All Thai-ed up

So, hang on, what wasn't a coup is actually a coup.  The Thai army show their continued bad faith in democratic politics as two days after imposing martial law and brokering talks between the divided sides in Thai politics, overthrow them all and lock up many of them, all the while mouthing platitudes about a near-silent monarchy - Bhumibol Adulyadej is no Juan Carlos of Spain (cf. 1981).
Of course, this is what the protestors wanted but now they find their own leaders under arrest.  In violence that has cost 28 lives and injured over 700, they have sought to bring down a government which has not bent over backwards to satisfy their opponents but has done everything else.  Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of self-exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinwatra, won a fair and free election, dissolved her government mid-term last December to contest a new ballot for legitimacy and won these in February in procedures agin defined as 'free and fair' by international observers.  Her support came mostly from the rural poor and the protestors from the urban middle-classes and elite, the latter seemingly unable to grasp either that they need to run on an inclusive platform to gain power or even the concept of democracy - instead demanding political reforms that favour them and disenfranchise rural poor; the elite's preference for military rule was often mentioned.  One of these protestors, Sasilak Srisonboon, 55, said, "I'm happy. We have won. The army has done a great job for us. This is our victory. We can go home now."  This is a victory?
This contempt for democracy was exemplified when Thailand's constitutional court ousted Yingluck on a technicality earlier this month - not because she had moved an official but because she had moved that official 'too quickly'.  Well, this court has now become redundant as the new army regime has suspended the constitution, except the articles pertaining to the monarchy.
Thailand's 12th military coup since 1932 when absolute monarchy ended threatens to be disastrous as the country relies heavily on tourist receipts but incalculable damage is being done to the reputation as outside visitors are confined to hotels under the nationwide curfew. Unlike in Egypt, the USA and UK have denounced from the outset this arrogation of power from the barracks - well Thailand's General Prayuth Chan-Ocha did say he didn't want Thailand to be like Egypt (or Ukraine); they've found a few troubled countries in the news that aren't doing so well, like all crackdowns in unsavoury places were referenced as 'anti-terrorist' after 9/11.
Former acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan is still unaccounted for by the army - his hard-to-pronounce-quickly name will keep foreign correspondents tongue-tied.  Stepping in after Yingluck accepted the biased Constitutional Court's judgement (in a futile effort to preserve the government), he was seen as another puppet of Thaksin and therefore unacceptable to the sore-loser protestors, but frankly the same could be said of the whole cabinet.  The main trouble wasn't with the government, it was that too many influential Thai people do not believe in democracy (from a standpoint of selfish ignorance) and that will always give the army an opening to enter the fray and dabble in politics.