Thaksin, Cambodia, and Thailand — update

Reuters has a summary of the latest developments in the Thaksin-Cambodia-Thailand saga:

Thai Crisis Deepens as Thaksin Finds Cambodian Base

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Emboldened by a rousing welcome in Cambodia, fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra is rallying supporters from just over the border, upping the ante in Thailand’s political crisis.

After accusing Thailand’s rulers of “false patriotism” in a speech in Phnom Penh on Thursday, Thaksin huddled with more than 20 supporters and leaders of his red-shirted, anti-government protest movement who traveled from Thailand.

That number will swell on Friday when about 100 supporters plan to gather in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, about 150 km (90 miles) from the Thai border, according to Puea Thai, an incarnation of Thaksin’s disbanded Thai Rak Thai party.

The prospect of the billionaire — who the Thai government sees as a criminal — running a political campaign from across the border rattled investors, sending Thai stock prices tumbling nearly 3 percent on concern of more instability in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.

Royalists aligned with the military, who wear the king’s traditional color of yellow, plan a demonstration of their own on Sunday in Bangkok to denounce Thaksin and Cambodia, threatening to deepen the political and diplomatic impasse.

(Emphasis mine.)

Worth reading the whole thing.

Previous Thaksin-Cambodia-Thailand posts are here and here and here.