In Thailand, the King is respected -- nay, worshipped and revered. You can't walk anywhere in public without seeing his photo around, either in shop-fronts or in public squares. A few Thai people I have had a chance to speak to all day today say that Thaksin is popular with the people in the villages (for whom he has apparently done a lot in terms of building infrastructue, doing economic development, etc), but lost support in the cities, notably in Bangkok. Meantime, Thai military says that it's only in power for about two weeks. They are going to name a provisional PM and hand over power to him. It'll be interesting to see what develops in days ahead. oohi ashu haal: somewhere in thailand