Posted: 1:22 am EDT
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The US Ambassador to Thailand Glyn T. Davies was nominated by President Obama on April 14, 2015, confirmed by the Senate on August 5, and sworn in on September 14, 2015. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ambassador Davies also served as the Permanent Representative of the United States to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Office in Vienna from June 2009 until November 2011. He previously served as the Special Representative of the U.S. Secretary of State for North Korea Policy from January 2012 to November 2014. Since his arrival in Thailand in September, he has traveled and acquainted himself with his host country. Here’s Ambassador Davies during a local celebration:
On November 23 Ambassador and Mrs. Davies celebrated their first Loy Krathong with Thai and American staff. The festival featured traditional Thai dances, Thai games, krathong making contests, in addition, to Ambassador and Mrs. Davies participating in a “ram wong” with other members of the Embassy community.
On Nov. 24, Ambassador Davies gave a talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club ofThailand. As of this writing, we have been unable to locate the transcript of Ambassador Davies’ talk at the FCCT.
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Ambassador Davies quickly became a target of a protest for his recent comments on the lese majeste law:
The BBC News explained Thailand’s lese majeste laws here. Al Jazeera notes that since taking power in May 2014, Thailand’s military government has come under scrutiny for their heavy-handed application of a decades-old law written to protect the Thai royal family.
The Asian Observer has posted a lengthy list of the lese majeste charges filed since 2007. An Asia One report in late 2014 says that the Thai Police have dealt with more than 10,000 cases of lese majeste in recent years.
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