Thailand PM steps down and protests called off

The constitutional court ordered Mr Somchai, the Prime Minister, to back down (at least temporarily) and to disband his party and his allies. This is the second time in less than a year that a Prime Minister from the PPP, the party allied with Thaksin Shinawatra, has been forced to resign by the court. In return, the protesters have agreed to leave the airport.

So the currents crisis seems to be calming down but it did not solve any issue and it is unclear who will run the country now and violence is still a very likely possibility. Thaksin and his allies remain as popular as ever and whoever he backs will probably get elected in the next elections, the protesters did not get more than tacit support from the army and did not manage to get the changes they wanted to remain a force in Thai politics (that is a non-representative voting system). So all in all it is hard to see who "won" in the troubles of the last few months, we will have to see how things pan out in the next few days, but I'd have to vote for Thaksin and his friends as the "winners".