Most Newsworthy Third World Country of 2006: Thailand

Well, all the fame that Borat gave to Kazakhstan gave that country a strong push for this title, but I have to give the title of Most Newsworthy Third-World Country of 2006 to Thailand. Thailand had a big year. First, the world thought that we found JonBenet's killer when super-weirdo "I look like an alien from Close Encounters" John Mark Karr apparently confessed to killing the six-year old pageant queen. Then he got acquitted, leaving us all wondering why the hell he confessed to the murder if he didn't do it. But we did get to learn all about the great hospitality of Thai Airways' Business Class service.

Then, later in 2006, poor Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra became a Man Without A Country, when while he was visiting the UN in New York, he got ousted as Thailand's prime minister in a military coup. The press kept calling it "bloodless", which it literally was, to make it sound like this was a good thing, but somehow I doubt Thaksin felt better about the situation. I mean, everytime I hear the word "coup," I do not start getting nice touchy-feely thoughts. I was even worried about coups at my old jobs, but managed to butter up my staff with my witty old self. I know how to make people miss me.