Talk:Thai PM Thaksin ousted by coup

SVT (Swedish television) news has shown some pictures of military vehicles and troops on Bangkok's streets here (click on the video link in the article). As far as I can see (admittedly I'm not an expert) they show an M113 armoured personnel carrier and several Humvees, but no tanks. Tamino 16:43, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Another video that has now been added to the article shows at least one tank, and soldiers with yellow ribbons tied to their uniforms. Isn't yellow traditionally associated with the monarchy in Thailand? Would that identify the soldiers as involved in the coup or loyal to the government? Tamino 17:02, 19 September 2006 (UTC)


 * You're right yellow is the color of the King. I would assume that those troops are involved with the coup. —Realityking 18:01, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

it's not a so good title
For evolving news, it's better to wait a bit, otherwise we change the title too much.

I have news military men announced throwing away PM : here in french : http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3216,36-814705@51-804284,0.html

Jacques Divol

Agree with first statement. Premature to say PM is definitely ousted. Yes, AP is saying the same: so, AP is premature. JDG 21:21, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Thai army has declared Martial Law
The Thai army have taken over the Thai government. A commander has taken over pledging loyalty to "the king" (I don't know who that is). This just came in from the Associated Press. - 69.230.222.76 18:54, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

liveblogging
some local people start liveblogging here. we might use this for resource as well.
 * Thanks, but depend of the licence. we are very sensible with copyright an neutrality on wikinews.
 * Blog are often not neutral. But if we could have some pictures... Jacques Divol 19:08, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I can't speak about neutrality but all content, including images and videos are under public domain.124.121.98.40 20:20, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Anonymous source
I have heard from someone in Thailand and they confirmed that they had received a warning earlier in the day to take money out of the bank in case there was a problem with finances. They were not told what specifically would happen, but the information came from someone (that they knew personally) in the Police force (i.e., not the Army). This seems to indicate that there may have been a significant number of people who knew "something" was coming in advance. --Dante Alighieri 20:30, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The US government officials knew it was coming before it happened. "The American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said Washington was aware of reports of a coup attempt." http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/19/news/thai.php Zer T 20:38, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

More headline talk
Although his adopted surname is "Shinawatra", it seems pretty clear from the usage in other media, as well as Wikipedia, that "Thaksin" is the proper name to use when not using the full name. I don't know anything about Thai naming standards. --SVTCobra 00:39, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I was thinking about this when listening to BBC News last night. There is a standard used in some publications to clarify this by capitilising the surname / family or equvalent in the given culture. See https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/th.html#Govt it shows the Thai PM as THAKSIN Shinawatra. Wheras https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html#Govt gives the UK PM's name as Anthony (Tony) BLAIR. Maybe this is a standard that wikinews could adopt??

--TrueBrit 09:09, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The standard in Thailand is to use the given name so the current title, Thai PM Thaksin ousted by coup is correct. --Brian McNeil / talk 11:48, 20 September 2006 (UTC)


 * That's why I just renamed it from 'Thai PM Shinawatra ousted by coup'. I wish I knew how to get the main page to reflect that. But it does redirect correctly. --TrueBrit 12:05, 20 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Main page is now showing the changed title. Obviously I was just impatient. --TrueBrit 12:34, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The main page box can be updated at Template:Lead article, there's also a convenient link from the Newsroom. Doldrums 12:42, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

as a white guy maybe i shouldn't say this
I've lived in Thailand for a while and there is a different perspective on this. Can we get someone Thai to comment? In my humble opinion, this is being overblown. Who is nominally in charge in Thailand is less of a big deal then in other countries. I suspect it has a connection with their being the most Buddhist country in the world, but for whatever reason, life in Thailand isn't going to change much because of the coup. TRWBW 12:03, 21 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I've heard from more than one person in Thailand that the coup was actually a GOOD thing. Thaksin was widely viewed as corrupt and the "man on the street" seems convinced that the army is responsive to the King and that there will be new elections "soon". --Dante Alighieri 15:24, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Thaksin has his supporters in the country, but the recent furore over the sale of his controlling interest in Shin Corp. to Temasek Holdings woke up a lot of people. He is/was a populist PM and about the best you can say about his policies is that more of the rural poor have mobile phones.  Still don't know how they're going to pay for tomorrow's food, but they have a mobile.  That, it seems, is enough for some people to support a politician who may be more interested in lining his own pockets that benefitting the country.
 * Thaksin will likely stay in London for the time being, I can't see him risking arrest in Thailand, and I'm pretty sure they could get some corruption charges to stick if they really wanted to. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:31, 22 September 2006 (UTC)