Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Thai Dilemma

They (coup leaders) are asking people with strong democratic principles to become prime minister of a government appointed by a dictatorship. And they are asking them to accept the post without any guarantees of some democratic freedoms...
as told to Dow Jones Newswires.

Well said. The Generals and even the Thai King, with all due respect, are deceiving themselves. The military junta will not soon cede power. It cannot. It has trapped itself in a conflicting and contradictory situation. Any civilian government installed by them will be nothing but a dead duck, a puppet beholden to the military, who will be defacto kings of Thailand until they voluntarily give up and retreat to their barracks where they belong in the first place.

That, or they do a Pakistan or a Myanmar - both of which represent extremes of possible though no more desirable outcomes.

Image source: http://www.cbc.ca/. Image originally owned by the Thai Army.

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