Thailand's new prime minister said yesterday that he will also become the defense minister in a soon-to-be unveiled Cabinet to deter the military from staging a coup against his government.
The Cabinet, to be announced in the coming days, is expected to be stocked with close advisers, friends and relatives of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a 2006 military coup.
The military, which relinquished power after guiding the country for more than a year, is displeased with the election victory of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who has openly announced that he is Thaksin's proxy.
Samak said he would take the defense minister's job to allay military fears that he or others would interfere with the annual military reshuffle of senior officers. Under a law that came into effect on Saturday, the power to implement the reshuffles is removed from political leaders, including the prime minister and defense minister, and placed in the hands of seven military commissioners.
"When there is no outside interference there is no reason for them to stage a coup," said Samak, who was sworn in on Tuesday last week to become the country's first elected leader since the coup.
In the past, the annual changing of the guard proved an opportunity for political leaders to shore up their positions with military commanders while relegating potential opponents to unimportant positions.
Generals have periodically toppled governments since the country changed from absolute monarchy to a parliamentary system in 1932. The latest occurred on Sept. 19, 2006, when the military deposed Thaksin, who has been charged with corruption and abuse of power.
Thaksin, who was out of the country during the coup and has not returned since, now spends most of his time in London. He says he will return to Thailand this year to face the courts and clear his name.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
Ugandan wildlife authorities have reintroduced rhinos into a remote protected area where they were once poached into extinction, an event seen by conservationists as a milestone in efforts to support the recovery of a species threatened by poaching. On Tuesday, two southern white rhinos from a private ranch in the East African country were reintroduced into Kidepo Valley National Park in the country’s northeast. Two more rhinos in metallic crates arrived on Thursday. There have been no rhinos in the park since 1983, the result of poaching. However, a private ranch in central Uganda — the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary — has been
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
RSS