Word: coup
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After months of protests by Thais against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the military seized power in a bloodless coup. Readers hoped the less-than-democratic act would put Thailand back on track...
...Cabinet members destroyed the system's checks and balances, abused state power, blocked access to information and violently suppressed peaceful protests. Can you still call that democracy? We want democracy in practice as well as in form. Thaksin's manipulation so deeply divided Thailand that the coup can be regarded as a coup de grâce, not a coup d'état. The military did not tear up our constitution and harm our democracy, since we had already materially lost them during the past five years under Thaksin's regime. Suwimon Issararaksa Bangkok In an immature democracy, an ultra...
...greenhouse gas. Honda says the engine, which it expects to market in the U.S. by 2009, will meet California's new emission regulations, the toughest in the world. That could translate to a competitive advantage, since big states like California can shape the global market. "It's a real coup," says Philip Gott, director of automotive consulting for Global Insight. "Honda tends to be very keen on bringing technologies to market first...
With a new caretaker prime minister in place and elections promised for next year, the leaders of Thailand's Sept. 19 coup spent last week reassuring the world that the country was returning to some semblance of normalcy. But will the economy do the same? Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, a former general installed by the junta on Oct. 1, began his tenure by publicly committing himself to the "people's happiness." But Surayud's definition of happiness, which emphasizes "self-sufficient" economic practices over GDP growth, and consumption of local goods over foreign products, worries some economists and investors...
...Even before the bloodless coup that overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last month, Thailand's growth was decelerating, in part because of rising oil prices and months of political gridlock. But the new regime will not necessarily make things worse. "The coup creates near-term uncertainty, no question," says emerging-markets expert Marc Faber, publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report. "Having said that, I don't think this will have a huge impact on the financial and manufacturing sector." In a reassuring move, the new administration tapped central-bank governor Pridiyathorn Devakula, a respected technocrat who helped extricate Thailand...