Thailand’s most wanted man invited to Washington, where enemies hope he will face extradition.
Patrick Winn
GlobalPost
12/12/2010
BANGKOK, Thailand — The contempt of senior Thai figures for fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra, the country’s deposed former prime minister, can be measured in their World War II villain analogies.
Parliamentarians, leading pundits and the head of Thailand’s palace-advising Privy Council have all likened Thaksin to Adolph Hitler. This year, the foreign minister compared Thaksin to Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. Thai courts have applied a more contemporary label: terrorist.
Despite his infamy, Thaksin is now the invited guest of legislators from the United States, Thailand’s most powerful ally. Though Thaksin’s enemies are aghast at the high-profile invite, they’re also praying America will smarten up and extradite him to a Thai prison cell.
On Thursday, Thaksin is slated to testify to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a federal agency monitoring global security and human rights. Of its members, nine hail from the House of Representatives, nine hail from the Senate and two others represent the U.S. State and Defense departments.
…Ousted in a 2006 military coup amid allegations of extreme corruption — and more than a few Hitler comparisons — Thaksin is a former telecommunications mogul turned globetrotting fugitive…
Read the entire article at the GlobalPost.
