Thailand: Man of the People

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December 10, 2007: Polls indicate that supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will win this months national elections. The military will be in trouble if that happens. It was the generals, the king and the urban upper classes that carried out the coup. Since then, the army has gotten huge increases in its budget. Thaksin had refused to spend that kind of money on the military, and those spending plans were now in danger again. Thaksin Shinawatra was a wealthy, successful businessman, and a populist politician. He stepped on toes, and got a coup for his trouble. But his followers, the majority of the population, are still there, and the anti-Thaksin crowd face defeat, and retribution. Anymore attempts to deny the majority could lead to civil war, or at least greater civil unrest.

December 5, 2007: In the south, Islamic terrorists bombed a restaurant, killing six and wounding over twenty. Police continue to find and arrest Islamic terrorists, while attacks on Moslems, by terrorists, increase.