And what keeps the leaders of the armed forces from being corrupt... Thailand though has a king also... I wonder why doesn't he takes action...

i thankfully back on 98 we got rid of soeharto and even with all the 'trouble' cause when people who dont often get their choose in their life before and people easily swayed by individual with centralize power (read money) disagreed if millitary should intervene on any level. there a lot of option to enforce peace and order but coup de tat simply should not an option. you never learn if you never get hurt

To my understanding the Thai army is a strong supporter of the king, and would do nothing to oppose him. So possibly this coup has king's blessing, at least in order to try to curb further violence.

It now fully depends what the army intends to do next. They mentioned something about making changes to the political system of Thailand, whatever that means.

If they merely replace the current "red" government with a "yellow" (like before), the poorer reds will be mightily pissed, their democratic victory was robbed from them once again. Maybe there is a chance army does better though, as apparently they apprehended also the head of yellows who was causing the recent ruckus. So they are not 100% siding with the yellow either at this point, it seems.

Let's not even think about what could happen if and when the old king passes away... It can't be said out loud what the Thai people think about the son. Let's just say the daughter is much more liked.

My point is that "democracy" in Thailand has proven to be a failure, I've seen all the stuff about the "yellow" and "red" camps and the protests, democracy has caused nothing but instability and economic damage to the country. Democracy is good and fine in principle but first the government must have strength, both to enforce it's laws and make new laws, if a government can't do shit without getting kicked out of office by some angry protestors then long-term the country is fucked, nothing will ever change, nothing will ever get reformed, things will always get worse, cause the govt doesn't have the power to do anything. If anything the "Western" idea of freedom and democracy is insidious in countries with poorer living standards because individuals with money can so easily influence and corrupt the process, you can simply pay for protestors to get in the streets to give the false impression of "people power".

The sad fact of course is that the Thai military will probably now be able to force through more political/social reform and change in a few weeks than all the civilian governments have ever done in years, simply because they now have the power.

People need to quit with the delusional idea that all government power is bad and that power isn't something which can benefit people. Fucking retarded libertarian crap, government can be a force for good.

The point being that the Sukarno/Soeharto period of Indonesia, while it produced some terrible things such as political purges, lack of rights, and so on, actually made it so Indonesia could transition into a representative democracy when Soeharto passed power to another general, who eventually retired from the army and is currently the President of Indonesia (sorry if I'm wrong my Indonesian history isn't great). Indonesia obviously has a much stronger and more stable government system today, obviously corruption does still exist but the government still has the power to make laws and policies for the people.

dont worry you get it correct mate, and honestly you speak like indonesian who born before me and have some cultural understanding of political nature in 3rd world country. i get it and understood completely you point but here my disagreed which pardon me, i'm lacking the knowldege of thailand inner politic. that their millitary are way to active to enforce their law and order and if they smart enough open clash like that should be avoided that and prolonged military regime could be avoided because once you have men with gun controlling the goverment nobody now where the end. sure if you lucky perhaps some wise general, but counter coup de tat which mean more blood sheed ?. granted the nature of military regime in asia slightly diffrent like in africa but still there people life out there

Politicians are too corrupt in thailand to stay in office. Philippines has a similar issue....

The military in many developing countries IS a respected institution, because it's seen as a defender of the nation but also because it's viewed as above the corruption and pettiness of the civilian politicians, I don't think there's that many countries where the military is feared, there's many more where the non-military security, intelligence or secret police services certainly are, but an armed force is generally looked on with respect (deserved or not) because it doesn't interfere with the rest of the country, it simply guards it. I'm not saying that bad armed forces don't exist, they do, and there's some with bad men leading them.

Either way I don't think you actually read what I wrote, representative democracy in Western countries is generally a good thing and I like it, but in countries where the majority of the population are poor and corruption is rife, I think it's something of a "Western" artificial imposition, artificial because it's not a political system suited to these countries and their conditions, they have them because the West does. It does more harm than good.

I have no idea why you're calling me a "sick bastard" but I find it quite offensive since I never once said I supported military dictatorship, even in developing countries I do not (though I can understand why they come about), I simply think countries like Thailand could do with a more stricter government and more restrictions on individual liberty, such as the right to protest, as well as harsher penalties for corruption and also laws against large sums of money being able to donated to politicians or to political supporters. I think the stronger the economy is and the higher the living standards are, will naturally result in more freedom over time, as it has done in most countries. Imposing extreme freedom/democracy in dirt-poor countries where people will do anything to survive, Jesus you know what is going to happen. The very reason China is doing so well these days is the lack of democracy/freedom during their industrialization/economic development period, you can bet your ass if the country was democratic it would be a unstable basket-case.

Also, Belgium had a dictatorship post-WWII? I must admit I never knew this.

Stay safe BGG.

I have a feeling the coup won't be too violent (although there certainly will be some). Just keep your head down, stay inside, play some video games.

There has only ever been one good coup in my view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_gFyB6GnA

Let's clear out misunderstandings first.

First, I'm not Belgian, I'm Basque and just happen to be in Belgium at the moment. I'm talking all this shit about Spanish military and government. I suppose I don't need to tell you, but there was a military coup on 1936, followed by 3 years of civil war, followed by 40 years of military dictatorship. The dictatorship ended roughly 40 years ago, and things are still fucked up over there. I mean, this event with the military police happened to me 6-7 years ago.

Second, I didn't call you a sick bastard. I said that if you think that shooting disenters in the face is a valid form of government, then you are a sick bastard. I'm hoping you're not, that's why I'm still talking.

Now, to the point.

The military, respected as a defender? Maybe. I can't see them as such, but it could be others see it that way. As long as it defends the country from outside (military) threats, that is. The moment they take it upon themselves to "protect" the citizens from themselves, things change. Because you see, the military is the military because they're good at killing people. That's what they do. If they get to rule, they don't use arguments because they don't have any. They just use what they have: brute force. I'd like you to point me to a military rule that didn't involve brutal repression, torture, summary executions, etc... Are they able to stabilize things? Maybe so, but the thing is, I don't care. Such thing is irrelevant in the face of the sheer brutality of military rule. It is never a good thing.

I did read what you wrote, it's just that I do think that democracy, even in western countries, is quite broken. Unfortunately, I don't have anything better to replace it with (or the power to do so, but that's irrelevant), so the best I can do is hope for education to improve and people to actually care. It's a far cry from perfect, but we can only try to improve it and come up with a better way of doing things. We'll get there one day, I think, but we're still pretty damn far away.

Why did I think you were Irish? O.o A globetrotting Irish pineapple, even. I'm clearly not too bright. >.<

Weeelll... I had Ireland on my profile for quite a while, I lived there for 2 years.

The "wandering fruit" title is not for show, I really change it very often.

It might not yet turn into "proper" civil war, but the King is old and has health problems. When he passes away, it will be apocalypse in Thailand.

I think its safe to say we have found another topic Crosmando is completely wrong about :)

There have been an awful lot of coups in that country over the years. Yay for another one... Sigh :(

Those who want power, don't deserve it; those who deserve power, don't want it.