The king could probably do a lot to reign the military in (he is the commander in chief, so a repeat of what the Spanish king did isn't impossible), but he's 86, so he might not have it in him.
edited 20th May '14 4:26:02 AM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThats how it turns out to be, as the Reds are supportive of Thaksin, who in turns are courting the Crown Prince in favor of the current king.
Friend of mine analyzes it as: The Yellows hold exclusivity to "Loyalty to the King", "Good Personship", and "Middle-Class" while the Reds hold exclusivity to "Democratic Election" and "Majority"
That, and the Crown Prince...has less prestige in Thailand than Prince Charles has in the UK. Said Crown Prince supports the Red, but if he were to take the throne upon his father's death and tell the military to shut up and obey the democratic process, the military and Yellows would likely politely ignore him and continue what they were doing while declaring their undying support for the monarchy. (This is politics, so blatantly counterfactual statements are perfectly okay.)
"Hey guys, remember when we said this wasn't a coup? We lied."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/22/world/asia/thailand-martial-law/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Seems like all TV channels are cut out...
My relative's friend say s/he heard gunfire in hir area tho...
Really, other than the news of arrest of several leaders of both sides, nothing much is out...well there's also the news of arrest of alleged UDD member with a large weapon cache (before the coup news that is, news of that is around a day ago)...
There's also curfew here right now from 10pm-5am.
Oh, and seems like caretaker PM disappeared or something
It's also hard to say about what military will do next, I mean, the coup back in 2010 didn't result in military government...
edited 22nd May '14 6:37:22 AM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?It's an idiotic turn of affairs, because it'll just put them right back to where they were. The Yellows seem to understand that they can't win a democracy, and want some sort of unelected "People's Council" to run the country, but that's never going to fly in a country where the people have had a taste of political power.
The military does seem better about not overstepping their boundaries compared to, say, Egypt, since they yielded last time and let a Shinawatra back into power... only to later get dissatisfied and throw it all out again. But a Pheu Thai is going to come back, unless the Yellows focus hard on appeasing the rural poor that vote for the Reds in droves (which would be a welcome outcome to ease inequality).
And most of my family is Yellow...
Really though, to me the only way to be able to solve this permanently is to completely dismantle current politics and all people involved...not gonna happen of course.
And yeah, the idea of People's Council is just completely stupid.
Really, one one side, we have people who support Thaksin and is most likely going to go violent, and the other being extremely undemocratic, with the whole "People's Council" and some of them favor extremely weighted voting
◊...my country sucks.
edited 22nd May '14 8:38:00 AM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?
Going by the image onyhow linked to, it seems to be the standard fears of the "underclass." Hence why they want "trustworthy" people to have votes that count for more, such as the clergy, law enforcement, and professionals vs the working class.
I think the only way to make them feel safe is to rectify this inequality. It's something i studied in undergrad: as inequality decreases, inter-class fears and tensions also decrease. If your country has a large middle class, who is essentially living "the wealthy life" just in miniature, they're not going to see the wealthy as constantly screwing them over and want to assault them. Meanwhile, if the laboring masses are raised to a lifestyle more recognizable to the wealthy, they are going to be able to better sympathize with their position.
just like it's hard for Americans and other first-worlders to identify with the plight of African pastoralist herders or Bengali sweatshop laborers, because it's so far removed from our experience. This lack of frame of reference can occur within a country as unequal as Thailand, and create sociopolitical tension in the meantime.
If the Yellows developed economic stimulus plans and plans to develop parts of the country other than Bangkok and tourist playgrounds like Phuket, they could solve their own problems.
@demarquis: I admit, I didn't inquire about this to my family...it's just that I just grew apathetic to the whole situation (consider that this whole Thaksin problem went on like from at least 2006, when I'm still in high school...)...really though, what I'm seeing with them mainly is that they HATE Thaksin and his cronies, and don't want to see them in position of power...funnily enough, when I show one of them that pic, and said I disagree with it, she thought I'm Red...
@Ogodei: Agreed, also I think better education might also help.
So far, not much in the news, other than more people are to be reported to the military, including Yingluck...
If there's one good thing about this: at least it's not as bad as in Ukraine.
edited 22nd May '14 10:18:28 PM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?^^ Wut? Oh
^ Just cut everything dammit...that's not even a half!
edited 23rd May '14 9:33:26 PM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?^^ I don't know...but if there's one thing I hate more than the Reds or Yellows, it's the military...consider the country's history...eeeeeeh, I just want to see the military suffer. To hell with them. I only managed to avoid drafting due to my medical condition, too (plus I hate conscription, so that's several minus to the military).
edited 24th May '14 3:17:59 AM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?So damn near all of the best lecturers from my faculty's been called, plus this one politically-charged Transgender.
Senate's closed, too. Now that two branches responsible for the country's gone, I wonder if they'd close down the judicial branch, too? Thai soldiers are apparently heavenly beings sent upon this Earth to lead this country to a brilliant future, following the esteemed steps of the more mountainous Korea, after all.

Thai politics makes blancmange look stable. Maybe the military will restore order and leave, maybe they'll govern for the next twenty years. It's really up to them by this point.
edited 19th May '14 9:47:03 PM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei