Thailand, Thailand, you’ve been a naughty boy, being an undemocratic country in today’s world is unfathomable in our eyes so we shall punish you, by waggling our finger.

Do you think the General is going

…nope neither did I.

Thailand already has sanctions imposed on military cooperation by the US and Australia since the coup on the 22nd May.

And now Thailand has been downgraded by the US to Tier 3 in its Annual “Trafficking in Persons” report whilst the EU has downgraded its diplomatic ties supposedly to pressure the military to restore democracy.

Let’s list out what these punitive measures are:

• Suspending official visits to and from Thailand [I think a lot of European diplomats will be unhappy with this]
• Refusing to sign a Partnership & Cooperation Agreement with Thailand [This agreement was completed last November and HAD YET to be ratified]
• Refusing other agreements [ok…]
• Imposing sanctions on military cooperation w/ Thailand [hmm..ok..]

From the list it doesn’t look like things are that bad, however a Commerce Ministry has come out saying that in a worst case scenario Thailand may be banned from exporting products to the EU, this could be painful b/c the EU reps 9.2% of total exports in April, mainly computer part & accessories (12.4% and gem & jewelry (7.49%).