To me, Thursday's coup de fluke was stupid, pathetic and tragic, but not all that senseless, at the end of the day. Military juntas went out of fashion by the 1980s, and the few countries still clinging to the junta's rather unimaginative skirts, like Burma and Pakistan, clearly missed the boat when it comes to democracy do's and don'ts. People power fatigue may be real, but so is the aversion to any form of military takeover. So it was stupid for the senator-soldier and his followers to even attempt that.
What was pathetic was the government's knee-jerk reaction - as always, acting without really thinking, typical bully tactics. As I said, the APC ramming through the doors of the Pen was an unnecessary and disproportionate response to the threat at hand. Um, hello, there are other entrances to the Pen. The army ahd already blinded everyone in the lobby with teargas, so why not slip in through the side doors and creep stealthily down the double antebellum staircase, a flank of soldiers on each wing? Oh, of course, they brought the tanks and the tear gas but they probably forgot to bring their anti-tear gas masks. So let's just crash through the front door. So like the midget, who's been crashing the democracy party since her very undemocratic usurpation of power in 2001.
Tragic, because while the rebels' aim was to "save the nation" by highlighting their disgust for the abuses and excesses of the current administration, which have continued unabated, they managed to piss a lot of people off, people who kept grumbling, why now, why this way? So now, instead of focusing its rage on a corrupt and shameless pseudo-president with a list of crimes that guarantee her a first-class ticket on the express train to hell, a nation's fury is (mis)directed towards a handful of people who actually did something rather brave. Stupid it may have been, but it still took guts to do what they did. If only they had the benefit of intelligence and eloquence as well.
But senseless? Not exactly. I think Thursday's events marked the beginning of the end for the midget. That express train is waiting. She should have thought about that before she blocked all the constitutional avenues to due process and accountability.
Speaking of accountability, I think the midget should pay for the damage to the Pen.
Ok, that's it, no more political rantings, I hope. My mother does enough of that on a daily basis on her paper!
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