[nuconvert]

Yes, Thailand ;~ )

[ichabod1]

Oh my.

[vladimir998]

What exactly are these “protestors” demanding?

[GILTN1stborn]

Are these “redshirts” the same as the “yellowshirts” that were raising hell a few months ago? This will get played down in the MSM-nothing to see here move on-since they have coups all the time in Thialand.

[JimSEA]

If Thaksin regains power, all the starts and stops of progress since 1970’s will be for nothing. This is a power trip for the former PM. The Yellow Shirts were certainly not all sweetness and light but more instability and corruption are intolerable. Neither side is anything to write home about but the Red Shirts are unacceptable to a modern emerging nation. One man's ego is at the center of all this.

[anniegetyourgun]

Things are going from bad to worse over there....

[angkor]

I guess our FR correspondents in Thailand have gone to bed for the evening :)

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Red shirts make them easier to shoot.

I know some people who plan to retire in Thailand, claiming, among other things, that the dollar goes five times further, especially for food, belongings. I don’t know if the government allows gun possession, but I’d hate to live in a country that could be overthrown by communists any time.

[normanpubbie]

Thailand has been a kingdom for centuries. In 1932 the absolute monarchy was abolished and a democracy was established. The current monarch, King Bhumibol, has been on the throne since 1946. The King was born in the U.S. and the country is the most pro-Western nation in that part of the world.

Between its inception and 1997, Thailand had a number of pseudo-constitutions and a number of coups occurred. That year, the country adopted a real constitution. Thaksin Shinawatra, a police officer-turned-businessman, founded the TRT party which was elected in 2001 by a majority of votes and he became Prime Minister; Thaksin was reelected in 2005 -- the first reelection in Thai history. In early 2006, pretty much continuous street protetsts were staged by PAD (aka the "yellow shirts"); in response, Thaksin organized a "snap" vote or referendum and won it. The "yellow shirts" are called that because the King's colors are yellow and PAD claims to support the monarchy. During his regime, Thaksin was repeated charged with corruption; he was tried once in a Thai court early in his administration and was acquitted. The mantra of Thaksin's opponents is that he is corrupt but "where's the beef?"

In September of 2006, a military junta staged a coup while Thaksin out of the country. The junta leaders, known finally as the CNS, issued a new constitution then installed their own Prime Minister and replaced all of the judges in the three highest courts. They also put their own people on the Election Commission. The Election Commission in Thailand is allowed to nullify elections. Thecourts also abolished Thaksin's party and ruled that those politicians could not run for office for five years.

Apparently most people did not like the new junta-friendly constitution so another was drawn up and voted upon. It passed. In December 2007, parliamentary elections were held. The TRT's successor party PPP received 233 of 480 votes and took office. PAD continued to stage street demonstrations in 2008, occupying Government House and laterbo th Bangkok airports, preventing all airliners from landing or taking off for a two-week period. Apparently some visitors to Thailand were prevented from leaving the airport during that time.

In mid-2008 the Courts and the Election Commission removed enough PPP and allied legislators on questionable pretexts that the Democrat Party was able to form a government with the aid of some former PPP members.

Since the 2006 coup, the courts have seized all of Thaksin's assets in the country (about $2 billion worth) and have convicted him in absentia of tax evasion. He is currently a fugitive from justice curretly probably in Asia somewhere. The evidence against him, as described in the Thai press, looks pretty weak; he would never have been convicted in an American court.

Thaksin is much more popular across the country than the Democrat PM, whose supports seems to be mainly in Bangkok. His supporters are called the UDD (aka "red shirts"); they assembled in Bangkok in huge numbers on April 8 and basically have shut down downtown Bangkok. Their demands are twofold: Remove the illegally-installed Democrats from power and restore the 1997 Constitution.

Another coup, staged by the Army as before, seems very likely. I don't see the government backing down nor the protesters. Since 1932 there have been 17 coups d'etat in Thailand and people are dreading another. I wonder if the monarchy will survive another coup.

[rabidralph]

LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

If this were Burma, the gov’t would just send in the Rangoon squad.

[woofie]

My daughter (age 15) is supposed to do some volunteer work in Thailand this summer ..Any one care to comment on how safe it is and will be?