It's probably about time that we deny Thaksin the fun that he has been having with all the attention given to his global criss-crossing and interviews. After all, what is so enlightening or earth-shaking about all the things he has said to the international media anyway?

The fact that Thaksin has been featured on the cover of the Asian edition of Time magazine and in an interview on CNN (by the way, both belong to the Time Warner group) does not in any way mean that the former leader has suddenly become a darling of the international media, much less a signal that he is on the verge of a political comeback as his opponents may fear.

And the generals in the Council for National Security (CNS) should stop fooling themselves or the media here that there is a conspiracy out there to keep Thaksin in the spotlight. The international media talk to Thaksin simply because he is still an interesting interview subject. The Thai media would have wanted to sit down and talk to him too, had they been given a chance.

But Thaksin somehow finds the international media easier to manipulate. Being a journalist with Time or CNN doesn't mean being able to pose better questions than Thai reporters could. If those journalists didn't ask probing questions or chose to skirt around issues crucial to Thais, it was either because they have to cater to an international audience or simply because they are ignorant.

And because Thaksin has an international forum doesn't mean that he can count on it to cast himself in a better light. Don't forget that Thaksin was not the only deposed political strongman in the region to be featured on the cover of Time. Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia made the cover long before him, after they too were chased out of power. So there is no special treatment being given to Thaksin, as some in the CNS suspect.

What has irked the CNS generals and the Surayud government has more to do with what Thaksin said than the fact that he was being given prominent coverage. But it would be foolish to expect Thaksin to suddenly turn over a new leaf and start being nice to the generals who overthrew him and the new government led by someone whom he had seen as a potential threat to his political longevity all along.

The best way to deal with Thaksin is to stop worrying about what he has to say. The American lobbying firm that he hired may be able to get some of the international media interested in him for a while. But it's only a matter of time before Thaksin fades from media attention. After all, he is nowhere near being a political icon or a deposed leader known for taking a stand on democratic principles, which would have kept the media interested in his every move.

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the CNS chairman and leader of the September 19 coup, couldn't hide his paranoia when he confided to the Thai media that he suspected Thaksin's interview with CNN two weeks ago was part of the conspiracy he has orchestrated against the junta. But just because he was asked some sensitive questions doesn't mean that his interviewer had a hidden agenda.

The generals should learn to educate themselves on how the international media work so that they will not have to cry out every time they read or hear Thaksin's comments. The only way they can silence Thaksin or render his arguments irrelevant is to make sure that the investigations into the former leader's misdeeds produce results as soon as possible.

Thaksin may have all the money in the world to pay for an American lobbying firm to make noises on his behalf, but his wealth cannot change the fact that he is politically finished and his chances of a comeback are almost nil.

That Thaksin is extending an invitation to the Thai media to interview him after having ignored them for months is only a sign that he is becoming desperate. And he knows too well that all the publicity he has been creating outside Thailand is not helping him in any way here.

Thepchai Yong