Thaiku is a restaurant in Seattle (where I lived previously). But that’s not what’s in the news:

Thai army leaders deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a longtime ally of President Bush, using tanks and soldiers to seize the capital Tuesday night without firing a shot. The coup was the first in 15 years in a country where many people believed that military seizures of power were a thing of the past.

Remember him pandering for votes by getting “tough” on North Korean refugees?

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called on local authorities in Thai border provinces to take stricter measures against an influx of refugees from North Korea, the Bangkok Post reported Tuesday. The embattled premier made the call while on the campaign trail to the northern province of Chiang Rai, which borders Laos, a popular route for refugees from the North fleeing via China.

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, eh?

On the other hand, this may be a crushing blow for representative politics in Thailand. The right way to remove distasteful politicians is by elections, not tanks:

Thaksin and his Thais Love Thais party won a resounding victory in 2005 elections, securing 374 of 500 seats in the House of Representatives. But he soon found himself in a political crisis.

Street protests that had begun with a murmur late last year found voice in January after Thaksin’s family sold its shares in Shin Corp., a telecommunications and satellite company, to Singapore’s Temasak Holdings for $1.9 billion, tax-free.

Thaksin sought to counter demands for his resignation by calling early elections in April, only to see them boycotted by the opposition parties. Eventually, King Bhumibol called on the courts to “clear up the mess,” and the judges nullified the vote. [Snip]

Sonthi and other coup leaders are close to Thailand’s deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. What role, if any, the monarch played in the takeover was unknown. Some of the coup soldiers sported cloths of yellow, the royal color, and gun barrels in an attempt to signal they were acting in support of the king.

Now, I know that most Thais revere their monarchy, and I wouldn’t exactly say this at my favorite Thai restaurant in Northern Virginia (the oh-so orginally named Pad Thai), but the royal family ought to have no business lending any credibility to the coup. In fact, I think a monarchy, constitutional or otherwise, is a totally silly idea to begin with.

It appears that what drove the Thai military to the edge was the PM’s re-shuffling of the military to suit his needs:

Thaksin, a former senior police official who built a fortune in the telecommunications industry, has faced street protests for much of the year over allegations of corruption, abuse of power and a bungling response to a Muslim insurgency. Many military officers contended that he was trying to interfere with promotions and postings in the armed forces.

Well, guess what, the principle ought to be “civilian control of the military.” If the Thai voters dislike what the PM did with the military, then the former ought to vote his party out and elect another leader. The military should not get to “act out” because it did not like what its civilian overlord was doing to it (and it really does not matter whether the grievance is legitimate or not).

My prescription for the USG is rather simple: represent the rule of law and representative politics (what many people call “democracy”) — do not give any recognition to the coup. Unless it wants a Thai version of the Kwangju syndrome, that is.
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