficits which last year reached an all-time high of $500 million.
But now the house of cards cemented by visions of U.S. victory is collapsing. With the completion of military bases, U.S. military spending in Thailand declining and by assisting the Thai In desperation, Thai generals have support of rightist Laotian leaders. Gen. revolutionary movem Asian problems among themselves, without U.S. interference. But that, of course, is the last thing, Bangkok wants. Even with the assistance of U.S. "advisers" and modern U.S. equipment, Bangkok's army has been unable to make inroads against revolutionary forces engaged in armed resistance in several regions of the country. But talk of accommodation with Peking, however transparently hypocritical, is enough to flash red lights in Washington.
U.S. forces are already engaged in operations in Thailand, although both Bangkok and Washington deny it. Thanat Khoman recently told a Western reporter: "The Americans who are here in Thailand are not playing any role in the defence of Thailand. This has been the subject of much misunderstanding."
The reason for this "misunderstanding" is that Thanat's assertion is contradicted by known facts. In 1967, for example, U.S. piloted helicopters were ferrying Thai troops into combat against guerrilla forces. When the fact was publicized in the
The Black Dwarf August 30th 1969 Page 8