Thai PM 'overthrown in army coup'

[explorer]

from BBC News:

Thai PM 'overthrown in army coup'

A tank on the streets of Bangkok amid reports of a coup
Tanks took up positions outside Government House
A faction of the Thai military led by the army chief says it has overthrown Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Soldiers have entered the prime minister's offices in Government House and tanks have surrounded the building.

Mr Thaksin, who is at the UN in New York, has declared a state of emergency and said he had removed the army chief.

A government spokesman insisted the coup "could not succeed", and told the Reuters news agency that the government was still in control.

The spokesman said it had not been decided when the prime minister would return home from the UN.

However, in a television broadcast the leadership of the armed forces said it had taken control of Bangkok, declared a nationwide martial law and ordered all troops to return to their bases.

The so-called "Council of Political Reform" they announced is apparently loyal to sacked military commander Lt Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin and has declared its loyalty to the king.

However, the BBC's Kate McGeown in Bangkok says King Bhumibol is held in high esteem by all Thais, and the declaration of loyalty does not necessarily imply that he backs the takeover attempt.

An army-owned TV station is showing images of the royal family and songs linked in the past with military coups.

BBC World, CNN and other international news channels have been taken off the air, readers in Thailand told the BBC News website by email.

Our correspondent says low-level rumours of a possible coup have been circulating for weeks.

Political impasse

There has been pressure growing on the prime minister to resign, including from groups close to King Bhumibol, following a political impasse in which April's general election was declared invalid, says the BBC's correspondent Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

But it had been thought that Thailand was making progress towards holding another election later in the year, our correspondent says.

Witnesses said several hundred troops were posted at key points around Bangkok, including at government installations and major intersections.

Russell Miles emailed the BBC News website to say there were troops "dressed in Swat-style gear strolling around" near Government House, and "a tense, but fairly controlled atmosphere".

He said: "We saw a group of blokes bundling a cameraman and another chap into a van. We are taking photos, but not out in the open."

At the United Nations, where the annual General Assembly is under way, it was announced that the agenda had been changed to allow Mr Thaksin to address it in the coming hours.

************************************************** ******

from inq7.net:


Thai PM office seized by forces loyal to sacked army chief


Agence France-Presse
Last updated 02:09am (Mla time) 09/20/2006

BANGKOK--(UPDATE) Forces loyal to sacked Thai military commander Lieutenant General Sonthi Boonyaratglin seized the office of the prime minister in Bangkok late Tuesday, witnesses said as tanks and heavily armed soldiers were seen in the streets of Bangkok.

Amid rumors of an apparent coup, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was quoted earlier by local televsion as saying Bangkok was now under a state of emergency, and that Sonthi would be replaced by another military commander.

"He is in charge of solving the problems while the country faces an urgent situation," Thaksin was quoted by television as saying about the new military commander from the United Nations in New York.

[swimstroke]

Hay... Gulo nanaman...

[oldblue]

so what's the effect of that? bababa or tataas presyo ng mga thailand made cars d2 sa'tin?

[explorer]

any liar/corrupt leader should expect a coup if they don't step down from their post. that's true in many countries based on history and the philippines is not an exemption from that. there will always be idealistic people in the military who would dare to lost their career/life to support the cause that would liberate their country from their corrupt leaders.

[Flagg]

Buti nga sa kanila. Walang ginawa mga buysit na yan kundi magsulot ng manufacturing jobs from the Philippines.

Sana tumagal tagal yang gulo nila para naman magka-chance tayo pabalik mga jobs.

[explorer]

Thailand is now under martial law..had thaksin gave up his post during the height of his corruption controversy...this could not have had happened. so sad....because of the selfish interest of one person to power and wealth, the whole nation suffers. oh well....

if the king of thailand gives his approval to the leaders of the coup...then that's it. thaksin is history. the king of thailand is revered by most of the people of thailand. the king may not have participated in political system of the country but he has the support of the majority of the people.

[oldblue]

dapat ata may king and queen din tayo eh.

[109]

buti pa sila, tayo kaya kelan? :bwahaha:


joke.

[boybi]

dapat ata may king and queen din tayo eh.

yan yata yung long term goal ni pandak

[explorer]

Buti nga sa kanila. Walang ginawa mga buysit na yan kundi magsulot ng manufacturing jobs from the Philippines.

Sana tumagal tagal yang gulo nila para naman magka-chance tayo pabalik mga jobs.

would you want the Americans and the Europeans tell us filipinos the same thing every time we have our political turmoil because they lost many jobs and we got them specially for the call center industry?

[Flagg]

would you want the Americans and the Europeans tell us filipinos the same thing every time we have our political turmoil because they lost many jobs and we got them specially for the call center industry?

Sir, I'm Filipino, so I don't give a flying f**k what they would say. I'm for the Philippines' national interest.

Do you know that, inspite of all the idiotic destabilization, our tourism is booming? Is it because we suddenly became the 'in' thing? Sure we did, cuz the majority of our competition got tsunami'ed. And good for us, too.

Also, you ever wonder if these peoples you mentioned actually want the call center job?

May I ask you: do you really care what these peoples would say if good tsikoteers like the call center peeps have more to eat at their expense?

[oldblue]

Sir, I'm Filipino, so I don't give a flying f**k what they would say. I'm for the Philippines' national interest.

Do you know that, inspite of all the idiotic destabilization, our tourism is booming? Is it because we suddenly became the 'in' thing? Sure we did, cuz the majority of our competition got tsunami'ed. And good for us, too.

Also, you ever wonder if these peoples you mentioned actually want the call center job?

May I ask you: do you really care what these peoples would say if good tsikoteers like the call center peeps have more to eat at their expense?

sir *flagg, kung ako din lang tatanungin? mas ok na mapunta graduates/professional natin sa taggawa ng tsikot kaysa call center. sa thailand na lang call center industry, atin naman car manufacturing. mas enjoy pa.

[mazdamazda]

any liar/corrupt leader should expect a coup if they don't step down from their post. that's true in many countries based on history and the philippines is not an exemption from that. there will always be idealistic people in the military who would dare to lost their career/life to support the cause that would liberate their country from their corrupt leaders.

Ahh... trial by publicity again... it seems that we Asians have something in common.

A "liar / corrupt leader" should be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

military takeover of a democratic government is never a good thing.

basically, the guys with the guns are declaring to the nation and the world that they consider themselves above due process of law. that's scary.

I agree with this.

Who will police the "liberators" at the end of the day?

[Alpha_One]

Ahh... trial by publicity again... it seems that we Asians have something in common.

A "liar / corrupt leader" should be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Uso nga satin yang "patalsikin si {x | where x is the highest position held in government } anoh?! Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan...

[silhouette]

Bantayan ang mga oportunistang politiko dyan sa tabi-tabi.

[Helios]

Our economy must be the laughing stock of the world, in order to compete some catastrophe must happen to our neighbouring country.

Pathetic if we do so. Thai economy precedes us by a huge margin even it's under duress. Even if the Thais face the same number of corruption we have in all levels of govt, they don't have our sophisticated kind of Cleptocracy.

Uso nga satin yang "patalsikin si {x | where x is the highest position held in government } anoh?! Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan...

Quote:
military takeover of a democratic government is never a good thing.
basically, the guys with the guns are declaring to the nation and the world that they consider themselves above due process of law. that's scary.

Democracy is as much a result of factors that create good government as it is a cause of good government.
We pinoys have come to realization that popular overthrows of governments does not lead to less corrupt successors. Meet the new boss- same as the old boss. We have currently exhausted our People power capacity. Our people now don't see it as a viable way to improve governance which explains the numerous failed coup attempts by a few soldiers and politicos. I hope the rest of Asia or the world for that matter would see it as an example. We started it, and hopefully we end it.

Bantayan ang mga oportunistang politiko dyan sa tabi-tabi.

The problem is we and the Thais don't have someone like Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore who remains to be as the most influential anti-corruption politician in Asia. Although what we have here are far more flashier than any Singaporean or Thailander candidates could ever be, rest assured that we will always upstage them in terms of "pogi" points.
Meet your new, up and coming President Pacquao "all the" Money and his ever humble Vice Pres Efren "Magic" Reyes if ever we attempt a Thai coup.


I could almost hear the jingle (...para sayo, ang laban na'to) OT NAH!

[GasJunkie]

Pathetic if we do so. Thai economy precedes us by a huge margin even it's under duress. Even if the Thais face the same number of corruption we have in all levels of govt, they don't have our sophisticated kind of Cleptocracy.



I could almost hear the jingle (...para sayo, ang laban na'to) OT NAH!

Pathetic if we wish ill of our neighbour or pathetic if we don't?





:fly:



pics makes me want to :cry:

[van_wilder]

the philippines have the best economy in the world right now, our stock market have been the top gainer for the past few days until it corrected and consolidated today, the peso-dollar exchange would breach 49-50 soon... if this coup would happen here, i would be the first one to put a bullet on the coup starter just to save this country from destroying itself...

[oldblue]

the philippines have the best economy in the world right now, our stock market have been the top gainer for the past few days until it corrected and consolidated today, the peso-dollar exchange would breach 49-50 soon... if this coup would happen here, i would be the first one to put a bullet on the coup starter just to save this country from destroying itself...

ano na nga ba development noon news na nahuli na mga magdalo. turned out Erap "donated" financial support for their families since jobless sila, as quoted by a Lawyer of Erap.

[driven]

some say that the Philippine economy might one way or the other, benefit from the current situation in Thailand... sounds weird