September 23rd, 2006, 11:17
[Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent
September 23, 2006
BY setting up home in a luxury Park Lane apartment, Thaksin Shinawatra is maintaining a tradition even older than military coups in Thailand - fleeing to London for political exile.
The ousted Thai prime minister has followed hundreds of other global political figures who in their worst moments have turned to London, the world's undisputed exile capital.
A short limousine ride from his serviced apartment next to the Dorchester Hotel could have the billionaire visiting former leaders or political agitators from countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe.
A 15-minute drive towards Chelsea, in southwest London, for instance, would take him to the mansion of the Russian tycoon and former Kremlin powerbroker Boris Berezovsky.
Berezovsky, who fell out badly with President Vladimir Putin, was formally granted asylum in 2003, joining scores of other exiles from the Middle East, Africa and former Soviet states.
Thaksin, who already owns a home in London and once tried to buy a controlling stake in the Liverpool Football Club, flew straight to Britain after hearing about this week's coup during a UN meeting in New York.
New York has taken many exiles and Paris has also attracted its share of outcasts, while Panama has made something of an industry out of accepting ex-dictators.
But London has been the political haven of choice for more than 150 years, according to Charles Jenkins, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"Way back in 1848, when there was a wave of revolutions in about 15 European cities, most of their heads of government and even heads of state came here, so we had leaders coming from places like Austria, Italy, France and Germany," he said.
"Marx and Engels also ended up here because it was generally a more congenial and tolerant environment. They were able to write their revolutionary works with much less harassment than ... on the Continent."
World War II had members of governments from The Netherlands and Czechoslovakia joining a stream of others taking refuge on the Thames. Charles de Gaulle spent much of the war in a cosy Soho bar-restaurant, the French House, while King Zog of Albania contemplated a takeover bid for The Times newspaper from his room at the Ritz Hotel.
The most stubborn refugees of all were a hardy group of Polish emigres who maintained a government-in-exile in London until December 1990, when they flew back to hand Lech Walesa the insignia of state that their predecessors had grabbed for safekeeping 51 years earlier.
In the 1960s, the future president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki worked in the African National Congress's London office alongside Oliver Tambo and other ANC leaders.
Long-time Pakistani political rivals Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif served stints as prime minister yet both spent time sheltering in London.
Iraq's current political leaders used London as their main base during the long years of Saddam Hussein. Ayad Allawi, Ahmed Chalabi and so many other Iraqi dissidents lived in London that it was the obvious place to hold an opposition summit in December 2002 as the US prepared its invasion.
Iranian opposition leaders still operate there but it is London's bustling community of exiled Islamic militants that have drawn most attention recently, as British political and intelligence chiefs wonder whether their open-door tradition has created a domestic security threat.
Damascus has long complained that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, is plotting the overthrow of the Syrian Government from his home in London, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has accused Britain of providing a haven for Islamic terrorists.
The RIIA's Jenkins said London had retained its edge over New York as a preferred political haven because "it is probably the most international city in the world".
"New York obviously has a lot of immigrants but they tend to live in distinct communities, whereas London seems to have more mixing around, and new arrivals can find that more congenial," he said.
"And as long as you are not a terror suspect you will probably be left more alone in London."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20461655-601,00.html)
September 23, 2006
BY setting up home in a luxury Park Lane apartment, Thaksin Shinawatra is maintaining a tradition even older than military coups in Thailand - fleeing to London for political exile.
The ousted Thai prime minister has followed hundreds of other global political figures who in their worst moments have turned to London, the world's undisputed exile capital.
A short limousine ride from his serviced apartment next to the Dorchester Hotel could have the billionaire visiting former leaders or political agitators from countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe.
A 15-minute drive towards Chelsea, in southwest London, for instance, would take him to the mansion of the Russian tycoon and former Kremlin powerbroker Boris Berezovsky.
Berezovsky, who fell out badly with President Vladimir Putin, was formally granted asylum in 2003, joining scores of other exiles from the Middle East, Africa and former Soviet states.
Thaksin, who already owns a home in London and once tried to buy a controlling stake in the Liverpool Football Club, flew straight to Britain after hearing about this week's coup during a UN meeting in New York.
New York has taken many exiles and Paris has also attracted its share of outcasts, while Panama has made something of an industry out of accepting ex-dictators.
But London has been the political haven of choice for more than 150 years, according to Charles Jenkins, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"Way back in 1848, when there was a wave of revolutions in about 15 European cities, most of their heads of government and even heads of state came here, so we had leaders coming from places like Austria, Italy, France and Germany," he said.
"Marx and Engels also ended up here because it was generally a more congenial and tolerant environment. They were able to write their revolutionary works with much less harassment than ... on the Continent."
World War II had members of governments from The Netherlands and Czechoslovakia joining a stream of others taking refuge on the Thames. Charles de Gaulle spent much of the war in a cosy Soho bar-restaurant, the French House, while King Zog of Albania contemplated a takeover bid for The Times newspaper from his room at the Ritz Hotel.
The most stubborn refugees of all were a hardy group of Polish emigres who maintained a government-in-exile in London until December 1990, when they flew back to hand Lech Walesa the insignia of state that their predecessors had grabbed for safekeeping 51 years earlier.
In the 1960s, the future president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki worked in the African National Congress's London office alongside Oliver Tambo and other ANC leaders.
Long-time Pakistani political rivals Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif served stints as prime minister yet both spent time sheltering in London.
Iraq's current political leaders used London as their main base during the long years of Saddam Hussein. Ayad Allawi, Ahmed Chalabi and so many other Iraqi dissidents lived in London that it was the obvious place to hold an opposition summit in December 2002 as the US prepared its invasion.
Iranian opposition leaders still operate there but it is London's bustling community of exiled Islamic militants that have drawn most attention recently, as British political and intelligence chiefs wonder whether their open-door tradition has created a domestic security threat.
Damascus has long complained that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, is plotting the overthrow of the Syrian Government from his home in London, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has accused Britain of providing a haven for Islamic terrorists.
The RIIA's Jenkins said London had retained its edge over New York as a preferred political haven because "it is probably the most international city in the world".
"New York obviously has a lot of immigrants but they tend to live in distinct communities, whereas London seems to have more mixing around, and new arrivals can find that more congenial," he said.
"And as long as you are not a terror suspect you will probably be left more alone in London."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20461655-601,00.html)