There is a lot you can learn from traveling, and I travel with a purpose. Naturally, it helps to have read about the places and people in the lands you are to visit. It also gives you a very different perspective to have lived and worked for a few years in a foreign nation. My wife, Fran, and I have spent the better part of five years living and working in Thailand. We still go back every year to see the many friends we have made there.
However, there were at least three occasions when I abhorred my government’s actions. The first was the invasion of Iraq. It was a shock to the world that the most militarily-powerful country in the world would
- attack one of the weakest countries in the world
- chase out the United Nations Inspectors
- spout what everyone else was sure was a preposterous lie–that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD.)
The shrill U. S. propaganda machine convinced no one. That disastrous act destroyed our government’s moral leadership and credibility among the masses of people who usually paid little attention.
The second incidence, which I doubt even made the back pages of U. S. newspapers, but was headline news in Thailand, is when our U. S. Ambassador to Thailand took the big shot CEO’s of American tobacco around to Thai government officials. They threatened a “trade” war if Thailand did not repeal its law forbidding the display of tobacco products.
Every time I would go into a 7-11, I had to pass the checkout counter where all the cigarettes were on display. To reduce healthcare cost and improve health, Thailand has been promoting a Stop Smoking campaign. The government did its part by outlawing the advertising of tobacco products, which included their display. I applauded their effort.
Then, our U. S. tobacco companies tried to claim that this was an infringement of their rights under a trade agreement, and that they should be compensated for their loss of sales in Thailand. Of course, our Ambassador, a Bush appointee, sided with them. The Thais were very polite, declining to accommodate the tobacco interest. However, this incident did color the Thai people’s view of us.
It also alerted me to the fact that we do not have a U. S. Foreign Policy. We have a U. S. Corporate Foreign Policy. Our interests are not served, but corporate interests are served.
Finally, the coup d’etat. I was always under the impression that a coup was a bad thing, especially a military coup. While we were teaching in Thailand, I had received an e-mail from my son, Alex, who had also lived and taught in Thailand, asking me how the coup was going in Thailand. It was approximately 7 :00 a.m. Thai time–which would be 7:00 p. m. yesterday in U. S. time. It must have been on the news in the U. S. Quickly, I turned on the t.v. There was nothing but Thai music. Then, at about 7:30 the phone rang. It was my friend, Warrawon, also a teacher at my school, Preasertislam.
She said, “Dr. Art, there is no school today.” I asked, “Why?” She replied, “There has been an accident!” I responded, “Did the Army accidentally overthrow the government?” Then I heard a laugh and “goodbye.”
I told Fran and we walked to the corner of Pracha cheun and Namwonwan. There were tanks at the intersection and soldiers standing around with big grins on their faces. People were climbing up on the tanks to get their pictures taken, and others were throwing flowers at the soldiers. It was party time! A nice, well-planned coup, and no one got hurt.
Our government condemned the coup, probably a knee-jerk reaction. Prime Minister Taksin Sinawatra believed in “Singaporean Democracy.” Had anyone ever paid attention, Singapore allows only three opposition party people to be elected. It is a one-party government, kind of like what we have here, except we have two party names for it.
Around the world, as Americans we are seen as mostly hard-working, kind, generous and honest people. It is a shame that our government does not live up to our values and, instead, represents our “used car” corporate lords.
Unfortunately, our foreign policy changes little from one administration to the next, regardless of which party is in power.