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Sayf-Allah · Sep 19, 2006, 12:25 PM

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Coup' sparks Thailand emergency

Coup in progress? Anyone heard about it?

nonhuman · Sep 19, 2006, 12:30 PM

Xinhua - English

According to the Thai military they're just rotating personnel...

yakkiebah · Sep 19, 2006, 12:30 PM

Yes. Breaking news on all front pages.

Millennium · Sep 19, 2006, 12:37 PM

The military claims to just be doing some kind of personnel rotation, but why would that cause the government to declare a state of emergency? For that matter, why would it involve tanks?

Sounds to me like the personnel they're rotating are the ones in their government. Either that, or some higher-up in the military really screwed up the planning for what should have been an ordinary troop rotation.

nonhuman · Sep 19, 2006, 02:07 PM

Apparently the Thai PM has just been overthrown by the military.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thai PM 'overthrown in army coup'

Sky News: UK News, World News and Business News. The First for breaking global News!

Lateralus · Sep 19, 2006, 02:10 PM

Hmm... Interesting.

What effects will this have on the $40 PC motherboard market?

Nicko · Sep 19, 2006, 02:16 PM

I guess the Thai PM won't be there for the opening of his new airport after all...

Millennium · Sep 19, 2006, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

Apparently the Thai PM has just been overthrown by the military.

Well, so much for "personnel rotation."

Zeeb · Sep 19, 2006, 03:24 PM

According to CNN, Thailand has had 17 military coups since 1932. It's their way of changing government.

yakkiebah · Sep 19, 2006, 04:17 PM

Since 1932? Then it must be part of their culture so all is cool. Far out man.

nonhuman · Sep 19, 2006, 04:23 PM

The leader of the coup has released a statement of intent:

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Text: Thai coup-leaders' statements

It appears that they are claiming the moral high ground in defending the integrity of their nation and the dignity of their king. I'd be really interested to see a reaction from the king on this.

badidea · Sep 19, 2006, 04:34 PM

I can give you first hand info on Sunday!

(if my flight won't be cancelled)

TETENAL · Sep 19, 2006, 04:40 PM

"He that loveth danger shall perish in it."

Be careful, man.

xi_hyperon · Sep 19, 2006, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by badidea

I can give you first hand info on Sunday!

(if my flight won't be cancelled)

Hey, just stay at the beach, and you'll be ok.

goMac · Sep 19, 2006, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

The leader of the coup has released a statement of intent:

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Text: Thai coup-leaders' statements

It appears that they are claiming the moral high ground in defending the integrity of their nation and the dignity of their king. I'd be really interested to see a reaction from the king on this.

I would bet he was involved.

Scifience · Sep 19, 2006, 05:40 PM

There doesn't seem to be any violence anywhere at the moment. Flights seem to be going ahead as scheduled. The leader of the coup is a muslim, and he claims to be defending against corruption. The former prime minister sides with coup, and he is reported to be a close friend of the king. The leader of the coup claims he will not be undermining democracy, but the constitution has been suspended and marital law has been declared. The situation is really kind of murky right now, but since there is no violence or real threat to the average person, nobody seems to care too much.

Most people don't seem to have even stopped going about their normal business. Wednesday has been declared a holiday and the stock market is closed. All the TV channels are blacked out at the moment.

nonhuman · Sep 19, 2006, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by goMac

I would bet he was involved.

Probably, but who knows. The rebels could just be using him as a figurehead to lend credibility to their cause.

Andy8 · Sep 19, 2006, 07:32 PM

My Thai satellite feed is still blocked since about 11pm (HK time) last night, which is a worry.

driven · Sep 19, 2006, 07:38 PM

If the King gives his blessing then they will have a new government. If he does not then Thaksin will be back in power.

For a King with no power, he has a lot of power. :-)

nonhuman · Sep 19, 2006, 09:38 PM

This guy's blogging it. The lucky bastard.

christao408's Xanga Site

badidea · Sep 20, 2006, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

"He that loveth danger shall perish in it."

Be careful, man.

I will, I will - I'll have to wait and see how the situation is evolving but I'm going to be pretty pissed if I have to stay here!

The Thais seem not to care that much about the situation though - Ong, a friend from Bangkok sent another email yesterday evening and he didn't even mention the situation!

nonhuman · Sep 20, 2006, 01:26 PM

Ask, and ye shall receive: CNN.com - Thailand's king gives blessing to coup - Sep 20, 2006

The king's all for it apparently, and is making policy decisions now. Although, I suppose, the question still remains whether he had anything to do with the coup or whether Sonthi is more or less forcing him to go along.

analogika · Sep 21, 2006, 09:59 PM

Friends of mine are currently living in Thailand, and the first they heard about it was actually via worried e-mails from their friends in Europe.

Apparently, the vast majority of the population is very much in favor of this coup (excluding some rural regions).

Thaksin now-ex-premier has been called "Thailand's Berlusconi" - i.e., a populist, corrupt bastard who'd been hanging on to leadership with his cronies for all he was worth, and had been blocking re-elections for MONTHS.

He needed to be ousted to restore democracy, and was so with the king's - and the population's - blessing. The king's approval was important, since, though he's technically a figurehead, he is much-loved and revered among the people.

driven · Sep 22, 2006, 08:43 AM

The part that the west, indeed the rest of the world can never understand is that this is very much politics as usual in Thailand. This is the way that their political system works. It *will* go back to democracy, just as it always has in the past. So long as the king is a stabilizing force then there is no worries.

nonhuman · Sep 22, 2006, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by driven

The part that the west, indeed the rest of the world can never understand is that this is very much politics as usual in Thailand. This is the way that their political system works. It *will* go back to democracy, just as it always has in the past. So long as the king is a stabilizing force then there is no worries.

Yep, this is the normal, accepted political process in Thailand and the people don't mind at all...

driven · Sep 22, 2006, 05:34 PM

Yep ... a country with 66 million people. An entire 100 people demonstrating. That sort of proves my point.

Thanks for leaving out the part where people were welcoming the solders as heros and bringing them flowers.

spacefreak · Sep 22, 2006, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by driven

Yep ... a country with 66 million people. An entire 100 people demonstrating. That sort of proves my point.

No, the US has close to 300 million people, and of the day with the most demonstrators at Cindy Sheehan's Crawford "Camp Casey" - 94 people - 54 were media members.

Oh... you were talking about Thailand. I thought you veered off topic. My bad. Photos stay.

analogika · Sep 22, 2006, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by driven

Yep ... a country with 66 million people. An entire 100 people demonstrating. That sort of proves my point.

Thanks for leaving out the part where people were welcoming the solders as heros and bringing them flowers.

Well, we all know about the US definition of "dancing in the streets"...

nonhuman · Sep 25, 2006, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by driven

Yep ... a country with 66 million people. An entire 100 people demonstrating. That sort of proves my point.

Thanks for leaving out the part where people were welcoming the solders as heros and bringing them flowers.

So those 100 people don't count as part of the 'Thai people' just because they don't agree with the majority?

driven · Sep 27, 2006, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

So those 100 people don't count as part of the 'Thai people' just because they don't agree with the majority?

Of course they count. They count as much as 1/66000 of the population can count. But please don't discount the other 66 million who are either happy or indifferent to the change. Thai people *WILL* protest. I was there during the HUGE recent protests against the pre-coup government. These people wanted change. They got it.

In a democracy, majority rules.

nonhuman · Sep 27, 2006, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by driven

Of course they count. They count as much as 1/66000 of the population can count. But please don't discount the other 66 million who are either happy or indifferent to the change. Thai people *WILL* protest. I was there during the HUGE recent protests against the pre-coup government. These people wanted change. They got it.

Well, we can all only hope that the change will be for the better. But I can't help but think that at least some of those people who aren't protesting aren't doing so because they're happy or indifferent, but because they feel it's pointless as they have no real voice in their own government.

In a democracy, majority rules.

Which is why no society in existence is a democracy.

driven · Sep 28, 2006, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

Well, we can all only hope that the change will be for the better. But I can't help but think that at least some of those people who aren't protesting aren't doing so because they're happy or indifferent, but because they feel it's pointless as they have no real voice in their own government.

Again ... they all found their voice over the past year when they were protesting against the previous government. Their requests were heard apparently. Seems like a real voice to me.

nonhuman · Sep 28, 2006, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by driven

Again ... they all found their voice over the past year when they were protesting against the previous government. Their requests were heard apparently. Seems like a real voice to me.

I was talking about the ones who weren't protesting. Presumably it wasn't 100% of the population, or probably even a majority.