NEWS BRIEF: Thailand's coup

Earlier, Victor and I were chatting briefly about the "coup" currently underway in Thailand. During our conversation, I mentioned that I thought that Thailand, due to its prosperity and tourism, had ventured to this side of the bloodless coup line and that everything would probably be fine. Then reports started coming in:

From Chris, the Terenzone's reporter embedded deep behind enemy (enemy?) lines: "I'm fine, no worries. Tanks are over in the part of town with the Grand Palace. And we know Chris doesn't venture in that direction anyway. 'Cause it's such a long taxi ride. I wonder how the tanks managed to avoid traffic?"

Although it immediately mentioned that there had been no violence reported, this article from CNN almost made me a bit nervous until the very end:

Some Thais gathered outside Government House in Bangkok to get pictures of themselves with the tanks and troops, AP reported.

The coup caused little stir in Bangkok's popular tourist districts, where foreigners packed beer bars and cabarets just a few miles from where the tanks were posted, AP reported.

Ah, yes. Sort of reminds me of our own presidential crisis a few years back (well, plus tanks).

Prosperity (or relative prosperity) is a hell of a thing. Imagine what the Middle East would be like if 1% of the population didn't control 99% of the money (exact numbers will vary).