Quotes of the day

“It’s just that. It’s filth. It’s, you know, this man has, has gone out there and tried to destroy my integrity. I mean, you’ve heard the whole issue of the Google issue. That’s Dan Savage. You know, it’s, it’s the lowest, you know, debasement of public discourse. It’s, it’s offensive beyond, you know, anything that any public figure or anybody in America should tolerate, and the mainstream media laughs about it. They, they, they kid about it. They write about it. They say, “Oh, Santorum’s got a Google problem.”



[S]ex advice columnist Dan Savage on HBO’s “Real Time” Friday said he wanted to perform violent hate sex on Rick Santorum.

On Monday, the former Pennsylvania Senator responded on WOR radio’s Steve Malzberg show.

***

“This week, Republicans will probably pass a balanced budget Constitutional amendment that has zero chance of becoming law. Then they may end up clinging to a no más Senate compromise. This proposal would pocket cuts that have already been agreed on, and it would eliminate leverage for future cuts and make them less likely.”

“It could be that this has been a glorious moment in Republican history. It could be that having persuaded independents that they are a prudent party, Republicans will sweep the next election. Controlling the White House and Congress, perhaps they will have the guts to cut Medicare unilaterally, reform the welfare state and herald in an era of conservative greatness.”

“But it’s much more likely that Republicans will come to regret this missed opportunity.”

***
“We’ve never focused on firing people, and we don’t intend to start now. We’re more focused on hiring the right people,”

Some federal workers more likely to die than lose jobs

“Federal employees’ job security is so great that workers in many agencies are more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired, a USA TODAY analysis finds.”

***

“The plan has moved significantly, and it’s where we need to be — and it’s a start,” Coburn said. “This doesn’t solve our problems, but it creates the way forward where we can solve our problems.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who pulled out of the Gang of Six in May, also rejoined the group and praised the plan as something that could win the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate.

At the top of the White House press briefing, Obama described the plan as “good news,” adding that it was “broadly consistent” with the approach he had endorsed for reducing the deficit.

***

“This is the most humble day of my life.”

Rupert Murdoch

“Most humble day of my career” was the soundbite he gave us, but humility wasn’t really what anyone will remember. It will be the short, gruff answers, delivered as if he was not entirely clear what had been going on. Was it because he’s 80 and he can’t hear very well any more, or was it because he didn’t really want to engage? Probably a mixture of the two. But he did seem unflappable when the “foam hacker” struck. Tough bugger.”

***

“I think the Constitution is clear and I think this idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for [expenditures] it has appropriated is crazy,” Clinton said.

Former President Bill Clinton would invoke the 14th Amendment – “without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me,” he says – to raise the debt ceiling if he were in President Barack Obama’s shoes, with the deadline to raise the limit just two weeks away.

***

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5:13 AM | 0 comments

Video: House GOP women: America needs jobs!

While Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) urges women to “get off the sidelines” and into public service, the GOP women of the House remind the nation, “America needs jobs!” The truth is, women might be “on the sidelines” in politics, at least in terms of sheer numbers, but they are already in the game when it comes to small business ownership. A party that understands and implements the conditions requisite for job creation should be a natural fit for those women.


Video: House GOP women: America needs jobs!
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posted at 9:55 pm on July 19, 2011 by Tina Korbe
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While Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) urges women to “get off the sidelines” and into public service, the GOP women of the House remind the nation, “America needs jobs!” The truth is, women might be “on the sidelines” in politics, at least in terms of sheer numbers, but they are already in the game when it comes to small business ownership. A party that understands and implements the conditions requisite for job creation should be a natural fit for those women.

“My agenda and the Republican agenda is indeed pro-woman,” says Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) in the video. “It is pro-woman because it is pro-small business, pro-job creator, pro-family and pro-economy.”

Some 400 businesses are started by women every day, according to the video — and women-owned businesses represent the fastest-growing segment in the U.S. economy.

“It’s the mom who knows how much money it takes to put gas in the tank, how much it costs for healthcare, for the education bills, who’s worried about her older parents and making sure that they have access to healthcare — those are the women we’re standing up for,” Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.) says.

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4:48 AM | 0 comments

Strib: Everyone unhappy with the shutdown-ending budget deal

The Star Tribune wants its readers to know that no one is happy with the budget deal that ended the Minnesota state shutdown. No, really:


After weeks of crippling political deadlock, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders emerged in the darkened Capitol on Thursday to announce they had brokered a budget deal to end the longest state government shutdown in U.S. history.

The deal raises the revenue Dayton sought — $1.4 billion — but without raising taxes, which Republicans opposed. Instead, it reaches back to an earlier GOP offer to rely primarily on more borrowing from schools and from the sale of tobacco bonds. The House and Senate could return in special session to vote on a final budget as early as Monday or Tuesday. …

“No one is going to be happy with this, which is the essence of a real compromise,” he said as the deal was announced.

The Strib then gives a familiar pattern of equal quotes of griping from each side. They quote a couple of DFLers and a couple of Republicans complaining about this cut or that spending, and try to position the two sides as getting more or less an equal amount of pain. Don’t believe it — Dayton lost this round, and he lost it big.

First, Dayton could have had this deal six to eight weeks ago. The amount of spending in the new agreement is almost exactly what the Republican-led legislature passed in May, although shifted around a little. Dayton forced the shutdown by refusing to negotiate on the individual budget bills and refusing to act on them for six weeks — and vetoing them only after the legislative session ended. The only two reasons for Dayton to pursue the shutdown was to get his new tax hikes on higher-income earners and to get billions in more spending, and he failed on both counts. Democrats in the state are livid at Dayton’s capitulation after raising the ante so high with voters.

So why did Dayton capitulate? Some have offered half-joking explanations that when the shutdown threatened Minnesotans’ supply of beer and access to fishing this summer, Dayton got worried about his standing. That may have been part of it, but that’s not the whole story. This week, Dayton had started a planned tour of Minnesota to take his case to the people — sound familiar? — but got a frosty reception in this hot summer. Planned events had unexpectedly poor turnout, according to campfire chatter, and even Dayton allies like union members made their unhappiness with the standoff clear.

Nor is the actual compromise helpful to Dayton and the Democrats. The DFL (Minnesota’s Democratic Party) had been hammering Tim Pawlenty for shifting funds on a short-term basis from K-12 education in order to bring the budget into balance. The national party has made those attacks on Pawlenty in his presidential bid. Now, Dayton has agreed to the same exact shift in this biennial budget, which completely undermines the blame-Pawlenty PR campaign that the DFL used to excuse the shutdown.

Republicans may not have gotten everything they wanted out of the budget fight, but believe me, they’re not walking around in sackcloth and ashes this morning.

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9:08 AM | 0 comments

The [Phnom Penh Post] publisher in the news

The Phnom Penh Post’s publisher Ross Dunkley has been attracting headlines of his own recently. This time in Myanmar, where for 11 years he has been directing the business of The Myanmar Times. As the Managing Director and Editor in Chief of the largest private joint venture media organisation in that country, Dunkley has been a controversial figure in Yangon and across the region. He was jailed for 47 days in February and then appeared in court 20 times on criminal and immigration charges. Freed at last from his ordeal, Dunkley returned to Cambodia last weekend and here he talks with The Post’s Editors in Chief Alan Parkhouse and Kay Kimsong about his experiences.


Following Myanmar’s historic election last November, you were involved in a tense stand-off with the previous government. Suddenly you were arrested and imprisoned. Surely that could not have been a coincidence?
If you are a Buddhist nothing in life is a coincidence. It is predetermined. That is your fate. Maybe this was meant to happen to me and it is true some astrologers in Yangon, my senior staff said, warned that very dark shadows were over me at the time of my arrest in January and incarceration in February. They predicted when I would be sent to prison and when my trial would be over.

You can choose to believe this stuff or not, but reality in Myanmar will tell you not to be flippant about these things. My reality shows I was in an increasingly tense situation. Firstly, my partner ran for parliament and during the campaign I gave interviews saying that continuing to be the publisher of The Myanmar Times and sitting in parliament were incompatible. It was against the ideals of our profession.

We were scrupulously even-handed covering the election in 2010, but the impression from some inside government was that we were left-wing and against the major military-backed party, the USDP.

Therefore we were against them, which is a most unfair inference. And all along I was pushing for a daily licence and independence from censorship. In all truth, I was a vastly different style of manager for the company.

Couple with all of that the visas of my foreign staff and myself were not being renewed and they could not get back into the country to do their jobs. I sent two of my editors to The Phnom Penh Post where they managed to do their jobs. Another employee was trapped in Kuala Lumpur and had to work by email. Things were increasingly difficult and tense.

During this time an Australian documentary crew was in Yangon making a film on you. Were you able to speak naturally and with earnestness? Surely they were a risk for you as well?
I always want to look at the good side of people. I believe the documentary’s producer Hugh Piper is a man of integrity and that he came to Myanmar to show the outside world the country was changing and to paint a positive picture about the future. I worked hard to convince the government about that as I wanted them to sanction his documentary and open doors for them. Unfortunately, they didn’t.

The mayor of Yangon was angry at being filmed on election day. Later on the two filmmakers were photographed by special branch at a senior NLD party member’s house. They were then deported from the country and it was perceived that I had employed them. Then the government sent me letter saying that I was a person no longer to be trusted in Myanmar.

I mean, after more than a decade of defending Myanmar when it was at a low, by speaking out against sanctions and of altering the landscape of the media in Myanmar, of building capacity by training journalists and setting the path for the sector by building the most professional organisation in the country, I was being slapped in the face and I was saddened by that. I knew then that trouble was afoot.

The documentary was always filmed with sincerity and all of my staff involved in that love their country and love their newspaper. They did not say things that were untrue. I have not seen that film, but I know that Hugh Piper and Helen Barrow are people of honour and of the highest professional capability. The documentary will be hard but fair.

So your troubles were not out of the blue. But they really came crashing down in January and February. Tell us what happened?
By whom I do not know, but some people inside the government wanted to make a problem for me. It was obvious following the election that they thought I was a risk and the special branch had a watch on me. I went to a nightclub on January 17 and was approached by a young woman, in her mid 20s I suppose. I refused her advances and left the club, but she followed me and I took her in my car to my home.

She was acting strangely and I looked carefully into her eyes and asked if she was okay. Then I said I would not be able to keep her at my house and that I would drive her to a taxi. She was in my home for no more than 15 minutes. I had many witnesses to confirm that.

She went to the police and in her first report to them alleged I had kept her at my home for three days, that I had banged her head against the wall and had my hands around her neck. She claimed she escaped from my house and went downtown to drink with a boy, but that I had found her again and taken her back to my place.

Later, in a second report, she alleged that I gave her some substance and that I made her dance in front of me. Four days after her statement she was taken to a mental hospital and was then tested positive for drugs. Then about 10 police and officials came to my house with a search warrant and looked for drugs. They found nothing.

In fact, I had many witnesses to prove that I did not keep this girl captive, like my cook and cleaner and my guard and gate keeper, and that I was at work on the days she mentioned. I could not have done these things. I was horrified by these allegations. I mean, this sort of stuff is anathema to me. I am not the sort of person that would ever harm a woman. I was raised by good parents and I had a happy life. I was married with two loving children. I was a well respected member of the community with a serious business life. I came to the view that some officials really did not like me. They wanted to get me.

Wow. And tell us what happened next. We understand that it escalated even further?
Yes. The police took a statement from me and charged me with three criminal offences and I was bailed by my staff. I was also running out of a visa at that time, but decided I would go to Tokyo to speak to a group of 200 people about the newly-elected government and the prospects for the future. I got a single re-entry visa issued to me in Bangkok, went to Tokyo and spoke positively and with hope about the new government.

And then I went back to Yangon where I was arrested shortly after my arrival and taken to a police station. The next morning I went in front of a judge and four charges were laid on me, and an immigration charge, and I was taken immediately to the notorious Insein prison where I spent 47 days before I managed to get bail.

My lawyers worked extremely hard during that time to free me. Then I started my court battle. In all, I appeared in the court 19 or 20 times during this period and in total this whole episode took almost six months. During that time I was unable to travel or to see my family and it was a difficult time for me.

And the judgment?
My three barristers argued for a complete acquittal on all the charges and we had certainty this would happen. But, at the last minute I was convicted on Section 323 of the Criminal Code, which states that I had touched a woman causing her minor harm and was given 30 days in prison, but seeing I had already done 47 days, this was cancelled out. And on the immigration charge 13 (1), I was automatically found guilty and the minimum sentence is six months. In my case they made a special exemption and I was fined K100,000 ($120). Then I was set free. Of course I am very thankful to the president and the government for that.

What makes you want to stay in Myanmar and continue working in the media and on this project after what has recently happened to you?
Look, you have all sorts of experiences in a lifetime and I have recently had some new ones. Going to prison, even though I was not convicted of any crime, was an extreme experience I suppose. The important thing for me is my Dhamma, my own personal truth, and this upholds and supports my own knowledge of innocence. In the same way this also applies to my work in the media in Myanmar. I know that I have a serious task in ensuring all my colleagues get paid, are happy and provided for and are given chances.

Mostly I ensure that we are all working together with a single cause and that sustains us as a team. I also have to uphold what is right in my profession, to make certain The Myanmar Times is being honest and reporting as true as we can and to give readers and advertisers value for their money. Now, I have been there for more than 11 years and when I came to start The Myanmar Times I said my eventual goal was to see our papers become dailies and to break the state monopoly in that area.

Ultimately, it is that vision, a dream you can call it, that makes me want to continue on and I believe I have something to contribute in that respect.

If the game is about moving towards a daily cycle, please tell us in your opinion who are the potential players and when perhaps they could start to publish privately-operated dailies in Myanmar again?
The players who can go daily are those who have invested heavily in presses and other machinery, who have attracted sufficient numbers of staff and learned how to put them all together as one team. It is also about having the required experience in the industry to know where you are going and how to get there. So far I see that The Myanmar Times has those credentials and can move onto a daily platform, but we have challenges to overcome as well.

When? That is the million dollar question and I don’t have that answer. All I do know is that the state press is unable to project the new Myanmar and I think there are many wise heads in government who recognise that and would like to change. Under the constitution there are certain inalienable rights and freedom of expression is one of them, so it will be sooner rather than later when this question of private dailies will be addressed.

What is your advice then to local publishers at this time?
Become more professional. Be true to your ethics. Reach for the sky.

So, what now for our publisher?
I love Cambodia and I love the way the notion of a free press has been embraced here. I think the Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith is one of the most brilliant ministers in all Southeast Asia. I respect and admire PM Hun Sen for what he has done for his country in the past 10 years or more. These are two people that I hold up.

You know, when I walk down the street and feel the fresh breeze of democracy across my face and see smiling faces on motor bikes, see people in love and loving life, then I know this country is heading in the right direction. I have a lot to do here. And I have a lot to do in Myanmar and I am immensely excited by both countries. If myself and my partners are given support and encouragement we will always do the right thing. We are motivated by good causes. We should be thanked because we give a lot and we ask for little.

Read More

3:12 AM | 0 comments

The [Phnom Penh Post] publisher in the news

The Phnom Penh Post’s publisher Ross Dunkley has been attracting headlines of his own recently. This time in Myanmar, where for 11 years he has been directing the business of The Myanmar Times. As the Managing Director and Editor in Chief of the largest private joint venture media organisation in that country, Dunkley has been a controversial figure in Yangon and across the region. He was jailed for 47 days in February and then appeared in court 20 times on criminal and immigration charges. Freed at last from his ordeal, Dunkley returned to Cambodia last weekend and here he talks with The Post’s Editors in Chief Alan Parkhouse and Kay Kimsong about his experiences.


Following Myanmar’s historic election last November, you were involved in a tense stand-off with the previous government. Suddenly you were arrested and imprisoned. Surely that could not have been a coincidence?
If you are a Buddhist nothing in life is a coincidence. It is predetermined. That is your fate. Maybe this was meant to happen to me and it is true some astrologers in Yangon, my senior staff said, warned that very dark shadows were over me at the time of my arrest in January and incarceration in February. They predicted when I would be sent to prison and when my trial would be over.

You can choose to believe this stuff or not, but reality in Myanmar will tell you not to be flippant about these things. My reality shows I was in an increasingly tense situation. Firstly, my partner ran for parliament and during the campaign I gave interviews saying that continuing to be the publisher of The Myanmar Times and sitting in parliament were incompatible. It was against the ideals of our profession.

We were scrupulously even-handed covering the election in 2010, but the impression from some inside government was that we were left-wing and against the major military-backed party, the USDP.

Therefore we were against them, which is a most unfair inference. And all along I was pushing for a daily licence and independence from censorship. In all truth, I was a vastly different style of manager for the company.

Couple with all of that the visas of my foreign staff and myself were not being renewed and they could not get back into the country to do their jobs. I sent two of my editors to The Phnom Penh Post where they managed to do their jobs. Another employee was trapped in Kuala Lumpur and had to work by email. Things were increasingly difficult and tense.

During this time an Australian documentary crew was in Yangon making a film on you. Were you able to speak naturally and with earnestness? Surely they were a risk for you as well?
I always want to look at the good side of people. I believe the documentary’s producer Hugh Piper is a man of integrity and that he came to Myanmar to show the outside world the country was changing and to paint a positive picture about the future. I worked hard to convince the government about that as I wanted them to sanction his documentary and open doors for them. Unfortunately, they didn’t.

The mayor of Yangon was angry at being filmed on election day. Later on the two filmmakers were photographed by special branch at a senior NLD party member’s house. They were then deported from the country and it was perceived that I had employed them. Then the government sent me letter saying that I was a person no longer to be trusted in Myanmar.

I mean, after more than a decade of defending Myanmar when it was at a low, by speaking out against sanctions and of altering the landscape of the media in Myanmar, of building capacity by training journalists and setting the path for the sector by building the most professional organisation in the country, I was being slapped in the face and I was saddened by that. I knew then that trouble was afoot.

The documentary was always filmed with sincerity and all of my staff involved in that love their country and love their newspaper. They did not say things that were untrue. I have not seen that film, but I know that Hugh Piper and Helen Barrow are people of honour and of the highest professional capability. The documentary will be hard but fair.

So your troubles were not out of the blue. But they really came crashing down in January and February. Tell us what happened?
By whom I do not know, but some people inside the government wanted to make a problem for me. It was obvious following the election that they thought I was a risk and the special branch had a watch on me. I went to a nightclub on January 17 and was approached by a young woman, in her mid 20s I suppose. I refused her advances and left the club, but she followed me and I took her in my car to my home.

She was acting strangely and I looked carefully into her eyes and asked if she was okay. Then I said I would not be able to keep her at my house and that I would drive her to a taxi. She was in my home for no more than 15 minutes. I had many witnesses to confirm that.

She went to the police and in her first report to them alleged I had kept her at my home for three days, that I had banged her head against the wall and had my hands around her neck. She claimed she escaped from my house and went downtown to drink with a boy, but that I had found her again and taken her back to my place.

Later, in a second report, she alleged that I gave her some substance and that I made her dance in front of me. Four days after her statement she was taken to a mental hospital and was then tested positive for drugs. Then about 10 police and officials came to my house with a search warrant and looked for drugs. They found nothing.

In fact, I had many witnesses to prove that I did not keep this girl captive, like my cook and cleaner and my guard and gate keeper, and that I was at work on the days she mentioned. I could not have done these things. I was horrified by these allegations. I mean, this sort of stuff is anathema to me. I am not the sort of person that would ever harm a woman. I was raised by good parents and I had a happy life. I was married with two loving children. I was a well respected member of the community with a serious business life. I came to the view that some officials really did not like me. They wanted to get me.

Wow. And tell us what happened next. We understand that it escalated even further?
Yes. The police took a statement from me and charged me with three criminal offences and I was bailed by my staff. I was also running out of a visa at that time, but decided I would go to Tokyo to speak to a group of 200 people about the newly-elected government and the prospects for the future. I got a single re-entry visa issued to me in Bangkok, went to Tokyo and spoke positively and with hope about the new government.

And then I went back to Yangon where I was arrested shortly after my arrival and taken to a police station. The next morning I went in front of a judge and four charges were laid on me, and an immigration charge, and I was taken immediately to the notorious Insein prison where I spent 47 days before I managed to get bail.

My lawyers worked extremely hard during that time to free me. Then I started my court battle. In all, I appeared in the court 19 or 20 times during this period and in total this whole episode took almost six months. During that time I was unable to travel or to see my family and it was a difficult time for me.

And the judgment?
My three barristers argued for a complete acquittal on all the charges and we had certainty this would happen. But, at the last minute I was convicted on Section 323 of the Criminal Code, which states that I had touched a woman causing her minor harm and was given 30 days in prison, but seeing I had already done 47 days, this was cancelled out. And on the immigration charge 13 (1), I was automatically found guilty and the minimum sentence is six months. In my case they made a special exemption and I was fined K100,000 ($120). Then I was set free. Of course I am very thankful to the president and the government for that.

What makes you want to stay in Myanmar and continue working in the media and on this project after what has recently happened to you?
Look, you have all sorts of experiences in a lifetime and I have recently had some new ones. Going to prison, even though I was not convicted of any crime, was an extreme experience I suppose. The important thing for me is my Dhamma, my own personal truth, and this upholds and supports my own knowledge of innocence. In the same way this also applies to my work in the media in Myanmar. I know that I have a serious task in ensuring all my colleagues get paid, are happy and provided for and are given chances.

Mostly I ensure that we are all working together with a single cause and that sustains us as a team. I also have to uphold what is right in my profession, to make certain The Myanmar Times is being honest and reporting as true as we can and to give readers and advertisers value for their money. Now, I have been there for more than 11 years and when I came to start The Myanmar Times I said my eventual goal was to see our papers become dailies and to break the state monopoly in that area.

Ultimately, it is that vision, a dream you can call it, that makes me want to continue on and I believe I have something to contribute in that respect.

If the game is about moving towards a daily cycle, please tell us in your opinion who are the potential players and when perhaps they could start to publish privately-operated dailies in Myanmar again?
The players who can go daily are those who have invested heavily in presses and other machinery, who have attracted sufficient numbers of staff and learned how to put them all together as one team. It is also about having the required experience in the industry to know where you are going and how to get there. So far I see that The Myanmar Times has those credentials and can move onto a daily platform, but we have challenges to overcome as well.

When? That is the million dollar question and I don’t have that answer. All I do know is that the state press is unable to project the new Myanmar and I think there are many wise heads in government who recognise that and would like to change. Under the constitution there are certain inalienable rights and freedom of expression is one of them, so it will be sooner rather than later when this question of private dailies will be addressed.

What is your advice then to local publishers at this time?
Become more professional. Be true to your ethics. Reach for the sky.

So, what now for our publisher?
I love Cambodia and I love the way the notion of a free press has been embraced here. I think the Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith is one of the most brilliant ministers in all Southeast Asia. I respect and admire PM Hun Sen for what he has done for his country in the past 10 years or more. These are two people that I hold up.

You know, when I walk down the street and feel the fresh breeze of democracy across my face and see smiling faces on motor bikes, see people in love and loving life, then I know this country is heading in the right direction. I have a lot to do here. And I have a lot to do in Myanmar and I am immensely excited by both countries. If myself and my partners are given support and encouragement we will always do the right thing. We are motivated by good causes. We should be thanked because we give a lot and we ask for little.

Read More

3:06 AM | 0 comments

PM blames Thaksin, Hun Sen for conflict [A bad workman blames his tools]

Amid political war of words, armies on both sides deny they have any intention to trigger border clashes

The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over Preah Vihear Temple is spreading into wider political arenas as Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva shifts blame on the Pheu Thai Party and its de-facto leader Thaksin Shinawatra, as well as Cambodian premier Hun Sen, who has personal relations with Thaksin.


Democrat leader Abhisit said yesterday that Hun Sen wanted Thai voters to change the government and end the dispute with Cambodia because the Cambodian leader has good ties with Thaksin.

"But I want the voters to choose the Democrats as we protect the territory, although it is against the wishes of a leader in a neighbouring country," Abhisit told reporters while campaigning in Samut Sakhon.

Abhisit earlier blamed Thaksin's associates, including former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and the opposition Pheu Thai Party, for his failure to block Cambodia's ambitions to restore and repair the Preah Vihear Temple. He said Thaksin's group has close relations with Cambodia and supports its plan for the temple.

The war of words through the media has gone international after Thailand and Cambodia crossed swords over the temple's inscription at the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris last week.

Cambodian premier Hun Sen reportedly accused Thailand of using the dispute for domestic political gains.

The Thai military yesterday dismissed reports of planning to launch an attack on neighbouring Cambodia, using the border conflict at the Preah Vihear Temple as a pretext, to jeopardise the July 3 election.

Army chief Prayut Chan-ocha has issued a clear policy instruction not to invade other countries, said First Army Region Commander Lt-General Udomdej Sitabutr. "We will retaliate only when attacked."

Local media has reported over the past days that the border is highly tense after Thailand announced its withdrawal from |the World Heritage Convention.

Military officials and politicians contesting the election were speculating on the threat of a military clash along the border with Cambodia, alarming residents along border areas.

Udomdej said the Cambodian military has moved some infantry units closer to Sa Kaew, but there has been no report of a large reinforcement of armoured vehicles and heavy weapons.

However, the commander who visited the border province yesterday ordered Thai troops to step up security measures, including a strict check on people and vehicles at border checkpoints and is seeking negotiations with Cambodian counterparts to ease problems.

"There is plenty of rumour in both countries now, but we are very careful to prevent such talk from affecting our relations with a neighbouring country," Commander Udomdej said. "Now relations are normal and we are engaging with our Cambodian counterparts at all levels," he said.

Abhisit Vejjajiva said his caretaker government would not exploit the conflict with Cambodia as an excuse to delay the election.

"We have proved before the international community several times that we did not trigger the military conflict and we do not have a policy to encroach into any country," Abhisit said.

As Thailand walked out of the session after failing in the diplomatic struggle to block Cambodia's move to restore the temple, the focus moved more to the military front.

On Monday, the Thai Second Army Region's spokesman Colonel Prawit Hookaew said that there was some redeployment and reinforcement of Cambodian troops along the border in reaction to the outcome in Paris.

However, Cambodia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday rejected the report of any movement of troops and weapons, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces absolutely rejects this fabrication by Thai troops to slander Cambodia and to prepare a scenario to confuse and lie to national and international communities," the ministry said in a statement.

"This fabricated information by Thai troops is just a groundless argument, aimed at future attacks and invasion of Cambodian territory," it added.

However, Col Prawit yesterday softened his tone saying there was only a minor rotation of Cambodian troops near Si Sa Ket province, and there was no significant shift of power in the border area.

"[But] we are ready and standing by in our stations," he said. "If anything happens, we will definitely be able to protect our border."

Read More

8:14 AM | 0 comments

PM blames Thaksin, Hun Sen for conflict [A bad workman blames his tools]

Amid political war of words, armies on both sides deny they have any intention to trigger border clashes

The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over Preah Vihear Temple is spreading into wider political arenas as Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva shifts blame on the Pheu Thai Party and its de-facto leader Thaksin Shinawatra, as well as Cambodian premier Hun Sen, who has personal relations with Thaksin.


Democrat leader Abhisit said yesterday that Hun Sen wanted Thai voters to change the government and end the dispute with Cambodia because the Cambodian leader has good ties with Thaksin.

"But I want the voters to choose the Democrats as we protect the territory, although it is against the wishes of a leader in a neighbouring country," Abhisit told reporters while campaigning in Samut Sakhon.

Abhisit earlier blamed Thaksin's associates, including former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and the opposition Pheu Thai Party, for his failure to block Cambodia's ambitions to restore and repair the Preah Vihear Temple. He said Thaksin's group has close relations with Cambodia and supports its plan for the temple.

The war of words through the media has gone international after Thailand and Cambodia crossed swords over the temple's inscription at the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris last week.

Cambodian premier Hun Sen reportedly accused Thailand of using the dispute for domestic political gains.

The Thai military yesterday dismissed reports of planning to launch an attack on neighbouring Cambodia, using the border conflict at the Preah Vihear Temple as a pretext, to jeopardise the July 3 election.

Army chief Prayut Chan-ocha has issued a clear policy instruction not to invade other countries, said First Army Region Commander Lt-General Udomdej Sitabutr. "We will retaliate only when attacked."

Local media has reported over the past days that the border is highly tense after Thailand announced its withdrawal from |the World Heritage Convention.

Military officials and politicians contesting the election were speculating on the threat of a military clash along the border with Cambodia, alarming residents along border areas.

Udomdej said the Cambodian military has moved some infantry units closer to Sa Kaew, but there has been no report of a large reinforcement of armoured vehicles and heavy weapons.

However, the commander who visited the border province yesterday ordered Thai troops to step up security measures, including a strict check on people and vehicles at border checkpoints and is seeking negotiations with Cambodian counterparts to ease problems.

"There is plenty of rumour in both countries now, but we are very careful to prevent such talk from affecting our relations with a neighbouring country," Commander Udomdej said. "Now relations are normal and we are engaging with our Cambodian counterparts at all levels," he said.

Abhisit Vejjajiva said his caretaker government would not exploit the conflict with Cambodia as an excuse to delay the election.

"We have proved before the international community several times that we did not trigger the military conflict and we do not have a policy to encroach into any country," Abhisit said.

As Thailand walked out of the session after failing in the diplomatic struggle to block Cambodia's move to restore the temple, the focus moved more to the military front.

On Monday, the Thai Second Army Region's spokesman Colonel Prawit Hookaew said that there was some redeployment and reinforcement of Cambodian troops along the border in reaction to the outcome in Paris.

However, Cambodia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday rejected the report of any movement of troops and weapons, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces absolutely rejects this fabrication by Thai troops to slander Cambodia and to prepare a scenario to confuse and lie to national and international communities," the ministry said in a statement.

"This fabricated information by Thai troops is just a groundless argument, aimed at future attacks and invasion of Cambodian territory," it added.

However, Col Prawit yesterday softened his tone saying there was only a minor rotation of Cambodian troops near Si Sa Ket province, and there was no significant shift of power in the border area.

"[But] we are ready and standing by in our stations," he said. "If anything happens, we will definitely be able to protect our border."

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