
BANGKOK -- On Monday, after months of saber rattling about alleged irregularities in Myanmar's Nov. 8 general election, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing staged the country's third coup since independence from Britain in 1948.
The commander in chief of defense services invoked powers based on Section 417 of the 2008 military-drafted constitution that enables the holder of his office to wrest full legal, judicial and executive power to create an instant dictatorship.