Baseless rumor over Thailand's U-Tapao

Baseless rumor over Thailand's U-Tapao: A United States request to expand its use of Thailand's civil-military U-Tapao air base for humanitarian and climate-research missions has led to speculation over a political deal that would see the US "pivot" to Asia strengthened in return for self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra receiving a US visa. The conspiracy theory ignores that hundreds of tourists use the airport daily, rendering it useless for intelligence operations. - John Cole and Steve Sciacchitano (Jun 21, '12)