High Risk Of More Coups In Thailand, Study Says

[metisdead]

A post in violation of fair use policy has been removed. It is generally accepted, but not written into law, that quoting the first two or
three sentences of an article and giving a link to the source is considered “fair use” and not a violation of copyright.

[belg]

is coup taking not highly connected to the amount of corruption ?

[chiangmaikelly]

is coup taking not highly connected to the amount of corruption ?

I would think so. When the military is very corrupt there are more coups. It would be hard to imagine a non corrupt military participating in a coup. One would think they woud let the government decide when a change should take place.

[whybother]

is coup taking not highly connected to the amount of corruption ?

I would think so. When the military is very corrupt there are more coups. It would be hard to imagine a non corrupt military participating in a coup. One would think they woud let the government decide when a change should take place.

I would think that a non-corrupt military would perform a coup over a corrupt government.

All Thailand needs to do is find a non-corrupt military.

[chiangmaikelly]

is coup taking not highly connected to the amount of corruption ?

I would think so. When the military is very corrupt there are more coups. It would be hard to imagine a non corrupt military participating in a coup. One would think they woud let the government decide when a change should take place.

I would think that a non-corrupt military would perform a coup over a corrupt government.

All Thailand needs to do is find a non-corrupt military.

Sorry no. Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

[EvilDrSomkid]

After the coup General Sonthi Boonyaratglin stated, on American television that they had to have a coup because they could not find any way "democratically" to get rid of Thaksin, And Sondhi Limthongkul, while on a speaking tour in the U.S., stated the coup was necessary because the "old power" of BKK were losing their power and wanted it back, to which he wholly supported.

I am not a "Thaksinite", Red Shirt supporter, or even anything close, but the coup was not only illegal, but morally wrong, and Thailand has yet to fully recover from the consequences of it.

Could it happen again? Sure, Would that make it right, regardless of the stated reasons? No.

Which made it "A Coup for the Rich"

If it's something rich Thais hate, it is poor people. Especially if they start to understand things and want a piece of the pie.

[StreetCowboy]

I would trust that my nation's military would be loyal to the Crown, regardless of the government in power.

I am sure Thais the same.

SC

[StreetCowboy]

I would trust that my nation's military would be loyal to the Crown, regardless of the government in power.

I am sure Thais the same.

SC

History is full of tales of good soldiers doing bad things. Patton, Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur in dealing with the Bonus Army in Washington in 1932 reminds me of what could have happened in Bangkok.

I always enjoy your historical references, and I am sure Wikipedia enjoys the hits that they engender.

SC

[Scott]

Please stay on topic.

The sin-bin has plenty of room for those that don't.

[EyesWideOpen]

I would trust that my nation's military would be loyal to the Crown, regardless of the government in power.

I am sure Thais the same.

SC

History is full of tales of good soldiers doing bad things. Patton, Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur in dealing with the Bonus Army in Washington in 1932 reminds me of what could have happened in Bangkok.

I always enjoy your historical references, and I am sure Wikipedia enjoys the hits that they engender.

SC

Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information or is it one of those that is based on opinions and rumors that any one can enter?

Not all that reliable.... Look at the top line of a Wikipedia article, and you will see a blue hypelink that says Edit. Meaning you can edit any article yourself, think you only need to sign in with a Google account...

So based upon that, do not stake your life upon information in a Wikipedia article.. :-)

[abq2020]

While a coup is always a possibility, the likelihood of one has been greatly reduced because the current Thai civilian leadership has certainly purged the military of old guard leaders, and installed their own government supporting generals in all key, and most other senior military leadership positions. It would take a great general population uprising against the government, or other extreme and dangerous levels of civil protest/disobedience or other major national crisis to again create an environment where a coup by the military may be considered. That is my non-expert opinion.

[Scott]

References contravening the rules of the board have been deleted along with a large number of replies.

[gemini81]

At least in Thailand, the army is the positive thing to counter and challenge a dictatorship against Pheua Thai. If civilians made better choices on politicians and there wasn't vote buying, we'd need no coups; but dream on.

Thaksin was already way out of control; imagine no bloodless coup and there would have been a lot more blood shed by further orders from Thaksin himself (like the war on drugs due to his complex over his son's substance abuse or senseless genocide of muslims at Tak Bai). I'm glad the army is there to counter balance this oligarchy in power now. It doesn't have the check and balance system westerners want to imagine, but a challenge to corrupt oligarchy Shinawatras is certainly better than none.

Edited May 12, 2013 by gemini81

[metisdead]

Additional off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[AleG]

The last coup was born out of constitutional crisis created by Thaksin by his corrupt and autocratic actions, simple as that.

Unfortunately Thaksin is a stubborn SOB and will continue pushing and pushing until the country bends to his will or the reset button is pressed again.

All for a man's egomania, it's tragic.

[EyesWideOpen]

Thailand must have one of the most bizarre form of governments in the world.

Demagogue leaders get in office by promising endless things, and then sweeten the deal with vote buying. Once in office they then proceed to loot the country at mind boggling levels, while instigating dictatorial powers to assist in the looting. Then when the looting is out of control, the military steps in with a coup, and throw the crooks out. The military performs a tortured period of poor governance, and the, new demagogues run for office again . Starting the cycle over again. So is it true all people have EXACTLY the form of government they deserve ???

Edited May 12, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[indyuk]

Any country that has more Army generals (Thailand 2,000 off) than it has elected polititians is at continuing risk of coups. I find Thailand quite similar to the Argentine in respect it's thirst for coups de terre.

[gemini81]

Thailand must have one of the most bizarre form of governments in the world.

Demagogue leaders get in office by promising endless things, and then sweeten the deal with vote buying. Once in office they then proceed to loot the country at mind boggling levels, while instigating dictatorial powers to assist in the looting. Then when the looting is out of control, the military steps in with a coup, and throw the crooks out. The military performs a tortured period of poor governance, and the, new demagogues run for office again . Starting the cycle over again. So is it true all people have EXACTLY the form of government they deserve ???

More bizarre than that is the people then go and vote foolishly as they had done before, not learning a lesson and buying the lies time & again, hook line & sinker. As long as Pheau thai manages to keep 'em uneducated and gives them some pocket change from taxpayers along the way, it will continue and they can farm on their back to keep their insecure oligarchy in power.

Once I'd hoped social media, the net and other factors would expose and educate them more, but instead playing games & facebook gossip & channel 3 praise of mafia wealth families won't do the trick.

Edited May 12, 2013 by gemini81

[chiangmaikelly]

Thailand must have one of the most bizarre form of governments in the world.

Demagogue leaders get in office by promising endless things, and then sweeten the deal with vote buying. Once in office they then proceed to loot the country at mind boggling levels, while instigating dictatorial powers to assist in the looting. Then when the looting is out of control, the military steps in with a coup, and throw the crooks out. The military performs a tortured period of poor governance, and the, new demagogues run for office again . Starting the cycle over again. So is it true all people have EXACTLY the form of government they deserve ???

More bizarre than that is the people then go and vote foolishly as they had done before, not learning a lesson and buying the lies time & again, hook line & sinker. As long as Pheau thai manages to keep 'em uneducated and gives them some pocket change from taxpayers along the way, it will continue and they can farm on their back to keep their insecure oligarchy in power.

Once I'd hoped social media, the net and other factors would expose and educate them more, but instead playing games & facebook gossip & channel 3 praise of mafia wealth families won't do the trick.

That is a good post. One question. Is there some news service or some organization that tells people if they have voted foolishly or wisely? How do they know? Or maybe a facebook page that lets people know if they are foolish or smart?

[StreetCowboy]

Thailand must have one of the most bizarre form of governments in the world.

Demagogue leaders get in office by promising endless things, and then sweeten the deal with vote buying. Once in office they then proceed to loot the country at mind boggling levels, while instigating dictatorial powers to assist in the looting. Then when the looting is out of control, the military steps in with a coup, and throw the crooks out. The military performs a tortured period of poor governance, and the, new demagogues run for office again . Starting the cycle over again. So is it true all people have EXACTLY the form of government they deserve ???

More bizarre than that is the people then go and vote foolishly as they had done before, not learning a lesson and buying the lies time & again, hook line & sinker. As long as Pheau thai manages to keep 'em uneducated and gives them some pocket change from taxpayers along the way, it will continue and they can farm on their back to keep their insecure oligarchy in power.

Once I'd hoped social media, the net and other factors would expose and educate them more, but instead playing games & facebook gossip & channel 3 praise of mafia wealth families won't do the trick.

That is a good post. One question. Is there some news service or some organization that tells people if they have voted foolishly or wisely? How do they know? Or maybe a facebook page that lets people know if they are foolish or smart?

The Army tells them

[rubl]

"High Risk of More Coups in Thailand"

Pheu Thai Can't Bow To Opposition Any Longer On Amnesty, Charter Change: party secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai

Edited May 12, 2013 by rubl

[Whiplash]

Past performance is not guarantee of future returns.....

Except when it comes to coups in Thailand. Whether its next week, month or year, you just know it is coming sometime. Why? Because they get away with it. Simple really

The continuing coup mentality of the military and acceptance of the general population has its own dynamic. I haven't read the author's work, but I doubt he says cause-effect, i.e., because there have been coups, there will continue to be coups. On the face of it, the alleged logic and reasoning of such a statement is no better than tautological.

There is a propensity for Thailand to have coups, a condition we might call momentum. A culture of the coup. Many Thai friends say the army eventually will straighten out the present set of woes (which is brainless to believe, and which also betrays the Thai lightheadedness towards democracy).

And, as a poster pointed out, Thaksin is well prepared for another one, the next one.

S Korea is one of the countries studied. It hasn't had a coup since around 1983 and really isn't going to have another one. The coup leader there was subsequently arrested by the new, democratically elected government, tried and sentenced to death. His crony coup makers got up to 20 years. The charge was "military mutiny." The Korean people, to include the courts, certainly made themselves clear toward coups.

The Thai people have been clear towards coups in the opposite ways. If there's a next coup, it is likely to be the spark that could turn Thailand into a Syria. And Thais would deserve it.

Well one day it will happen here. I don't like the cycle that the country has got to now, because there is an inevitability, brought about simply by bringing a few thousand people to sit in the street.

And as for respect for the army, pffffff. They have been singularly successful at feathering their own pockets and shooting their fellow citizens.

That's about it.

Yes, and I would directly say the Thai army are cowards. They shoot their own unarmed people, such as at the temple during the 2010 conflagration. Yet on Dec 8, 1941, when Imperial Japan invaded Thailand, the Thai army had completely surrendered by the time the sun came up on December 9th. Pussies.

Any next time the army will find people shooting back at it. We'd see what happens then.

Support red shirts much.. ? 555

[OzMick]

If the risk of coups is higher because Thailand has had so many, is the risk greater or less every day since the last (current events aside)?

[Whiplash]

If the risk of coups is higher because Thailand has had so many, is the risk greater or less every day since the last (current events aside)?

I would say greater since the last election, any Thaksin rule is f-ed up

beyond sanity.. so i will give it max 1 year until the next coup. will it get any better.. i hope so, the last government rule was much better than this puppet government that wants to bring in more relatives into the mix..! they talk about police corruption.. its in the ruling government that the biggest corruption exists.

[Publicus]

No, I don't support the red shirts much . The common, ordinary red shirts do have a favorable view of the CCP-PRC. Oddly, so do the yellows. Twelve million Thais are directly Sino-Thais, which is 20 percent of the population, so I guess there's going to be some overlap despite one's "color." But the yellows definitely are closer to the CCP-PRC than are the reds, especially among the yellow's hi-so's, which does leave me feeling cold towards them.

Thaksin and his top security guy Chavalit brought Thailand closer to the CCP-PRC than any previous government. This is true despite the fact Chavalit has spent a career being close to the CCP's military, buying a lot of junk military equipment at "friendship prices" from Beijing. Yet the PRChina useless military junk long ago was put in storage, so the Thai military wants as little to do with the CCP-PRC as possible, even though Beijing gave strong support to the Thai military during the year after the 2006 coup. (Samak spent a lot of time in Beijing too while PM.)The U.S. didn't support the coup but does make technology transfers to its formal treaty ally, Thailand.

The mighty Thai navy primarily consists of warships made in China, so the Thais need to hope their navy is never called on to do actual seaborne warfare. The Thai navy is capable only of rounding up Thai fishing boats during coups.

[Robby nz]

Fortunately the General in charge of the army at present is not PT appointed and is possibly one of the few things that is holding PT and Thaksin back.

What I see or read about him and from his statements he knows and understands very well what PT are up to.

He also knows what havoc and bloodshed a coup at this point would create and has no wish to be the cause of that.

He can also see that PT are losing support and are on the road to self destruction.

However the Dems now need to come out and show themselves as a stronger opposition and alternative by getting in the news on a daily basis countering all the silly statements being made by PT with truth.

I wont comment on those who rubbish the Thai army because that's off topic, but will say if you want to talk about cowards I suggest the man in Dubai would be a great subject.

[Publicus]

Fortunately the General in charge of the army at present is not PT appointed and is possibly one of the few things that is holding PT and Thaksin back.

What I see or read about him and from his statements he knows and understands very well what PT are up to.

He also knows what havoc and bloodshed a coup at this point would create and has no wish to be the cause of that.

He can also see that PT are losing support and are on the road to self destruction.

However the Dems now need to come out and show themselves as a stronger opposition and alternative by getting in the news on a daily basis countering all the silly statements being made by PT with truth.

I wont comment on those who rubbish the Thai army because that's off topic, but will say if you want to talk about cowards I suggest the man in Dubai would be a great subject.

The Thai army in a thread about military coups is not off topic. Their shooting of unarmed civilians at a temple is directly to the point.

[Thai at Heart]

The last coup was born out of constitutional crisis created by Thaksin by his corrupt and autocratic actions, simple as that.

Unfortunately Thaksin is a stubborn SOB and will continue pushing and pushing until the country bends to his will or the reset button is pressed again.

All for a man's egomania, it's tragic.

I think it would be closer to say that the crisis came about due to the democrats not pitching for the election.

[whybother]

The last coup was born out of constitutional crisis created by Thaksin by his corrupt and autocratic actions, simple as that.

Unfortunately Thaksin is a stubborn SOB and will continue pushing and pushing until the country bends to his will or the reset button is pressed again.

All for a man's egomania, it's tragic.

I think it would be closer to say that the crisis came about due to the democrats not pitching for the election.

Or Thaksin calling an election less than 12 months after a "landslide".

[yoshiwara]

Fortunately the General in charge of the army at present is not PT appointed and is possibly one of the few things that is holding PT and Thaksin back.

What I see or read about him and from his statements he knows and understands very well what PT are up to.

He also knows what havoc and bloodshed a coup at this point would create and has no wish to be the cause of that.

He can also see that PT are losing support and are on the road to self destruction.

However the Dems now need to come out and show themselves as a stronger opposition and alternative by getting in the news on a daily basis countering all the silly statements being made by PT with truth.

I wont comment on those who rubbish the Thai army because that's off topic, but will say if you want to talk about cowards I suggest the man in Dubai would be a great subject.

The Thai army in a thread about military coups is not off topic. Their shooting of unarmed civilians at a temple is directly to the point.

Usual red apologist canard this time from the man who doesn't 'support the red shirts much'. Much.