Bangkok
The Thai military sent tanks rolling through Bangkok this week and declared a coup. Taking advantage of the absence of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, the military set up a provisional authority. Thaksin has been deeply unpopular since January, when his family sold its controlling stake in the national telecommunications company to Singapore and reaped nearly $2 billion, tax-free. Huge rallies that paralyzed Bangkok for weeks forced Thaksin to call early elections in April, but those were annulled because of an opposition boycott. Another election is scheduled for next month. Until then, it appears that Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, leader of the coup, is in charge.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Biden delivers Morehouse graduation speechSpeed Read It was the president's first time addressing a college campus since the breakout of Gaza war protests
-
Iran president dead in helicopter crashSpeed Read Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were found dead at the site
-
'Time-honored political tactic: Throw your wife under the bus'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
