General Boonlert and the coup push

The political fallout from retired General and loudmouth Boonlert Kaewprasit’s weekend rally in the name of Pitak Siam continues.

Boonlert has “confirmed” that there will be another Pitak Siam rally – was there ever really any doubt? The manic military man is now reported in the Bangkok Post as saying that his “rally aimed at bringing down the government by the end of November and up to one million people could be involved…”.

He’s lost his marbles because the yellow, military, and palace old men can’t muster that many. But then the red shirts also sprouted that number a couple of times, and they were well organized and had huge support, but couldn’t do it.

While Boonlert “declined to comment on whether he would lead the protesters in a march to lay siege to Government House,” it is widely known that this is exactly what he wants:

If the people turn out in large numbers, we will go right to see the government and apply pressure on it. I want to know whether soldiers or police would dare to shoot the people, whether the red-shirts will come out, whether Thais will kill each other because of [fugitive former prime minister] Thaksin Shinawatra….

He adds that if “anti-government protesters turn out en masse and march from the Royal Turf Club, they would be well protected.”

The old soldier again declared that “a coup is the only way to topple the government,” adding:

If a coup did take place, an interim government would be set up. If this was not acceptable to other countries, we could close the country. I don’t know for how many years, but the closure should remain until all the bad politicians have been driven away. I have never seen a good politician. Soldiers are needed to take care of the country….

You get the picture of how detached from reality some of the people in the conservative and royalist elite are. And remember that this deranged dodo is the one chosen to lead the coming street war (at least for the moment). In case anyone had forgotten that Boonlert is a coup addict, he states:

If I had military power in hand, I would have staged a coup. I am now waiting to see how Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief, will react to my call. I am still confident he has not changed his stand or sided with the government.

He may be right on Prayuth, and we have more on that below. Boonlert declares that he is doing this for the monarchy.  At the same time, Boonlert felt it necessary to deny that:

Gen Surayud Chulanont – a privy councillor and chairman of the Royal Turf Club, and his classmate from Class 1 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School – was behind the Oct 28 rally.

Back to Army boss Prayuth. In another story at the Bangkok Post he’s cited as demanding soldiers not participate in political rallies. He was not referring to Boonlert’s shindigs for the aged, but to something about red shirts rallying.  Prayuth also “called on the public not to support groups promoting activities which might lead to violence.” We are guessing he is not especially talking about those promoting state violence like a coup. He seemed to spend most of his time defending privy councilor Surayud and dismissing red shirts as unreliable liars.

The same article says that red shirts have brought treason charges against Boonlert and yellow-shirt leader Sondhi Limthongkul, but for commets made back in January “aimed at inciting a rebellion and a coup.”