Nation & World
In Thailand, Tanks Roll; World Snores
Aside from the inherent drama of seeing Army tanks on normally traffic-snarled Bangkok streets, the bloodless military coup in Thailand last week seemed less than momentous. The nation's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej gave it his approving nod, Washington hardly broke a sweat for this setback for democracy, and the Asian stock markets pretty much shrugged it off.
If there is such a thing as a benign military coup, this may just be it-assuming the military installs a credible interim leadership and delivers on its promise of free elections by next October. The big loser: ousted billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who got the news while at the United Nations.
Though he won three elections, Thaksin is a divisive figure. He drew rural support with populist policies, but he alienated middle-class Thais, intellectuals, and pro-democracy activists who protested his abuse of power, alleged cronyism, and suspect business deals. Also, he seemed unable to deal with the insurgency in Muslim-dominated southern Thailand. The leader of the coup is highly regarded Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, 59, the first Muslim to be Army chief in the majority Buddhist nation.
A Troop Drawdown in Iraq? Never Mind
As recently as June, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, was making plans to start drawing down American troops-127,000 at that time-beginning in September. The initial numbers would be small but symbolically potent just ahead of U.S. elections. Last week, Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said what had become obvious: The current troop level, now over 140,000, will have to be maintained-and perhaps even increased-through at least mid-2007. One result: Personnel pressures may lead to more-frequent call-ups of National Guard and Reserve troops. There may be consideration, too, of expanding the size of the active-duty Army.
In Israel, a Hearty Pox on Everyone
The Hezbollah rockets stopped falling weeks ago, but the fallout from Israel's second Lebanon war is far from over. A survey last week by the Yedioth hronoth newspaper and the Dahaf Institute found that only 7 percent of Israelis think Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, head of the centrist Kadima party, is the right man to lead the nation. Worse, Defense Minister (and Labor Party chief) Amir Peretz polled just 1 percent-about as thorough a repudiation of his management of the war as could be imagined.
Israelis, it seems, are disgusted by just about all of the current political leadership. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud Party, won the most support -but topped out at just 27 percent. He was followed by right-winger Israel Our Home chairman Avigdor Lieberman (15 percent), Foreign Minister and former Likudnik Tzipi Livni (14 percent), and Vice Premier and former Labor Party stalwart Shimon Peres (12 percent). Unbowed, Olmert told the newspaper: "I cannot see one person more experienced in managing [an] operation as big as [this] war."
For One Traveler, a Torturous Detour
A government commission in Canada cleared Canadian computer technician Maher Arar of any ties to terrorism and blasted actions by Canadian and American officials that resulted in his "extraordinary rendition" from the United States to Syria, where he was tortured in an effort to extract information about al Qaeda. The report is a chilling account of how wrong information can have devastating consequences behind the veil of government secrecy. Syrian-born Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities at New York's Kennedy Airport as he changed planes on his way home to Montreal from vacation in Tunisia, held for questioning for nearly two weeks, and denied his plea to be sent to Canada. Instead, U.S. officials had him flown to Jordan and driven to Syria, where he was jailed in a tiny cell for nearly a year, beaten, and forced to sign false confessions.
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