Tooting its own horn

In another Bangkok Post story by military beat reporter Wassana Nanuam, if we accept the report as accurate, then the Looney Tunes nature of the regime is again on display.

She reports that the “army yesterday officially opened its Security Strategy Development and Research Institute…”.

For no apparent reason, this is “touted to be an independent think tank serving the military and the government in the area of national security.”

Wassana does not question this looney claim but does report that”Gen Narongphan Jitkaewtae, chief of the army, presided over a ceremony yesterday to mark the official opening of the institute…” which had been approved by his predecessor Gen Apirat Kongsompong.

The “independent” institute is headed by Gen Thanet Kalaphruek, reportedly “the army’s chief adviser…”. Clearly, in the strange prose of the report, “independent” means the institute is a tool of and for the military. It babbles along:

The opening of the new institute marks the army’s first step toward setting up a think tank to serve the army and the government at the same time. Also, the institute will be an agent coordinating academic work between the army and institutional partners. A number of soldiers and veterans will contribute their knowledge to the new institute.

Sounds about as independent as the 11th Infantry is independent of the Army. Obviously, this is another effort by the military to fully infiltrate all aspects of civilian life.