By Scott Bleiweis and Tim LaRocco Recently Scott connected with fellow FPA blogger and journalist Tim LaRocco. Tim lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and shares his perspective on some issues raised in Scott’s recent post about chances for democracy in Cambodia. Tim writes, “Having been a resident of Phnom Penh for awhile now, I have had […]
There’s never a dull moment in Bangkok. As I recently reported, rumblings of a coup are gaining traction. The atmosphere in the city is becoming eerily similar to when Yellow Shirt demonstrations took hold in 2008. Protests, albeit of a small variety, are beginning to sporadically pop up. The main difference today is that the […]
I recently asked a journalist friend of mine with over 25 years of experience reporting across Southeast Asia, “Do you think it’s possible we’ll see a coup in Thailand soon?” His sardonic reply was, “A coup in Thailand? Well it’s not like that’s ever happened before.” In its current state, Thai politics is at best […]
Hell in a Very Small Place. That was the name of a book by Bernard Fall about the siege of Dien Bien Phu. The 1954 battle was a turning point in Indochina, where the French made a last ditch effort to maintain control in Vietnam. It also is the point where the United States began […]
I’m sure most of us are familiar with this famous quote from Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” Personally, I prefer the much more humorous George Costanza line in a Seinfeld episode when Jerry is trying to defeat a polygraph test being given to him […]
The director of a well-known Cambodian environmental organization seeking to highlight governmental negligence and corruption regarding the issue of illegal logging was brutally gunned down by military police this past Wednesday night. Chut Wutty, director of the Natural Resource Protection Group (and a personal friend of this author), was shot and killed in a car […]
In the latest twist in the increasingly violent saga of Thailand’s southern problem, last month’s triple bomb blast in the province of Yala highlighted another failure of the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra’s eight-month old government: the campaign vow to grant the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat ‘special administration zone’ status. Much like […]
Safe inside his armored motorcade and surrounded by nearly two dozen police motorcycle escorts, Chinese Premier Hu Jintao traversed north along Sothearos Boulevard in Phnom Penh this past Saturday morning, passing a 20 foot portrait of his face as well as one of his wife’s as his entourage made its way towards the Peace Palace […]
After campaigning tirelessly throughout the majority of her adult life in hopes of bringing democracy to her country and after spending nearly fifteen of those years under house arrest for espousing her views, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s icon of hope and political freedom, has unofficially won a seat in the country’s parliament. An official […]
Some are making a connection between the recent mass murder in Afghanistan and the My Lai incident in 1968. They are wrong to do so. The more recent event, in which Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly killed 17 civilians (many women and children) in Afghanistan, looks like the actions of a lone person who snapped. […]
The 2012 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit will take place April 3rd and 4th in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As the new chair of the regional bloc for the 2012 year, Cambodia will have an opportunity to show off its capital city’s latest developments, both socioeconomic and political. The streets are already being decked […]
“Let me tell you, it hurts. It hurts bad,” remarks Johnny Phillips, elucidating the emotional and sometimes physical pain extracting yet another $1000 from an ATM in Phnom Penh can cause. Mr. Phillips is the founder of BuckHunger, a nonprofit organization which seeks to provide free food to Cambodian children whilst also teaching the kids […]
“Bpuu! Bpuu! Kgnom soam dtaow tribunals,” I say to the all-too-eager tuk tuk driver, individuals who are typically all-too-happy to drive foreigners anywhere. My Khmer language skills after one month are OK, but it is still a work in progress. Still, I stand there boasting to the other drivers and motodops hovering around, impressed with […]
The long standing feud between Israel and Iran was augmented to new levels this week after explosions occurred in New Delhi, India and Tbilisi, Georgia, while another bomb plot was foiled in Bangkok, Thailand. Three men have been arrested in the Thai capital and the country’s top police official, Gen. Prewpan Dhamapong, has said that […]
I arrived in Phnom Penh late last Saturday. This is the second time I’ve come to Cambodia and the country, more specifically its capital city, is just as seedy as I recall from last time I was here in 2008. There is no delicate way of tip toeing around the issue of sex workers and […]