Martial law plus

THAKSIN SHINAWATRA'S shrillest critics have long depicted him as a dictator and a bully. Now the Thai prime minister has the legal powers to live up to the insults. An emergency decree signed into law on July 17th allows him to detain suspects without trial, tap phones, ban public gatherings, expel foreigners and censor media reports that “could adversely affect state security, peace or public morality”. The decree was passed in response to yet another bold attack in southern Thailand, where an escalating insurgency has claimed over 800 lives in the past 19 months.