Here is the AP story.
Here is the data from CIA on Thailand’s political system.
Executive branch:
chief of state: King PHUMIPHON Adunyadet (since 9 June 1946)
head of government: Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat (since 9 February 2001) and Deputy Prime Ministers CHITCHAI Wannasathit (since 11 March 2005), SOMKHIT Chatusiphithak (since 11 March 2005), SUCHAI Charoenrattanakhun (since 31 October 2005), SURAKIAT Sathianthai (since 11 March 2005), SURIYA Chungrungruankit (since 2 August 2005), SUWAT Liptapanlop (since 2 August 2005)
note: Prime Minister THAKSIN stepped aside on 5 April 2006; CHITCHAI Wannasahit became acting prime minister; THAKSIN resumed duties on 23 May 2006 as caretaker prime minister
cabinet: Council of Ministers
note: there is also a Privy Council
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister is designated from among the members of the House of Representatives; following national elections for the House of Representatives, the leader of the party that can organize a majority coalition usually is appointed prime minister by the kingLegislative branch:
bicameral National Assembly or Rathasapha consists of the Senate or Wuthisapha (200 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon (500 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate – last held 19 April 2006 (next to be held in April 2012); House of Representatives – last held 6 February 2005 (next to be held on 15 October 2006)
note: snap election for House was held on 2 April 2006; election was invalidated by Constitution Court
election results: Senate – percent of vote by party – NA; seats by party – NA; House of Representatives – (2005 election) percent of vote by party – NA; seats by party – TRT 376, DP 97, TNP 25, PP 2
Anyone with any more information on what is going on in Thailand, please let us know. BT member Observer393 lives in Thailand.
Here’s BBC’s coverage.
go to the BBC World Service home page and look for the link that says “Listen to World Service Radio” (under the big red link that says “Listen Live”).
I wonder if anyone geographically closer might have more information — maybe India’s AIR, or Radio Australia or NHK. I’ll check around and let you know if I find anything.
sorry to jump in here off topic but seeing there is no open thread was not sure where else this may get noticed.
Anyone else experiencing extremely slow loading here? All other sites I go to are fine, normal. The past two days Booman seems to be running so slow and takes forever to load both at office and home.
anyone else having this problem? I’m not, but I have had a few complaints.
Nope. We’re good here in CO.
Yes, very sloooooow loading times.
No, I’m loading fine too. This is just a Bill Frist long-distance diagnosis and should be considered just as reliable, but there might be some other item on the site (like the site meter or the RSS stuff) that’s loading slow for you and slowing up the whole site.
it’s hanging on the adds or something…?…for me. Once the page comes up if I stop loading I get all the important stuff.
Yes — just in the past day.
NPR’s “The World” just had a short news segment on the coup in Thailand. According to them, it is a military coup to remove the Prime Minister. The PM has apparently been at the center of some kind of national disturbances, but has refused to resign.
The news story goes on to say that the military felt the dangers to the nation caused by the PM’s refusal to resign could be dealt with by a military coup before the problem got worse.
Apparently a representative of Thailand will give a speech to the U.N. today or tomorrow.
This was on the website of KERA radio the NPR station in Fort Worth – Dallas.
Thai PM calls state of emergency. Reuters via NPR website. This is a short article essentially describing the Prime Minister’s actions to try to head off the coup.
The much more thorough report is here – Thai army seizes Bangkok, PM ousted in coup.-
Apparently the army is unhappy with the control of the government by corrupt corporations, but the PM continues to be reelected by rural voters. There are allegations that most recent snap election was rigged and stolen. [Funny – sounds a lot like the Bush administration kept in place by the Social Republicans while the corruption and poor government takes the U.S. down the tubes.]
The army has had enough, taken control of the government, suspended the Constitution and declared martial law. They promise a quick return to Constitutional government.
Foreign news channels, including CNN and the BBC, were cut off.
This dude blogged the event in real time. Interesting link.
Fascinating reading. The writer included a link to pages of photographs, here. CNN & other foreign news services have been ousted. Cable news is cut off so there is no news source for those who consider only that on cable to be reliable.
Lieutenant General Sonthi Boonyaratglin if he’d consider doing the same over here.
Frankly I guess I don’t see why all the fuss, I mean in the US not Thailand.
I guess it’s because it’s an American ally? Who knows.
Pax