Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra / AFP
Thailand’s triangular political equilibrium rests on many things, and one of the most important foundations can be the most unpredictable.
Thaksin Shinawatra, wielding one of the country’s biggest political influences according to an opinion poll, spawns theories. The first is what “appears” to be publicly but is gaining skepticism left and right.
In the first theory, he is sincere about stepping away from politics, about giving political advice to the Pheu Thai-led government from time to time, about helping the Shinawatra grownups maintain relevance in Thai politics as long as that does not impact his devotion to the Shinawatra toddlers.
The second theory is that he unexpectedly has to be substantially more politically active than he wanted to, because of the threats posed by the Move Forward Party to Pheu Thai’s…
