Abusing another country's resources is not new; stealing the actual ground from under their feet might be taking liberties too far! Where once there was seabed, hotels, a casino and airport rise off Singapore's coast. But as the tiny island city-state dumps sand on its shores
Cambodia's troubled history is not a new theme for us. We covered it extensively after our visits there last year, particularly in relation to the still horrendous landmine legacy. Two reports out of Phnom Penh this week indicate the true bookends of this nation as it deals with its history an
06.1.2010 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
Legal systems worldwide are open to abuse because of design. Cambodia is no exception to the rule. Despite convictions, defeated appeals and supreme court judgments on a multiple murder charge, former Khmer Rouge Commander Chhouk Rin, who was convicted of the murder of three Western backpacker
Cambodia is a complex place with such a sad checkered history. It is democratic…in a sense, with a single party dominance, a nominal royalty and an often harsh judicial reaction to opposition. It is also in recovery. It is a poor nation courted by regional powers and building infrastructure so
Always been a fan of the motto where there is a will there is a way, especially so when the cause is for the good. Cambodia has an unhealthy case of schizophrenia when it comes to the question of landmines. It is darkly ironic that a country littered with unexploded ordinance as a legacy of its
01.9.2010 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
What is it with the monks in Cambodia? There are already many dangers there - unexploded landmines, border scuffles with Thailand, snakes, tigers and more. However, rampaging Buddhist monks wouldn’t usually make it near the top of the list. We reported a while back about 76 year old Kiet Cha
01.3.2010 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
Cambodia is one of those countries blessed with beauty and cursed by human misuse. A result of its torturous history is a legacy of unexploded land mines. There are still an estimated 6 million active mines of various persuasions remaining from past conflicts, unmapped and still deadly. These
Cambodia is at a fork in the road and which direction it takes will determine its future. When we were there earlier this year the local scuttlebutt among the journalists and ex-pats was a tightening up on human rights and freedom of speech. This contrasts with the current trial of the Khmer Rou
12.4.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
Bioengineering has a checkered reputation. Many people object to science manipulating nature for gain, and suspect that such initiatives will come back to haunt us through unexpected mutations and environmental impact. However, in a nice little story Scottish researchers have developed a bacterium t
We have reported before that many developing countries are under strain due to interest and repayments of loans from the major powers. In the case of Cambodia, these loans were a last ditch effort for survival at the time of internal crisis. It ran up massive debts rebuilding its military capability
Regular readers will know we have a keen interest in the progress of development in Cambodia. We still remain guardedly hopeful that Cambodia will emerge in a post-Khmer Rouge generation as a wise, vibrant, and robust democracy, but frequently we see challenges to this optimism. On our most recent v
10.9.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
It is an oddity of a truly global market that whether a US consumer keeps buying clothes at the Gap retail store can determine the poverty levels of a Cambodian worker. A knock on effect of the global recession is a decline in retail sales. One can see the effect in stores on the high street. Invent
10.4.2009 | Asia, Cambodia | Stuart Ford
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