"The seeds of Thai-Cambodian tension"

From Asia Times:

"The seeds of Thai-Cambodian tension"

By Alan Boyd

SYDNEY - Strident nationalism and decades of cultural baggage are weighing down relations between Mekong neighbors Cambodia and Thailand, which almost went to war last week over a reported insult by a Bangkok soap-opera star.

While Suwanna Konying denies that she called for the return of the Angkor Wat temple complex to Thailand, her reported comments triggered violent attacks on Thai property in Phnom Penh and a hurried exodus of diplomatic staff.

The consensus among regional analysts is that Suwanna was probably the unwitting victim of political scheming by elements of the ruling Hun Sen government ahead of July's Cambodian elections.

( Nevertheless, the affair offered a revealing glimpse of the perilous state of relations between Thailand and Cambodia, which is aptly defined by the iconic presence of Angkor Wat. )

"Thai-Cambodia crisis shows old hurts"

From Asia Times:

"Thai-Cambodia crisis shows old hurts"
By Chayanit Poonyarat and Johanna Son

BANGKOK - Last week's dust-up between Thailand and Cambodia has underscored how a volatile brew made up of simmering resentment of Thailand's role as the heavyweight in the region, combined with a dose of miscommunication, can change bilateral ties from cordial to downright hostile literally overnight.

In less than a week, Thailand and Cambodia went from being neighboring countries to nations as far apart as they can be, after ties plummeted to their worst in recent decades.

After anti-Thai riots peaked last Wednesday, sparked by supposed remarks by a Thai actress implying that Cambodia had stolen the historic Angkor Wat from Thailand, Bangkok stopped all economic deals with Phnom Penh, halted flights, downgraded its embassy, sealed its borders, and evacuated more than 1,000 nationals.

Angry protests were also held at the Cambodian Embassy here, prompting the King to call for calm, after reports that mobs had torched the Thai Embassy and gone after Thai businesses and nationals in Cambodia.

( By Friday, relative calm had returned to Phnom Penh amid tight security. The Thai government welcomed Cambodian's offer of compensation - damage was estimated at US$23 million - and the arrests of nearly 150 people involved in the riots. One Cambodian was reported to have died in the riots. )

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Isn't hematite related to magnetite?

Hematite


What Stone Are You?
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The Salon Interview: Hunter S. Thompson

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/02/03/thompson/print.html

Hunter S. Thompson
The godfather of gonzo says 9/11 caused a "nationwide nervous breakdown" -- and let the Bush crowd loot the country and savage American democracy.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By John Glassie



Feb. 3, 2003 | He calls himself "an elderly dope fiend living out in the wilderness," but Hunter S. Thompson will also be found this week on the New York Times bestseller list with a new memoir, "Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century."

( Listening to his ragged voice, there is some sense that Thompson, now 65, has reined in his outlaw ways, gotten a little softer, perhaps a little more gracious now that he's reached retirement age. )

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"The Other Face of Fanaticism"

The Other Face of Fanaticism
By PANKAJ MISHRA

On the evening of Jan. 30, 1948, five months after the independence and partition of India, Mohandas Gandhi was walking to a prayer meeting on the grounds of his temporary home in New Delhi when he was shot three times in the chest and abdomen. Gandhi was then 78 and a forlorn figure. He had been unable to prevent the bloody creation of Pakistan as a separate homeland for Indian Muslims. The violent uprooting of millions of Hindus and Muslims across the hastily drawn borders of India and Pakistan had tainted the freedom from colonial rule that he had so arduously worked toward. The fasts he had undertaken in order to stop Hindus and Muslims from killing one another had weakened him, and when the bullets from an automatic pistol hit his frail body at point-blank range, he collapsed and died instantly. His assassin made no attempt to escape and, as he himself would later admit, even shouted for the police.

( Millions of shocked Indians waited for more news that night. They feared unspeakable violence if Gandhi's murderer turned out to be a Muslim. There was much relief, also some puzzlement, when the assassin was revealed as Nathuram Godse, a Hindu Brahmin from western India, a region relatively untouched by the brutal passions of the partition. )

Weekend

Nothing much happened on the weekend. Therein is the problem.

The biggest thing was the Town & Country Sunday evening. I got there at 5 o'clock, trudging up from workin the slush-laced rain. In the hour before the dinner began, I tidied up my papers. The dinner itself (in addition to me, Tara, Jeremy, and teridian went not as well as it could have, mainly because of a tiring and emotionally draining past week and certain horrible personal events.

Well. Back to work.

Leonard Cohen, "Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On"

"Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On"

I was born in a beauty salon
My father was a dresser of hair
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain

You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain

I've looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to you knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please

When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ...

Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there

Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ...

So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade

I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain