Culture and politics forum

I would have said that Laos and Thailand have more in common - particularly in language. Socially I find the Khmer to be pretty tough, without the Thai or Lao veneer of sweetness that makes it so pleasant to live here. But maybe others have a different view on it, as I am certainly no expert on the Khmer.

This border dispute, however, is a lot more about local politics in each location than about the site itself. That is what is preventing a reasonable settlement of the dispute. Like the conflict over Badme between Ethiopia and Eritrea - two bald men fighting over a comb.

Actually I think Abhisit is doing a credible job. It's not his competence I question. The issue is the legitimacy of his taking holding the office in the first place. But Hun Sen, in his incredible obtuseness manner, loves to periodically make inflammatory statements (I wonder if he's somehow related to Ahmedinijad?). I don't see the "Yellow shirts" as being the only inflaming faction here, however. When the Reds won the last election and were in governance, they too were firmly oppossed to yielding control of the site.

The one area where I truly fault the Thai side in this discussion (as with the Ethiopians concerning Badme) is that the Thais agreed to arbitration, and then rejected same when arbitration went against their claim. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to their original arguement, but if you agree to submit to arbitration, you sully your honor by not following through if you lose the arguement to an arbitrator. Neither side has covered itself in glory on this one, but the Thai side has really gone the extra mile to make itself look bad.