Are you happy Thaksin is gone?

[opebo]

He was going to be gone by the end of the year anyway with the next election since he had already announced that he was resigning.  This makes the coup unnecessary based on their defense of their action.

He wasn't going to resign, MODU.  That was just a ploy to buy time.  He would have won the next election and stayed in power.

Of course I'm happy to see him go because he was anti-prostitution.  I couldn't care less what he did about the country's GNP, etc.  I actually prefer a poorer host country.
 
Thaksin had the bars closing at 1:00 AM, and regular department stores, etc. at 10:00PM!  His party had even proposed a 25 year old drinking age!

Thai Rak THai was quite monstrous from the point of view of any freedom lover - obviously this would not include MODU the fascist.

[opebo]

Yes, you prefer the host country to be poor so you can continue to be allowed to rape young girls and little boys. I bet you're proud of yourself.

Rape?!  If a 20 or 25 year old woman wants to spend some time with a man in return for payment, you call it rape?  What are you, some kind of Marxist?

[opebo]

How many child prostitutes do you pick up?

Such things do not exist, prude.

Seriously I have never seen any youthful prostitutes in Thailand, States.  I believe in very rare cases girls of 16 or 17 who look older can get a fake ID and work as an 18 year old, but this is extremely uncommon.  In reality most working girls here are a bit long in the tooth - with 30 being just as common as 20, and 35 being, alas, far more common than 18.  Presumably the cute young ones are saved for the wealthy Thais or the big-spending Japanese/Korean/Chinese visitors.

[opebo]

His party had even proposed a 25 year old drinking age!

That alone is justification for this coup.

I could not agree more!  The very idea was completely bizarre and senseless, like so much from Thai Rak Thai (aka the Thai Republican Party).

[opebo]

Update - all is settled here now - the only inconvenience for foreigners was (and perhaps still is) the closing of the Burmese border.  Hundreds of visa runners stuck there I heard.  I'm not sure if it has reopened yet, but if not I'm sure just a few more days.  Shows the generals don't trust the age-old enemy the Burmese.