What are US marines doing eating scorpions, lizards, frogs and drinking a cobra’s blood? I understand this is part of the jungle survival techniques. They are part of the ‘Cobra Gold 2010’ joint military exercise with Thailand to help keep peace within that country.
Assuming that there is some sort of turmoil or civil unrest, most protest movements prefer to be visible in urban areas where they can reach the authorities. If there are insurgent movements in hiding, then US Marines might not take too long to spot them. They are not likely to have a face-to-face combat.
The presence of these troops came about with Thailand agreeing to fight the US ‘War Against Terror’. The problems Thailand faces are from the South, with the Malay Muslims and from Cambodia. There were earlier some noises about how bandits were being called insurgents. This ‘unrest’ can indeed be problematic, but is it possibly a result of the increasing use of outside forces that act as saviours?
These pictures are, however, disturbing because they create the impression of a society that in all probability indulges in such survival tactics on a regular basis and is therefore backward. Soldiers are rarely in a position where they need to subsist in this manner even when there is an active war on or they are in bunkers. Whatever happened to canned beans?
I am no authority on Thailand, but this much I know is that it is a culturally rich country, a kingdom to be technically correct. Unfortunately, it has been marketed in a different manner, with Bangkok and Phuket seen as sex cities. There is a thriving industry of commercial sex, as there is in any society. There is open display of strip clubs, but then they are there in Amsterdam and Hamburg and anywhere else in the world as well. As for the Thai massage, why does it produce sniggers when the Swiss or Kerala massage does not? Whose fault is it that there is no American or British massage culture?
Perhaps they are so accustomed to being colonisers and pampered that they have not been able to grasp the intricacies of making others feel good.
Oh, yes, there is no Islamic massage either. But no mea culpa from me for that!
Yuck!! This "warfare in Thailand" is aimed at Myanmar, which is going to be hotly contested for its grand view of the Indian Ocean.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who travels across south India/Sri Lanka, and then travels to Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand can readily see the shared influences.
One example I can think of is that Bangkok Airport has a marvelous sculpture of a tale grannies tell their children all over India about the churning of the ocean by deities to extract all the poison of it, which was then consumed by Lord Shiva, whose neck became blue as a result of it....or so goes the mythology from the mouths of grandmoms all over.
This tendency for western troops to facilitate brothels and strip joints in the overseas facilities is disgusting, whether in Okinawa or in Thailand or in Brandenburg, Germany. In general, these tend be an oversexed lot, and seem to be stuck in their teenage years when it comes to attitudes about women.
It's more than a 'yuck' situation.
ReplyDeleteThis tendency for western troops to facilitate brothels and strip joints in the overseas facilities is disgusting, whether in Okinawa or in Thailand or in Brandenburg, Germany. In general, these tend be an oversexed lot, and seem to be stuck in their teenage years when it comes to attitudes about women.
I cannot agree with you here. While western troops do use these services and many have the women even visiting them near border areas (there was a report about India a while ago...mentioned on this blog too), commercial sex has existed for years. The services are used by locals and immigrants quite regularly as well as by tourists.
I was pointing out how this aspect in Thailand over-rules its rich culture.
FV, yes, commercial sex has existed for years, no doubt. Was just pointing out that the sex industry flourished because of the existing demand -- I have not heard about such things happen when soldiers from India are involved in peace keeping operations. Most Indian soldiers on duty in foreign lands have families back home that they send the money back to, so I think that may be factor in the difference in behaviour.
ReplyDelete"I was pointing out how this aspect in Thailand over-rules its rich culture."
I think that is really a fault of our own myopia of India's neighbourhood...we all see many TV shows about glittering cities in the western world, but how many TV shows and Bollywood movies go exploring our near neighbourhood by setting tales in Thailand or Cambodia? Usually the hero and heroine are running around some tree in switzerland.
It is only Tamil and Malayalam movies that have stories set in Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia and even that has dropped recently. ("Ninaithaale Inikkum" is one example ("A Sweet Thought" rough translation))
Hello Al,
ReplyDeletei do not know how our soldiers behave now a days oversea.One case of a hindu Officer who married a poor impressionable girl from AfGhanistan and then abandoned her as he was married came to light as this girl came to India and asked the military and media to find her husband. It was a sad case and i hope she got her justice.Then again what is justice in betrayal.
I remember This elderly gentleman (I called him papaji) related to me that as a young soldier in Indian British medical corp he was in Misr( now we know as Egypt).While on furlow met a europeon woman and on her request danced with her .He was having good time and once she asked where he was from and he said from India,she discarded him like a fake coin.He never forgot it ,as this was one of the premium stories he told us about this time in early 1940's.In his defense I would like to mention that he was a bachelor then.
My own experiences do not count as i was not a soldier.
cheers
kul bhushan
rxri.blogspot.com
Kul Bhushan, I think there are rational reasons for this difference in behaviour between troops from richer and poorer countries, and I am not making any moral judgements against anyone here, just observing.
ReplyDeleteBasically, soldiers from richer countries are richer because of a good exchange rate that allows them a lot of disposable income to spend, while those from poorer countries have less disposable income. That was the essence of the point I was trying to make in my previous post.
IMO, Economic freedom and power can be significant motivator of behaviour.
Poverty issue is very important in this and mostly poor women get exploited.I was traveling and friends in other ngos talked about it.The marines are there for US interests.It is good to see Iran declaring itself nuclear state loudly!!
ReplyDeleteAl:
ReplyDeleteI am not aware about how the Indian peace-keeping forces conduct themselves, but all soldiers do send money back home.
And, come on, don;t blame Bollywood for the image Thailand and Cambodia or the region have. You mean to say if our actors ran around trees in Phnom Penh we'd have a better understanding of their culture? There have been films shot in Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok, but nothing changed our perception.
KB:
Poverty is a huge issue. But exploitation is dependent on not just the profession, but how they are rewarded for the work. I have seen that often women are not given their full share of their earnings, with middle-men taking a huge cut.
I am sure the Marines are there for US interests and not to get a massage :)
PS: Welcome back...
"You mean to say if our actors ran around trees in Phnom Penh we'd have a better understanding of their culture?"
ReplyDeleteI think so, even with the usual love-story script that is norm in Indian movies. I saw Tamil movies shot in those countries when I was younger, and they did not just run around trees.
There were scenes showing the level of civic sense in countries like singapore and it did make a positive impression. Don't remember the whole movie but the hero and his buddies litter a park in Singapore and get fined heavily..forget how that weaves into the story.
FV wrote:
ReplyDelete"I am not aware about how the Indian peace-keeping forces conduct themselves, but all soldiers do send money back home. "
Yes, no doubt. I was pointing out that disposable income was necessary for a flourishing sex industry. Disposable income is typically higher when the soldier is paid in a currency that has a good exchange rate compared to the local currency.
As for soldiers misbehaving, I would suspect that fraction of bad and good apples to be roughly similar in any professional army.
Note that none of the above says that Indian soldiers are always angels -- what the above states is that soldiers with money throw around will throw it around. Nothing more.