Thai security expert questions government’s understanding of “total war”

Thai security and foreign affairs expert, Dr. Panitan Wattanayagorn, has asked Thai government leaders whether they know or not whether Thailand is now in a state of war with Cambodia.

“If they do understand that Thailand is in a state of war with Cambodia, they will be able to bring the country to peace, because war and peace are two sides of the same coin,” he wrote in his Facebook post today.

Dr. Panitan wrote an item, titled “The Total War, Cambodian Style”, referring to Professor Mara Karlin at the John Hopkins University, who said that the ‘Comprehensive Conflict’ (total war) began in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, marking the return of total war.

“Total war, in today’s context, means the mobilisation of all resources, including weaponry, personnel, funding, social power, allies and international nations in the war effort, with the leaders attaching most importance to the efforts over other matters and launching attacks at all enemy targets at every convenient opportunity, while using advanced technology and access to the free market to their advantage if the enemy is stronger,” wrote Panitan.

He cited Ukraine as an example of a smaller and weaker country, which has managed to fight Russia for more than three years, or the case of Hamas, which has been engaged in a protracted war with the Israeli army, or the Houthis in Yemen, with support from Iran, who are capable of threatening the navies of several countries, including the US.

All these armed conflicts are examples of a new type of war, which has changed and is more complicated, he opined.

The Cambodian army, the ethnic armed groups in Myanmar and even the insurgent groups in Thailand’s Deep South have a tendency to resort to total war” if, in the case of Cambodia, the Cambodian army wants to gain the advantage in the war with Thailand, according to Panitan.

As far as the Thai Army is concerned, the security expert noted that it has the advantage in all aspects over Cambodia, “but people are questioning why the Thai army cannot defeat the Cambodian forces and mitigate the battlefield disadvantage,” he wrote.

“The answer rests with the Thai leaders, or those in charge, as to whether they understand the concept of a total war and, more importantly, whether our leaders have realised that we are, currently, in a state of war with Cambodia,” he concluded.