Wow, and all this time I thought that Thailand's democracy was stable. For now we should wait, since we can't really bring our troops into the country. Of course, revoking the constitution is always bad news and a sign of worse things to come.
We first have to understand that this is a military coup. I myself am not against such action, as long as it is justified and the military does not revoked the constitution (which they have).
I think Thai military has cross the line and I hope the rightful elected government comes back into power. However if Bhumibol_Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, supports the coup, then the people will also support it. The King there is that powerful.
As for UN/US intervention, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
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"If you can't laugh at yourself, then you don't know a good joke." ~BigGator5
We live in a country were ~50% of the populace believe public schooling is a socialist conspiracy and that being called Einstein is an insult. We could try and fix it, but unfortunately the other 50% don't believe in euthanasia.
I say we should stay the **** out of there. We already have Vietnam II in Iraq, we don't need Vietnam III.
Hah! Have you studied Vietnam I at all? Congrats on sneaking Iraq into this, by the way.
Ideally, we should give aid to a democratic government in peril. Practically, we're going to find that hard to do. Now, unlike Iraq, the government structure is, or was, in place and fully functional, so at least to my naive mind it would be a simple matter, had we the forces to do it, to beat the usurpers and restore the status quo; they wouldn't be building from scratch. Perhaps the UN could lend a hand, but I've long since stopped expecting them to do anything, much less the right thing.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
What do you think the US and other major powers should do?
Please do not encourage them.
Funniest line:
In the dead of night and without firing a shot, Thailand's military overthrew popularly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday amid mounting criticism that he had undermined democracy.
So the democratically elected Prime Minister undermined democracy and they needed a military coup to bring democracy back? I love the logic.
Maybe the line of thinking was that democracy, in it's current form in Thailand, needed a touch of... renovation.
If the military were interested in democracy they wouldn't have revoked the constitution and declared martial law. I think that this might be more of an end than a means, especially if this action has the blessing of the king.
I read this yesterday morning, and the first thought that I had about it, quite honestly, was 'I'm reading the future of the United States'. That made me sad, so, I stopped reading it.
I'm in favor of a coup if it is necessary, but, slightly opposed to martial law being invoked(I can sort of understand the need here, it can prevent needless rioting, killing, etc) and I'm 100% opposed to anyone's Constitution being revoked. A Constitution should quite possibly never be able to be revoked. Originally I was going to say that it should only be able to be revoked in cases where an overwhelming majority votes for this to happen and it is immediately replaced with another Constitution. Then I remembered that people, by and large(and especially as a large group) are idiots and I could easily see a good Constitution getting scrapped and replaced with a bad one.
I'm just as sick of gratuitous Iraq references as the nexy guy, but to be fair... The question was how the U.S. and other world powers should respond, to which the answer is influenced - potentially to a great degree - by the resources spent in and the political ramifications of the campaign in Iraq. I think exploring how the situation in Iraq may influence foreign policy to Thailand is a perfectly reasonable and valid topic.
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Someone dragged Iraq into totally unrelated thread in just three replies. I think that should be an internet record.
No, I think it's something to be expected.
I don't know enough about the situation to really give an opinion, so I would be curious as to any other sources someone might give, both news-wise and to understand the situation.
A military coup against a prime minister is not itself antithetical to democracy if said prime minister is infringing against democracy. Why he wasn't just removed from office is something I don't understand. Does Thailand not have provisions against such things?
Also, it seems like this guy had a lot of controversy, but that doesn't necessarily mean the majority of the country was against him. Do we have any information on just how unpopular he was?
What should the US do? Thailand has nice resorts, gorgeous beaches, wonderful people, and great food. We do whatever it takes to preserve this. We get democracy going again, all the better.
Well, to be fair, when it comes down to military insurrection, I don't believe people with the proper information would find it altogether impossible to determine whether or not such a move would benefit or harm the Thai people as a whole.
I don't see why the USA doesnt just do nothing. Thailand is having only internal problems, it's not like it's exporting terrorists or something. Let them sort it out for themselves.
The US is the 'People's Champion of Democracy', so to speak. If their constitution/democracy was revoked when this coup occurred, it seems to me that we would intervene, given our own tendencies and political stances in the past. Of course, I don't really see how we could intervene, in actuality.
To be blunt, it's not our business. If our society collapsed, I like to think that the world would watch and defend their borders and let us sort out our own stuff. We should do the same. Besides, and forgive the Iraq plug, we do have enough foreign loose ends to tie. At least, I feel we do. Let's finish with Iraq before we move to the next country.
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What do you think the US and other major powers should do?
By kingcobweb and Goblinboy.
Official Elitist of [thread=40859][RBS][/thread]
I think Thai military has cross the line and I hope the rightful elected government comes back into power. However if Bhumibol_Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, supports the coup, then the people will also support it. The King there is that powerful.
As for UN/US intervention, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
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Hah! Have you studied Vietnam I at all? Congrats on sneaking Iraq into this, by the way.
Ideally, we should give aid to a democratic government in peril. Practically, we're going to find that hard to do. Now, unlike Iraq, the government structure is, or was, in place and fully functional, so at least to my naive mind it would be a simple matter, had we the forces to do it, to beat the usurpers and restore the status quo; they wouldn't be building from scratch. Perhaps the UN could lend a hand, but I've long since stopped expecting them to do anything, much less the right thing.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
Anyway, it looks that now the King is involved or getting involved to see that this thing is peaceful. Looks like Thaksin Shinawatra is out of luck.
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Please do not encourage them.
Funniest line:
So the democratically elected Prime Minister undermined democracy and they needed a military coup to bring democracy back? I love the logic.
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If the military were interested in democracy they wouldn't have revoked the constitution and declared martial law. I think that this might be more of an end than a means, especially if this action has the blessing of the king.
I'm in favor of a coup if it is necessary, but, slightly opposed to martial law being invoked(I can sort of understand the need here, it can prevent needless rioting, killing, etc) and I'm 100% opposed to anyone's Constitution being revoked. A Constitution should quite possibly never be able to be revoked. Originally I was going to say that it should only be able to be revoked in cases where an overwhelming majority votes for this to happen and it is immediately replaced with another Constitution. Then I remembered that people, by and large(and especially as a large group) are idiots and I could easily see a good Constitution getting scrapped and replaced with a bad one.
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She knows why.
No, I think it's something to be expected.
I don't know enough about the situation to really give an opinion, so I would be curious as to any other sources someone might give, both news-wise and to understand the situation.
A military coup against a prime minister is not itself antithetical to democracy if said prime minister is infringing against democracy. Why he wasn't just removed from office is something I don't understand. Does Thailand not have provisions against such things?
Also, it seems like this guy had a lot of controversy, but that doesn't necessarily mean the majority of the country was against him. Do we have any information on just how unpopular he was?
What should the US do? Thailand has nice resorts, gorgeous beaches, wonderful people, and great food. We do whatever it takes to preserve this. We get democracy going again, all the better.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.