Taliban in Pakistan 'police killing' video

Footage appearing to show the execution-style killing of 16 policemen in the restive north-west of Pakistan has been released by the Taliban.

The video shows policemen lined up on a hillside with their hands tied behind their backs in front of gunmen who berate them and then open fire on them.

The incident is said to date from June when militants crossed the Afghan border and captured police.

Pakistan's army spokesman told the BBC the video appears to be authentic.

A note released alongside the video said that the policemen were captured during a cross-border raid from Afghanistan in June in Pakistan's volatile Dir district.

The bodies were discovered by locals once the militants had left. The BBC received mobile phone footage from a policeman in Dir showing local residents discovering the corpses.
Disturbing footage

The area is regularly targeted by insurgents and hundreds of militants were reported to have descended upon the town of Shalato in a remote corner of Dir close to the border with Afghanistan's Kunar province. At least 25 Pakistani troops were also killed during the prolonged clash. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.

The footage released by the Taliban is disturbing. The policemen are lined up on the left with only a few moments to live.

On the right, a local Pakistani Taliban commander accuses them of being the enemies of Islam and says God wants him to punish them.

Then his gunmen open fire and the men are seen collapsing as they are sprayed with bullets. Later, a militant is seen firing shots into the soldiers' heads to ensure they were all dead.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says incidents like this make Pakistan bristle with anger when it is told that it is not doing enough to fight militants. But, our correspondent adds, Pakistan's army also stands accused of abuses.

Human rights groups say there is considerable evidence that Pakistan's army has also conducted summary executions of suspected Taliban militants - an accusation the army denies.

"They are merciless terrorists and this is the threat which we are up against. We have suffered the most at the hands of al-Qaeda and its affiliates... At the same time Pakistan has delivered the most against [them]," Maj Gen Athar Abbas, Pakistan's army spokesman, told the BBC.

The army believes the attack was carried out by Pakistani Taliban fighters from Swat, who fled across the border into Afghanistan during the army's offensive there two years ago.

They have since regrouped and have been coming across the border to carry out attacks on isolated checkpoints like the one in Dir manned by the men who were killed.

Correspondents say that securing the long and porous border dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan has been a major challenge for the two countries.

Many of the militant groups that operate on either side of the border are closely linked.

Pentagon papers finally released

Prince Norodom Sihanouk and Jacqueline Kennedy at Chamkarmon Palace during her visit to Cambodia in November of 1967. (Photo by: Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres Private Photo Collection)

Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Thomas Miller
The Phnom Penh Post

THE United States government has released the full version of the Pentagon Papers, a once top-secret report that details US actions in countries including Cambodia as the Vietnam conflict escalated and was leaked in partial form 40 years ago.

The US National Archives declassified the report on Monday, 40 years after the New York Times published selections leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, who worked on part of the study with the Defence Department. Ellsberg had tried to leak the documents to the Senate in the hope that it would convene hearings on the war.

Some 2,384 pages, or about 34 percent of the original 7,000-page report, have been released publicly for the first time, the National Archives said in a statement.

The report was commissioned by US defence secretary Robert McNamara and catalogues US policy-making in Indochina from 1945 to 1967.

The leak showed that four successive American presidents had misled their citizens about US policy in Southeast Asia, as they spoke publicly of restraint while simultaneously expanding US commitments in the region.

The report also exposed the involvement of the Kennedy Administration in the 1963 coup d’etat that led to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, President Lyndon Johnson’s approval to bomb North Vietnam and decisions to expand military operations from Southern Vietnam into Cambodia and Laos.

Among other topics, officials raised concern over the stationing of North Vietnamese troops in the Kingdom and debated how to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was used as a supply route between North Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam.

Historian David Chandler, an expert on Cambodia who served as a US diplomat in Phnom Penh in the early 1960s, said it was “very exciting” when the papers came out.

“It was a good move. I approved of what Ellsberg was doing,” he recalled.

Chandler said the information contained in the report wasn’t “wildly surprising” at the time for those closely studying the region, though its leak may have been the most significant breach of US government secrecy in American history, igniting a battle at the Supreme Court and an eventual victory for press freedom.

The National Archives said that the newspaper and magazine releases from Ellsberg’s leak contained “only a very small portion” of the complete papers, and Monday’s release marks the first time they have been available in full.

“The fact of the matter is that no one, outside the people properly cleared to view Top Secret, has seen the real Pentagon Papers,” the agency said in a statement. About two-thirds have been made available previously, as US Senator Mike Gravel published portions in 1971 and US the State Department declassified an additional section in 2002.

Chandler said he had not yet trawled through the final version of the documents that was released on Monday, but did not expect any “surprises” for Cambodia, noting that the most controversial US actions toward the Kingdom came under President Richard Nixon, who approved the infamous bombing campaign that released at least half a million tons of bombs in Cambodia from 1969 to 1973.

Though Cambodia is less of a concern in the papers, the documents do show that trying to eliminate Northern Vietnam’s use of both Cambodia and Laos for supply routes and military operations was a persistent challenge for US policymakers.

One internal document from the Kennedy Administration contained in the papers shows that officials had raised alarm over the issue at least as early as December 1962. A US State Department official says in the document that Northern Vietnamese forces had been using Eastern Cambodia as a base from which to stage hit-and-run attacks in Southern Vietnam since 1960.

On numerous occasions, military officials called for “hot pursuit” of Northern Vietnamese forces into Cambodian territory. A 1967 document reveals pressure within the US government for Johnson to expand the Vietnam War into neighbouring countries, presaging the devastating consequences Cambodia would endure as it was dragged further into the conflict.

“The military had once again confronted the Johnson Administration with a difficult question on whether to escalate or level-off the US effort. What they proposed was the mobilization of the Reserves, a major new troop commitment in the South, an extension of the war into the VC/NVA [Viet Cong/North Vietnam] sanctuaries (Laos, Cambodia, and possibly North Vietnam) the mining of North Vietnamese ports and a solid commitment in manpower and resources to a military victory,” the US document states.

“The recommendation [from the military] not surprisingly touched off a searching reappraisal of the course of US strategy in the war.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KRISTIN LYNCH

In Cambodia, Comedians Double as Government Propagandists

Colonel Chuong Chy, who like many of Cambodia's famous comedians is also an officer in the prime minister's special bodyguard unit, performs under the stage name Koy. Though his stage character is flamboyant, in person he is terse and severe.

The popular comedian Colonel Ou Bunnarith, aka Krem (L), performs with his troupe at the studio of the Cambodian television station Bayon.

Chek, whose real name is Colonel Chhum Bunchhoeurn, in an interview, still wearing his makeup.A Cambodian comedy troupe performs in Phnom Penh.

San Mao is reported by The Phnom Penh Post as Colonel Thou Chamrong

Prum Manh was also reported as a CPP colonel by The Phnom Penh Post

Jun 15 2011
By Julia Wallace
The Atlantic

"We work for the prime minister, so why should we perform for Sam Rainsy? ... If we eat a person's food, we have to work for that one." - Krem, aka Colonel Ou Bunnarith

In the state-aligned media that dominates the country's airwaves, enormously popular comedians, often bearing the rank of colonel in the prime minister's personal bodyguard unit, inject the party line into Cambodian popular culture

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- One recent Sunday afternoon, television audiences across Cambodia watched a middle-aged man named Krem as he was introduced to the mother of his young girlfriend.

The mother, Oeurn, looked dubiously at her daughter's poorly dressed, extravagantly mustachioed suitor.

"How did you spend the Cambodian New Year?" Oeurn asked him.

"I went to Preah Vihear," Krem replied, referring to a contested 11th century temple on the Thai border that has sparked several skirmishes between Cambodian and Thai forces over the past few years. "We performed comedy for the soldiers who protect us from Thai invasion. I would like to ask the New Year's angel to protect our soldiers and let them defeat the enemy."

A bit later, Krem abruptly announced to Oeurn, "Phnom Penh municipality now has less garbage and is cleaner. Do you know who did that?"

"Who?"

"It is because of Excellency Kep Chuktema, the governor. He has educated people and broadcast it on television not to litter, so now there is less garbage and no more bad smell."

It might not be precisely how every Cambodian villager addresses his prospective mother-in-law, but the exchange was par for the course on Bayon TV, where Krem's wildly popular comedy troupe performs a similar sketch every week, with goofy domestic scenarios routinely breaking into extravagant praise for government policy or officials aligned with the ruling Cambodian People's Party. The propaganda became even more pointed in late April, during 13 days of deadly border clashes with Thai forces.

Bayon, owned by the daughter of Cambodia's strongman prime minister, Hun Sen, is not alone: this kind of politicized comedy is shown on all of the country's eight television stations -- performed by comedians who, frequently, are also paid members of Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit. Many of the comedians bear the rank of colonel or lieutenant colonel.

The country's dozens of "colonel comedians" underscore the extent to which Hun Sen and his CPP have consolidated power over the past two decades, successfully marginalizing not just rival politicians but also dissenting artistic and cultural voices.

"It is further evidence of the deep reach of Hun Sen's personal networks of loyalties, and the growing difficulty of doing opposition politics in Cambodia," said Duncan McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds.

In 1997, Hun Sen -- who then served as co-prime minister in a coalition government with a royalist political party, Funcinpec -- staged a bloody coup, ousting his counterpart, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Although Ranariddh was eventually allowed to return, Funcinpec suffered heavy losses in subsequent elections and never recovered. More recently, in 2009 and 2010, the government filed two separate lawsuits against Sam Rainsy, a liberal politician popular among urbanites and expatriate Cambodians. Rainsy, who had emerged as the new leader of the opposition, was ultimately sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison, leaving him in de facto exile in France. And over the past few years, the government has systematically sued activists, journalists, and critics of every ilk, levying steep fines or jail terms (one man was sentenced to two years for suggesting that a new lighting system at Angkor Wat could harm the 12th-century temple).

Although most of the colonel comedians' skits and sketches are only sporadically political, they sometimes venture into deeper ideological waters. In 2009, after U.S. Ambassador Carol Rodley infuriated the government with a speech on corruption, both Krem and his equally famous counterpart Koy launched a series of comedy routines that bitingly mocked international NGOs for their own corruption problems.

In 2005, Krem created a routine called "Be Careful Not to Overuse Your Rights" that cast aspersions on human rights workers who teach Cambodian villagers about equality. And, during every election season, the comedians barnstorm around the countryside on the CPP's behalf.

General Hing Bunheang, commander of the Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit, an autonomous section within the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, confirmed that the unit had a bureau called the "Propaganda and Education Commission." It comprised 152 performers and artists, including the bulk of the country's comedians.

"Most of them are men, and they have the same rank as colonels. They have their own weapons," he said. As soldiers, the comedians "can go to battle with Thailand if there is a need," he added.

They can also misuse their weapons: In April, the popular comedian San Mao, also known as Colonel Thu Chamrong, was detained in Phnom Penh after firing his military-issue handgun in the air during a brawl. Police quickly released him, suggesting that the bodyguard unit discipline him.

According to General Bunheang, artists receive personal invitations from Hun Sen to join the unit and sometimes perform for audiences free of charge at the premier's request. He insisted that the members of the Propaganda and Education Commission are not engaged in propaganda.

"The bodyguard group is not for political propaganda but for entertaining people," he said.

Mu Sochua, a prominent opposition lawmaker, laughed at Bunheang's claim. Sochua had herself narrowly avoided a jail term after she was stripped of her parliamentary immunity and convicted of defaming the prime minister in 2009.

"It's a form of propaganda," she said. "It's not art, it's not promoting freedom of expression in the arts. ... The language that is used by the comedians, and sometimes even the gestures and the movements, convey a lot of power and authority and violence. And the message is all about good and evil."

Krem, the stage name of Colonel Ou Bunnarith, is a case in point. Perhaps the most passionately partisan of all the comedians, he displays an almost missionary zeal for winning converts to the CPP.

"Convincing people via artistic performances is very successful, and it is easy to take people out from their misbehavior or participation with the wrong political parties," he said in an interview.

Krem has been a household name in Cambodia since the 1980s, when the nation was only a few years removed from the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge regime and in the thick of a civil war with the movement's militant remnants. That is also when Krem first joined the Hun Sen bodyguards, which dispatched him to perform shows in Khmer Rouge-controlled areas to encourage defections.

"We were there to perform for the Khmer Rouge soldiers and propagandize for those soldiers to return to their motherland," he said. "We did political propaganda in our performances, and our words made them pleased."

Now that the Khmer Rouge have been eliminated, with the regime's four surviving senior leaders soon to be tried in Phnom Penh for war crimes, Krem applies his comedic talents toward ridiculing the country's rapidly shrinking political opposition. During the 2003 national election campaign, he produced and acted in a two-hour film called Mistletoe that lampooned both Prince Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy, portraying the former as a pleasure-seeking sycophant and the latter as an out-of-control meddler. In the lead-up to local elections in 2002, he created a short film that made fun of garment workers who protested in the streets for better wages.

"When the election campaign comes, we have to do a hundred percent propagandizing for ... the CPP," he said.

Koy, the stage name of Colonel Chuong Chy, a doughy, thick-featured man, is also active on behalf of the government. Of the four men in the comedy troupe that Koy leads, three of them -- including Kren, a popular comedian with dwarfism -- belong to the Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit. The fourth is an officer in the 70th Infantry Brigade of the Cambodian army, which is also closely linked to the premier and has been accused of human rights abuses.

Like Krem, Koy joined the bodyguards in the 1980s, starting out as a captain and rising to colonel two years ago in a mass promotion of entertainers. In person, he is terse and severe, rarely cracking a smile. Although he openly describes the work he does as propaganda, he insists his troupe writes all its own skits with no government input.

"We just tell people how good [Hun Sen] is, how he constructed the country, how many buildings he builds," Koy told me backstage after one of his performances, fiddling irritably with the keys to his Lexus. "Nobody tells us what to say. We just describe what we have seen- -- roads, schools, irrigation -- and make it a little bit funny."

Standing nearby was Koy's longtime friend, Colonel Chhum Bunchhoeurn of the 70th Infantry, still sporting painted-on white whiskers and eyebrows. Colonel Bunchhoeurn, best known by the stage name Banana, agreed that any political overtones to the group's comedy were totally coincidental.

"We don't have time to talk about [politics] because we're just concerned about striving to make people laugh," he said. "If we pretend to be a father, we're just concerned with being a father."

Still, in one of the troupe's recent shows, entitled "No Luck," a comedian known as Klouk (real name Lieutenant Colonel Tum Saruth), who was playing an elderly father, began talking politics almost as soon as he walked onstage.

"We just want to stay in peace, but [Thailand] does not want us to stay in peace -- they caused trouble, so now I have to go participate in the army and protect our territory from invasion," Klouk told a rapt studio audience, using exaggerated martial gestures to elicit gales of laughter.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, a local NGO, said comedians such as Koy and Krem are immensely popular with Cambodian viewers, who don't always have many other entertainment options.

"It's very strange that many comedians, I mean famous comedians, become bodyguards with a military rank," he said. "People know it -- the prime minister gives public information about the comedians being bodyguards -- but they control the TV and ordinary people have no choice but to watch them."

Panha pointed out that all of Cambodia's eight TV stations are linked to the CPP in some way, creating a "very limited playing field" for opposition parties.

A decade ago, when Funcinpec was a more serious contender for power, it had its own comedian-affiliates. But as the party has dwindled over the past few years, its comedians have all defected to the CPP.

The best known of them, Lorcy, struggled for years to find work after campaigning for Funcinpec during the 2003 election season. He claimed he had been blacklisted from the airwaves and feared for his life. In 2009, he defected from Funcinpec and published an open letter of apology to Hun Sen through General Bunheang. His career immediately picked up. Krem invited him to join his troupe for a guest appearance, and now Lorcy regularly performs on two government-affiliated stations. On April 1, he became a lieutenant colonel in the bodyguard unit.

"I was really regretful of my mistake, which was why I apologized for forgiveness to be given to Samdech [Hun Sen]'s child, me," said Lorcy, using a Cambodian honorific that roughly translates as "Lord." "Samdech is a great leader. He forgave me for my mistake, which was done by accident, and I made a commitment to sacrifice my life to serve the party and Samdech."

Lorcy said he planned to devote the next stage of his career to "make and spread propaganda and send messages to people over the party's and Samdech's accomplishments."

Panha and Sochua said cases like Lorcy's showed that there was little freedom of expression for those whose views stray from the party line.

"It's a form of political discrimination," said Sochua, who noted that the comedians draw their military salaries from the national budget. "Every element that is painted as opposition is faced with this discrimination. It is a very sad state for democracy."

But Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, dismissed this criticism, saying that comedians and entertainers merely held a strong preference for the ruling party.

"Comedians can be CPP members and they do whatever they feel like doing to support the party. That's their own choice."

He said the government never dictated the content of comedy routines: "We are too busy to tell them to do this, to do that."

By all accounts, they don't need to.

"We work for the prime minister, so why should we perform for Sam Rainsy?" asked Krem. "If we eat a person's food, we have to work for that one."

Neou Vannarin and Kuch Naren contributed reporting from Phnom Penh

Ah Chor Ruoch Khluon, M'chas Choab Kuk - The thief gets away, the owner jailed: A Poem in Khmer by Khmer Sachak

Khlang Toeus Khang Lech, Phlech Toeus Khang Koeut - Strong along the west, you forgot the east: Poem in Khmer by Khmer Sachak

New comedy troupe revives Cambodian theatre

Thursday, 10 February 2011
Ou Mom
The Phnom Penh Post

A NEW comedy is being premiered next week by a group of players dedicated to promoting Cambodian theatre and wooing more young audiences.

The play, called Daddy’s Fatherland, deals with an American-born girl called Judy, whose Khmer father is a master of traditional stringed instruments and whose mother is Chinese. This cultural brew produces a love of Cambodian arts that can flourish anywhere in the world.

Performers are from the Nouveau Comedy Theatre, established by Cambodian expat Im Kim Sour. After studying traditional dance and Bassac theatre at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, she obtained a Chinese scholarship to study arts in 1973 and then lived in France during the war. She later married and lived in Tokyo with her Japanese husband.

Im Kim Sour, whose Japanese name is Midori, said she was the first to teach Khmer traditional dance to French and Japanese pupils, and was a former dancer with the Cambodian Embassy in Tokyo.

“I created this group (Nouveau Comedy Theatre) as I saw that theatrical plays, especially Khmer traditional speaking dramas, have almost disappeared. Most students of theatre find it difficult to get a full-time job,” she said.

Putting her money where her mouth is, she funded the group to bring new theatrical experiences to Cambodian audiences, Im Kim Sour said.

Previously, when living in Japan, she had taught Khmer dance to Japanese high school pupils, who staged performances that raised a total of US$50,000 for a school in Cambodia.

She returned to live in Cambodia in 2002, discovering that the ancient Bassac theatre traditions had almost died out in Phnom Penh.

There are nine members of the Nouveau Comedy Theatre company, who are paid a monthly salary for rehearsals and performances.

Star of Daddy’s Fatherland is Im Chan Rotha, 21, who performs as the leading character Judy. She graduated in drama from the Secondary School of Fine Arts but has not been able to use her theatrical skills for three years.

“I love this performance,” she said. “But working in the theatre is much more difficult than acting on TV, because on film you can play the scenes several times before you get it right.

“I have more confidence in performing this premiere for our group because I believe that Cambodian people will get a new feeling and become interested in the theatre,” she added.

Rehearsals have been taking place for the past three months, with at least four hours a day being spent on fleshing out the comedy business.

Daddy’s Fatherland opens on February 18 and plays every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until March 13 at 4:30pm at 2 Royal University of Phnom Penh (near Phnom Penh Airport). Tickets cost $2 for students, $3 for reserved tickets, and $4 for walk-in tickets. For bookings, call 077 363 390. HR

PAD: No plan to cordon off Parliament

via CAAI

BANGKOK, Feb 9 -- Thailand's yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will rally at Bangkok's Royal Plaza Friday with no plan to blockade Parliament as the government feared and will not protest in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket bordering Cambodia, a PAD core leader Maj Gen Chamlong Srimuang said here Wednesday.

The PAD, encamped at Makkhawan Bridge on Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue near Government House for 16 days, earlier announced their intention to intensify their protest.

Gen Chamlong said Monday that the Yellow Shirt protesters will move Friday to other key sites, but did not say where.

Gen Chamlong said he will lead the PAD demonstrators to Royal Plaza Friday at 10am to represent Thai nationals to take a patriotic oath before the King Rama V Equestrian Statue to voluntarily protect Thai territory and to use every means to press for the return of land from Cambodian occupation.

The PAD will then return to the protest area at Makkhawan Bridge. There will be no road blockade or rally at Parliament as the government feared, he said.

The PAD core leader also said a small PAD group would travel to Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket, the scene of Thai-Cambodian border clashes to give relief supplies and aid to villagers affected by the recent fighting.

Gen Chamlong said Pol Maj Gen Wichai Sangprapai, commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1 met him this morning to ask the PAD to open road for traffic, but the Yellow Shirt leader rejected the request.

Meanwhile, PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan said the ultra patriotic organisation tomorrow will petition the Administrative Court asking it to overrule the government's imposition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in seven districts of Bangkok between Feb 9-23.

Mr Panthep said the petition will argue that the PAD's rally has so far has been in compliance with the law and has caused no violence, so the use of the ISA therefore was unjustified.

The PAD demanded that Thailand withdraw from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, revoke the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Cambodia and push Cambodians now living in border areas which they claim belong to Thailand back to their homeland.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejected their ultimatum, saying the revocation of the 2000 agreement will not make Thailand lose territory to the neighbouring country. (MCOT online news)

Thailand's political upheaval feeds border

http://www.vancouversun.com/

via CAAI

By Jonathan Manthorpe

Vancouver Sun February 9, 2011

The border clashes in which seven people have been killed in fighting between Cambodian and Thai troops in recent days have their roots in nearly five years of political upheaval in Thailand and uncertainty about what happens when ailing, 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies.

Thailand's politics have been in turmoil since the September 2006 bloodless coup by royalist military leaders ousted the democratically elected government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

As the country approaches promised new elections this year, nationalist instincts have been stirred among royalists of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), known by their trademark yellow shirts.

Expression of that nationalism has focused on the 11thcentury Hindu temple on the border with Cambodia which is known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand.

Ownership of the temple was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice. But it resurfaced as an issue in Thai politics in 2008 when Cambodia successfully lobbied for the temple to be designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO.

There have been regular skirmishes between the two militaries since then, but the latest intense fighting comes from an incident on Dec. 29 when seven Yellow Shirts, including a government party MP, walked across the disputed border.

Their aim was to shame current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who although levered into power by royalists through a tailor-made Constitutional Court ruling in 2008, has become a target of the Yellow Shirts, who believe he's abandoned the royalist counterrevolution against unbridled democracy.

Five of the seven were released immediately, but two Yellow Shirts have been sentenced to prison terms by a Cambodian court for illegal entry and spying.

Thailand remains a country where the transition to a fully operation constitutional monarchy is incomplete.

Elites expressing strong royalist sympathies continue to hold a great deal of power and have no compunction at bending the rule of law or election formalities to ensure that the social hierarchy is not disturbed.

The PAD Yellow Shirts believe the votes of the elites should count for more than those of the urban and rural poor.

This entrenched class system met its most serious challenge in 2001 with the election of billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra, the first Thai prime minister who came to office with genuine public support. Thai elections are, however, a commercial enterprise and Thaksin's personal wealth was undoubtedly a great advantage.

Thaksin's independent power base and his evident republican instincts outraged the Yellow Shirts who mounted a series of increasingly disruptive demonstrations that gave political justification for the 2006 coup.

The depth of involvement of the palace in the coup remains a matter of speculation. There has been no suggestion that King Bhumibol himself had prior knowledge, but there are credible allegations the coup was engineered by Queen Sirikit, who subsequently has publicly supported the Yellow Shirts, and the king's chief personal adviser, former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda.

Thaksin fled into exile, though with money and webcam appearances at mass rallies he spurred a movement of supporters known by their trademark red shirts.

And when, after a year of military rule, new elections were held a party supporting Thaksin was elected to power.

In late 2008 the military and the royalists got a Constitutional Court ruling ousting the Thaksin-supporting government for election fraud. Abhisit and his pro-palace followers were installed without an election being necessary.

Outraged Red Shirts took to the streets and for days last year occupied several blocks of central Bangkok before their barricaded encampment was stormed by the military with the loss of nearly 100 lives. Since he came to the throne in June 1946, King Bhumibol has been a steadying hand on Thai politics and has on occasion intervened to prevent coups or restore harmony.

But a good deal of the current turmoil and uncertainty revolves around lack of confidence that his son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, will show the same skills when he comes to the throne.

Among the WikiLeaks documents published last year are cables from the American ambassador reporting that even senior courtiers such as chief adviser Prem are worried about the crown prince, who spends much time in Munich, Germany, with his main mistress and who has indulged in such eccentricities as appointing his dog Foo Foo as air chief marshal of the Thai Royal Air Force.

jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com

Pictures From Preah Vihear

Cambodian frontline commander Gen. Chea Tara talks with reporters Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier burns incense stick as he makes prayers next to a Buddhist monk at Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which wasenlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage, in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Buddhist monk, right, cooks meals together with army soldiers at Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO'sWorld Heritage, in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. A Cambodian army soldiers through the Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage site in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian army soldiers walk around Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier stands near a crater on the compounds of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier points at the damaged section of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A sign is seen under Cambodian and UNESCO flags at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February 9, 2011. Thailandand Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

An overview of Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, UNESCO's World Heritage, is seen in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Pictures by Radio Free Asia

UN urges restraint in deadly Thai-Cambodia clashes

Monday, February 07, 2011
By Suy Se
AFP

Cambodian and Thai troops clashed on Monday for a fourth straight day as the UN chief called for "maximum restraint" in a border dispute that has claimed seven lives and displaced thousands.

The latest hostilities, which lasted for less than an hour, followed heavy fighting on Sunday after the collapse of a ceasefire agreed a day earlier in the wake of the worst clashes between the two neighbours in years.

Four days of violence have left five dead and 45 injured on the Cambodian side, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters, but declined to provide more details. Thailand has reported two deaths, including one civilian.

Phnom Penh said Thai artillery fire had damaged the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple at the centre of the stand-off and accused Thailand of wanting to occupy a disputed 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) surrounding area.

In New York, Ban Ki-moon's office said the UN chief was "deeply concerned" about the stand-off.

"The secretary-general appeals to both sides to put in place an effective arrangement for cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint," it said, in a call echoed by China and Singapore.

Hun Sen has called on the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting about what he described as "Thailand's aggression", warning that regional stability was at risk.

The outspoken strongman asked for UN troops to be sent to the area to create a "buffer zone" and said he would welcome help from allies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to resolve the dispute.

Both sides have accused each other of starting the fighting.

Marty Natalegawa, foreign minister of Indonesia -- the current ASEAN chair -- held talks with Hor Namhong in Phnom Penh Monday and said he hoped the situation could be "resolved peacefully through dialogue and negotiations".

"I'm not pessimistic," Marty told reporters after the meeting, adding that he would also visit Bangkok, which has dismissed intervention by the regional bloc as "unnecessary".

Sombo Manara, a history professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, said long-standing disagreement over the countries' border was behind the dispute.

"I don't think that the conflict will end without intervention from a third party and clear demarcation (of the border) between the two countries," he said.

The violence has displaced thousands of people on both sides of the frontier.

"There was serious gunfire last night with shells dropping just behind my home," said Cambodian villager Tim Nga as he and his family arrived at a tent camp erected some 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the Preah Vihear temple area.

In Thailand's eastern province Si Sa Ket, about 15,000 people spent the night at 38 temporary shelters and 23 schools near the border were told to close temporarily, according to provincial governor Somsak Suwansujarit.

It is unclear exactly what triggered the latest violence, but diplomatic frictions have grown since late December when seven Thais, including one lawmaker, were arrested by Cambodia near the border for illegal entry.

Two of them were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for spying, in a case that has caused outrage among nationalist Thais, who have held protests in Bangkok calling for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.

Ties between the neighbours have been strained since Preah Vihear was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008. Thailand and Cambodia have each accused the other of starting the ongoing clashes.

"Thailand does not invade any country. We protect our sovereignty," Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told reporters.

"The army has reaffirmed that retaliation was conducted carefully and avoided the temple," he said.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear itself belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand.

At UN on Thai - Cambodia, 2 Council Members Said to Want Meeting, Not ASEAN Deferral

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, calls and responses not shown

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, February 7 -- After Cambodia's prime minister Hun Sen wrote Sunday to the President of the UN Security Council, Brazil's Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, she made 14 calls to Council members and the Secretary General's office about the border skirmishes with Thailand.

The consensus on Sunday, Inner City Press is told by sources, was to have ASEAN deal with the conflict in the first instance, with Indonesia's foreign minister (and former UN ambassador) taking the lead.

On Monday morning, however, something change. With the issue set to be discussed in closed door consultations under Any Other Business, two countries are said to want there to be a formal meeting on Cambodia's requests, which now include a request for UN peacekeepers and a buffer zone.

Much discussed on Monday morning at the UN was the last time this border and temple dispute came to the Council, in 2008. Then, with fellow ASEAN member Viet Nam holding the Council presidency, pressure was brought to bear to keep the dispute at the national and regional level.

Finally, Viet Nam's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press, “Letter withdrawn.... problem disappear.” But will that happen this time? Perhaps not. Watch this site.

KKF Newsletter No.76 Vol.08

Asean, Indonesia call for cool heads in Thai-Cambodia situation

Sun, Feb 06, 2011
The Nation/Asia News Network

The deteriorating situation along the Thai-Cambodian border was undermining confidence in Asean and affecting economic recovery, tourism and investment prospects, Asean chief Surin Pitsuwan said in an urgent message to the two countries over the latest deadly flare-up.

"I am deeply concerned about the serious situation on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. This violent conflict must be brought under control and return to the negotiating table as soon as possible," Surin said.

The violent conflict started with gunfire and an artillery dual in mid-afternoon on Friday near the long disputed site of Phra Viharn/Preah Vihear Temple. While the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, areas close to it are claimed by both sides.

"I have been in touch with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cambodia, Hor Namhong, and the Foreign Minister of Thailand Kasit Piromya, and I have appealed for calm, maximum restraint on both sides, and expressed my fervent desire to see both sides return to the negotiating table as soon as possible," he said.

Surin called on both sides to allow Asean to help them reach some form of temporary truce and cool down the emotions and anger so that the higher interest of both peoples and Asean could be protected and enhanced.

"The situation has escalated into open conflict. And that will definitely affect our economic development, confidence in our region, and tourism and prospects for foreign investment, which have just been picking up in light of the world economic recovery," he said.

Diplomatic sources revealed that Surin's wishes would materialise soon as Indonesia, the current Asean chair, is also stepping up diplomatic efforts to help the two sides find a temporary solution, so that bilateral mechanisms can accomplish their objectives of border demarcation and peace.

"I understand both sides now welcome some form of mediation by the Asean leadership," Surin said, without elaborating.

Dare to dream the impossible!

I didn't think Egypt's revolution was possible. But here we are.

Sunday, February 6, 2011
By Ahmed Alaidy
The Washington Post

IN CAIRO

I see children on their parents' shoulders, singing for Egypt. I see a man dressed in Muslim Brotherhood garb shouting, "Freedom! Freedom!" - normally members of that group quote a verse from the Koran. But this man, with his child on his shoulders, too, is shouting only for freedom. It is a transformation, everyone merging together.

From a storefront window near Tahrir Square, I am filming scenes from a war movie.

Handfuls of stones form ribbons in the air, moving in a kind of slow motion. A man with a beard kneels, holding his hands up in prayer, unworried about the rain of heavy rocks that miraculously misses him. Then time speeds up, and the man rises and throws stones along with his comrades.

By now, in the middle of the week, the president has said he will step down in September, but that is disappointing to the people and their aspirations. In 2006, it would have been possible for Hosni Mubarak to calm the public by nominating a vice president, or forming a new government that excluded corrupt ministers and promising not to run in the next election. This is not enough anymore. I now hear nonstop shooting outside, while learning news of demonstrators wounded - or killed.

Egyptians published a date for their revolution on Facebook, and here they are, bare-chested, facing tear gas, riot police sticks and bullets. Several days into the fight, they are still capable of gathering in hundreds of thousands, dancing, chanting, shouting, creating slogans and carrying banners against the corrupt president improvised on every piece of material imaginable.

"People want to bring the regime down," the banners read, and "Please give up now my hands are too numb (from carrying the banner too long)" and "Your expiration date is January 25." Rumors spread in the absence of trustworthy information: Israel will drop weapons to the police militias; don't drink juice, it contains a sedative.

To be with the crowds in Tahrir Square is like being in a motion picture - but instead of just watching in awe, I am living the event. I am 36 years old. I thought one day my grandson might see this moment. But here I am.

Cairo isn't where I live anymore, but it is where I have to be now. I had been working as an editor in Doha, Qatar, and was scheduled to be in Cairo now for the international book fair. That was canceled, of course, but I am here anyway, and I plan to stay. I may lose my job, but losing a job is better than losing a country.

I see children on their parents' shoulders, singing for Egypt. I see a man dressed in Muslim Brotherhood garb shouting, "Freedom! Freedom!" - normally members of that group quote a verse from the Koran. But this man, with his child on his shoulders, too, is shouting only for freedom. It is a transformation, everyone merging together.

Against the swelling crowds late Tuesday evening, the murderous president recites his old achievements. He flirts with the common man in a tone suitable for love letters, not a brief speech of a president living his last days in office. Mubarak has lost his last chance to hand power over smoothly to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, even on a temporary basis, to prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. On "Departure Friday," the president could taste his own poison as the crowds remained defiant in the square, seeming to echo his own words that "Homeland is everlasting, and people are passers-by."

All this is happening even in the absence of Internet and cellphone connections. The regime banned al-Jazeera from broadcasting, and the list of violations goes on - foreign correspondents in custody, broken cameras, plastic and real bullets shot into the crowds of demonstrators.

On the ninth day of the revolution, the president gave a green light to the Ministry of Interior to push riot police, thugs, paid outlaws and state police in plain clothes to demonstrate as supporters of the regime.

In the early morning, they were carried in trucks to places around and inside Tahrir Square to provoke the peaceful demonstrators there. It's a method that has never failed this president, a surefire way to forge elections and fight demonstrations.

These militias clashed with the protesters, using guns and Molotov cocktails to kick them out of the square. The demonstrators then organized themselves, hurling stones and forcing the president's militias to retreat, until they finally took over the situation. Some broke the stones into smaller pieces, some carried them to the throwers. An assembly line of resistance.

I had been working on a novel about a future revolution, picturing the day the people finally went against the regime. I imagined crowds, how the regime would provoke people and how the people would snap, step by step. Pure fiction.

I will have to rewrite it.

Pictures From the border Khmer/Thai

Cambodia's military commanders (R) speak to their Thai counterparts after a brief exchange of fire near the Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia February 5, 2011. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around the 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. REUTERS/Khem Sovannara

Cambodian soldiers run towards a bunker at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, in this February 4, 2011 still image taken from video. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around an 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as KhaoPhraViharn. REUTERS/CTN via Reuters TV

A Cambodian soldier fires a rocket launcher from behind sandbags at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, in this February 4, 2011 still image taken from video. REUTERS/CTN via Reuters TV

A Cambodian soldier fires a machine gun from a bunker at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, in this February 4, 2011 still image taken from video. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around an 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as KhaoPhraViharn. REUTERS/CTN via Reuters TV

A Cambodian soldier holds a rocket launcher from behind sandbags at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, in this February 4, 2011 still image taken from video. REUTERS/CTN via Reuters

A Thai man is seen at a crater allegedly caused by a shell in Si Sa Ket province near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple at the border between Thailand and Cambodia February 5, 2011. Deadly fighting broke out between Thai and Cambodian soldiers on Friday and Saturday. REUTERS/Stringer

Cambodian soldiers (in green military fatigues) speak to their Thai counterparts as their commanders meet after a brief exchange of fire near the Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia February 5, 2011. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around an 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. REUTERS/Khem Sovannara

Cambodian soldiers load ammunition near Preah Vihear temple after a brief clash with Thai troops early February 5, 2011. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around the 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. REUTERS/Pheara

Cambodian soldiers sit at Preah Vihear temple after a brief clash with Thai troops early February 5, 2011. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around the 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. REUTERS/Pheara

A wounded Cambodian soldier is transported from the Preah Vihear temple front line to a local hospital after a brief clash with Thai troops early February 5, 2011. Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire for a second day on Saturday in a brief clash that killed at least one Thai soldier, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over land around the 11th-century temple, known to Cambodians as the Preah Vihear temple, and known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. REUTERS/Pheara