I note that, in what was possibly the most important election of 2011, Pheu Thai is predicted to have won an overwhelming majority in the Thai parliament. Pheu Thai is led by Yingluck Shinawatra, whose unfortunately best qualification for the post is that she is the sister of former PM Thaksin, currently in exile due to corruption charges. Thaksin was a popular (and in some senses populist) politician who was ousted in 2006 in a military coup that involved the establishment (currently in charge), the monarchy, the royal circle, the estranged crown prince, and enough intrigue and scandal to fill every tabloid page for the next hundred years. The question now is whether the military will permit his sister to become PM quietly, or whether they will exercise their "shoot at people" veto.

In the meantime, Thailand may have its first female PM. I think we should wish her, and her nation, luck.

News Summary Time:

I've been avoiding the Middle East like the plague ever since it became impossible to get anything concrete out of it, but there's a bunch of other things (some outdated since it took me so long to write this) that have been running around the headlines. So here they are:

( But First, Here's Johnny With the News )