tanx in bangkok

As I said elsewhere; a world where Cambodia and Laos are safer places to visit than Thailand is a scary one.

xpost

naw, pretty stable for the last 25 or so years.

I'm American and I don't get the pun. Can you explain it?

also the government dropped millions of those origami peace cranes on the south which is some sort of insult to muslims or something.

dude is popular in the country but not so much in the city.

going to lunch.

An army-owned TV station is showing images of the royal family and songs linked in the past with military coups.

... suggests something of a track record when it comes to coups

(Don't worry I'm wearing my best hairshirt)

I wonder what the king will have to say about this. He seems to be the reason that the last four coups dissolved. The king just came out and publicly disapproved, and everybody settled their asses down. There's a good chance that will happen again. On the other end of the spectrum, they could bump off the king, and Bangkok will be burned to the ground.

No one is stupid enough in Thailand to kill their king. No one.

Yeah, but they've had 19 in the past 32, so the 17 years previous to the last one must have been pretty wild...

when yr there it really doesn't seem like the kind of place this sort of thing could happen - which can't be said for cambodia, laos et al.

myanmar, on the other hand...

"Also known as Burma or the Union of Burma by bodies and states which do not recognize the ruling military junta"

The coup significantly comes against the backdrop of a hotly contested scheduled military reshuffle, in which Thaksin had controversially vied to elevate army officials loyal to him from his pre-Cadet Class 10 to the pivotal First Army Division. That reshuffle list reportedly brought Thaksin into conflict with senior members of the top brass and the Privy Council, and his refusal to back down from the proposed personnel changes appears to have been a major factor behind the coup.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Thaksin had attempted to elevate Major General Prin Suwanthat to commander of the First Army Division, which crucially is charged with overseeing security in Bangkok. Thaksin also reportedly pushed to promote Prin’s ally, Major General Daopong Ratanasuwan, to take over the First Infantry. With assistant army commander Pornchai Kranlert in place, the reshuffle, if accomplished, would have given Thaksin an unbroken chain of command over crack troops responsible for Bangkok’s security.

Thailand was scheduled to hold new general elections in November, which political analysts widely predicted Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party would win with an outright majority. However, deep-seated opposition to Thaksin resuming political leadership signaled that the new polls would not have broken the political deadlock. For better or for worse, a military intervention has.

Politest coup ever!

"The soldiers posted around the city waved and smiled at people
passing by, even posing with local people for photographs next to
their tanks.

"Supporters of the coup cheered, waving national flags and shouting
"Thaksin out". Even local tourists joined in, treating the evening's
events as an extra, unexpected photo opportunity."

"We ask for the co-operation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience," the announcement said.

This sounds like what a flight attendant might say - "we apologise for the turbulence and inconvenience this may have caused you, but enjoy the rest of the flight."

Srsly hope this is a temporary coup and not just the military seizing more power for themselves. It seems like the overthrow of Thaksin would be popular with a lot of Thais, considering the recent unrest, but they might find out that martial law is more brutal.

Surely Thaksin wouldn't have left the country if he believed the country was too unstable. Or he could have just misread the situation.

I wonder how many insiders knew about the plans? Does anyone know if there was any violence or if it was a smooth transition taking most people by surprise?

There's been a lot of coups in the last 30 years in Thailand, but for the most part they're always bloodless. Its just not a country (like many of us have indicated) that seemed like it was bordering on bloody revolution.

(and true to form, no one has touched the Royal Family. no group in their right mind would.)

I however had to come into work. Soldiers on the streers but otherwise business as usual.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1745278.htm

Human Rights Watch has urged Thailand's military to restore basic civil liberties.

"Thailand needs to solve its problems through the rule of law and the people exercising their right to choose their own leaders," Brad Adams said, Asia director for the New York-based group.

He urged the military to restore basic human rights guaranteed by the constitution and to protect Thais' freedoms of speech, association and assembly.

"The return of tanks to the streets of Bangkok is clear evidence that the rights of all Thais are in jeopardy," Mr Adams said.

"So, too, is Thailand's position in the region as a leading democracy with a strong civil society."

Thailand had a history of military coups before a period of economic growth and political stability.

In his five years as Prime Minister, Mr Thaksin has been accused of grave human rights abuses as well as conflicts of interest between his political office and his telecom empire.

Human Rights Watch has condemned Mr Thaksin's "war on drugs", which the group say has led to dozens of extrajudicial killings, as well as his heavy-handed tactics in combating separatist unrest in mainly Muslim provinces.

"Thaksin's rule had seriously eroded respect for human rights in Thailand, but suspending basic rights under the constitution is not the answer," Mr Adams said.

The coup leaders are really doing an overkill on loyalty to the monarchy; is this pure manipulation to gain support from the populace, or are they aiming to restore more power to the monarchy? Time will tell I suppose, but it's pretty troubling and destabilising for the region.

The rhetoric implies that elections will be held at some point but it's doubtful these will be democratic, seeing as they ousted the elected representative and refused to wait until the up-coming November elections because Thaksin was likely to be voted back in.

Not really, this is how all Thais talk about the king and the Leader Sonthi is said to be close to the king.

The feeling talking to people round here in Bangkok is that they are, in many way pleased but aprehensive about what may come. I am sure that the rural voters feel differently though, taksin is the only one who has ever been seen to look like he is acting on their behalf, however cynically. So what if he is throwing money at them and making populist promises? At least some of them are getting something out of government for once, even if many of his populist schemes have been a disaster. The past few months have seen things have been getting very tense here, this may diffuse matters for a while if it causes taksin to step down once and for all. He has been the source of all the division but is far too arrogant to accept this. I am sure that we will hear a lot of his whining about how he is trying to protect democracy but his past record shows how little he really cares for it.

Under Taksin the country has been becoming increasinly undemocratic anyway. he has been systematically destroying the checks and balances of the constitution, gagging the press and slapping huge lawsuits on anyone who disagrees with him. I for one would be delighted if this signals the end for him but I am not sure that the means by which it has come about will benefit the country in the long run. I would say a coup will set the country back for a while.

Sorry about all typos, trying to work and cover the story as it happens

I don't really know as much about this as I'd like to, but I doubt that Thailand is ready to roll over and let someone just seize power. WRT to any elections that might take place, and whether or not they're democratic - how democratic are they generally in Thailand?

(xpost)

So are you concerned about your own safety/freedom of speech working in the media industry? These things tend to radicalise over time so it could get worse. (Also, what is the population ratio between rural and urban roughly?)

I am only worried if Taksin tries to somehow stage a counter coup, he has been appointing loyal generals to high posts for some time now. This is probably another reason that Sonthi has decided to act. I hope that Taksin will eventually see the light and sneak off with his ill gotten billions. In which case it shouldn't get violent. It is know that he has been moving assests out of the country for some time now.

The feeling, (unspoken) is that the king may not really mind this particular coup, he has never been a fan of Taksin and last year used his birthday speech to deliver a thinly veiled attack on him.

No coup would work here if they didn't ensure that the king was always a head of state, he is far far too revered by the people to be overlooked. And the Thai people would look to him for guidance over politicians who are taken for granted as being corrupt.

As for the population, Thailand is still a rural country in the main, The only real big city is Bangkok which has about 8 million people. Thailand has about 60 million as a whole. I am not sure of the percentages, but the bulk of people are poor and live in the Northeast. Until election time they have been pretty much overlooked for far too long when politicians turned up to buy their votes. Taksin has done the same but with populist schemes. So he is still very popular among the poor

Sorry got to get back to work

oh good

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/world/asia/20cnd-thailand.html

Out of a Job, Thai Leader Visits in London
With his daughter, Thaksin Shinawatra looked forward to a ''deserved rest'' since the coup. ''I am going to buy some groceries,'' he said.