Two articles on Thailand; one
an editorial from the WaPo
which argues that the coup in Thailand, and the military's subsequent political management, was a blunder. The other
a perspective in the Bangkok Post by Tunya Sukpanich
which documents the disagreements with the junta's drafting of a new constitution which is less democratic than the prior one.
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The military coup which suspended the Thai constitution occurred in September 2006 - which is eight months ago now. Since then Thailand has been run by a military junta that is operating under a state of emergency. Australia signed a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand in January 2005.
Prior to the neoconservative policy of pre-emption, the main international method for dealing with powerful nations operating outside of the liberal democratic tradition was through a mix of economic, political and military containment. So what has our policy toward Thailand been? (more)
Thailand has a problem: it has a national council running the place which was established through a coup and, despite the presence of an assembly, the national council is the executive and legislative. The other issue is they have a monarch who fancies himself in the policy arena. Neither the council, nor the monarch, have had to compete in the public eye, or face competition from meritorious members of Thai society, in order to have their policies and competency ratified with public approval. In such an environment the first thing to tank will be foreign confidence, usually precipitated by foreign investment leaving the country - the second thing is usually the domestic economy.
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Not that you would expect anything different
from a junta who rose to power through suspending an existing constitution;
Defence Minister General Boonrawd Somtas says martial law will be lifted next month in all of the country's 76 provinces except for seven - four in the north and three in the troubled south.(more)
Where is that Queenslander and his dog who protested Joh Bjelke-Peterson in the middle of a night at the end of a culd-de-sac when you need him again? The Thai junta is
lifting a ban on political rallies of more than five people
but martial law remains.
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Thailand's 'pro-democracy' coup by the military was expected to take a year, but already
the Generals are finding that governance is no easy thing
. In the South and South-East Pacific the three biggest economies are Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. Their relations, their political stability, their economic liberty and their defence relationship between the three big nations are all very important to the regions on-going harmony and prosperity.
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