(Image from The New York Times)At A Temple In Indochina, Placid Days, But No Peace -- New York Times
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Brightly colored lines of washing hang by the gray stone walls. A vendor offers sunglasses, shampoo and cigarettes from a plastic sheet under a tree. A man with a Polaroid camera sells souvenir photos to the Cambodian soldiers camped on the temple grounds.
At the main gate, where an hourlong firefight with Thai troops broke out less than three weeks ago, the commander of a Cambodian border police unit is playing cards with his men.
It is a sleepy interlude here at the Preah Vihear temple, on the Thai-Cambodian border, where this summer a dispute over sovereignty became the most volatile international confrontation in Indochina in 20 years.
Cambodian troops occupy the swooping cliff-top temple, which is in Cambodia but is most easily reached from the high ground on the Thai side. The Thais, who claim parts of the territory around the temple,
At the main gate, where an hourlong firefight with Thai troops broke out less than three weeks ago, the commander of a Cambodian border police unit is playing cards with his men.
It is a sleepy interlude here at the Preah Vihear temple, on the Thai-Cambodian border, where this summer a dispute over sovereignty became the most volatile international confrontation in Indochina in 20 years.
Cambodian troops occupy the swooping cliff-top temple, which is in Cambodia but is most easily reached from the high ground on the Thai side. The Thais, who claim parts of the territory around the temple, are mostly out of sight in the hills or in camps nearby in Thailand.
Read more ....
My Comment: There has been centuries of animosity between the two sides .... this is now a modern version of the same conflict.
It is a sleepy interlude here at the Preah Vihear temple, on the Thai-Cambodian border, where this summer a dispute over sovereignty became the most volatile international confrontation in Indochina in 20 years.
Cambodian troops occupy the swooping cliff-top temple, which is in Cambodia but is most easily reached from the high ground on the Thai side. The Thais, who claim parts of the territory around the temple, are mostly out of sight in the hills or in camps nearby in Thailand.
Read more ....
My Comment: There has been centuries of animosity between the two sides .... this is now a modern version of the same conflict.