To which I must say -- there are songs associated with military coups???

Of course. Who can forget the classic Edith Piaf number Non, je ne regrette rien. and its connection with the resistance to the resistance in Algeria/France?

Having lived through 6 Military coups in Nigeria, there are songs associated with Coups. If you wake up in the Morning and Radio/TV goes blank except for Martial music on the radio and Past Military parades on the TV you know a coup is in progress.

Yes, the Thai coup is a blow for democracy because even if the military quickly turns over power to a civilian administration, this coup only proves that a sufficient check on military power has not been established. that being said, i was surprised the coup didn't happen 6 months ago.

Coups are the way power passes from one person to another in Thailand. The alternative would be a debate in public, with disagreements and dissenting views expressed. The fact that a coup has taken place means that all the dissenting factions have finally arrived at a consensus. This is backroom democracy. Isn't this how corporations are run?

It is too bad that the American people care so little about their government. They have long since had similar reasons (though, probably greater crimes then in Thailand and Hungary) to support a coup against Bush and his gang of criminals. But people in the USA don't even know what their government is, let along care enough about it to do something. It really is a shame.

I don't know about coup songs, but we need to have a troll song for this blog. "Oh, when the trolls/come marching in/ oh, when the trolls come marching in..."

Reporting here from my adopted country, Thailand. I was told last night at 10:30pm by my Thai wife that a coup was in progress while she went immediately to the TV and looked for news. There was no local news, just the standard reels of the king and his good works which are common here in the media. The funny thing is that these reels were in KARAOKE! Thailand never ceases to amaze me. As far as the music and the images of previous coups are concerned, it doesn't surprise me, as one must act swiftly as Big Brother with the most effective propaganda one can use in an arsenal when attempting to seize power. And in Thailand this means you throw on the color of the Monarchy (yellow), play images of the king's life, and if you're really good, play karaoke so everyone can sing along. Thais love karaoke.
Upon hearing of this coup my heart jumped and I was excited to get my Third World fix as I have read so much about political turmoil in developing countries in the past. Then I realized that a coup in Thailand is nothing extraordinary. And after 16 constitutions, any news of revoking the constitution certainly won't surprise me either.
I went on a rant with my wife about how Thailand didn't have democracy; that majorities rule in democracies and that it wasn't for the Bangkok elite to decide for rural Thais. "Yeah but Thaksin is manipulating the poor.." she answered. Back and forth we went on.
There's more to the story, a subtext that goes far deeper than Thaksin, which I'm reluctant to speak about as I live here and there are limits to what can be criticized. Suffice it to say that power has been usurped from the Thai people in a different way, since 1932, and because of it democratic institutions are extremely weak here thus precipitating this current crisis.
What the world is seeing now I have had to live with day to day, for three years at work: a disgustingly wealthy boss in an environment where decisions are made not on principles, but irrational and emotional fiat. Welcome to Thailand!

In Thailand, why did the opposition refuse to take part in elections? If the prime minister is really that unpopular, if Thai people do not want him, what better chance than an election to express that? If the opposition chose not to confront the prime minister in fair elections, the army does not have a right to oust him (if elections were held and the incumbent won by fraud, my opinion would be different).

This "cure" has to fail; it is clearly worse than the "disease," but let's look for a moment a little southward. Does anyone in Singapore protest - can they protest - about the windfall their investors are taking out of the pockets of the Thai public; the asset built by kinking the Thai political and economic systems and then "churned" for a huge profit?

Kerim,

The opposition refused to take part in the election because it was called for the sole purpose of heading off a censure debate on the assets issue and was scheduled on such short notice that the incumbent party would be at a huge advantage. I don't see this as a great right or wrong issue, but tactics versus tactics. Both sides were acting on base motives.

What if the criminal court, prior to the coup, had found the election commission guilty of receiving bribes from the Thai Rak Thai Party and sentenced them to 2 years in jail?

Would that meet your criteria for fraud? It hppened last week.

If TRT is a "third wave" government the first two waves must have been dinosaur and caveman.

I actually have mixed feelings on the coup, but I do think the Taksin government is an elected dictatorship and that the path to the political reform that Thailand desperately needs is more open now than it was yesterday.

The Thai experts might want to correct or addend me here, by my impression is that recent Thai history is replete with military coups. But they tend to be relatively "benevolent" affairs and tend not affect the economy or the pace of economic development there. One good "weather vane" for Thai politics is the Thai King. He is held in high respect by the Thai people, so when he consents to something, look for popular support. If he disagrees with something, look for civil unrest. And right now he is working with the Thai coup leaders to restore government. Hence all seems to be well for now.

Search for coup at the iTunes music store and you get 150 hits, including "Little deuce coup[sic]" by the Beach Boys.

Jprime,

I am not a Thai expert, but have lived here for a decade. Coup have been frequent as yuo note, but not uniform in character. Some have been better than others. You are right that the King is widely and rightly respected by all Thai people. His apparent recognition of this coup is is a very positive factor.

There are troubing international security implications arsiing from the coup. Apparently, the Thai Islamists have kick-up their terrorist insurgency, which will likely gain additional steam with the instability. Investor's Business Daily had a compelling editorial to this effect yesterday, on which I posted. Take care.

The big difference between Hungary and Thailand, at least so far, is that democracy has not yet failed in Hungary.

Maybe the Thai military is benign and will restore democracy quickly. But can you have a true democracy if you know it can be ended instantly at any time by the military?

One of the most inspiring moments in relatively recent history was when there was an attempted coup in Spain in 1981, and King Juan Carlos vigorously supported the still young democracy.

Military uprisings in Argentina have been suppressed as well in the years since the end of the military government that ruled Argentina in the 70s and part of the 80s.

In Thailand, you get the impression that the army is ready with a plan in place for a coup at any moment--one that forestalls a fizzling out as happened in Spain in 1981. Just the fact that the military has such a plan indicates how weak Thailand's democracy was.

I don't like coups, and also I can't be sure I understand how things work in other countries until I learn a lot about the particular place.

It might be a big help to the USA if, when we get into a legislative snarl we don't know how to get out of, somebody with authority but no particular bias could announce "Time out! 15 yard penalty! New elections!" and enforce it. Not so good that you have to depend on them to know when to do it and to be unbiased, but there've been times it might have helped us out a whole lot. 2003, say. And 2004. 2005. 2006. Just having somebody reliable to supervise elections would be a great big help.