Thai Fire

Bangkok is burning:

Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced a state of emergency Sunday in Bangkok and surrounding areas after protests that forced the cancellation of a regional summit.

"The government has tried all along to avoid violence but the protest has developed and they have used actions incompatible with the constitution," he said in a televised speech.

The clampdown comes as police arrested the leader of anti-government protesters who wrecked the ASEAN meeting which prompted a threat of further action by supporters if he is not released.

Police said Arisman Pongreungrong was detained at his home in the capital following his return to Bangkok.

"The police went to arrest Arisman Pongreungrong at his house on the charge of inciting protesters to kidnap the prime minister and cause unrest in the country," a police spokesman said.

The Army has fired tear gas and live rounds of ammo into the crowds.

Thailand seems to start a revolution every few months. The protesters this time around support the former Prime Minister, who was tossed out in a coup during the LAST set of protests. Really awful.

...Matt Yglesias summarizes the situation here. The former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was a deposed populist now trying to lead a popular movement back into power. This is the culmination of at least three other popular movements, and speaks to the ineffability of democracy in a country which has a coup attempt every hour on the hour.

World Report

Happy that I appear to have dodged the Blogger problems going around the Internets today, why don't I throw down with a world report?

• Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe's wickedness is finally starting to catch up with him. He is in serious trouble because of both a crippling cholera epidemic and a threatened revolt of the internal security forces. Mugabe has run the country into the ground, and sooner or later the runaway inflation and searing poverty was going to impact how Zimbabweans viewed their country. You can only push people so far, even ones who are frightened.

In a clear sign that President Mugabe's hold on his state security machinery is starting to crumble, his once-loyal soldiers ran amok across the capital on Monday after they failed to access their paltry wages in the cash-strapped banks. The unarmed soldiers fought with heavily-armed police and several were arrested.

It was the third outbreak of such violence since last Thursday. The sight of rampaging soldiers was then unprecedented. Army sources said an inquiry had already begun, with dozens facing courts martial. Unconfirmed reports say three of the 12 soldiers who took part in Thursday's riot have been killed.

This is a time when Morgan Tsvangirai should live up to the name of his political party and lead a movement for democratic change.

• Thailand: Everyone was wondering what the Thai king would say in reaction to mass protests and the removal of the country's leading political party by the judiciary. Turns out he called in sick. And the caretaker government has cancelled a Parliamentary session to select a new Prime Minister. That would be what you'd call "paralysis."

• Israel: This is a hopeful sign that Israelis are finally starting to deal with the irrational right-wing element in their midst:

Israeli soldiers and police stormed a disputed building in the biblical city of Hebron on Thursday, dragging out 250 young settlers in a raid meant to send a warning to Jewish extremists fighting to keep what they see as God-promised land.

But activists responded with a wave of attacks on Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank, even as Israeli politicians and some settler leaders denounced them.

The attacks are troubling, but the united front from the government and law enforcement is great. Sooner or later, Israel is going to have to give Palestinians their own state to live without fear in exchange for peace. It's the only solution, and ridding these extremists is a big step forward.

• Iraq: The Iraqi Presidency Council has now approved the security pact calling for withdrawal within three years, which means that there's nobody else in the Iraqi government that needs to approve it. Conservatives can scream all they want that this means they "won the war," which in the face of continued bombings and deaths is laughable (400 civilians still die every month in Iraq, at a minimum), but the need to reconcile and work together toward stability without the crutch of a US presence is going to have to be the long-term goal now. At this point, we owe it to the Iraqi people to leave.

• Canada: Everybody get to know the word "prorogue." That's what Stephen Harper did today in a desperate attempt to save his Prime Ministerial position.

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has granted a request from Stephen Harper to suspend Parliament until late next month, a move that avoids a confidence vote set for Monday that could have toppled his minority government.

"Following my advice, the Governor General has agreed to prorogue Parliament," Harper said outside Rideau Hall after a 2½-hour meeting with Jean.

Harper would not reveal the content of the discussion, citing constitutional traditions, but he said the first order of business when Parliament resumes on Jan. 26 will be the presentation of the federal budget, to be delivered the following day.

"The economy is the priority now, and the public is very frustrated with the situation in Parliament. We're all responsible for that," Harper said in French.

Monday's no-confidence vote could have precipitated the rise of a proposed Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the Bloc Québécois, or could have resulted in another election, depending on the Governor General's response.

So there's no government in Canada until January, buying Harper time to wage a PR campaign to keep his job. There isn't much of a precedent for this since the 1600s. Jeffrey Feldman has a pretty good explainer. The upside for the center-left coalition is that Harper's spending cuts, anti-union measures and elimination of public financing will be shelved along with the government.

A Tale Of Two Coups

It was quite a turnaround to see the liberal government coming to power in America with the conservative government in power in Canada, but apparently, Stephen Harper massively overreached and is about to be shown the door.

With the announcement of a formal alliance among opposition parties, Canada moved closer Monday to removing its Conservative government without holding an election.

If the pact — signed by the Liberal and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois — is successful at dislodging the Conservatives, it will be the first time since 1926 that the federal government has changed hands without a vote.

Coalition governments are rare in Canada, and the opposition plan still faces constitutional and political uncertainties.

Adding to the political turmoil is speculation about how Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose government is outnumbered by the opposition in Parliament, will respond. Over the weekend, the Conservatives tried to stifle the movement against them by withdrawing some economic proposals, including an end to public financing of political parties, that angered the opposition parties and prompted the negotiations that led to their alliance.

There is speculation that Mr. Harper, having failed to fend off the opposition through concessions, may end the current session of Parliament to at least postpone his government’s removal.

Harper was basically trying to cut off the lifeblood of the smaller parties, and they instantly revolted. It's amusing to see him backtracking now, but I'd be surprised if it worked. The center-left parties should have been forming coalition governments for years, where the electoral majority is reflected in the governing majority. Without proportional representation, of course coalition governments best reflect the will of the people in a Parliamentary system. I think the Liberals, who are centrist (hey, it's Canada) had this mental block against joining with the DFHs in the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats, but that's over now. They have an extremely similar platform, anyway.

The latest revolution in Thailand is not nearly so tidy.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered Thailand’s governing party to be disbanded and barred the prime minister and many of his senior ministers from politics for five years.

The court ruling, which came amid protests that have paralyzed the government and blockaded Bangkok’s two airports, dissolves the People Power Party of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

Thousands of protesters at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the country’s main tourist gateway, roared when one of their leaders announced the news of the court’s decision from a makeshift stage outside the airport’s departure hall.

The protesters claim that they will now leave the airports (by the way, I've been to that airport in Bangkok, and it's not really worth the sit-in), but if recent Thai history is any guide, the replacement government will be installed by the crown and the military. I expect they won't tolerate all this civil disobedience, and it could get much worse than the bomb blast that has already killed one protester.

This Actually Happened

The Thai Prime Minister was forced to resign because he violated the Constitution for...

...starting a war based on lies? No.

...violating international conventions against torture? Uh-uh.

...indefinite detentions, suspension of habeas corpus, illegal wiretapping, misusing intelligence, outing a covert operative, untold instances of corruption....

No, no, no, no, no, no.

He took money to appear on a cooking show.

And they forced him to resign for that.

And yet we're the shining beacon of democracy in the world, where no man is above the law.