Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Thailand's PM ousted in military coup

From the AP:
In the dead of night and without firing a shot, Thailand's military overthrew popularly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday after mounting criticism that he had undermined democracy.

The sudden, well-orchestrated coup — a throwback to an unsettled era in Thailand — was likely to spark both enthusiasm and criticism at home and abroad. The military said it would soon return power to a democratic government but did not say when.

Striking when Thaksin was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, army commander Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin sent tanks and troops into the drizzly, nighttime streets of Bangkok. The military ringed Thaksin's offices, seized control of television stations and declared a provisional authority loyal to the king.
While the PM was in New York? Wasn't Bush also in New York? A-ha! The coup in Thailand...was George W. Bush's fault! Dammit, is his imperialistic thirst unquenchable?

For those of you on the left, the prior paragraph was sarcasm.