Word: strongmanism
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...what happened last week in Bangkok was not a coup d'état, nor even a coup de main, coup de Jarnac, coup de grâce, coup de maitre, coup de pied or a coup d'oeil. Searching for the trenchant Gallic phrase to describe Strongman Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat's apparent coup against himself, the best that observers could manage was coup de repos, i.e., a move that leaves the main features of a situation unchanged but also puts opponents at a disadvantage...
Since seizing power 13 months ago, Strongman Sarit has spent most of his time abroad undergoing treatment for a chronic liver ailment in Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, and then in Britain. Back home, his Chart Sang-khom Party seemed safely in control of two-thirds of the seats in the Assembly, after an election he had decreed; his own man, General Thanom Kittikachorn, was Premier; young King Phumiphon was carefully holding himself above politics and giving no encouragement to the opposition. When a Soviet attaché and a Tass newsman spoke slightingly of Sarit this month, the government...
Reflecting on these symptoms of unrest as he paced in his borrowed estate 25 miles from London, Strongman Sarit decided it was time to reassert himself. He flew back to Bangkok last week. Next day he dissolved the National Assembly, deposed the Premier, banned all political parties, scrapped the constitution and promised to draw up another (which will not be submitted to a referendum), padlocked a dozen publications, and declared martial law because of "pressure of internal and external forces, especially of the Communists." In the name of the "revolutionary party," Sarit promised Thailanders that he would 1) respect...
...something like this: win power, steal, flee (aided by the hallowed tradition of "political asylum"), spend and enjoy. The story almost never includes: return home, face the music. Last week, in a startling change in the familiar pattern, the democratic government of Colombia stood up to a brazen former strongman and made him answer for his actions...
Pakistan's strongman President Iskander Mirza denied that he had ever discussed federation with other nations. In Teheran. Premier Manouchehr Eghbal was more careful: "Iran has no intention of participating in a federation with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the immediate future." Radio Kabul made its answer clear by beating the drum again for an independent "Pakhtoonistan," to include a large slice of West Pakistan...