Word: coup
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...slated for December. Yet history has taken an ironic twist for the now 43-year-old politician. The upcoming polls are the handiwork of the very military whose overthrow spurred Abhisit's political passions more than three decades ago. After deposing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless army coup last September, Thailand's ruling junta promised to restore democracy by the end of this year. Now that the new constitution overseen by the generals has won a 58% approval rating in a referendum on Aug. 19, the junta appears committed to carrying out its pledge to hold elections...
...Complicating matters is Thailand's perennial wild card: the military. Shortly after seizing power, coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin reiterated that he had no interest in remaining in politics after elections were held. Earlier this summer, however, a junta aide hinted that perhaps Sonthi might throw his hat in the ring. The general hasn't committed so far. Still, after casting his yes vote in the constitutional referendum in the province of Lop Buri, Sonthi did let slip that if he were to run, this military stronghold where he was once posted as major-general would be the place...
...phobia about military dictators--her politician father was executed by one--and has described General Musharraf as an incompetent ruler who indulges in "puerile brinkmanship." In his view, she and Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister, epitomize the weak, deeply corrupt democracy he overthrew in a bloodless 1999 coup. Just the mention of their names can spoil his mood; Musharraf once told a television interviewer that he would like to "kick them...
...military dictatorship under a strongman willing to pursue U.S. interests. Sunni politicians have openly said they would prefer this to a Prime Minister from the Shi'ite Islamist parties. But none of Iraq's military commanders has looked a likely candidate, and the U.S. is unlikely to back a coup...
...Those bells are louder after Chavez recently revoked the license of an opposition television network, RCTV. The problem wasn't that RCTV was pulled off the air - it loudly encouraged a coup attempt against Chavez in 2002, something the FCC probably wouldn't condone in the U.S. - but that Chavez failed to put the license up for bidding by independent broadcasters. Instead, he used it to create another pro-government network. In an interview with TIME last fall, after he called President Bush "the devil" at the United Nations, Chavez almost gushed about free expression in Venezuela...