Thai military tanks surrounded the presidential house as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a speech at the United Nations in New York.
Source: Reuters, via News.com.au

Goodbye, democracy.

Thailand’s military has launched a coup to overthrow the government. All the good English language Thai Web sites, like The Bangkok Post and The Nation are down, probably from huge traffic. The U.S. stock market, fearful of what events in Thailand can do to world markets, is falling over this.

A well-placed correspondent in Bangkok right now e-mails to me:

It’s the army commander, overthrowing Thaksin. Nothing to do with Islamofascists or anything like it — it’s internal Thai politics.

Army commander Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin has launched a military coup, with tanks surrounding Government House and the military in charge of all local broadcast media.

The actual coup came in the middle of a panicky message by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from New York.

In a connection to Thai TV and radio, Mr Thaksin attempted to declare a “severe
state of emergency in Bangkok” but was cut off midway.

Shortly after that, a message appeared on screen on public TV stations, saying the army was in charge, and apologizing for inconvenience caused.

The last military coup in Thailand was in 1991. It was overthrown in 1992 amid considerable bloodshed, and after that a democratic constitution was proclaimed.

I’ll update this through the day.

Keep an eye on Bangkok Pundit, he doesn’t have anything up just yet but he’s a sharp political analyst. His site is here.

Ace at Ace of Spades has more links to other bloggers who are covering this Thailand coup in this post here.

Here’s a translated statement from the military junta:

There has been social division like never before. Each side has been trying to conquer another by all possible means and the situation is intensify as doubts grow about the administration amid widespread reported corruption.

State units and independent organizations have been politicized, unable to deliver their services as specified in the Constitution.

The administration is also usually bordering on “lest majeste” actions against the revered King.

Despite attempts for compromises, there is no way to end the conflicts.

The revolutionary body thus needs to seize power. We have no intention to rule but to return the power to the people as soon as possible, to preserve peace and honor the King, who is the most revered of all Thais.

UPDATE: Glenn at Instapundit has a good roundup of updates from Southeast Asian-based bloggers on the job in this post here.

UPDATE: BBC has eyewitness reports here.

UPDATE: Bangkok Pundit has a huge awesome roundup, with tons of blog links in this post here. It’s really riveting! If this site isn’t on the Publius blogroll, it’s going there.

UPDATE: Bangkok Post is beginning to come back online – I can’t get the whole site up, but can see the masthead. It went down due to high traffic.

UPDATE: Angkor.com has an interesting bulletin board of local posters giving minute by minute updates in this post here.

UPDATE: Pajamas Media has an excellent roundup in this post here.

UPDATE: My correspondent in Bangkok tells me that General Sondhi, who’s just lead the coup, is a Muslim. Bangkok Post reports that he wants to end the insurgency in the south.

UPDATE: Newley Purnell is in Bangkok right now, and reports that the general sentiment is calm and even festive. He is providing continuous updates well worth reading here.

UPDATE: Investor’s Business Daily has an editorial called “Thailand: An Ally We Can’t Lose” noting the potential for instability in this item here.

UPDATE: And of course, don’t miss Rob Mayer’s excellent analysis above, on the coup’s implications for democracy – it’s extremely insightful and hits all the right bases – it’s one post higher, or you can click here.

UPDATE: Metroblogging Bangkok has more live continuous updating from expats in Bangkok in this thread here.

UPDATE: Thaksin in New York still thinks he has the upper hand. In his address to the U.N. tomorrow, he is going to emphasize the need to preserve democracy in Thailand. Meanwhile, in New York, local Thais protested the guy in the streets. Bangkok Post has both stories here and here.

UPDATE: Global Voices has some excellent liveblogging and lots of good homebrew photos from Bangkok bloggers in this post here.