I am not a fan of Thaksin and was looking forward to seeing the Thai people vote him out of office later this year, but I am feeling a little uncomfortable at the military's decision to speed up the process by staging a coup yesterday while he was at the UN in New York. I am inclined to believe them when they say that the takeover will be temporary and power will be "returned to the people" soon, and it does sound like it has been a very peaceful coup. However, Thailand has had its fair share of political unrest over the last 15 years, and this just doesn't set a good precedent for the establishment of rule of law and sustainable democracy in the country.
I wonder how the people of Thailand are feeling today? It sounds like the mood in Bangkok is fairly jubilant:
"i have been speaking to various people on the street and the general feeling is good. One elderly gentleman shouted "Thailand is now good" is Thai to me."I guess Thaksin's supporters in the north must be fairly unimpressed. Plus the coup leaders have announced that "political gathering of more than five people is banned."
In case you are interested, here are some Thai blogs that are live blogging about what is going on:
Metroblogging Bangkok
Bangkok Pundit
2Bangkok.com
gnarly kitty
Thailand Blogs
Thai Photo Blogs [Also where the top image is from]
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