Source: The Nation

It’s getting bad again in Thailand. The Bangkok Post says the crisis is deepening. The opposition to billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led by rival media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, is giving Thaksin till Saturday to resign or they will chase him out. About 50,000 demonstrators filled the streets Sunday, and another 25,000 filled the streets Monday. All credible analysts point to 1992-style violence, the memory of which is pretty grim.

An old monk-general who led that 1992 People Power revolt against what was then Thailand’s tinpot generals, has recently resurfaced at rallies and people are starting to wonder whether it’s going to be that same violent kind of change in Thailand by Saturday.

Thaksin has drawn massive opposition to his premiership because of a $1.9 billion profit he turned in Singapore, shamelessly and tax-free enough, through his Ample Rich (I kid you not) Holding Company. Middle class Thais are enraged at this graft and coming out in the streets in their thousands. Some factions of Thaksin’s coalition are breaking away from him – one’s parting words, of Thaksin, were “a thief and a cheat.” Thailand’s markets are tanking.

Thaksin called snap elections about a week ago but the opposition says that Thaksin, having consolidated power and taken over all institutions, isn’t going to put on a fair vote. (In this regard, the situation looks similar to Venezuela.) However, unlike Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Thaksin says he’s willing to postpone the election or meet with the opposition to discuss terms for a new election that will satisfy them. He sounds willing to compromise, at least on the surface. But the opposition want him simply out of there and gone. Reuters has a very good account of this growing revolution here.

And an update (Thanks, Rob!) here