Word: junta
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...hurt emerging markets from Russia to Vietnam. Nearly a decade later, Thailand last month risked triggering a similar meltdown when the country's central bank imposed capital controls in an attempt to curb a big appreciation of the national currency, the baht. Coming just three months after a military junta seized power, the move spooked foreign investors and sent Thai stocks plunging nearly 15% in a day before the government partially reversed itself. Yet there was no regional domino effect. Some Asian markets dipped in reaction to the Thai scare, but they quickly rebounded. What has changed? Among other factors...
...military junta that rules Thailand these days might do well to remember the ways of the nation's diplomatically skilled forebears. Just as before, Thailand's economy is dependent on negotiating global forces-the country is the world's No. 1 exporter of rice and relies on tourism and foreign direct investment to power its growth. Yet in recent weeks, the Cabinet appointed by the ruling generals, who in September overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has unveiled economic measures that have left foreign investors distinctly uncharmed. In December, to combat an appreciating currency that was irking Thai...
...coup Cabinet who believe Thailand is too dependent on foreign investment," says Supavud Saicheua, head of research at Phatra Securities in Bangkok. "They believe it's their duty to fix things before global economic trends negatively affect Thailand." In a country where the King is widely revered, the junta's Cabinet has shrewdly tied its closing-door strategy to an existing royal mandate. After the regional financial meltdown a decade ago, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej urged his subjects to forgo the turbo-charged drive of capitalism for a Buddhist-inspired "sufficiency economy" that embraced moderation. Sounds harmless enough...
...historical treatise The River of Lost Footsteps, Thant contends that foreign boycotts against Burma have only intensified the ruling junta's xenophobia and plunged the nation deeper into solitary confinement. His country is not, Thant suggests, an oppressed state waiting to be released, like Cuba or North Korea, so much as a war-wrecked society (like Cambodia or Afghanistan), lacking even the basic facilities and recent history to set up a real democracy. The reasons for that, he tells us, are best understood by examining what he calls, in his subtitle, the "Histories of Burma...
...However, managing public anger can be a perilous task. So far, Thailand's ruling junta has enjoyed remarkable domestic support, particularly among the urban ?lite who normally might have been counted upon to support a democratic transition over a military coup. Nevertheless, cracks are appearing in the generals' popularity. Though coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin is a member of Thailand's Muslim minority, insurgent attacks in the south have increased since his administration took office. Sonthi has also been criticized for meddling in the drafting of Thailand's new constitution. And even though the junta put technocrats in charge...