Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha: the military man with staying power

Many Thais laughed when leader Prayuth Chan-ocha told them to pick up George Orwell’s 1945 satire of the Stalin regime Animal Farm for an entertaining read a week before the parliament voted to confirm his second term in the job since taking power in a 2014 military coup. But it was hardly the first time he has been laughed at, despite being Thailand’s most powerful military man. The 65-year-old former general’s repeated outbursts at reporters, at times swearing at them while being bombarded…