Thursday, November 12, 2009

Cambodia and Thailand Tension



In the end I believe neither of these nations have true intent to go to war, but the saber rattling has become a little too much for comfort. There are issues being talked about, but most people believe a lot of political advantage is being seen for both sides to show a strong face to the enemy. In truth there are no issues here that are worth fighting a boarder war over, but considering Cambodia is trying to rebuild their nation and nationalism it seems to be beneficial for them to develop a neighboring enemy to bolster this. In modern day these two nations have not had a war, but there have been a number of boarder skirmishes over the years. For us here in Thailand our political instability has become a way of life and perhaps this government would also like to show a great deal of strength abroad in order to send a message to rival factions within the Kingdom. Sadly, it would seem most of this recent tension revolves around Thaksin messing with Thailand again, but this time he is switching to the Cambodian side of the boarder. I'm not sure what his motivation is, but without a doubt he has interests in Thailand that have brought him next door.