Word: coups
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Protests against Thailand's ruling junta spilled onto Bangkok streets over the weekend, with an estimated 13,000 demonstrators calling for the resignation of the military leaders who masterminded a bloodless coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last September. The marches were the largest show of dissatisfaction to date against coup architect Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin and junta-appointed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont. While the bulk of the protesters came from within Thaksin's followers, they also included a wide range of other interest groups, a worrisome sign for a government already under scrutiny from overseas investors and businessmen worried about...
...stations banned from the airwaves by the junta. Legal activists, including a veteran former judge, have condemned what they believe is deteriorating judicial freedom under the military leadership. And Buddhists, who are upset that their faith was not designated as the national religion in the draft of the post-coup constitution, have also rallied against the military government. "The anti-junta coalition has gathered critical mass," warns Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "This is a pent-up situation, and it's going to get worse...
Certainly, the anti-coup movement makes for peculiar bedfellows. One of the mobilizers of the weekend protest was Weng Tojirakan, a respected democracy activist who had been vociferous in his criticism of Thaksin before the military overthrow. "I do not support Mr. Thaksin, but the junta destroyed democracy," Weng says. "The junta is a monster and is evil, even more than Mr. Thaksin...
...mounting body count in the south dashes hopes that last September's military coup might ease the crisis, because junta leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin is a Muslim. Since the putsch, violence has worsened. On June 4, insurgents were blamed for a train derailment that caused the entire railway network in the south to grind to a halt. With no end in sight to the conflict, Thailand's government will have to work even harder to keep the violence from distracting the tourist trade...
...gets hooked by his ancient predecessor's storytelling skills. "As I immersed myself increasingly in Herodotus' book, I identified more and more, emotionally and cognitively, with the world and events that he recalls," writes Kapuscinski. "I felt more deeply about the destruction of Athens than about the latest military coup in the Sudan, and the sinking of the Persian fleet struck me as more tragic than yet another mutiny of troops in Congo." But Herodotus does more than report - he also imparts a lesson that modern-day rulers should heed. "Whoever first starts a war," warns Kapuscinski, "in Herodotus' opinion...