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Thailand Army Announces Military Coup On Live TV, Country's 12th Since 1932
Update 2: Thailand's military suspends the 2007 constitution and dismisses the caretaker government.
Update: The Thai army has announced a nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. after declaring a military takeover of the government to restore order.
* * *
Two days ago, when reporting on the Thailand "non-coupy" martial law imposed by the army, which wasn't in charge, but really was or something, we summarized the situation as follows: THAI MILITARY CHANNEL 5 SAYS MARTIAL LAW `NOT A COUP'. "Ah, gotta love the New Normal: full of non-coupy martial laws." Moments ago, the New Normal regressed back to its Old Normal ways, when in a live statement on TV, the Thai army chief made the non-coupy coup coupy, and announced a military takeover of the government Thursday, saying the coup was necessary to restore stability and order after six months of political deadlock and turmoil.
AP reports that Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha announced in a statement broadcast on national television that the commission which imposed martial law Tuesday would now take control of the country's administration. We wonder why the army did not announce this two days ago when it imposed martial law over which the government had no say, but at this point all that matters is that news of the coup sends stocks to new all time highs.
"It is necessary for the Peace and Order Maintaining Command — which includes army, navy, armed forces and police — to take control of governing the country," Prayuth said.
The development followed two days of army-mediated meetings between the country's rival political leaders that failed to break the impasse. The meetings were held at an army facility in Bangkok.
Shortly before the announcement was made, armed soldiers in military vehicles surrounded the building, apparently to block those inside from leaving.
Thailand has been gripped by bouts of political instability for more than seven years.
The latest round of unrest started in November, when demonstrators took to the streets to try to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down. They accused her of being a proxy for her popular billionaire brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail sentence on a corruption conviction.
That said, it is not like the locals have never seen this before: the coup was the 12th since the country's absolute monarchy ended in 1932.
As for what to call the government now, just call it the National Peace Keeping Committee:
New name appeared on screen NPKC - National Peace Keeping Committee ??????????????????????? (???) pic.twitter.com/SYGnLjUFjw
— veena T. (@veen_NT) May 22, 2014
And some more color from the ground:
Protest leaders at the meeting have been detained. But as the Thai PM didn’t attend he is in hiding somewhere in #Thailand #ThaiCoup
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) May 22, 2014
5:30pm So far, social media in #Thailand is working & so we can share news on Twitter & Facebook. But not sure for how much longer #ThaiCoup
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) May 22, 2014
5:15pm - RT @alicebudi: @JonahFisher breaking news on Thailand full military coup on @BBCWorld pic.twitter.com/71X0YiF2QD #ThaiCoup #Thailand
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) May 22, 2014
Hashtags for coup in #Thailand are as follows: #ThaiCoup #ThailandCoup & #????????? - Also follow #FreeThailand
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) May 22, 2014
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A coup in Thailand....... will wonders never cease......
Heck, we have been couped big time here, too.
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9mwELXPGbA
Coup Coup c'choo mr. washington....
wicked winds and all, all over...the summer of discontent.....
An Indian summer?
Global heat map?
Tylers?
ori
Just send a reporter over there to make sure they know what they are doing. Bananzi are you available?
It's not a militairy coup untill it is.
America should realize that this is how fast everything can happen. 1 week. From sign to fact.
S&P futures are up... nothing to see here.
And I think the US is being conditioned for this.
Today: NPKC - National Peace Keeping Cmte....
Tomorrow: it'll be the National Deposit Keeping Cmte....
We had only 1 coup and it took place in 1913. As for Thailand, this should scare the crap of all the pedophiles trapped there on their vacations.
Do they have nice uniforms on with a bunch of medals...if they do then its a military coup.....
Would a military coup in the US not be an improvement? Regarding leadership it doesn't seem that things can get much worse.
Have you MET "the military"?
Given the purge going on in the US military, I don't think a coup would bring regime change.
Is the militairy supporting the king or against him?
everybody supports the King, in Thailand. it ain't Belgium
it's not just customs and culture, it's law, too. see Lèse_majesté_in_Thailand
A king is the silliest motherfucking thing in modern society. They should treat sicknesses with leeches and watch that they don't fall off the end of the earth.
Say that in Thailand and you will find yourself in the monkey house for a long, long time... If not worse...
Even if you don't stand up in the movie theatre in Thailand when they play the national anthem before the movie starts this can also result in you spending time in the monkey house
in my experience you should not try your speech in polite conversation with Thai people
the very best outcome would be an answer in the lines of "your comment is based on your assumption that your society, your political system and your views are the best and should be followed up all over the globe"
....because democracy is working out well
The U.S. Democracy is quite honest. The man with the most banker support wins. The people vote for who they are told to vote for by the bankers and the process repeats every 4 years. Simple!
thought we had a Republic
Had being the operative word. What we have is a fascist oligarchy. Yaknow, direct popular democracy.
You are saying it makes sense to follow a man that says he is the leader because "god" said it was so. Just call yourself a dictator and be honest. What a bunch of bullshit!
I said no such thing. perhaps you'll understand it better if I explain it differently. you know the Pope? well, the Thai King is something similar - but squared - for the Thai People
@Ghordius: Trying to explain the obvious to him is a waste of time.
I'm Ok with the Thai people supporting this man, especially if it saves them jail time. But I am blown away by the support of monarchies in general. How in your right mind do you support the concept of a monarchy?
Many monarchies are simply figureheads with little power, eg Queen of England, all decisions are made by the elected sociopaths.
Advice can be requested/given by someone very experienced without thinking about an election, their popularity.
Positives for this is that it saves having even more corrupt politicians and the monarch can spend all their time putting on a show for the tourists or entertaining the visiting sociopaths.
Saves on the cost of elections every four or so years, costs much less than Obama royal family trips....
Big interest when a new member joins the family, more bread anyone?
Sudden Debt didn't support the king and was chucked out a movie cinema for it...true story.
Whenever someone says "true story" I immediately start to think it isn't.
Thai military is generally on the King's side.
This blog has imho good articles about Thailand: http://landdestroyer.blogspot.nl/
There's some BS tripe right out of Moscow.
Please name one government that tells the truth
Sitting here in downtown Bangkok, I don't really see much difference from yesterday or last week.......... I don't think I could say the same if this was the US......
Yeah, we'd already have the FEMA camps open on the outskirts of town to put the "undsirables" into.
in the name of keeping the peace and saving you from those terrorists.
You didn't get the memo.
Out: FEMA camps.
In: Community Re-education and Work Centers for Peace.
...... Breaking on Al Jaz
Rival political parties involved in negotiations meeting have been "detained" just prior to announcement of coup ..... fwiw
in other news dateline Seoul - the Koreas trade artillery shells NK- 2 shells; SK 5 shells ....... all fun and games until someone loses an eye
Hey, what are the attitudes at Bumrungrad right now, nurses etc? Bumrungrad has an updated notice on their news page about it. Also when you click on 'plan your trip" it goes to the news page about what is happening. I very much respect them for that.
http://www.bumrungrad.com/en/plan-your-visit/overview
So far everything seems normal, although at this stage I only see them when they come in for a vitals check every three or so hours but so far I haven't detected any change in thier mood, they still smile sweetly and greet me as normal ....... Sawadee Kaa .... could listen to that all day
UPDATE -
TV stations are getting taken down every few minutes only al jazeera and RT still up all movie channels and international news channels down already . No great loss to me but I'm thinking the internet and cell networks might be on the list too............ that'll suck ..... they even took down the cartoon netwerk geez man gimme somethin' here......
Oh noes! What would fonestar do if the 'net went down?
:)
Stay safe Rak...
My Nurse just came in and chatted for a few minutes, says she cannot go home tonight because of curfew, but she was still quite bubbly in typical Thai fashion, yeah I don't see us being able to show such attitudes in similar circumstance........ few more sirens outside now too, maybe turn out the lights early tonight....
Whats Michelle''s opinion on this? The US is diplomatically paralyzed until she can come up with a hashtag!
#Wanna rub my belly.......
@nm
#take my girls
#gimme dem bois'
#rawwwwggggrr. mggggggg
We will have to wait until her gaggle of stylists get done making up her fur before we are treated to a wookie selfie.
Thank you! Best laugh I've had all week.
Martial law, coming to a country near you.
US local law enforcement is gearing up.......yes we can!
Hell, even the Boy Scouts are getting their own SWAT teams.
I'm a Den Leader in my boys' Cub Scouts pack. Our APC arrived last month and we just had the Scouts logo stenciled on the side. We're gonna help the shit outta people with it soon. I just told them they need to get their First Aid Badge before we start driving it around on the street.
That'll work, go over there and get your swat membership and a guy will have a coulpe M-16"s you can repair before you hit the streets.
Girl Scout cookie sales have really taken off since the cookie campaign has gone house to house Boston style with fully automatic weapons...the department of agriculture has been supervising and confiscating the cookies after the money has changed hands.
Those buying the cookies at gunpoint we're arrested after it was found the packaging was made from endangered wood somewhere in Africa. It's been reported that President Obama is mad as hell about it....right after he viewed it for the first time on the news.
Ugh, the cookie scandal again? Don't you know that is a phony scandal and old news?
Also, please recall it was the republicans who signed the African Packaging Relief Act of 2006 under BUSH
More partisan politics coming from the extreme right...
{S}
Classic
National Peace Keeping Committee, soon to be followed by the Committee For Ethical Repression Of Civilians?
"We wonder why the army did not announce this two days ago when it imposed martial law over which the government had no say, but at this point all that matter is that news of the coup sends stocks to new all time highs."
it would have been impolite to assume the two sides of this political conflict would not have come to their senses in two days. politeness is king, in Siam
stocks, stocks, stocks... actually I can't fathom why stock markets should react to this. Tyler's (Cato the Elder's) ceterum cenceo, I guess
The Army is just a normal part of the political scenery in Thailand. Corruption is endemic, the more things change the more they stay the same. This coup was very predictable.
Hit the nail on the head re: politeness. Appearances and "saving face" area a big deal in Thailand.
maybe it is just a drill? ...
Webster G. Tarpley at 2013 DC 9/11 Truth Conference - 2013-09-14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2rGO9HrMsY
Marc Faber can use his gold to bribe his way out. Or he can give up his gold in order to be let out.
Looks like a good idea, can it happen here in the USA too?
I think the US military would be justified under thier oath to uphold the US constitution against all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC but of course this would ideally mean arresting all members of the shadow goverment, the heads of all federal goverment agencies, Wall Street Banksters, as well as the stooge parties that appear dibold ballot........ sending them all to the FEMA camps ........ how do you like the digs biotches ........... sigh ..... I can dream .....
Yeah,
I somehow doubt that would be the way things would shake out.
Out of 5 platoons, maybe 1 will disobey orders.
Martial law will only be possible in big cities. These days cities are like virtual prisons.
Mongo calls his Colt "national peace keeping committee"
Ps. Fuck hashtags!
Seriously Man...
#fvck ##tags
Feels liek some massive social engineering bullshit.
Would you like some hashed tags with that baked news, sir?
Curfew nationwide from 10 pm to 5 am - not so good for tourism. All TV channels off the air.
Army orders all TV & radio stns (inclu sat, cable) to cease broadcasting ex for Channel 5 (army channel).
All major shopping malls in Bangkok will close at 8pm every night due to the curfew
(all info from multiple tweets).
So does this mean I should continue to buy more NFLX?
very civilized way of conducting a coup d'etat
may we have one of these in USA please?
Not sure if anyone following this, it looks likes the Norks and SK's are at each other. Multiple reports coming in of both navies exchanging gunfire, ongoing at this time.
[link to english.yonhapnews.co.kr]
let's see ... 12 coups in 82 years ... about 1 coup every 7 years. In the meantime the USA has had 44 POSidents in 240 years, or about 1 POSident every 5.5 years., so Thailand is more politically stable than the USA.
<Oh yeah>, we get to elect our dictators ... so they respond to the peons.
</oh yeah>
Hashtags are for idiots.
The coup in the US started on September 11th. It just took a little longer to fully suspend our Constitution and install their caretaker government.
the coup started in '63 IMO
1913 IMO
Gee, couldn't see that coming.
Probably got idea from The Onion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgRz3nSG7o