A series of bold foreign-policy strokes – the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, the Economic Cooperation Strategy for the development of mainland Southeast Asia, and America’s designation of Thailand as a “major non-NATO ally” – turned the international spotlight on Thaksin during his first term. Violence in Thailand’s predominantly Muslim south seemed to dent his ambitions last year, but his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party’s landslide victory last February gave his bid for regional leadership a new lease on life.