“Protests and coup rumours return. Thailand’s squabbling elites seem intent on ruining the country”, an article from The Economist.
I like very much the end.
After the 2006 coup the army and its allies in the bureaucracy ran the country dismally, and Thailand’s economy is now among the region’s slowest-growing. Even so, both sides in the conflict are talking up the chances of another coup—which would be the country’s 19th since the absolute monarchy came to an end in 1932.
Even if it does not go that far, prolonged political strife risks doing further economic damage. Instead of regaining its reputation as an admired, fast-developing tiger, Thailand risks becoming one of those perennially unstable, tragi-comic countries, such as the Philippines, which the outside world overlooks.
The “Philippinization” of the country has always been my worse case scenario.
We can’t deny that in 30 years, there has been a huge shift : in the 80’s Thailand was… almost alone in SEA… A brillant princess in the middle of a sleeping land surrounded by communists and weird countries…
Now, this decor is gone. The play has ended. Today, Thailand is just another developping countries in Asia, among many others…
Just after the vietnam war, Thailand had all the cards in its hand.
What have they done ?
Now, their insane political regime, their arrogance, their pathetic powerplays don’t fool anyone, anymore…
While they continue to live somewhere in the past, arguing each others… they didn’t notice that the countries around them have changed… The world has changed.





