On April 17, 1975, tanks rolled into the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, to cheering crowds who believed that the country’s long civil war might finally be over. But what followed was one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. During a brutal four-year rule, the communist-nationalist ideologues of theContinue Reading
An idyllic island in the Gulf of Thailand has recently become a subject of contention between nationalists in Thailand and Cambodia, derailing negotiations over the joint exploitation of offshore gas reserves. Koh Kood (or Koh Kut) is a popular holiday hotspot for foreign tourists to Thailand, attracting hundreds of thousandsContinue Reading
The start last month of the French trial of Hing Bun Heang and Huy Piseth, bodyguards of former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, for their alleged role in a 1997 grenade attack in Phnom Penh was not enough to draw a large turnout from the Cambodian diaspora in the country.Continue Reading
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has approved a radical administrative restructure that will cut the number of Vietnamese provinces by nearly half, and eliminate an entire level of administration. Under the changes, which the CPV Central Committee approved on Saturday after a three-day meeting, Vietnam’s administrative system, which currentlyContinue Reading
Chinese and Cambodian officials on Saturday presided over the opening of a new China-funded expansion of the country’s main naval base, the subject of long-time concern among U.S. strategists. Since 2022, the Chinese government has funded an extensive expansion and refurbishment of Ream Naval Base, which lies around 30 kilometersContinue Reading
China’s leader Xi Jinping will reportedly embark on a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia later this month, a possible sign that China is seeking to capitalize on the current regional unease about the direction of U.S. policy in the region. On Monday, the South China Morning Post, citing unnamed diplomaticContinue Reading
From remote Cambodian villages to the world of elite art collectors and galleries in New York and London, the new film “Loot: A Story of Crime & Redemption” documents the theft of artifacts known as “blood antiquities” from in and around the temple ruins of Angkor Wat and Koh KerContinue Reading
Not far from the tourist city of Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia, roughly a thousand devotees gather around a picturesque pond. They are there to listen to the words of their guru, Khem Veasna, whom they believe has descended from the realm of Brahma in human form. His mission: toContinue Reading
