Word: bangkok
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...scene: A dinner party in a Bangkok penthouse, silverware clinking on fine China, various foams and reductions tickling cultured palates. An out-of-town guest turns to a Thai man and asks about the red-shirted protesters calling for the government's downfall. "Who supports the red shirts?" asks the foreigner, trying to understand the years-long standoff between the red shirts and the pro-government yellow shirts. "No one," replies the Thai, dismissively, sniffing a fine Bordeaux. Then, as an afterthought, he adds, "Well, except for the poor...
...Asia Asia's increasingly assertive leaders are demanding that the U.S. recognize the continent's growing economic and geopolitical clout. Many feel that Obama, despite his personal ties to Asia, isn't giving the region the respect it feels it merits. An editorial in the Bangkok Post - the leading English-language daily in Thailand, a nation that is usually dependably pro-American - summed up the prevailing sentiment: "Mr. Obama's promises about restoring U.S. interest in Asia ... have proved so far to be more talk than substance...
...color of anger, danger and protest. So it's fitting that supporters of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, have chosen deep scarlet as their identifying hue. Tens of thousands of Red Shirts have thronged Bangkok's government district since March 12 in increasingly virulent demonstrations demanding that current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down and hold new elections. But red is also the color of blood, and in response to Abhisit's steadfast refusal to resign, the Red Shirts decided to shed their own. As dawn broke on March 16, hundreds lined...
...fact, according to Wassana Namnuan, a Bangkok Post reporter, Thaksin and his opponents have been deeply engaged in black magic battles for dominance of the country for several years. "Both sides have been casting curses and spells upon each other," says Wassana who has written a book on the subject in Thai called Secrets, Trickery and Camouflage: The Improbable Phenomena. According to Wassana, Thaksin believes he is the reincarnation of a Burmese king who killed many Thais, and so has engaged in elaborate cleansing rituals to wash away the sins of his past lives. While in power, Wassana says Thaksin...
...Thaksin made special trips to Chiang Mai to consult a leading astrologer both before and after their 2006 coup. According to Wassana, the astrologer told her in an interview that he advised the coup makers they would be successful in their putsch, and afterwards performed ceremonies with them in Bangkok to further increase their power. "In the last two successful coups in 1991 and 2006,'' says Craig Reynolds, a professor of Thai history at Australian National University, "the astrologer who advised the chief coup planner became the astrologer for the coup group once it had assumed power...