Word: coups
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Less than six months ago, Samak Sundaravej's political career was all but dead: after his election to Thailand's senate was negated by the 2006 military coup, the former Bangkok governor had gone back to hosting a popular TV cooking show. But on Tuesday, the 72-year-old firebrand, once called a "devil" by democracy activists for his support of past right-wing military regimes, was formally voted in as Thailand's 25th prime minister by the country's first elected parliament since the Generals took power. Yet the question remains: will Samak really be running Thailand...
...Democrat Party in a simultaneous party list vote - signaling that many who voted the PPP into power are nonetheless ambivalent about either Samak or Thaksin leading the country. Quashing the investigations could spark a backlash from the hundreds of thousands who protested in the streets against Thaksin before the coup. It could also fracture Samak's six-party coalition government, as some members joined on conditions that the government not interfere in the cases against Thaksin...
...Samak's toughest challenge, however, may be dealing with the military. With his election, Thailand has peacefully returned to civilian rule for the first time since 2006 and, more or less, to a situation of normalcy - due largely to the coup leaders' willingness to stand by their word not to interfere in December's elections. Should Samak seek revenge against those involved in the coup, or put officers loyal to Thaksin in charge of the military, he could sow the seeds of another takeover. As Panitan says, "Coups never happen for a single reason." Reports in the Thai press have...
...Khan, it was just another example of how extremism has grown in Pakistan since Musharraf came to power via military coup in 1999. "Last year was the bloodiest year ever in Pakistan," he said. Even the tribal areas, which Bannu is near, are "threatening to stand up against the military," Khan said, as "not religious, but political Talibanization" spreads across the country. Speaking over the constant clicking of cameras, Khan chastised the U.S. and Britain for only paying lip service to democracy in Pakistan and painted a picture of a country on the brink of implosion, caught in a vicious...
...psychology of the bloodletting that has killed more than 500 Kenyans and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes may remain a mystery. Other questions are easier to answer. The immediate cause? A civilian coup by Kibaki, following a close race with challenger Odinga in the Dec. 27 general election. Three days after the vote, on live television, paramilitary police stormed the Kenyatta International Conference Center, where the vote was being counted and Odinga had a substantial lead. Minutes later, the head of the election commission declared Kibaki the winner. Kibaki was sworn in later the same day. That...