US aids bid to stem drug traffic

US anti-narcotics expert has given Cambodian customs officers a three-week
course on drug detection techniques in the hope of slowing a growing trend for
heroin to be shipped through Cambodia.
Edward Schach, the US Customs
Inspector whose coordinating the program, said: "We suspect Cambodia is the new
vulnerable region for the international shipment of heroin to the United States
and Europe. At this point we have to stop the problem before it gets very
large."
Schach said he is worried about Cambodia being used as a
transport hub for the international distribution of drugs grown in large
quantities in neighboring countries.
He said: "Many people here do not
show much concern about drugs, and they lack the experience to operate detection
systems which stop the free flow of drugs into and out of
Cambodia."
"They do not understand what the problem is or are aware of
the dangers of heroin."
Schach trained 28 Cambodian officers, selected
from the Customs House Department of the Ministries of Defense and Interior, in
basic anti-drug enforcement techniques.
The Minister of Economics and
Finance, Sam Rainsy visited the training seminar. He said: "Because of
Cambodia's economic problems, poor education and inadequate laws drug
trafficking could become a very big problem here.
"Our people are very
poorly educated and don't even know there is any drug problem. There is no legal
framework for government administration to deal with the problem. Customs
officers don't even know what heroin looks like."
He said heroin
trafficking and drug use and addiction where increasing in the country and
appealed to the US to further strengthen ties to help stamp out the problem.
A government customs officer who requested anonymity said: "We have no
reason to look for heroin because we have no knowledge or awareness about what
it is, and no equipment to test substances to find out what they
are.
"Last year we arrested a trafficker carrying seven kg of heroin from
Thailand into Cambodia through a remote point along the northern border.
"He told us the trafficking routes are arranged from Bangkok to Poipet,
Poipet to Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh to Vietnam and then onto the United States,
or European countries."
"Most of the drug smuggling in Cambodia is
organized by foreign traders, but Cambodians are often hired to provide
transport.
"We are have poor security in this country and there are many
entrances along the Thai and Laos borders where drugs can be brought in."
He said: "Cambodian border officers do not care much about what is legal
or illegal trading.
"They prefer to be paid bribes to allow weapons or
drugs through than to make an effort to protect the country from these things."

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Subedi wraps visit with warning

United Nations rights envoy to Cambodia Surya Subedi says Cambodia risks more violence if reforms are not enacted.
Subedi, an international law professor, was concluding his 11th mission as special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, a position he took up in 2009.
Among the many concerns Subedi raised were the endemic series of long-running land disputes that continue to plague Cambodia.

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100k plus Cambodians flee Thai junta

More than 100,000 terrified Cambodian migrant workers caught up in the unfolding political turmoil in Thailand have fled back to their homeland fearing they have become the latest target in the country's descent into martial law.

The Thai military junta has both threatened to launch a campaign to rid the country of undocumented migrant workers and denied they are conducting a crackdown.
Cambodian's who have already fled home bring with them rumours of fatal shootings and brutality and the hands of Thai military officials.
As 52,000 Cambodian migrant workers crossed the border at Poipet in 36 hours, The Post spoke to those streaming into the country fearing for their lives.

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Compromise of sorts on dam

In an unexpected decision yesterday, Lower Mekong countries opened a two-day meeting in Bangkok by jointly agreeing a controversial hydropower dam must undergo regional consultation but could continue construction.

Laos’s delegation to the Mekong River Commission – the intergovernmental body responsible for facilitating cooperation along the river – announced that it would yield to neighbouring countries’ demands and submit its Don Sahong Hydropower Project to further evaluation by member countries.
The Lao government representatives made it clear, however, that they were not willing to halt construction on the $300 million project located less than 2 kilometres north of Cambodia.
“This is a problem, because it means that the most influence the other countries can hope to have is to provide input on how it is built and what sort of mitigation measures are used,” said Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director at International Rivers. “But under international law, affected countries have the right to request more studies and have a say in the project before it moves forward.”
Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam have all requested that the Don Sahong’s Malaysian developers Mega First Corporation Berhad postpone assembly until transboundary impact assessments could be conducted to determine what kind of effects the dam may have on the 60 million residents relying on the Mekong, as well as several volatile migratory fish species. But the developers have so far not complied.
“There are options to sustainably manage the water resource that will allow [the countries] to meet power demands while conserving the ecological integrity of the Mekong,” said Marc Goichot, hydropower specialist at World Wildlife Foundation. “We do not need to take inconsiderable risks with Lower Mekong mainstream dams.”
The Don Sahong is the second of nine hydropower dams that Laos plans to use to boost its economy, which is currently the smallest of the ASEAN states.
Earlier this week, the Thai courts accepted a lawsuit against the first of Laos’s dams, the 1,285-megawatt Xayaburi dam, based in part on the lack of scientific study proving that it would not harm downstream villagers.

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Phin Sodalis

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Thai Politics Challenges Fortune-Tellers

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND — In Thailand, fortune-tellers have long been sought out for spiritual advice and guidance. But since last month’s military takeover of the country, even spiritual ceremonies can take on political overtones.

Given the uncertainty following the May 22 coup, many are seeking guidance from spiritualists and fortune tellers.

Popular Thai soothsayer Varin Buaviratlert says he got his calling early in life.

"When I was 9 years old, my spirit travelled outside my body and I could see myself through a vision," he said. "Since then, I have studied the supernatural."

More than 40 years later, the clairvoyant offers his predictions to Thailand’s affluent, including the country’s top brass.

Varin performed a special "life-prolonging" ceremony for the victorious generals of a 2006 military coup. Today, the soothsayer claims he has visions of the new military ruler, Army General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has granted himself all executive and legislative power.

"In a vision, I saw General Prayuth was a great soldier for King Narasuan and I was involved with him, too," Varin said. "I saw the vision from the past life when we fought together and now we are born again in this life to save the country."

A clouded future

But in the northern voting strongholds of ousted caretaker government leader Yingluck Shinawatra, some see little to be happy about.

A deeply flawed rice-subsidy program recently was scrapped by the military rulers, leaving growers worried that profits will go elsewhere.

"In the past year, the rice scheme benefited the farmers," said one of them, Kham Lalirm. "If there is no pledging project, the middleman will push the price lower and only they will keep the money in their pockets."

The army announced Wednesday that it had developed an alternate plan to help rice growers, Reuters reported. Otherwise, the government remains tight-lipped about its future policies.

It has ordered village chiefs to report any suspicious activities, especially those by the Red Shirts – largely rural supporters of Shinawatra’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand’s exiled former prime minister, unseated in the 2006 coup, championed populist causes such as health care and food subsidies.

The Red Shirts politically oppose the largely urban, affluent Yellow Shirts, who support traditional structures including the monarchy and military.  

The two colors have taken on increased significance since the most recent coup.

Phor Tamkham, a spiritualist, said that when he "put up a red flag to mark where our spirit ceremony was,  the soldiers came to our festival, asking us if we were involved with Red Shirt political activists."

For now, the military has managed to silence the critics.

But many Thai academics predict the country could unravel rapidly if voices from the rural majority are ignored.

They just aren’t allowed to say it publicly.

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Syria, Iran Join Fight Against Iraq's Militants

Syria and Iran have joined the fight against militant Sunni insurgents attempting to take over Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that Syrian warplanes targeted militants earlier this week on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has used the border area as a gateway to take over large areas in northern and western Iraq. Maliki said he welcomed but did not request the Syrian air attacks, which occurred Tuesday.
Other news accounts reported that the Syrian air assault was carried out over Iraqi air space.
Also, Iran is supporting the Shi’ite-led Baghdad government, supplying tons of military equipment and deploying surveillance drones in the Iraqi skies from an airfield in Baghdad.
The Syrian and Iranian fight against the militants linked to ISIL has produced an extraordinary confluence of interests with the United States, which otherwise is staunchly opposed to the Damascus regime of President Bashar al-Assad and is engaged in contentious negotiations with Iran over its nuclear development program.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, who met with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaks during a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq, June 26, 2014.

Political measure needed
British Foreign Secretary William Hague flew Thursday to Baghdad, where he met with Maliki and planned to hold talks with Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
In his meeting with Hague, Maliki also conceded that political measures were needed alongside military action to repel a Sunni insurgent offensive that threatens to tear the country apart, the French news agency AFP reported.
"We should proceed in two parallel tracks," Maliki's office said he told Hague, who was on a surprise visit to Iraq.
Along with military operations, the authorities must continue "following up on the political process and holding a meeting of the parliament (on time) and electing a head of parliament and a president and forming the government,” Maliki said, according to AFP.

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