Blogging the democratic revolution
It was a weekend of a lot of explosions. Outside of the bomb attack at the Madrid airport, nine blasts went off across Bangkok, killing and injuring dozens of people. It is another question of why and who, as essentially both the former government as well as the opposition is out of power following a…
It is traditional thought to immediately consider a military coup bad because they usually are. Take the many horrors of Africa and Latin America, for example. There have certainly been ambiguous exceptions, such as Pinochet’s coup in Chile which still inspires much debate. But nowadays things are a bit different. Military coups are occurring for…
Below this is an email from a cousin of mine and his friend who is currently studying and working with an NGO in Thailand. He leans to the left, as you may notice, but provides a great description of what it’s like on the ground level after the military coup. Plus, he knows his stuff….
I don’t think many people will be scratching their heads about the coup in Thailand, at least if the entire ordeal is about what we think it is. The events leading up to this make it clear. The impasse of Thai politics in which Prime Minister Shinawatra is accused of corruption yet hugely wins polls…
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,…
Front Page, The Bangkok Post, June 9, 2006 Today, millions of Thais turned all of Thailand into a sea of gold and yellow, wearing the colors of the widely loved Thai king, His Royal Highness Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 60th anniversary of his reign. Fishermen vowed to give up fishing endangered fishes in honor of…
Breaking news… Source: ETNA The Thai prime minister announced he would quit after the messages from the streets and apparently because the King told him to. A shame, because just 14 months ago, he was very popular and I liked him in some ways. But amid public perceptions of shamelessness and corruption after a $2…
Thailand’s got snap elections today for prime minister, a manuever by the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, to take advantage of a disorganized opposition that wants him out but doesn’t have much of an alternative to present. Vast protests have been taking place in Bangkok over the past six weeks. Prominent leaders of the 1992 democracy-now…
It may be the final hours for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, who has been the target of the biggest protests in Bangkok since 1992. Thaksin is the billionaire prime minister of the country who had amassed huge power and a large mandate, but who disappointed his people by his continuous involvement in his…
Source: The Nation It’s morning in Thailand, land of the free, and the biggest rally of the year is engulfing the mighty angel city of Bangkok. Hundreds of thousands of protestors are marching in a bid to force the resignation of Thaksin Shinawatra. Things are getting very tense and the King is starting to stir….
A bomb went off in central Bangkok near the home of Prem Tinsulanonda, an adviser to Thailand’s King Bhumibol and a former prime minister. Three cars were trashed and a British tourist was slightly injured. The bomb had been positioned under a bench near a security guard booth but by ‘coincidence’ all three security guards…
Worker unions at major state electricity and water companies are preparing to hold an informal strike against the government to force Prime Minister Thaksin to resign. They threaten that, should Thaksin resist, unions from other major state companies will go on strike as well. BANGKOK (Reuters) – The heads of government electricity and water unions…
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are gathering in Royal Square in Bangkok at this very moment, calling from Prime Minister Thaksin to resign over a deal that sold off Thailand’s largest telecommunications company to a Singapore firm that netted his family $1.7 billion in profits due to the use of tax loopholes. The protest could…
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…
Thais have had it up to here with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 100,000 people are now in the streets demanding his resignation. The billionaire-army cop-turned prime minister has used his office to pocket billions for himself in yet another ‘Corporate State’ business deal while the rest of Thailand languishes in the aftermath of the…
Ten thousand angry middle class Thais rallied to demand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s resignation. They are accusing him of corruption and abuse of power. They’ve had it up to here with Thaksin, a billionaire businessman and once-enormously popular prime minister who has amassed power in the wake of the 1997 Asia Crisis, which began in…