Anti Vietnamese sentiment has been part of Cambodian culture for an exceedingly long time, and has only been on the rise since the hotly contested 2013 elections, in which the opposition CNRP party made animosity towards the Vietnamese, and their supposed colonial desires, a central tenet of its platform. Spearheaded by Khmer Krom minority groups, […]
Tag: politics
Why You Should Pay Attention to Political Unrest in Thailand – UN Dispatch
Thailand Has Ousted Its Prime Minister – Here’s Why You Should Care It’s over: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has finally been ousted by a Thai court after a contentious and occasionally bloody political standoff that has dragged on since last summer. In office since the summer of 2011, Shinawatra rode the Thai political […]
Kim Jong Il Invented the Hamburger, and Other DPRK Culinary Highlights
No, the hamburger was not invented in Hamburg. It did not first appear in New Jersey at Louis Lunch.The hamburger in fact first appeared in 2000 at the personal behest of Kim Jong Il, who really wanted top university students to be fed top-quality fast food in-between classes. Eternally enterprising, Kim Jong Il decided in […]
Incredibly Overwrought North Korean Mourning, Rumination on the Future
No one can mourn like a North Korean. At the very least, no one can PRETEND to mourn like a North Korean. In a country where not writhing on the ground overcome with emotional pain over the loss of a political icon may land you in a freezing work-camp, the ability to weep on command […]
An Old Farmer And the Khmer Rouge: A Civil Party at the Tribunal
Another day, another live-tweeting session at the Khmer Rouge tribunals. The press room is violently air-conditioned and I am the only journalist willing to eat the “weird” Vietnamese sandwiches. Oh, yes, right, the court proceedings…. Nuon Chea has continued to beg off the dock, claiming health issues, which means that today featured one civil party […]
Another Tuesday at the War Tribunal, Nate Thayer on Landmines Being Kind of OK
Live-tweeting the Khmer Rouge War Tribunal for the past few days and will probably continue until Thursday. Saying it’s been “fun” veers into the realm of the vastly inappropriate, but it has been informative. I can easily summarize Nuon Chea’s opinion on his involvement in the genocide years thusly: It Was All Those Vietnamese Douchebags […]
Hey Newt Gingrich, Come Visit Cambodia to See How Awesome Child Labor Can Be
Newt’s War on Poor Children – NY Times Newt Gingrich, American Republican candidate and professional blowhard, has recently decided that poor children’s primary problem isn’t economic inequality and a lack of access to quality education: it’s laziness. After calling out US child labor laws as “truly stupid” and suggesting that schools employ poor kids as […]