There was a military coup in Thailand today while the country's PM was in NY to give a speech at the UN. Now, international news stations have been taken off the air and the Thai military has declared the Thai constitution null and void. The military is pledging loyalty to the King while they declared martial law.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/thailand.coup.rumor/index.html

Editing to add: But apparently people aren't too, too worried as Thailand has had a dozen coups since the end of WWII.

On the news this morning here it said about people in Thailand who had been called by concerned relatives overseas checking on them and they didn't even know that anything had happened. Hopfully it will continue to be a 'bloodless' coup.

On our news yesterday it was mentioned and it was said that British Airways was still flying there but the Foreign Office advised people to take care, not to get involved in demonstrations etc.

BBC News

I've read somewhere that some people are not even concerned as this has happened several times in the past decade or so, and each time the coup has been a failure. I guess we'll find out.

I heard that most were supporting the coup.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14918168/

Quote:

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BANGKOK, Thailand - Despite waking up on Wednesday to troops and tanks on the streets of Bangkok, most Thais took the military coup in their stride, hoping it would mean the end to months of political strife and division.

While the bloodless putsch against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came as a surprise, many people in the Thai capital saw it as a timely move to halt a deepening crisis that has left the country in political limbo for nine months.

“I’m glad the coup took place because things have been ugly for a long time,” said motorcycle taxi driver Rittiporn Yomram, 36.
“The question is how long the army will hold on to power, although if they hadn’t come in, this situation would only have worsened.”

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For some reason I find myself somewhat rooting for the king. Although the actions have been denounced by the U.S. and the European Union, I have read several articles that talk of Thaksin being arrogant and of his actions in southern Thailand. While the former is just annoying, it gives no one the right to throw a coup, but the latter almost gives them the right to overthrow him.

You are like most Thai people,Trident, if you are 'rooting for the King" He is adored and venerated and can do no wrong. A local Thai man asked about the coup yesterday voiced the feelings of most Thais when he said that Thailand would never suffer much as it had a King.

This is merely a conination of the crisis earlier this year when all oppostion parties boycotted the election due to corruption.
Thailand will be much better with a new guy at the helm.
The army were right to hold a coup while Thaksin was in the USA.




International




Embattled Thai PM resigns 'for sake of unity'

· Thaksin bids to halt unrest ahead of king's jubilee
· Opposition now powerless to shape reform process

John Aglionby, South-east Asia correspondent
Wednesday April 5, 2006
The Guardian

Thai demonstrators shout for Thaksin Shinawatra to leave office. Photograph: Wong May-e/AP
Thai demonstrators shout for Thaksin Shinawatra to leave office. Photograph: Wong May-e/AP


Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, resigned last night, accepting that continuing would trigger prolonged unrest. His move followed a snap general election on Sunday which - although he won easily - resulted in a massive protest vote against him.

After an audience with the deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej the beleaguered and drained-looking leader announced he would "not accept the premier post" for the sake of national unity but would stay as caretaker prime minister until parliament selects his successor. "We have no time to quarrel," he said, struggling to hold back tears. "I want to see Thai people unite and forget what has happened."

Article continues
He said this was a reference to the king's diamond jubilee - 66 days away - and that all Thais wanted stability by then.

Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party won about 57% of the vote, well down from the last election 14 months ago. His announcement was greeted with delight by more than 1,000 opposition supporters who had gathered outside his office last night.

"This is what we've sacrificed so much for over the last few months," said Winyoo Keoparadai, a 25-year-old advertising executive who had protested each day for a month. "We don't care who's prime minister now. What's important is that Thaksin's gone."

But some were distraught. "He's fought against drugs. He's fought the mafia," one taxi driver, wiping away tears, told the Associated Press. "I'm very sad."

The millions who voted for Mr Thaksin were mostly poor rural Thais who loved him for populist policies that have raised their living standards significantly. But the urban middle class claimed Mr Thaksin abused his position repeatedly.

Tens of thousands of opponents have been protesting in Bangkok for months under the banner of the People's Alliance for Democracy. They had promised to continue until he resigned.

The three main opposition parties had boycotted the poll, claiming the vote was a Thaksin ruse to try and gain a mandate without answering the myriad corruption claims. The high-risk strategy appeared to have worked in the short term because so many voters ticked the "no vote" box to register disapproval of the prime minister. It is unclear what will happen in the medium term - the opposition has been virtually excluded from the parliament.

Their only hope of winning seats is if the election commission allows them to stand in the 39 of the 400 constituencies whose elections have to be rerun because the only candidate running, from Thai Rak Thai, did not win 20% of the vote, a legal threshold. The commission indicated last night that the parties which had boycotted the polls would be allowed to run. Analysts say the jubilation evident last night in Bangkok, an opposition stronghold, may not last. "Thaksin's decision solves the short-term problem and people will cooperate to begin with," analyst Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak said. "But Thaksin is still around and the opposition is pretty much shut out so we might return to the same state after the jubilee."

One hundred extra MPs are decided on a proportional representation basis. Thai Rak Thai is expected to win most of these.

Opponents last night were sceptical over how long Mr Thaksin would stay in office and what will shape the constitutional reform process.

"Thaksin still controls a parliament stuffed full of his own MPs," said Korn Chatikavanij, of the opposition Democrat party. "If the public had not been careful in this election we would have ended up with a parliamentary dictatorship."

The frontrunners to replace Mr Thaksin are Bhokin Bhalakula, 54, a former interior minister, and Somkid Jatusripitak, 52, a deputy prime minister.

Backstory

Thaksin Shinawatra, 56, was forced to resign 14 months after he became the first Thai PM to win re-election and hold a majority in parliament. There was no single event that triggered his demise but a combination of factors that galvanised opponents: his arrogant intolerance of criticism and media crackdown; his use of patronage to control the senate, which appoints the constitutional court that can oust the prime minister; and the perception that his policies were driven by a desire to enrich his family and cronies. The tipping point was the sale this January of shares in the family-run Shin Corp for £1.1bn to Singapore, in which relatives evaded paying tax. It reinvigorated the protest movement and led the opposition to boycott a general election Mr Thaksin called to avoid answering corruption claims.