Coupblogging

Via Josh Marshall, here's a blog from Thailand with constantly-updated photos and commentary on the unfolding coup. And for a perspective on the coup you won't see on TV (you think CNN producers are kicking themselves for not leaving some cameras in Bangkok instead of having them follow John Mark Karr?), Joshua Kurlantzick at TNR suggests a military government won't be much less democratic than the regime of PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Comments

[joe]

I have nothing useful to add.

And I feel strongly about that.

I don't expect you'll get many comments on this one, but that doesn't mean we're not interested.

[thoreau]

I have a friend from Thailand. His relatives in Thailand are doing fine, but my poor friend is not as lucky: He's in Ohio.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, what is it about this coup d'?tat, anyway? It seems so run of the mill. Like it's part of the normal constitutional process in Thailand. Is that the truth, or is the media just doing that poor of a job reporting on the situation?

I wanted to visit Thailand when I was in Kuala Lumpur (when I spoke at the INET '97 conference). No, not for the prostitutes--I don't partake, thank you very much--but for the food. And to say that I'd been to Phuket 😉 Anyway, I didn't have time, though I did see pretty much every square inch of K.L.

[Pro Libertate]

I believe that military coups in Ohio are also common. In fact, there may have been one while I was living in Columbus, probably during an Ohio State game. Also, Cleveland is run by a military junta, as I understand it.

[MainstreamMan]

PL,

"The bloodless coup was the first overt military intervention in Thailand since 1991, when Suchinda Kraprayoon, a military general, toppled a civilian government in a bloodless takeover. He was ousted in 1992 following street demonstrations."

"The army commander who seized Thailand's government in a quick, bloodless coup pledged Wednesday to hold elections by October 2007, and received a ringing endorsement from the country's revered king."

"Sondhi said he would act as prime minister for two weeks until a new leader is chosen by the Council of Administrative Reform, that an interim constitution would be drafted within that time, and that Thailand's foreign policy and international agreements would remain unchanged."

"Sondhi led a precision takeover overnight without firing a shot, sending soldiers and tanks to guard major intersections and surround government buildings while the popularly elected Thaksin, accused of corruption and undermining democratic institutions, was in New York attending the U.N. General Assembly."

Let's see if he keeps his word better than Musharraf in Pakistan.

[Jeremy Mahler]

bloodless coup?
different, but boring. I applaud the Thai military for thinking outside the box on that one, but come on... no one pays attention to these sorts of things in the USA unless there's bona-fide OUTRAGE.

OUTRAGE, I say!

without it, ratings will drop immediately after the initial curiousity wears off...

"Hey Maw, stop milking the cow and come in here! Them Thai-ish folks have staged a coop! Says here there wasn't no bloodshed, neither!"
"Aw, Pa, you interrupted my chores for that?"

[mongeese]

I was hoping a headline would read, "Coup in Thailand, Cage Flees" or something like that. Nicholas Cage was here promoting and/or making a movie and from what I hear grabbed the first flight out when the coup happened. Now, how's he gonna make it as an action star if'n he jus' "cuhts and ruhnns lahk the coward of a dawg that hay ehz."

[peachy]

Well, given the way the PM had been behaving, this could be a positive step - providing, of course, the new bosses keep their word. But regardless, it did give me a little warm nostalgic glow to read about an old-fashioned military coup ostensibly performed in the service of a formerly absolute monarch... you just don't get those very often any more.