Taiwan, Hungary, and ... Thailand

Citizens can demostrate--like in Taiwan. Citizens can protest and occupy government offices--like in Hungary. Citizens are citizens after all. If one wants to threaten a sitting government, one uses the military, with tanks--like in Thailand. Let's recap. Monday night, 19 September, protesters held a rally, smashed windows and battled police around the state television headquarters in Budapest after local media broadcast a tape recording. In it, Hungarian Prime Minister and Socialist Party Leader Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted in May that his officials lied about government finances to win April's elections. Last Sunday, 10 September, thousands of demostrators marched in Taipei to protest alleged corruption related to the son-in-law and the wife of President Chen Shui-bian, also Democratic Progressive Party chairman, and also to protest news of an investigation on the use of false invoices and a secret fund by Chen's office. Today, Tuesday, 20 September, Thai military TV Five reported the Thai military declared a coup d'état with over a dozen tanks blocking roads and surrounding government offices. Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on a visit at the United Nations in Manhattan, announced a "severe state of emergency."