The Economist led into the story about the Thai junta retiring to the barracks With the headline.
GOOD RIDDANCE.
Thai newspapers have been more decorous with their fare-wells.
Accordingly the Thai people said almost nothing about the military clique fading away after the election. Government controls the media. People think what they are told by the TV. Thais read less than one book as year and newspapers are more devoted to ghosts and superstar scandal than affairs of state. They have learned the lessons of GW Bush well. The government controls the media, but the people voted with their hearts.
PPP
The junta was shocked by the result, however they had achieved none of their goals. No corruption charges. Thaksin was as unfindable as Osama Bin Laden and the war in the south remained as war. Worse were they tweaking the economy with protectionist policies destined to impoverish the majority of Thai people.
The Economist criticized the previous government too, but held its venom for the junta.
“The coup makers failed because the interim government of bureaucrats and retired soldiers they appointed did a rotten job. This, and the uncertainty over how the junta would get out of the mess it had created, consigned the country to more than a year of slower growth. As coups almost always do, this one caused more problems than it solved.”
I wish they had included ‘none of the above’ on the voting slips.
Better no one sometimes than the devil you know.
For a related article click on this URL
https://www.mangozeen.com/if-i-had-a-time-machine-thai-pm-says-good-bye
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