Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, Jul 20, 2010 (IPS) – On a muggy evening, a handful of men in suits were quickly getting drunk in a beer garden here in the Cambodian capital. One man rested his hand on the thigh of a slender woman sitting uncomfortably in [...]
CAMBODIA: Judgment Day Nears for Khmer Rouge Torturer-in-chief
July 9, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Jul 9, 2010 (IPS) – The torturer-in-chief of a notorious prison during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in Cambodia will finally learn what price he has to pay for the almost mathematical precision with which he carried out his duty to torment and [...]
CAMBODIA: Aid Donors Urged to Demand Faster Reforms from Gov’t
June 7, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, June 7, 2010 (IPS) – Yuen Mach sat on the floor of her wooden home, her hands nervously twisting a stalk of lemongrass into fibrous strands. Ever since authorities told her that the plot of land that her family occupies and which overlooks [...]
POLITICS: Thai-Cambodia Tension Gives Rise to Schools with Bunkers
November 24, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Marwaan Macan-Markar BAAN POM-SA-RON, Thailand, Nov 24 (IPS) – Children at the largest school in this village close to the Thai-Cambodian border have a new regimen to follow besides books and sports. They have drills, practising evacuation, in case their school comes under an artillery attack. The destination of [...]
POLITICS: Cambodia Raises Stakes, Ties with Thailand Plummet
November 12, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Nov 12 (IPS) – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is known for his brash and earthy vocabulary even when, as he did in early April, he talks about himself. "I am neither a gangster nor a gentleman, but a real man," the politician who has [...]
POLITICS: Thai-Cambodia Diplomatic Row Bares Decades-Long Rift
November 7, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Nov 7 (IPS) – Thailand’s swift and strong response to Cambodia’s decision to appoint ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser exposed an emotional faultline rooted in decades of mutual suspicion and hatred. By the weekend, Bangkok had delivered its second blow [...]
CAMBODIA: Global Crisis Mostly Bypassing the Young – For Now
October 28, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Robert Carmichael* PHNOM PENH, Oct 28 (IPS) – Mey Chamnan has learned the hard way about the global economic crisis. Both she and her husband were fired from their 50 U.S.-dollar a month jobs in a local garment factory after declining overseas orders caused huge job losses across Cambodia’s [...]
POLITICS: Thai-Cambodian Tension Tests Claims of Regional Peace
October 28, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct 28 (IPS) – The relationship between South-east Asian neighbours Thailand and Cambodia enters another uneasy stretch following a round of verbal salvoes fired before and during a just concluded regional summit, where much is made of strides in achieving unity. The Thai media had also [...]
CAMBODIA: Climate Fight an Uphill Battle, But All’s Not Lost
October 25, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Robert Carmichael PHNOM PENH, Oct 25 (IPS) – As one of the world’s poorest nations, Cambodia is by definition one of those least able to protect itself from the effects of climate change. As an agrarian society, it is one of those most susceptible to climate change. To [...]
