What are Thai customs regarding sucession? Could the King designate the princess as his heir? Or would that be politically impossible?
Well, if government corruption is as accepted and pervasive as various posters have claimed, they may not see much difference between an election and a coup, as long as the coup is low on violence. After all, there isn’t much difference in terms of democratic legitimacy between getting into power because you have more money and/or better connections, and getting into power because you have more guns.
Why doesn’t he enjoy the same level of respect/ Is he too young? Is he a playboy? Does he abuse his position?
I don’t think he’s too young. He looks to be in his 40s to me. He used to abuse his position and had quite a reputation as a playboy. I believe there was some kind of scandal about him installing a hairdresser or dental hygienist in the palace as his mistris. As I mentioned, he seems to have cut back on this over the last few years.
Testy
My understanding is that since Thailand is a Constitutional Monarchy, the Constitution needs to be amended/rewritten to allow a (ruling) Queen. This has not happened yet. But the current version of the Constitution was thrown out/suspended by the coup leaders, so perhaps they’ll rewrite to allow Princess Sirindhorn to rule.
Damn. I wish I looked as good as he does. 
Testy
Well bloody hell, Thaksin’s just arrived in London and may seek asylum.
I suppose Pinochet’s mansion is still warm…
(Disclaimer: I am in not actually comparing Pinochet’s politics to Thaksin’s.)
Here’s a link to a section on a Bangkok oriented site that talks about the events of the past couple of days, with lots of non-professional photos and running commentary.
A couple of interesting pieces from a USA Today article:
On General Sonthi and the problems in the south:
And Thaksin’s current spin as he begins exile in London:
An interesting thing. I was talking to a Pakistani man today about the coup and we got into how the average Thai wasn’t very upset about the matter. He said it was much the same in Pakistan during the various coups they have had there. He told me, “The military leaders are just as corrupt as the politicians but at least they mind their own business. The politicians aren’t satisfied with just stealing, they try to take everything. People trust the military more.”
I think Thailand is a lot like this.
Testy
The press spin of this being a coup which succeeded without a shot being fired was countered effectively on network news last night. While the reporter told us that not a shot was fired, video revealed APC machine guns and even tanks blasting away.
Interesting. I haven’t heard a word about this or even talked to anyone who has seen any damaged buildings, vehicles or people. Where was all the shooting going on?
Testy
No idea. It was network news. God forbid they should actually inform us of what’s going on.
Did they actually say the shooting had something to do with the coup? My wife watches Thai news in the evening and it occasionally starts out by showing the Thai military blasting away at something. I think it’s just exercises though.
I believe it was I love me on the previous page that is actually in Bangkok at the moment and if he hadn’t heard it some other way he wouldn’t have known there was a coup taking place.
Testy
Nope. They were busy telling ‘not a shot was fired’. The machine gun truck and tank were on the street, rather than at some obviously military location. The background at least looked Thai, palm trees and such, but as you say, it could have been archival footage. Why they’d put that in a story that emphasized the absence of violence though is a bit of a mystery.
The Thais do a lot of things that just baffle me. Nice place though.
Testy
I’ve been lurking on expatriate Thai messageboards for a couple of days, and nobody has mentioned shooting.
My wife has been chatting with her vast extended family for the last couple of days and hasn’t heard anything either. It makes what Squink saw sound very odd but then the Thais tend to do things their own way.
Testy
Maybe they just used Thai-sticks?
::::runs:::