Angkor.com FAQ

The "Outpost of Tyranny" flap - March 1, 2005

US does not consider Cambodia as an "Outpost of Tyranny" - Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol 12, #2404, 25.2.2005
...Khmer Intelligence is believed to be a news service organized by the opposition party. So, what it has fabricated and disseminated as a decision by the US State Department is simply being used for political gain.
However, the calarification given by the US Embassy in Phnom Penh dealt a heavy blow to the opposition party that tends to fabricate many stories such as defamation asserted by the leader of the opposition party against Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh.

Khmer Intelligence - 24 February 2005: "Myanmar" or "Cambodia": Confusion comes from China
Following the correction Khmer Intelligence made earlier today (KI, 24 February 2005: "Correction of a mistake") and the statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia titled "United States has not designated Cambodia as an 'outpost of tyranny'" that was issued also today to deny "a report by the Khmer Intelligence electronic wire service on February 23 that was picked up by other media", our source of information "CambodiaNews" has just revealed the name of
the organization that had first distorted Condoleezza Rice's words: China's XINHUA News Agency, in a report in French posted on its Web Site on February 22. XINHUA did make the mistake when translating the corresponding Financial Times's article from English to French: "Myanmar" became "Cambodge". See XINHUA original report in French or (here).

Khmer Intelligence - 24 February 2005: Correction of a mistake
Khmer Intelligence received today an e-mail from U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ray, saying: "Your statement that Secretary Rice is quoted by Financial Times as including Cambodia as one of six "outposts of tyranny" is incorrect. The six countries she listed, and as stated in the FT article of January 22, are: Myanmar, Cuba, Belarus, North Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe."
KI acknowledges Ambassador Ray's correction and apologizes to all its readers for publishing an inaccurate piece of information (KI, 23 February 2005: "US Secretary of State calls Cambodia an 'outpost of tyranny'") from the electronic news service "CambodiaNews" (22 February 2005: "Condoleezza Rice : Cambodge, Cuba, ... consid?r?s
comme des 'avant-postes de la tyrannie'"). "CambodiaNews" apparently made a mistake in their translation of the corresponding Financial Times's article from English to French (Myanmar instead of Cambodia). In the future, KI will carefully check any alleged translation made by other people before publishing any news. All "news" proven inaccurate have been deleted from KI Web site.

COMMENT: Phnom Penh's political theatrics - New Straits Times, February 15, 2005

'List of 98 MPs who cowardly voted to strip their colleagues' immunity on Feb. 3, 2005' - Sam Rainsy Party

The immigrant who became the 'doughnut king' had wealth and clout -- and a nasty gambling habit. Now he sleeps on a trailer porch. - LA Times, January 19, 2005
This is an amazing story...

Press Releases: Preparing to Pulp the Pulp Merchants? Cambodian Government Announces Legal Action against Predatory Paper Giant - Global Witness, December 31, 2004

Thailand and Cambodia to celebrate 55 years of diplomatic relations - TNA, March 2, 2005
Thailand and Cambodia plan to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year with a series of cultural exchanges, the Thai Ambassador to Cambodia said in Phnom Penh on Wednesday...

Cambodia's 'tenth dancer' - BBC, February 28, 2005
The story of a Cambodian dancer who is the only member of her troupe to survive the Khmer Rouge is to run in London...

Cambodia set to build trans-border industrial zone - VNA, February 17, 2005
Cambodia will begin construction of Koh Kong trans-border industrial zone in Cambodia's Ban Cham Yeam, east of Thailand.
The project will include such items as water supplying, telephone and electric systems and other infrastructure.
Once completed, the project will be the first world-ranked industrial zone in Cambodia. It is expected to attract enterprises in the fields of garment and textile production, agricultural machines, consumer products, glass and motorbike accessories.
The project will also create thousands of jobs for local farmers.

Preserving Phnong Culture - AlertNet, December 20, 2004
The traditional life of the Phnong, the hill people who live off what they grow and gather in the deep forests along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, faces threats from modernization, land development and tourism...

Book banned - December 18, 2004
On the Cambodian politics mailing list, M Preuk writes: Please follow the link to read Cambodia Daily's article about ban of Angkar Chea Nona book in Phnom Penh. I can't thank Lok Ly Diep enough for posting the book. For those interested in reading the book, it is posted at Amekhmer web site.

Cambodia's famous Bayon temple in danger: experts - Xinhuanet, December 17, 2004
...The tower should be tied with ropes to keep it together, a roofshould be installed to keep rain off, and gaps in-between stones should be cleaned and grouted without delay, experts suggested.
At the Bayon Symposium last February, participants stressed that drastic changes in the underground-water level could cause Angkor monuments to sink and asked for data to be collected on theamount of under-ground water pumped by hotels...

Lost tribe bypassed by history - The Independent, December 10, 2004
...Clad in strips of bark and woven leaves, the ragtag band of Khmer families who fled the killing fields of Cambodia 25 years ago trekked out of the malarial thicket in crude sandals hacked from the rubber tread.
They had no idea the tyrant Pol Pot was dead, that the Vietnamese Army was gone or that the civil war that had forced them into hiding was long since over...

News from our neighbors: Restoring Ta Phohm - December 11, 2004
Many will be horrified that Indian restorers will be working on the otherworldly Ta Phohm after the desecration of one of the towers at Angkor Wat. Below is a photo we believe to be of the ruined "melted tower." We have been informed apocryphally that the tower was treated by the Indian restorers with a 'magic' solution that was to restore the features and it took the intervention of then King Norodom Sihanouk to put a stop to the destruction. Do readers have any further details?

(Photo: Angkor.com)

A new web site for the CPP - Khmer Intelligence, November 26, 2004
News from our neighbors: The ruling CPP has recently overhauled its web site. Only a few people so far have seen the updated version. Number of visitors for web sites run by the three main Cambodian political parties as of 26 November 2004 at 11:00 a.m. Phnom Penh time:
- CPP: 2,479 (November 2004 only)
- Funcinpec: 258,212 (since 1998)
- Sam Rainsy Party: 729,214 (since 1996)