Word: primed
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...Some had not yet reached voting age when he (right, with his wife, the author and filmmaker Jill Craigie) helmed the party's 1983 parliamentary campaign. Some had not yet been born. And a thumping majority of those who were eligible to vote chose to retain Margaret Thatcher as prime minister, after Britain's 1982 Falklands-war victory burnished her popularity...
...protesters, known as the Red Shirts for the color they wear, were supporters of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and has fled the country rather than serve a prison term on a corruption conviction. His opponents include the current Democrat-led government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the military, a rival group of protesters known as the Yellow Shirts and, according to some, Thailand's monarchy. Thaksin's followers are comprised largely of the rural poor, and so it was easy to dismiss, as many commentators did, the bloody curse...
...blended with a brew of Hindu, animist, Khmer, pagan and other beliefs. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country's 82-year-old constitutional monarch, spent time as a Buddhist monk but also retains astrologers and Brahmin priests at court, as is tradition. So it's no wonder that coup plotters, Prime Ministers and lawmakers have frequently consulted fortune-tellers before making important decisions. Performing dark rites to increase one's power and defeat your adversaries is as pervasive among the political class as bribery and vote buying. Even Thaksin, who became a billionaire from satellite services, computers and telecommunications, once declined...
...Images of King Bhumibol at Red Shirt rallies are almost completely absent. Instead, red shirt leaders keep a statue of King Taksin at their rallies, some Red Shirt guards dress in the style of King Taksin's soldiers, and banners spell the ousted prime minister's name in the manner of the 18th century king. It's a revelation in a land where near-universal reverence for King Bhumibol has long been assumed. But Thaksin may feel his time is coming, as the king is 82 and ill health. And just about any Thai will tell you that astrologers have...
...curses. "Newin's nickname in Thai politics is 'the Wizard of Khmer Black Magic','' Wassana says. Newin's knowledge of Cambodian occult practices may be useful for Abhisit. Because of Thailand's conflict with Cambodia over an ancient border temple, the current PM has also been cursed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who proclaimed last year, "Let magic objects break your neck, may you be shot, be hit by a car, may you be shocked by electricity or [ may you be shot] by misfired guns...