Posted on 09/27/2006 11:08:15 AM PDT by John Carey
On Tuesday, September 19, 2006, a military coup removed one of the world’s democratically elected governments from the map. While Thailand’s Prime Minister was in New York at the United Nations, his job was taken away. A Muslim general took over.
What is really striking about this is that the United States and the United Kingdom, the two staunchest allies in the war against terror remained almost silent. Neither the President of the United States nor Tony Blair have said a word about the coup.
Even though President Bush has said over and over that spreading democracy is part of his doctrine, and that “democracies don’t attack other democracies,” he seemed to give the Thai military a “pass” on this.
Tony Snow, the White House Press Spokesman, at first said, “we’re disappointed at the coup.” A few days later, Snow said, the United States is “committed to democracy and in now way do we countenance military coups.”
By September 26, Secretary of State was on the record with a well thought out response to the Thailand coup.
(Excerpt) Read more at johnib.wordpress.com ...
Blog pimp alert!
Thailand?
Yes! It is terrible! They are forcing all the girls to wear burkas and setting up cranes for mass executions at National Stadium. Oh the humanity! We're doomed!
Ya know... I was going to post that but held off due to the fact I believe this is, quite possibly, getting out of hand. Perhaps we need to start a support group for people like us. On the other hand, we could also form the "Thailand?" Right-to-Post Action Committee where we make it a standing rule that at least one "Thailand?" post make it on every qualifying thread.
Food for thought. ;-)
To borrow a phrase from the liberlas: "You can't impose a dictatorship at the point of a gun!"
liberlas = liberals
Thailand is a store at my local Mall. It's next door to Jockstrap Hut.
I think you meant to say "inhumanity".
Yes, please call your Senators and Congressmen. Tell them about the horrors and bloodshed going on here in Thailand. Tell them about the mass executions. Please. The horrors must stop.
And they got rid of the go-go girls also.
The thugs!
I thought about that; but I was leaning more toward the child sex trade issue. Ya think that's over?
Now, where in history should we go for a parallel? Are you still living there? Can you give us some insight? BTW, correcting your English was not done with malice.
Child sex trade has a lot of money with it and I'll believe it is over when I see it.
Here's something I found during reading the story about this coup. It, and the blog it is from, are pretty descriptive. Thai's were apparently not feeling like this was some type of coup within a democracy, but more like the voters were choosing between two gangs in the first place, and they're not really too upset about these proceedings...
Tanks rolling into central Bangkok (CNN just now) ^
Posted by AFPhys to Humidston
On News/Activism ^ 09/20/2006 6:17:28 AM EDT · 368 of 376 ^
from: http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?s=9a4600eb2fed2b9d5f168f4b1948b8b5&t=1872&page=10
----> Quote:
Coup-land, the theme park!
Just got back from the area around Gov't House/Parliament etc. Large swaths of area are blocked off to car traffic, mostly using portable metal gates. There are soliders at many interesections and at all entrances to the blocked areas. Many of the soliders don't have ammunition clips in their rifles.
The mood is completely calm, somewhat comedic actually. Pedestrians are free to cross the traffic barriers and wander about on the closed roads. A fair number of people are hanging out, taking pictures and videos, posing with the tanks and the soldiers. The soldiers are very friendly, happily smiling for the cameras. People are putting their kids on the tanks to take their pictures. It's hardly what you'd expect from a military coup.
We saw no hint of any political interest from the people there - no clear cut coup supporters or protestors. People just seemed curious and somewhat bemused. The scene has become a tourist attraction. There's even a tuktuk based iced-coffee seller at one barrier.
I suppose we're in for a barrage of "democracy in peril" stories, as if Thaksin was some kind of paragon of democratic ideals. I hope somewhere the story comes out how this is really a battle between two personality cults, one using the rhetoric of electoral politics and free markets, the other using the rhetoric of religion and tradition while both pander to nationalism. But neither really cares much about the substance behind the rhetoric, using promises of salvation, whether material or spiritual, to command a following in order to increase their own stature. There are no good guys here - but IMHO, the current coup is a more honest reflection of Thailand's political rot, and therefore is preferable to the Thaksin administration which was more able to hide its authoritarianism under a veneer of electoral victory and liberal rhetoric.
In truth, neither side is really democratic in that neither is really interested in the people governing themselves. With the military/palace alliance at least this is obvious. Thaksin, for his part, ignores the civil liberty and checks-and-balances aspects of self-rule, creating instead a majoritarian dictatorship.
I'd say the biggest immediate issue is placating Thaksin's supporters upcountry. I hope this means an accounting of what he and his cronies have really been doing these past few years (similarly, an accounting of the Bush crew's actions would be nice to see). Of course this will be politically motivated, but perhaps ti might also be accurate.
I'll be very interested to hear the Thaksin apolgists take on the evidence as it emerges.
For the longer term, I don't think this coup makes much difference to Thailand's political, social or economic development. All of these are a disaster and has been so for a long time, though covered up by different layers of hype, supported by Thailand's immense natural wealth. The military is just as likely to institute real democratic change as was the TRT, IMO.
This is a step sideways into the light - not forward or backward.
Cheers,
Scuba22
---> End of Quote
Come on over and have a good laugh.
So what should we do? Drop in a few divisions? Of course, if we did that, then we'd be accused of meddling in another country's affairs.
We can't win, one way or another.
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