Thread: NASA wants to study Thailand's clouds

Do you buy it?

If you recall, a few months ago, the U.S. military attempt to establish itself in Thailand was rebuffed by the Thai parliament. Current geopolitical realities call for a renewed military presence in Asia and Thailand is where Uncle Sam wants to hang its hat. Well, if you can't send in the Marines, try NASA!

U.S.A’s NASA Seeks To Study Thailand’s Climate
October 4, 2012

A joint meeting of the Thailand Parliament was held to discuss a request by NASA to conduct climate research at Thailand’s U-Tapao military airport. The project may begin in 2013, pending approval by the Thai government.



BANGKOK – October 2, 2012 [PDN]: at 2:30 p.m., Mr. Somsak Kiatsuranon, the president of the Parliament, was the chairman of the meeting by the Parliament to consider the second emergency issue.

The Parliament discussed whether to grant permission to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to conduct a research project of studying the formation of clouds that affect climate in the region of Southeast Asia. The meeting followed the constitution, code 199, without voting.

Mr. Surapong Tovijakchaikul of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that he had talked to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and U.S. Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton about the matter. He said he was informed by Mrs. Clinton that the U.S. understood Thailand’s reservations about the research project, and if in 2012 there was budget money to accommodate their project, NASA would be back to pursue their request.

Some objectors fear that Thailand would anger China if it granted NASA permission by seeming to favor the U.S. They also suspect the research project has a hidden agenda by the U.S, in the field of espionage.

However, he said Mrs. Clinton understood those concerns, and replied that NASA is a separate entity from the U.S., because it is an independent research agency for aviation and space exploration. NASA is not an agency of the U.S. government. Also, the minister of China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry is reportedly not interested in the issue, and does not consider NASA’s project a threat to China.

Mr. Plodprasop Suraswdi, the minister of Science and Technology Ministry, disclosed that he had brought the issue into the Parliament for debate not because the US had pressured him, but it was his own free will, due to the fact that the project seemed useful. And from talking to the U.S. officials, they had explained that NASA and the U.S. were unrelated political entities.

U.S.A