Skip to main content

Thai junta orders Thaksin to return

Here it comes, though we've not yet come full circle on this unfolding political drama.

Thailand's ex-prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been ordered to return to Thailand by the military government that threw him out of power. Thaksin must return by the end of the month or face charges of concealing financial assets.

Here's more from the New York Times:

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, was very skeptical that Mr. Thaksin would return and said that the true aim of the junta was probably to discredit Mr. Thaksin in the eyes of his supporters.

“This will be used as a tool to convince Thaksin’s foot soldiers that, ‘Look, he is a bad guy,’” Mr. Thitinan said.

Over the past three weeks the junta has sought to dismantle Mr. Thaksin’s political empire and loosen the former tycoon’s control over his wealth. His party was dissolved, and he and more than 100 allies were banned from politics for five years. More than $1.6 billion that Mr. Thaksin and his family hold in Thai bank accounts was frozen.

Mr. Thaksin’s allies have promised to stage weekly protests against the junta and are seeking to form another political party.

It certainly seems there is a drive to discredit Thaksin (at the very least), as Thaksin's supporters gather to call for the resignation of the ruling coup leaders and for elections "to be held immediately".

Thaksin seems to have maintained his base of support among the country's rural poor, and the possibility of his eventual return to power has always remained open. It's too soon to imagine something like this happening now though, as he would seem to be in great danger upon returning, despite recent assurances that he will not be detained.


More on Thailand's economic and political outlook from Asia Sentinel and Bloomberg. See also, our past discussions of Thailand's economic and social future.

Popular posts from this blog

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety .  My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes .    Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes     2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.

Moneyball: How the Red Sox Win Championships

Welcome, readers . T o get the first look at brand new posts (like the following piece) and to receive our exclusive email list updates, please subscribe to the Finance Trends Newsletter .   The Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series title of t he 21st century this we ek. Having won their first Se ries in 86 years back in 200 4, the last decade-plus has marked a very strong return to form for one of baseball's oldest big league clubs. So how did they do it? Quick background: in late 2002, team own er and hedge fund manager, John W. Henry (with his partners ) bought the Boston Red Sox and its historic Fenway Park for a reported sum of $ 695 million. Henry and Co. quickly set out to find their ideal General Manager (GM) to help turn around their newly acquired, ailing ship. This brings us to one of my fav orite scenes from the 2011 film , Moneyball , in which John W. Henry (played by Ar liss Howard) attempts to woo Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Brad Pi

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult.  "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force."    He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.