Damage Assessment

When the cat's away, the mice will play. And play they did last week in Thailand. In a bloodless coup led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the military ousted Thaksin Shinawatra from power while he was attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. The coup has been effectively endorsed by the country's beloved monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and it's popular with the people of Bangkok, who have long wanted Thaksin out. But it stains Thailand's young democracy, emboldens other authoritarian regimes in Asia, and demoralizes Asians fighting for freedom elsewhere in the region. Thailand's military leadership has removed the man...

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