Category Archives: International

History in Lexicon

02 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Culture, Event, History, International, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Your students must certainly have read this online information from both VODhotnews and The Cambodia Daily. Since the relationship between the Khmer communists and the Vietnamese communists went as far back as 1946 – quite possibly your students’ great-grandparents or grandparents generations – and still continue to influence the current conduct of the Khmer Rouge and ex-Khmer Rouge that rule the land of the Khmer since 1975, the visit should not be without controversy and your students’ attention and focus should be armed with some background awareness:

  • Ho Chi Minh (original name: Nguyen Sinh Cung) was the founder and a revolutionary leader of the League for the Independence of Vietnam or the Viet Minh, who led the Viet Minh Independence movement in 1941, and was president of Vietnam democratic republic in 1945.
  • Since the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of Vietnam, between 1976 and today, Vietnam has had 7 presidents and 2 Chairmen of the Council of State.
  • Meanwhile, in 1975 Cambodia was led by Khmer Rouge and genocidal Pol Pot.
  • In 1977, the weak strongman (original name: Bunal or Nal) left his Khmer Rouge group and fled to Vietnam for protection and reorganization similar to the mold of the Khmer Viet Minh in 1954.
  • In 1979, he returned to Cambodia with the support of Vietnamese troops and became Cambodia solo prime minister since 1985 until today.
  • Would the trip to Vietnam under its 9th president who took office in October 2018 look like to pay homage and to recognize the eternal debt the weak strongman has contracted for his power as a subordinate ruler in Cambodia?
  • Would future history confirm its past?

Here are some historical lexicons that your students might wish to have in their notebooks:

  • COOC: Central Office of Cambodia
  • Lao Dong: Vietnamese Workers’s Party (founded by Ho Chi Minh)
  • Nam Bo: Southern Department
  • COSVN: Central Office of South Vietnam
  • CCP: Cambodia Communist Party
  • Ban Can Su: Cadre Affairs Committee
  • KC: Khmer Communist
  • KCP: Khmer Communist Party
  • Son Ngoc Minh: Khmer Communist leader during pre-and-post-Independence
  • KCPC: Khmer Communist Party Committee
  • Region 203: Southeast region of Cambodia
  • Muoi Cuc (Ten chrysanthemums?): (Possibly a.k.a Nguyen Van Cuc or Nguyen Van Linh) Head of COSVN in 1954 and Chief advisor of Khmer Communists
  • CLA: Cambodia Liberation Army, formally known as Cambodia National People’s Liberation Armed Forces
  • CCKL: Central Committee for the Khmer Liberation
  • Nguyen Thanh Son: Chief of Nam Bo’s Foreign Affairs Section
  • Training Camps and Ethnic Minority Training Camps: in Hanoi area for training regroupees of Khmer Communists
  • Regroupees: Khmer Communists who were relocated to Vietnam after Independence
  • Son Thay Military Academy: where best KC were trained
  • Nguyen Ai Quoc School: Where KC senior cadres were trained
  • Khmer Viet Minh: Khmer Communists indoctrinated and trained in Vietnam
  • GVN: Government of (South) Vietnam
  • NLF: Vietcong’s National Liberation Front
  • CCFAF: Central Committee to Fight Against Fraud (the group chaired by Lon Nol to oversee shipments of rice to Vietcong
  • CCC: Cambodian Communist Central Committee
  • Red Khmer or Red K: Khmer Krâhârm, Khmer Rouge (coined circa 1962)
  • Khmerization: (1) use of Khmer language (instead of French); (2) conversion of Khmer Leu (Northeastern Khmer) into Khmer
  • B3 Front: Vietcong military command based in Rattanakiri
  • CPK: Communist Party of Kampuchea
  • Don’t spill the tea: Warning that the tea being boiled for the master is more important than the life of the oppressed.

Last but not least, let keep this definition in the back of the mind if the weak strongman doesn’t realize his bounded vassalage because of blindness or ignorance:
“The definition of a vassal was someone in feudal times who received protection and land from a lord in return for allegiance and performing military and other duties, or someone who is subordinate.
“An example of a vassal is a person who was given part of a lord’s land and who pledged himself to that lord.
“An example of a vassal is a subordinate or servant.”

=====

Update:
On 5 December 2018, The Cambodia Daily online published this piece: មេដឹកនាំ​ខ្មែរ​នឹង​ទៅ​ទស្សន​កិច្ច​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​វៀតណាម​អម​ដោយ​មន្រ្តី​ កំពូលៗ​ជាច្រើន​មិន​ធ្លាប់​មាន​ពី​មុន​មក​

‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’

17 Saturday Nov 2018

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My dear Kacvey,

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has given a lesson of responsibility in high politics and diplomacy that you may wish to instill in your students ethical behavior in the modern and fast age of technology and social media.

Politico has this title: Macron to Trump: ‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’ and The New York Times: Macron’s Response to Trump: ‘I Do Not Do Policy or Diplomacy by Tweets’

You may ask what does that have to do with my class?
Well, good behavior and respect of high responsibility have a lot to do with your students prospective careers.

Let leave to Emmanuel Macron and Donald trump what belongs to Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump to deal with between themselves. Instead, let just recall how the weak strongman uses Facebook to rule Cambodia, to brag about his millions “like”, to disparage people he doesn’t like, and also to raise wager with his nemesis!

Your students should bear in mind that:
– the country has scales of laws and regulations (whether or not voted and implemented by the kangaroos!)
– the prime minister is the head of the government composed of ministers (sycophantic or otherwise!) to run the ministries;
– the government has ambassadors accredited to various world capitals, and
– the government has administrative procedures and mechanism to ensure that governmental decisions are passed on hierarchically for smooth implementation.

In a very simple term, if the weak strongman uses his Facebook account to dictate his wimp, why should there be ministers and all those useless officials or ministries? why should there be national assembly? why should there be courts and tribunals? why should there be ambassadors?
Why not then abolishing the whole concept of the three branches of power and just having a big screen with the weak strongman sitting in front of the screen and belting out any stupidity that crosses his mind?

In international diplomacy and official dealings, who on earth outside Cambodia cares about what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer in his Facebook account? Do world leaders at the UN, the EU, the IPU, or the ASEAN, etc … pay any attention to what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer about his justification of the sham election for one-party state, of the death of democracy and the abuse and violation of human rights and freedom of association? No, no, and no.

Your students are clever enough to understand that you, Kacvey, don’t care about what they think or write in their Facebook account, and that you only accept home works or term papers either in hard copy or through email from them directly submitted to you. None of your student should never argue that: “But, professor Kacvey, I wrote my dissertation on my Facebook!”

To which you laughingly respond: “I do not correct your Facebook paper!”

“Georgia on My Mind”

21 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by in Institution, International, Issue, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

The song “Georgia on My Mind” composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, and rendered a worldwide hit by Ray Charles, does it ring a bell?

Sure do,
“Georgia, Georgia
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind”
but why the question? and why Georgia?

Dude, where were you during the week of 15-19 October 2018?

Brussels and Geneva.

O.K., too busy over there, that’s why you miss a social media news: Overseas CNRP leaders/representatives are planning a world conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on 1-2 December 2018.

So what?

Well, how about triangulating Brussels/Geneva/Atlanta?

Please elaborate.

Situations

  1. The weak strongman failed miserably to convince the European Union that his sham election was free and fair.
  2. A sham election tainted with flagrant abuse and violations of basic human rights and organized under autocratic procedure and process has no place in a democratic Europe.
  3. In Brussels, the European Union is “launching the process for the withdrawal of their Everything But Arms preferences. Without clear and evident improvements on the ground, this will lead to the suspending of the trade preferences that they currently enjoy.“
  4. Simultaneously, in Geneva, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at its 139th assembly session, adopted a set of very strong decisions against the weak strongman’s regime.
  5. The weak strongman returned to the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk not only empty-handed and lonely, but also without any assurance that, if EBA becomes effective, no other countries would come to pick up the slack.
  6. Meanwhile, on 17 October 2018, the overseas “leaders/representatives of CNRP” were planning to organize a world conference on 1-2 December 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.

EQUATION

How can the above situations be put into an equation for a possible or probable solution that could be beneficial to Srok Khmer and the Khmer people?

So, let create a speculative scenario: What if the Atlanta world conference would like to invite the CNRP president who is now placed under house arrest to be the key note speaker?

Kacvey, you can argue upfront that this is such a crazy, insane and far-fetched idea that the weak strongman will never ever accept or allow the leader of the opposition to leave the country, because so doing would completely destroy what he has built up so far to support and sustain his autocratic rule, and he might encounter unexpected and unhappy consequences to his rule, fortune and his sycophantic and corrupt clan.

Quite and highly possible and true: however, any idea that’s never tested on the field is crazy; please remember that many crazy ideas are mothers of great invention! Here, it’s the weak strongman that has to address the concerns and decisions by the EU and IPU, and not the other way around. The ball is in his court as it showed when he took the plane to Brussels and Geneva to face head-on the conditions set up by both European institutions.

On the one hand, IPU “urges once again all Cambodian authorities to immediately release Mr. Kem Sokha and drop the charges, to allow him to resume his duties as president of the opposition without further delay and restriction and to reinstate the CNRP.”

On the other, during the Europe-Asia Meeting (ASEM) Summit, the EU High Representative and Vice-President said “that there is a lot of concern in Europe, but not only in Europe, about the dissolution in November last year of the main opposition party and in general terms the narrowed democratic space for political opposition and civil society.” She further added: “We discussed this. I cannot say that we found solutions to any of these issues”

ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION

The Atlanta world conference could be a possible “solution” to the deadlocked situation between the weak strongman and the EU/IPU: if the weak strongman is serious about Srok Khmer, serious about the fate and welfare of the garments workers, he could let the leader of the opposition go to Atlanta. So doing, he would show to EU/IPU his goodwill, if any, to attempt to break the stalemate.

But, Kacvey, you could argue that the leader of the opposition would not return to Cambodia like a jailed bird will never return to its cage. Again, quite highly possible, and if/when he returns he would be put back in jail. So, what’s good about all of that?
But the leader of the opposition already knows what Thbong Khmoum is, doesn’t he? If he is a leader with predestined national augury, why afraid of returning to Cambodia? Why would he, without dual nationality, be acting like his once co-president? His battlefield is in Cambodia next to and with the more than 3 millions constituents. On the contrary, his political courage and image would be multiplied 10 folds.

Again, Kacvey, you could argue that it would be such a big gamble for the weak strongman to bet against the banker, especially with massive supporters at Pochentong. Ah, if he is afraid of that visionary scene like during Mr. Kem Ley’s funerals procession, it would mean that he knows in his heart and mind that his political life is not far away to be ended.

Nothing would stop you from asking your students what would they say, or speculating what would be EU/IPU reactions? … Or fretting about unnecessary detail arrangements.

As Ben Franklin, once, said: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”

Meanwhile, let close the triangulation Brussels/Geneva/Atlanta with the next 2 couplets of the song:
“I said Georgia
Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines.

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you.“

Les Trois Grands “U”

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by in Culture, Governance, Institution, International, Issue, Politics, Social, Stories

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Mon cher Kacvey,

Vos étudiants devraient se gratter la tête pour comprendre qu’est ce qui se passe en ce moment dans la Cité de Tonlé Buon Mouk avec les déclarations de toute sorte des 3 trois grands “U”.

Les 3 grands “U”, c’est quoi donc?

Ouais! l’ONU, l’Union européenne, et les Etats-Unis. Tous les 3 ont un “U” dans leur nom. Simplifions l’orthographie, quoi!

Ah, sanctions économiques, EBA, critique internationale mitraillée de quatres coins du monde contre le faible homme-fort même au sein de l’Asean, lui même en désarroi au sein de son propre parti et ridiculement hué à Sydney, New York, Tokyo et bientôt Bruxelles et  Genève!

Vous saisissez tous, Kacvey! Alors, vous vous débrouillez pour expliquer à vos étudiants les raisons, causes et effets de tous ces machins-là. Mais voici, en supplément, un téléphone arabe tout récemment intercepté par la déesse de l’année du chien (Tévoda Chnam Chôr) quand, au hazard, elle se promenait dans son chariot dans le ciel au-dessus de nos têtes:

Phnuoy Mék: Allô, mon Seigneur. C’est Phnuoy Mék à l’appareil. Je me prosterne à vos pieds pour vous présenter mes respects.
On Ze: Allô oui. Je vous entends. J’ai seulement 3 minutes avec vous. Washington est sur mes talons. Je vous écoute.
Phnuoy Mék: Les 3 grands “U” sont aussi sur mes talons et je ne sais pas quoi faire. J’attends un geste ou un mot de vous pour réagir contre eux.
On Ze: Je sais, mais vous êtes assez grand pour vous débrouiller, non?! Je ne peux pas mélanger votre histoire avec la guerre commerciale qui me menace en ce moment de Washington. Chaque chose a ses priorités.
Phnuoy Mék: Je vous ai attendu à New York pour montrer à ces 3 “U” que vous êtes le Seigneur en qui j’ai le plus absolu dévouement et qu’ils cessent de m’enquiquiner. Mais vous m’avez posé un lapin.
On Ze: Je ne voulais pas me mettre les pieds au pays des Yankees, mais il y avait pas mal de mes sujets déguisés en supporteurs pour vous encourager.
Phnuoy Mék: Vos “supporteurs” étaient dans les rues et en inferiorité numérique, mais il n’y avait personne de taille dans le grand hall de l’ONU pour me soutenir.
On Ze: Allez, arrêtez de vous plaindre. Quoi d’autre?
Phnuoy Mék: Si EBA passait dans quelques mois, j’aurai une grande crise dans mes bras.
On Ze: Ne comptez-pas sur moi pour acheter ou importer chez moi vos vêtements et chaussures fabriqués chez vous. S’il y a crise sociale, utilisez les millions de dollars qui sont dans vos chaussettes et matelas. Je peux exporter d’autres dollars pour vous, mais je N’IMPORTE ni vos vêtements ni vos chaussures. J’en ai déjà trop de tout ce bazard chez moi.
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, Seigneur, j’ai plus d’un million de travailleuses et leurs familles qui dépendent de la production et de l’exportation de ces vêtements et chaussures.
On Ze: Moi, j’ai plus d’un milliard et demi de bouches à nourrir. Savez-vous faire le math? D’ailleurs, pourquoi depuis tout ce temps-là n’avez-vous jamais réfléchi ou compris que vos usines fonctionnent et vos travailleuses vivent au dépens des dépenses de consommation des gens des 2 grands “U”?
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, c’est les entrepreneurs de chez vous, de Hong Kong, de l’Asean qui décident toujours pour moi.
On Ze: Ces entrepreneurs n’étaient pas chez vous ni avant ni après que vous arriviez de chez Ngouy en 1979. N’oubliez pas que c’est vous qui les invitiez à venir s’installer chez vous depuis 1995, et vous et votre famille en tirez énormement de profits personnels depuis lors. Pourquoi vous n’investissez JAMAIS vos énormes ressources accumulées au fur du temps dans ces usines-là, au lieu de dépendre éternellement et à 100% des facteurs extérieurs?
Phnuoy Mék: Soit. Je vous entends, Seigneur. Que ferai-je de vos entrepreneurs qui dirigent les usines de vêtements et de chaussures?
On Ze: Ils n’ont absolument pas besoin de vous parce qu’ils savent que vous ne pouvez rien faire pour eux. S’ils ferment leurs usines et rentrent chez eux, ce n’est plus leur problèmes de gérer les travailleuses qui n’ont pas de travail. C’est VOUS. Quant à moi, je ne leur dirai rien parce qu’ils savent déjà quoi faire. Sachez que les portes d’investissement sont ouvertes au Bengladesh, en Turquie ou même chez Ngouy!
Phnuoy Mék: Qu’est ce que je devrais faire pour qu’ils ne délocalisent pas leurs usines de chez moi?
On Ze: Si vous êtes communiste comme moi, soyez de vrai communiste avec la dictature du prolétariat. Le communisme et la démocracie sont deux ennemis idéologiques et politiques. Si vous êtes communiste par le biais des élections, même truquées, vous êtes un faux communiste. Regardez moi; regardez Ngouy.
Phnuoy Mék: Au sujet de Ngouy, que diriez-vous de son nouveau président?
On Ze: Au moins, il y a du changement chez Ngouy, comme chez moi. Il n’y a que chez vous que les dirigeants ont des racines comme les banians de Ta Prohm. C’est en changeant qu’on améliore. Même le communisme change les communistes qui changent la face du communisme.
Phnuoy Mék: Alors, Seigneur, vous n’êtes pas d’accord avec le choix de mon fils aîné comme mon successeur?
On Ze: Je ne répète pas ce que je vous ai déjà dit la dernière fois sur ce sujet.
Phnuoy Mék: Etes-vous fâché contre moi, Seigneur?
On Ze: L’émotion et les sentiments n’ont pas de place dans ma politique et la gestion du monde n’est pas un roman d’amour. Dernier point?
Phnuoy Mék: Oui, Seigneur. Si EBA, les sanctions imposées par Washington sur mes “sales 17” (Dirty Seventeen) et les résolutions de UNHRC contre mon autorité domestique deviennent réalité, que deviendraient vos sujets qui s’établissent à Kg Som et ailleurs, et leurs casinos?
On Ze: Je compte sur vous non seulement pour les PROTEGER mais aussi pour tenir vos obligations envers moi car vous avez déjà perçu d’énormes redevances en contrepartie.
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, Seigneur, si, pour une raison ou une autre, la crise sociale déborde et si les amis de Ngouy dans les maisons flottantes et les gros sampans de Tonlé Sap se croisent les bras?
On Ze: Alors, personne n’est indispensable. Je pourrais vous trouver une résidence luxueuse dotée de meilleure médecine traditionelle – comme jadis reservée pour le prince – pour vous dans la province natale de vos ancêtres, le “Nan Min” ou le “Bei Min.” Comme ça, vous pourrez goûter la douceur de la vie dans le communisme étranger avec plus d’un milliard et demi de gens comme voisins. Et soyez rassuré que vous ne manqueriez pas de “tréy ngiét” pour vos repas du soir.

Il y eut un click, et le téléphone arabe coupé. La déesse de l’année du chien jeta un coup d’oeil vers la terre et vit Phnuoy Mék titubant tout seul vers le Tonlé Buon Mouk, une main sur sa poitrine comme pour supplier son coeur de ne pas le lâcher.

The XXIst Century’s Chéy Chétha

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in International, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

You and your students certainly have friends of Khmer Krom origin and whose historical memory is still vivid and painful about how Chéy Chétha II, in 1623, gave away about 34,300 square miles of Khmer land to Vietnam that later, in the 18th century, incorporated into its own territory.

The 21st century is witnessing and living through the same experience and reality that Cambodia is transforming itself into a vassal state or a colony territory, the chef d’oeuvre of the weak strongman. How ironic future history of Cambodia is revealing: the ex-Khmer Rouge who proclaimed to be the strongman who oppressed and repressed Cambodia and Cambodians is progressively handing over Cambodia to the power of money from the Northern Capital. When the weak strongman dies – no man lives forever – his soul wold be doubly judged: one by Hades for being part of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, and two by history for being the Chéy Chéetha XI for letting the people from the Middle Kingdom to come and take over the land of the Khmer Leu.

Somewhere, under a banyan tree on the sidewalk of the silk road, two men share their secrets:

Phnuoy Mék: May I greet you my lord, and long live your reign!
On Ze: Not too loud, banyan branches have ears.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I thank you for having made me who I am since 2012.
On Ze: You’ve been a good boy for us, and you’ve served us well.
Phnuoy Mék: For your desire, nothing cannot be impossible in srè khmok so long you let me know.
On Ze: Listen carefully. So far, it’s only the beginning. I have a big belly, so my belt is long, and the road I’m travelling is much longer than the historical silk road.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I’m all ears.
On Ze: I want to make your country and its sea a 1st outpost of my objective to control the whole region: the economy will serve the military.
Phnuoy Mék: Yes, my lord. Money first and army later.
On Ze: Not only that, but also millions of my subjects. I need my people to execute my plan. Your guys are not up to the level of my plan.
Phnuoy Mék: I close my eye for their arrival by air, sea or land.
On Ze: Yes, that’s why the casinos are an indispensable instrument: my subjects use entertainment to disguise their true identity.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, the more the casinos, the fuller my coffer.
On Ze: We supply you with more than yo wish, even if you would wish to use it as a pyre.
Phnuoy Mék: Your desire is my obligation, my lord.
On Ze: Don’t do anything behind my back to upset Ngouy.
Phnuoy Mék: Please count on me, my lord. Ngouy is sulking and pouting, but I told him that I am very thankful to him for what he’d done to me since the time I left the khmèr krâhârm to join him in 1977, facilitated my return in early 1979 and until I started to embrace your feet.
On Ze: I deal with him on my own term and time, but just make sure that Ngouy’s people around you do not do foolish thing.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I hear your voice.
On Ze: You’ve done a great job in shutting up your people’s mouth against you. The same thing must apply towards me and my gamblers.
Phnuoy Mék: In my previous association with the khmèr krâhârm, I’ve learned how to make them “bak sbaat.” They are still under that spell, and my lord should not worry.
On Ze: I have to leave now; anything else you wish?
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, have you thought about “after me”?
On Ze: Oh yes, I have. You seem to forget that Ngouy had groomed you and you have neglected not to groom anybody for “after you.”
Phnuoy Mék: I do, my lord; any of my 3 sons can be my dauphin.
On Ze: But none of them has had training in my hometown like you had in Ngouy’s hometown. By the way, is there unity among your 3 sons?
Phnuoy Mék: The 2nd and 3rd are not measured up to their brother.
On Ze: Then, send them back to boot camp.
Phnuoy Mék: Please absolve my sin, my lord.
On Ze: You shouldn’t worry about your “after me.” Since the end of the cultural revolution, I am the secretary general number 5. So, change makes changes. You have done enough for me that, “after you”, the spot will not be empty.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, are my days numbered?
On Ze: I don’t read cards, but my plan includes the ephemerality of the person; nobody lives forever nor is absolutely indispensable in the future. After you go, your land remains … for our use.
Phnuoy Mék: What will happen to my three sons?
On Ze: They can still enjoy the remnant of your wealth … elsewhere.
Phnuoy Mék: Oh no, are you making me the Chéy Chétha of the XXIst century?
On Ze: I don’t make you Chéy Chétha. You make yourself like Chéy Chétha … without knowing it.
Phnuoy Mék: Why didn’t I see it?
On Ze: Your Chéy Chétha was about woman. You are about power and money. All things you have done have consequences that your eye can’t see. Good Bye.

On 15 August 2018

16 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Governance, Institution, International, Issue, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

Did you have time to breathe a little bit with a glass of iced tea after those announcements from both the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk and Washington?

With allowance given for the difference of time zone, the sycophant nec (like in “pain in the …”) announced, as reported by AFP, that Cambodia ruling party sweeps parliament after vote with no opposition.

The weak strongman had just the time to brag in his Facebook account about the horrid and crooked victory on the sham election, Reuters reported from Washington that the U.S. says it is expanding visa bans over ‘flawed’ Cambodia poll.

And oh boy, what a slap under the eye of the weak strongman! And the Dirty Dozen, or Dirty Seventeen, must have been working hard on the phone to their relatives or handlers in the US. Meanwhile, their ambassador in Washington is nowhere to be seen or heard of. He’s just too small to face such a big political summer hurricane! And their new permanent representative to the UN hasn’t even known what is the difference between the UN and the US.

Meanwhile the lord of the Northern Capital has congratulated the weak strongman for being a docile vassal by keeping the Chinese overseas possession a fertile terrain for Chinese casinos and thugs and settlers from the Mainland.

Kacvey, more update will be forthcoming.

 

“No leader is forever”

08 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Event, Institution, International, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

Reuters reported that on 7 June 2018 in Montréal, Canada, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, said, inter alia, that “No leader is forever.” Although the tweet was made in the context of the G7 meeting, it could reverberate to mean that everything has a time limit, even for president, head of state or elected officials.

As far as post-French colonial Cambodia is concerned, “No leader is forever” is so true: gone were Sihanouk, Lon Nol and Pol Pot. On the international arena, also gone were Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh.

Any Cambodian leader who thinks that he is a leader forever is a fool who fools himself about his ephemeral grandeur and vanity. A leader whose ears do no longer ring with the voices of the people has reached the end of the path to the cliff.

No leader is forever and leader who doesn’t know when to quit will certainly lose the bet against his own sorrow.

Post scriptum
Text of Emmanuel Macron’s tweet:
“Aucun dirigeant n’est éternel. Nous héritons d’engagements qui nous dépassent. Nous les portons. C’est la vie des nations.”

“No leader is eternal. We inherit commitments which are beyond us. We take them on. That is the life of nations.”

The Phnom Penh “G”host

07 Monday May 2018

Posted by in Event, International, Issue

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My dear Kacvey,

So, on 6 May 2018, the Phnom Penh Post which was owned by an Australian company was sold to a Malaysian company for an undisclosed price. A foreign press in Cambodia changed hand between foreigners. And all of this in the name of press freedom in Cambodia! Any bigger BS?

With the above sale, the last bastion of independent journalism in Cambodia is buried in the same grave as the victims of the KR genocidal regime, the opposition party and The Cambodia Daily; from such grave rises the specter of The Phnom Penh “G”host. Genocidal KR killed Khmer, ex-KR-turned-tyrant continues to kill what is the essence of Khmerness.

Kacvey, please tell your students to read and learn about the history and activities of the new owner with regards to their relationship with the corrupt and dictatorial ex-KR in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk. Please also cancel the subscription as there is no place in our library for a sycophantic press serving autocracy to the destruction of Cambodia, present and future. There still are plenty of materials of different and opposing views to read in the world of web.

 

“The Hungry Dragon”

05 Saturday May 2018

Posted by in Book, International

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My dear Kacvey,

This is a book which is co-authored by a Cambodian-American, Sophal Ear, that your students MUST read and reflect on the issue of China’s influence on the current autocratic leadership in Cambodia:
“The Hungry Dragon – How China’s resource quest is reshaping the world”
by Sigfrido Burgos Cáceras and Sophal Ear.
ISBN:978-1-85743-624-6
Published by Routledge, United Kingdom and USA

A “Country Case Studies” on Cambodia runs from page 97 to page 118.

From the opening page of the book:
“This book explores China’s quest for energy sources, raw materials and natural resources around the world, with a specific emphasis on oil. China’s ubiquitous presence in Africa, Asia and Latin America is reshaping the world with regards to economics, politics and national security. It offers a comprehensive examination of China’s energy security strategy.

“The first two chapters delve into Chinese relations with energy markets and the world, and the global geopolitics of China’s resource quest. This introductory section is complemented by three in-depth country case studies: Angola, Brazil and Cambodia. The two concluding chapters cover opportunities and risks to China, and examine how strategies can be developed into tangible actions.

“This book offers a number of overlapping debates regarding the varieties of capitalisms (autocratic vs.democratic), the urgent need for rebalancing as the world undergoes global financial crises and contestations to traditional powers, and the issues surrounding natural resource extraction in the context of global governance, neoliberalism and poverty traps.

Key Features
· Offers an in-depth analysis on the geopolitics of China’s resource quest.
· Assists students and scholars in understanding the Chinese model of autocratic capitalism and China’s novel ways of securing resources across three continents.
· Explains China’s energy security strategy and its implications on US national security.
· Explores the links between international relations and the geopolitics of scarcity.

“Sigfrido Burgos Cáceres works at the University of South Alabama and is a consultant specializing in international development and foreign affairs. From 2007 to 2012 he was based in Rome, Italy, at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He lives in Mobile with his wife.

“Sophal Ear is an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy (Columbia University Press).”

“Three Kingdoms”

29 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Event, History, International, Politics

≈ Comments Off on “Three Kingdoms”

My dear Kacvey,

What a day, Friday 27 April 2018! A new page of World History is being written in the Korean Peninsula!

Thank You, CNN, for your reporting that we selectively archive for future use:
– Full declaration of North and South Korean summit, and
– Kim Yo Jong: The only woman at the summit table
– In pictures: The historic Korean summit

Kacvey, to encourage the discussions you would have with your law school students on probable issue of “reunification of Korea” that has been worldwide dissected/projected/critiqued, you may wish to inject one historical element into their analytical and critical thinking.

The first 3 lines of the Chinese classic and historical novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” (三国演义) read: “Here begins our tale. The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.” (话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分.)

In 1945, at the end of the Japanese occupation for 35 years, Korea was divided into North Korea and South Korea through a mutual agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1948, the Republic of Korea was established in South Korea, and  the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in North Korea. Both Korea claimed sovereignty over the Korean peninsula and with the backing of the United States and the Soviet Union, both Korea made war between themselves known as the Korean War from 25 June 1950. The Korean War ended on 27 July 1953 with the signature of an armistice. To this date, North and South Korea remain separate and occupy almost the same territory they had when the war began.

Would the North and South Korean Summit lead to a “unification” in the not-too-distant future? Well, let the world of all tendencies debate and advance their different view, but your students should be aware that “division” and “unification” have always been part of human geographical history since time memorial when men made wars against other men in the name of any ideology that men have created to suit their territorial ambition and power.

  • In ancient time, how many times Greece was “divided” and “united”, until what it is today?
  • In ancient Roman empire, how many times was it “divided” and “united” until it becomes today’s Italy?
  • In 1983, the once “united” Republic of Cyprus was divided de facto into Republic of Cyprus and the Republic of Northern Cyprus, separated by a United Nations buffer zone.
  • In more than 5,000 years of history, how many wars of “division” or “unification” has China gone through?
  • In the British Isles, how many wars between kingdoms until they become united, and later to be known as the United Kingdom?
  • And how about the referendum on Scottish Independence from the United Kingdom on 18 September 2014?
  • In 1776, in North America, 13 states were unified to declare their independence from the British colonial rule and formed the United States.
  • In tsarist time, there was no Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) that was established in 1922. But after its dissolution in 1991, it becomes Russia again, and the “Soviet Republics” recovered their original status and independence.
  • In the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was “united” in 1867 and “divided” in 1918. Yugoslavia was “united” in 1918 and “divided” in 1992. Czechoslovakia was “united” in 1917 and “divided” in 1993.
  • After the Second World War, defeated Germany was “divided” in 1949 into West Germany known as Federal Republic of Germany, and East Germany known as Democratic Republic of Germany. After the collapse of Berlin Wall in 1989, West Germany and East Germany were “united” in October 1990.
  • The once “united-but-geographically-separated” Pakistan was “divided” in 1971 when East Pakistan (also historically known as East Bengal) became independent and took the name of Bangladesh.
  • The Federation of Malaysia which was formed (“united”) in August 1963 was “divided” in August 1965 after the separation of Singapore.
  • In October 1961, in Cameroon, once known as “Africa in miniature”, the colonized French Cameroun was “united” with the British Southern Cameroons to form an independent state known as Federal Republic of Cameroon.
  • In July 2011, South Sudan was separated (“divided”) from Sudan to become the independent Republic of South Sudan.
  • How about the short-lived United Arab Republics (UAR) “uniting” Egypt and Syria between February 1958 until it became “divided” in September 1961. Also, how about Federation of Arab Republics (FAR) “uniting” Egypt, Libya and Syria between January 1972 until it became “divided” in November 1977?
  • How about some contemporaneous and repeated threats of “division” in “united” countries such as Québec from Canada, Catalonia from Spain, Biafra from Nigeria?
  • How about past Cambodia where territories were “divided” and taken by both, the Western and Easter neighbors? How much longer Cambodia can remain in its current borders with continuous massive influx of both Chinese and Vietnamese?

If Korean people decided to “unite” themselves through their common ethnicity, blood line, culture and language, resources and know-how, and mutual understanding and tolerance, nothing can stop them.

Let bear in mind these words of political wisdom from:
Kim Dae Jung, ex-president of South Korea: “Unification is not our present goal. That is a future program.”
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany: “At German unification, we were lucky to get so much help from West Germany. Now, we have the good fortune of being able to help each other in Europe.”
Lee Hyeon-seo, a North Korean defector and writer: “This is a divisive issue, but I really hope for unification. Even though we have been divided for a long time, we are all Koreans, so we should live together in a united Korea.”