BANGKOK - THAILAND'S fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's appointment earlier this week by Cambodia's mercurial Prime Minister Hun Sen has jangled nerves in the Thai capital and entangled both countries in a diplomatic brawl that prompted Thailand first and then Cambodia to recall their ambassadors on Thursday.

Analysts say Thaksin's latest move could be the launchpad for a political comeback.

'Thaksin is on a new offensive. This is a calculated campaign to undermine this government and to change governments,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. 'He wants to retake what he sees as his legitimate right, which is to have another election that he believes he will win.'

For the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Cambodia's action is a slap in the face it feels compelled to respond to. It called the appointment an 'interference in Thailand's domestic affairs.'

From cyberspace, Thaksin tweeted to his 40,000 Twitter followers that Abhisit's recall of the Thai ambassador was a 'childish overreaction', and tweeted in a seperate message: 'I'm asking permission from all Thai people to advise the Cambodian government ... until I have a chance to serve you again.'

Current Prime Minister Abhisit faces the challenge of how to calm the political maelstrom around Thaksin. 'Thailand is now in the international spotlight and its leader has been discredited,' said Sompop Manarungsan, a political economist at Chulalongkorn University. 'The strategy Thaksin is using, I call it 'crashing.' He is destroying everything in his path to reach his goal.'