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

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Clean Money - John Rubino: Book review

Clean Money by John Rubino 274 pages. Hoboken, New Jersey John Wiley & Sons. 2009. 1st Edition. The bouyant stock market environment of the past several years is gone, and the financial wreckage of 2008 is still sharp in our minds as a new year starts to unfold. Given the recent across-the-board-declines in global stock markets (and most asset classes) that have left many investors shell-shocked, you might wonder if there is any good reason to consider the merits of a hot new investment theme, such as clean energy. However, we shouldn't be too hasty to write off all future stock investments. After all, the market declines of 2008 may continue into 2009, but they may also leave interesting investment opportunities in their wake. Which brings us to the subject of this review. John Rubino, author and editor of GreenStockInvesting.com , recently released a new book on renewable energy and clean-tech investing entitled, Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green Tech Boom . In Clean ...

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...