I caught the Generalissimo''s weekly chat again last Friday. He kept asking people not to be critical or protest, and informing his audience that problems were going to take a long time to solve. He appeared to have little positive to say. So has reality kicked in, and are the military beginning to realize that running a country entails more than issuing directives, and forming committees? Considering the clusterfuck that their last attempt at reforming the constitution resulted in, do you really think they'll do any better this time?

My initial reaction since I hadn't really experienced a military coup other than the recent very short one was to reserve judgement and decide based on actions. I was optimistic. Now I'm getting a sinking feeling of Groundhog Day government. I just looked at the composition of the cabinet and as you would expect it contains a dozen retired or acting military and police officers. Several key positions being held by classmates of the General through the ranks - sound familiar ? In addition there are a dozen former ministers. Now I don't know their individual CV's so won't automatically assume they are corrupt, however I thought part of the idea was to break the connection from past governments that brought Thailand to where it is.

I see this as a bad start and not much better than the crony nepotism that has dogged the old established order. Forgive my cynicism but the article in the Post today detailing the record spending budget to improve Govt House for the General and his buddies made interesting reading. I hope I'm wrong, they've promised a year before elections let's see.

^ The current honeymoon period will die off eventually. The crackdown on freedoms of speech and assembly against the anti-junta MAJORITY in Thailand will breed the next wave of protests. Then does the junta crack skulls or back down? And it's obviously a majority since the red shirts easily win all the elections. Screw what the hapless farangs think or write on Thaivisa. This will not end well.

It should be common knowledge by now, at least around these here parts, that the true purpose of this year’s coup is quite different from that of the previous one (2006) and that the military's hold on power will be ongoing indefinitely for the sake of stability in preparation for upcoming events of great magnitude.

So, no, current events don’t augur very well at all for the Kingdom of Thailand, especially in regard to the economy.

Many expats have already pulled up stakes and left for new frontiers. Others are planning to “hunker down” and seem to be just hanging around waiting to witness what could very well prove to be a major train wreck.

phuketrichard wrote: Thailand will be like Syria.

Looking at recent history I would say Thailand more closely resembles Pakistan:- inept civilian governments being replaced by an equally inept military on a regular basis.
El Duce did say on his broadcast that in forming his cabinet he would be relying on family and friends, so no surprise there. He may struggle with the concept of democracy but nepotism is second nature.

Looking at recent history I would say Thailand more closely resembles Pakistan

Except that Pakistan is not a monarchy.

Methinks it won't be for much longer.