If Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha's decision to stage Thailand's latest in a long list of coups was as impulsive as he suggests, then the stern-faced military chief has a Herculean task managing the fallout and deciding what happens next.
Seizing power in Thailand is one thing, running the country is another, and after overthrowing populist tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra's political juggernaut for a second time in eight years, the generals should be prepared for a backlash.
The military top brass appeared to have been chastened by the experience of 2010, when a crackdown on Thaksin's Red Shirt supporters ended in serious bloodshed. They had repeatedly said since that the army would stay out of politics.