Hun Sen vs Abhisit Vejjajiva

Hun Sen rips Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva a new one.

If Abhisit is so sure of himself, then he should call an election. What are you afraid of? Is it that you are afraid you will no longer be the PM? Are you afraid that Puea Thai party will win the election?

I am Prime Minister of Cambodia who has received two-thirds of the vote in the Cambodian parliament. How many does Than Abhisit have? You’ve stolen somebody else’s chair to seat yourself in. You claim other people’s property as your own. How can we respect that?

[...]

Referring to the accusation that Cambodia does not respect the Thai court, I don’t see any value in the Thai justice system worthy of respect.

In the past, Khieu Samphan or Noun Chea [of the Khmer Rouge] were allowed to live [given refuge] in Thailand before they were arrested upon entering Cambodia. Thailand had signed a pact not to support the Khmer Rouge.

Thailand did more than violate international law. It had signed a peace pact. And it violated many things. Thai people should consider this. If Thailand does not respect international law, how can you expect us to respect Thai law?

Read the whole thing. There’s lots more.

POSTSCRIPT: The Nation has a slightly different transcript of this interview.

The new Phnom Penh

There’s a new blog on the block: Phnom Penh. The focus — surprise, surprise — is the capital, and there’s lots of old-timey pictures and interesting Phnom Penh trivia. The most recent post asserts that Tuol Sleng was actually much, much larger than most people realize. Interesting stuff. Check it out.

The diplomatic kiss off

AFP captures the moment: Eat Sophea from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hands an unnamed Thai diplomat a letter officially rejecting Thailand’s request to extradite exiled Thai politician Thaksin Shinawatra. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cited Article 3 of the extradition treaty, which covers political exiles, in his reason for refusing the request. Cambodia regards the charges against Thaksin as politically motivated.

Hun Sen, champion of democracy

Prime Minister Hun Sen is turning up the heat on his Thai counterpart.

The spat between Bangkok and Phnom Penh was in danger of turning uglier yesterday as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen talked of banning Thai goods if Bangkok closes the border between the two countries.

[...]

On Cambodian TV on Sunday night, he further needled Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, challenging him to call a snap election and saying that the pro-Thaksin opposition party, Puea Thai, would win it.

Hun Sen, who has been in power for close to 30 years, also said that if Thailand closed the border between the two countries, Cambodia would ban all Thai products.

The PM’s statement significantly turns up the heat on the Thai junta. It also strongly suggests that Thaksin’s current visit to Cambodia is not merely some political stunt designed to enrage the Thai establishment — although it is certainly that — but part of a larger strategy aimed at regime change in Thailand. It’s hard to underestimate the stakes in such a gamble. The danger of war, say some analysts, has never been greater.

Nationalist groups in Thailand, especially the royalist “Yellow Shirts” who blockaded Bangkok’s airports last year, have been urging the new government to take a hard line.

“How bad it gets depends entirely on whether Abhisit can keep his cool and resist pressure from those who are intent on escalation of this conflict,” said Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

“But if he keeps making announcements of the kind he has made in the past few days then things could get much, much worse.”

Cambodia refuses Thailand’s request to extradite Thaksin

As expected.

Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry refused Wednesday to receive Thailand’s request to extradite fugtive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sources said.

Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh in the morning handed over the request to the Cambodia’s foreign ministry to take Thaksin who is in Phnom Penh for the second day.

However the Thai embassy was informed that the ministry will  have to wait for recommendation from its PM’s Office.

 

Cruel Him

Elena Lesley talks to Him Huy, a jailer at S-21 in the 70s.

Him Huy asks us to come upstairs and we climb a ladder into the house’s only room. As we sit on a new straw mat, he offers us tea and warm corn cakes. Immediately Him Huy strikes me as a charismatic person. He jokes with Huy Vannak about the court-issued jacket he wore to testify and when he laughs, the network of fault lines on his face crinkles into an all-consuming smile.

His demeanour becomes far more somber, however, when we start discussing Duch and S-21. Him Huy says he never wanted to join the Khmer Rouge, but because he came from an area that supported the guerilla movement, he had no choice. He left home to fight when he was around sixteen and tried to run away several times. Like a schoolboy, he says he even faked illness and fabricated family problems because he missed his mom and her homemade Khmer cupcakes.

Although his superiors told him and other young troops they were ‘fighting imperialist forces,’ Him Huy says he never understood Khmer Rouge ideology.

‘I was too young to understand,’ he says. ‘I asked, “What are imperialists? What is capitalism?” And they told us, “They are the groups that make the difference between rich and poor.”

Far from demons, most Khmer Rouge killers were just everyday people trapped in a dissolute chapter of history.

Him Huy walks us down the dirt path back to our car and thanks us for coming. He stands at the highway’s edge, smiling and waving, as we begin the drive back to Phnom Penh. In so many ways, he is completely unremarkable. If he hadn’t been a certain age at a certain time in an area of Cambodia that supported the Khmer Rouge, he probably would have never become a killer.

As humans, survival is hard-coded into our DNA. Faced with live-or-die choices, no one should be surprised by those who choose life.

This is why, as [Theary] Seng says, we should approach our judgments of former Khmers Rouge with ‘a sense of humility. If we had been in their position, maybe we would have done the same thing.’

Or died trying.

Cambodia welcomes Thaksin

It’s no bluff. Thaksin is in Cambodia.

Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived Tuesday in Cambodia following his appointment as economic adviser to the government, fueling tensions between the neighboring countries.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would seek Thaksin’s extradition and announced that his Cabinet had approved ending talks with Phnom Penh on disputed maritime borders.

…

Abhisit said that if Cambodia did not extradite Thaksin, Thailand “will be ready with the proper response.” He did not elaborate.

Deputy Minister of the Council of Ministers Phay Siphan said Hun Sen would host a lunch Wednesday for Thaksin “because the two leaders are close friends.” He said Thaksin would stay in Cambodia at least two to three days.

Thailand, meanwhile, is busy changing its trousers.

Brandy and truffles

Pineapple has some video footage from a 1968 1986 Australian documentary on Cambodia. The clip details the 1978 invasion by Vietnam.

Of course, we have Sihanouk near the end, talking bollocks … While the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea was pounding the New Economic Zones with Chinese artillery guns, or launching barbaric raids from the Parrot’s Beak, Sihanouk in contrast to his fellow countrymen and women was sat in his gilded cage, complaining about not having enough brandy for his truffles.

Chocolate without brandy is so bourgeois. The little people just don’t understand.

CORRECTION: The original post incorrectly identified the year the documentary was released. It said 1968; it should have said 1986.

Thaksin to visit

From AFP:

Fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra will visit Phnom Penh this week in his new role as economics adviser, the Cambodian PM said Sunday, further stoking a row with Thailand.

“Thaksin will be at the Ministry of Economy and Finance on November 12 to do a briefing with more than 300 Cambodian economics experts,” Hun Sen told a news conference at Phnom Penh International Airport.

Thaksin has politely declined the prime minister’s previous two offers — the first of a home, the second of an adviser role — and there is little reason to think that PM’s latest pronouncement is anything more than a wind up.

UPDATE: Or not!

Fish on drugs

The U.S. state of Alabama has banned catfish from Cambodia and other countries in the region.

A Stop Sale order on imported catfish and basa product from Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, China and Vietnam has been re-imposed by the State of Alabama.

… Sparks said the Asian fish products tested positive for fluoroquinolones.

Quinolones and fluoroquinolones are chemotherapeutic bactericidal drugs, used for eradicating bacteria by interfering with DNA replication.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow the use of fluoroquinolones in fish or seafood.

Despite the ominous description given by Food Safety News, the two drugs indicated are more commonly identified as “antibiotics.” The danger in eating such dope-laden fish, says Department of Agriculture chemist Joe Basile, is that “people might build up an amount of fluoroquinolones in their systems and allow bacteria to build up a tolerance to the antibiotic.”

The incident begs the question: Are local fish regularly tested for toxins? We know they die by the tons.

Thailand recalls ambassador

The tit:

Just as many had feared, the stormy relationship between Thailand and Cambodia was pushed to the edge yesterday when Bangkok responded to fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra’s appointment as the neighbouring country’s economic adviser by recalling its ambassador from Phnom Penh.

The tat:

Cambodia’s retaliation – the planned recall of its ambassador here, You Aye, who Deputy Cambodian Prime Minister Sok An said would not return until Bangkok sends its own envoy back – ensured bilateral ties were at their worst level in years.

Mai pen rai.

Spiritual cleansing

Live like a monk, for just $1,000 per day.

Hun Sen appoints Thaksin as an economic advisor

From Xinhua:

Former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was officially appointed as adviser of his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen and the Royal Government of Cambodia y King Norodom Sihamoni, a statement of the Royal Government announced on Wednesday.

The King signed the Royal Decree of the appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra on Oct. 27. The appointment was made in accordance with the country’s constitutions and at the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

… “Our concern is for humanitarian reasons, it is friends helping friends. The internal affairs of Thailand would be left for Thai people to resolve, I am not interfering,” said Hun Sen.

Thaksin previously turned down Hun Sen’s offer to take refuge in Cambodia, and Thaksin  will likely decline this offer as well. But that’s not the point. The point is that the offer will make the Thai junta seethe with madness. They have only themselves to blame. The junta prompted this whole mess when it sent Thai troops to the border at Preah Vihear. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s opportunistic stirring of the pot is just the natural law of unintended consequences at work.

Thaksin denies Cambodia rumor

Thaksin says he has no plans for visiting Cambodia.

Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra early on Friday denied a media report that he will go to Cambodia to celebrate Loy Krathong and to thank Cambodian leader Hun Sen for his promise not to allow his extradition to Thailand.

“I will not go to Cambodia and will stay here in a Muslim country,” Thaksin said on his twitter@thaksinlive website.

Judging by the news from Google, the Abhisit government is on shaky ground. Hun Sen is but one of many critics.

UPDATE: Thaksin declines Cambodia’s offer of refuge.

Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, chairman of the opposition Puea Thai Party, said fugitive former prime minister would not permanently reside in Cambodia as he did not want to create any problem to Thailand.

“I had asked him (Thaksin) why he did not stay in the neighbouring country as it is near to his hometown and family, but he said no”, Gen Chavalit on Saturday.

“Staying in Cambodia could lead to many problems to Thailand”, Thaksin was quoted as saying by Gen Chavalit.

Defamation verdict against Mu Sochua upheld

From AFP:

Cambodia’s Appeal Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of an outspoken opposition party lawmaker for defaming the country’s powerful Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party was convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in August for defaming Hun Sen during an April press conference, in which she announced plans to sue the premier for allegedly insulting her.

The court also ordered her to pay more than 4,000 dollars in a fine and compensation to Hun Sen.

After a Wednesday appeal hearing, judge Seng Sivutha said the court decided to uphold the conviction, ruling that Mu Sochua did defame Hun Sen and “incited other women to hate” the premier.

Mu Sochua said she will now take her case to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court is unlikely to rule in her favor, either. Mu Sochua has said previously that she will not pay the fine — as a means of protesting the country’s badly corrupt court system — and that she is prepared to go to jail. The CPP seems certain to take her up on that offer. Jailing her, however, is likely to have far reaching and unpredictable political implications, and the CPP does so at its own peril.

Stillness at the Thai border

Thai military commanders say that despite political skirmishes in the capital, all is peaceful at the Preah Vihear border.

Military ties between Cambodia and Thailand remain tight, army chief Anupong Paojinda said on Tuesday. …

“I can assure you that the situation there will not lead to fighting, and we will not resort to the use of force,” Gen Anupong said.

Meanwhile, Kasit says Hun Sen is “misinformed,” and Cambodian troops are “stockpiling ammunitions.”

Tanks were seen being transported along National Road 5 last week in Battambang province, and an RCAF general, speaking on condition of anonymity, said missiles with a range of up to 60 kilometres had also arrived. In addition to 16 new tanks delivered to Military Region 5, he said, more than 700 RCAF officers have been issued K-54 pistols, marking the first time since 2000 that low-level commanders have been issued sidearms.

Slave hunting

Self-proclaimed “slave hunter” Aaron Cohen is in Cambodia, where he spent the weekend doing detective work.

# Batteries are charged, equipment checked, now I’m just waiting for it to get dark, man.
2:20 AM Oct 24th from web

# She looks 13. I pick her, go into massage room. No solicitation yet. Mamasan bursts in yelling. I have 2shower, disrobe, &they watch me…
6:51 AM Oct 24th from web

# I put my boxer briefs back on. Mamasan has left, we go over prices. Its a handful of dimes 4happy ending. Once I have it on tape, Im outside
6:53 AM Oct 24th from web

# I download the tape to my ipod and get in the car. My heart died a thousand years ago, and I call the Colonel. 5 hours of this 2go.
6:55 AM Oct 24th from web

There’s not really much to say about this, except that it’s a sad commentary on humanity that such a thing exists. The police really deserve some credit for getting serious about the problem, as well as the recent drug busts of high ranking officials.

Arresting the cops

Local police, working with the American FBI, have charged another high-ranking cop for drug crimes.

Touch Muysor once held one of the highest positions in the Cambodia police force… Now he’s facing drug and corruption charges. $US100,000 worth of methamphetamines was found in Touch Muysor’s office. He’s the second senior police officer this month to be charged with drug related offences. … the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Dr Anand Chaudhuri, says the arrest of Touch Muysor is evidence that Cambodia is now taking drug prevention very seriously.

Excellent. Now if they could just get rid of those punks on the riverfront.

Sharp, pointy things

The Thai government says it is unfazed by Hun Sen’s offer to welcome fugitive Thai politician Thaksin Shinawatra into the CPP fold.

Thailand on Saturday downplayed a diplomatic spat that erupted with Cambodia at a South-East Asian in Cha-am over the weekend that was to supposed to demonstrate regional solidarity and ‘connectivity.’

The summit got off to rocky start Friday after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced upon arrival his intention to provide asylum to fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and to offer him a job as economic advisor.

[...]

Despite the tempestuous start, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya insisted the summit had been carried out with ‘civility.’

‘We have been approaching everything in a very cool, impartial manner,’ Kaset told a press conference after the conclusion of a two- day summit among the leaders of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cha-am, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok.

Civility? Uh-huh. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called Hun Sen a “pawn.”  Kasit used terms such as “cool” and “impartial” — thinly veiled insults. And PAD protesters have not only asked the Thai government to expel Hun Sen from the country, they have threatened to surround the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok.

Thai protesters yesterday threatened to surround the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok next month unless Prime Minister Hun Sen withdrew troops and removed Cambodian community from the disฌputed area adjacent to Preah Vihear.

… The protesters handed over their letter of demands to the Foreign Ministry’s DirectorGeneral of Asean Affairs Vitavas Srivihok demanding the troop withdrawal and removal of the Cambodian comฌmunity from the area within a week.

They condemned Hun Sen’s recent remarks and wanted the Cambodian premier to leave Thailand immediately as he was not attending the Asean Summit in a spirit of goodwill.

That’s real cool — a real cool arrow.

Hun Sen offers Thaksin a job

Prime Minister Hun Sen is already making waves at the ASEAN meeting.

Soon after arriving at the meeting Friday afternoon Mr. Hun Sen said Mr. Thaksin would be allowed to stay in Cambodia and serve as his economic adviser.

“People talk about Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar. Why can’t we talk about Thaksin?” he asked.

The Cambodian government said Friday it would reject any extradition request from Thailand if Mr. Thaksin moved to Cambodia.

Thailand, which is still trying to lift its chin of the floor, has yet to respond.

Demanding freedom

In July, The Cambodia Daily published a story about a group of “senior military leaders” who had received diplomas from a Hanoi university. Reporter Neou Vannarin wrote the story, and in it he quoted Sam Rainsy Party politician Ho Vann, who allegedly questioned the validity of the degrees.

Upset by the criticism, the military leaders sued Ho Vann, Neou Vannarin and Cambodia Daily Editor in Chief Kevin Doyle for defamation. Ho Vann told the court he was misquoted, and the court dropped the suit against him. No such luck for The Daily staffers, though. In September, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court fined both men $1,000 each.

Today, Bernie Krisher, the tenacious publisher of The Cambodia Daily, announced he was digging in for the long, hard slog.

Because Cambodia now is unique in shooting the messenger, an action which counters the principle of a free press practiced in civil societies, I as a publisher have decided to have our paper appeal this verdict and, should the appeal fail, we plan to take it all the way up the the International Court of Justice in The Hague and are also submitting it to the court of international public opinion, because such acts may ultimately threaten a free press everywhere if other societies permit it to “happen here.” I hope that the Cambodian public will support our appeal to protect its own cherished principle of “the right to know,” which is the basic value of citizens who wish to gain the necessary knowledge to enable them to make electoral decisions allowing them to govern their own fate.

Obviously, this kind of grandstanding is just a publicity stunt, but public attention is exactly what Mr Krisher’s case needs. The local appeals system is unlikely to offer Mr Krisher much sympathy, and because of jurisdictional rules, the ICJ would never hear his case. So the court of public opinion is the only place he has even the slightest hope of winning.

And we should all hope he is successful, because freedom of the press and freedom of speech are most certainly rights worth having. Best of luck.

The Globe online

The Southeast Asia Globe has a web site. Who knew?

P.S. It’s pretty decent.

Bus trip to Lao

Cambodia and Laos will launch bus service between the two countries.

Vientiane – Laos and Cambodia are planning to allow cross-border bus services to operate in a bid to boost tourism and trade between the two neighbouring countries, state media reports said Thursday.

… The Lao government has granted permission to the Pakxe Public Bus Association to provide a bus service between Champasak, southern Laos, to Siem Reap, home to Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple complex, and Phnom Penh.

Cambodian bus operators have agreed to provide services on the same route.

Bus travel between Pakxe and Phnom Penh will take a whole day, said the state-owned newspaper.

The story doesn’t say which route the buses would take, but presumably the border crossing would happen north of Stung Treng and the buses would arrive in Siem Reap via Kampong Thom. They are not kidding when they say “a whole day.” If anything, that sounds like an understatement.

Thaksin has a friend in Cambodia

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday offered his kingdom as a place of refuge for deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has offered to host his “eternal friend,” fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, at any time, state television reported on Wednesday.

Hun Sen conveyed his message to Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, a Thai political heavyweight and close Thaksin aide, in comments likely to rile a Thai government anxious to minimise the billionaire’s influence from exile.

Meanwhile, Thailand has allegedly killed another Cambodian caught crossing the border illegally, and Cambodia has arrested a Thai monk who is accused of the same.

UPDATE: Reuters has more.

LATER UPDATE: KK sets the record straight.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen did not offer fugitive ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra a home in Cambodia, Cambodia’s spokesman Khieu Kanharith.

“He didn’t say that,” Khieu Kanharith said. “Some people have said we would allow Thaksin to have a permanent home in Cambodia – it’s not true.”

After father died

If there is one common thread that weaves through the stories of many sex workers, it is the death of the father. It’s where the story of Srey Pov starts.

When she was 5, her father died. “After that, my mother changed,” Sreypov says. “She was terribly unhappy; all the love drained out of our lives. We became very poor.” The family eventually moved to a shack. When Sreypov was 7, her mother sold her, telling her she would be working as a housekeeper in another home. Sreypov felt it was her duty to obey. In Cambodia, Chanthan explains, “Daughters are like property: They are there to provide for the family.”

Sreypov Chan, a young Cambodian woman with a feisty laugh and a love of Kelly Clarkson songs, has a recurring dream: She’s being chased by gangsters. They catch her and throw her into a filthy, cockroach-infested room. She knows what will happen next: She will be tortured—whipped with metal cables, locked in a cage, shocked with a loose electrical wire—and then gang raped.

Read the whole thing.

Reach for the sky

With large swaths of his population suffocating under the weight of massive poverty, Prime Minister Hun Sen last week appealed to the kindness of donor countries.

Ahead of a meeting about the provision of development aid for Cambodia, the head of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, warned donor countries not to link conditions with development aid for Cambodia.

Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen considers the linking of conditions with aid as being under more pressure than during the presence of Vietnamese experts in Cambodia after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.

… [Hun Sen] warned that the government will not accept, or even stop receiving foreign aid, if aid is linked with conditions.

To get the full effect, donors were asked to put their hands above their heads, too.

Keep Cambodia beautiful

Bridget McNulty, an American writer, recently visited the Land of Wonder.

Then we arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital city, and quickly escaped north to Kratie, a small riverside town on the banks of the Mekong. Our logic was that when we cleared the city limits (by a good 6 hours) we would find the authentic, rural Cambodia — the beautiful country. We discovered the rural part, no problem, but we were really hard-pressed to find much beauty. And this is the troubling part.

I can’t decide if it’s because we were spoilt by Thailand, with its forests, mountains, beaches and tidy, clean villages, or if Cambodia is really filthy. The small town we stayed in had piles of rubbish on the side of every road. I saw a woman drinking a cooldrink and throwing the can across the road … to nowhere in particular. A guy bought some food from a shop and dropped the plastic bag in the river. Piles of decomposing rubbish piled up under fresh washing in otherwise fairly neat (although rundown) houses.

Whatever excuses you want to make — and there are plenty — Ms. McNulty is right about one thing: there is way too much rubbish strewn across Cambodia. Getting a handle on the problem, however, is still likely several years away. On the very long list of things that Cambodia desperately needs, more garbage cans lies pretty far down on the list.

Still, plastic bags or no, if you can’t see the beauty in Kratie, you are blind.

Kristoff’s brothel girls

Ever wonder what happened to the two girls Nick Kristof bought out of the brothels in Poipet? The Seattle Times recently asked him.

What happened to the girls he bought out of slavery five years ago? Kristoff said he stayed in touch and still visits them. One is married to a good husband who doesn’t know her past. The other went back to the brothel temporarily to feed her meth addiction, and later married a police officer. But now the brothel no longer exists. U.S. government pressure on Cambodia to crack down on trafficking made it risky and expensive, so the proprietor turned it into a grocery store.

Good news on all counts.

Vendor bender

At the new City Mall, sellers are up in arms about the cost of rents.

MORE than 100 vendors protested outside the City Mall Shopping Centre in Prampi Makara district on Wednesday to demand that the owner, Taiwan’s Fu Yang Investment Co, lower the rents on its retail space.

… “If we compare the rent on a store here with those of other shopping centres, City Mall is the most expensive,” [shopkeeper Rin Manith] said, adding that City Mall charged between US$40 and $65 per square metre each month, whereas other malls charged as little as $28.

Is that right? Hundreds of market vendors are angry because they agreed to what they thought was a fair deal, but then later found out that they had been overcharged?

Oh, the heart bleeds.

Going nuclear

A couple of weeks ago, Cambodia reiterated its intention to pursue nuclear power. Then this week, the Kingdom signed a bilateral military agreement with Myanmar and passed several non-proliferation laws. It’s probably just a coincidence, of course. But still. Considering recent revelations regarding Myanmar, it’s a wee bit disconcerting all the same.