Coup and Political Double Standards..:

Would it be a surprise for anyone to know that America has a policy (along with many of it's allies such as UK) that it will not support and will infact oppose any coup and a government/administration that comes into power through such means..? Of course they have such a policy. But do they abide by it? Well... that's a whole different ball game.

In 1999, the Pakistani Army under the leadership of General Pervez Musharraf celebrated my birthday by seizing control of power in Pakistan. Yes.. another coup in Pakistan. Although there was some opposing comments made about it in the west, little was said about restoring power to the democratically elected Primi Minister Nawaz Sharif. An immideate reaction was freezing of some loans to Pakistan and such other santions by different countries and organisations. But no further actions were taken.. and countries actually started going back to their nomal relationship with Pakistan as General Musharraf went about breaking his promises of restoring democracy etc. It has now been almost 7 years.. and Mr. Musharraf is by not means likely to restore power to the people of Pakistan or obeying the constitution. In these 7 years, instead of opposing the Military rule and dictatorship of Musharraf, the west (countires such as America and UK) have become close allies of Mr. Musharraf... now beat that.. Musharraf says..!

Now the list will go on, but let's jump straight to 2006 and look at a very recent example. The coup in Thailand. This year, it was a few days before my b'day that the Thai military decided that it was going to oust the democratically elected Primi Minister who was touring another country. Once again, there has been some opposing voices in the west, but nobody has said a word about reinstating power to the elected Prime Minister. The buzz words around are, "the world is watching with concern". You wait 'n see.. the world will still be watching in a few years time and little would've changed.

These examples along with unforgettable example of Saddam Hussain goes to show the double standards in the world's approach to these coups. It's interesting to see how some coups can be better than others.. since some attract more criticism than others. It's also interesting how someone like Saddam is allowed to rule over Iraq for so many decades and torture his people.. and also get so much support from the US for so long.. and just when it suited the US and it's allies, Saddam became the worst man in the world and had to be taken out of power through the means of a bloody war..!

O well, let's sit back and watch with concern what happens next in Thailand. Don't be surprised if you see the stories of Pakistan and/or Iraq repeating themselves in Thailand.