When Princess Bajrakitiyabha collapsed last December, I was in Chennai, India. Returning to Thailand two weeks later, I expected news of her death to dominate conversations. The palace never admitted she had died, however, but was just in a coma, and Thais were urged to pray for her recovery. Everywhere across the kingdom, shrines with her portrait have mushroomed. You can even find them at schools and shopping malls.
As of 2/6/23, the princess is supposedly still alive, though unconscious, and if you’re inside Thailand, it’s literally a crime to challenge or question the king, so she isn’t dead until he says so.
Tyrants don’t just control lives, but information, and here, I’m also talking about the entire West, of course. When a Pfizer employee was recently taped boasting about Jewjabbing crimes, YouTube deleted the evidence, “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service.”
With so much pushback against Covid lies from the Jewjacked media, YouTube disabled its dislike button 16 months ago. YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, is Jewish. Did I just commit a hate crime? Is Jewish a hateful word?
It is, apparently. After I listed many powerful Jews behind the Jewjab genocide, Blogger/Google deleted my post, with this explanation:
Your content has violated our Hate Speech policy. Please visit our Community Guidelines page linked in this email to learn more.
[…]
We encourage you to review the full content of your blog posts to make sure they are in line with our standards as additional violations could result in termination of your blog.
It’s OK to mass murder millions, like Jewish Albert Bourla, but it’s hate speech to name the culprits. Aren’t you nauseated to live in such a sick world, but that’s the New Normal, eh.
Though Klaus Schwab wrote Covid 19: The Great Reset, most people still dismiss it as a conspiracy theory. Ron Unz, for example, pays no attention to this sinister agenda. Instead, he still drones on about how Jewjabs are unquestionably safe and effective.
Am I glad to be as far away as possible from the nuthouse that’s the United States of America!
Here in Siem Reap, I’m surrounded by sane people going about their daily business. I often hear laughter and see children play. Most faces are maskless. Having experienced a horrible great reset not that long ago, Cambodians just want to be left alone.
In his Pol Pot, Philip Short sums up what they were subjected to, “Money, law courts, newspapers, the postal system and foreign telecommunications — even the concept of the city — were all simply abolished. Individual rights were not curtailed in favour of the collective, but extinguished altogether. Individual creativity, initiative, originality were condemned per se. Individual consciousness was systematically demolished.”
To enforce such a radical regiment, many woke fanatics were enlisted to punish, torture or kill those who failed to obey. Leaders of the Khmer Rouge were Paris educated intellectuals, however, so it was a foreign ideology triggered that genocide.
Beware of know-it-alls who are righteously convinced they know what’s best for you, though some are just motivated by hatred or a twisted need for revenge.
Here in Siem Reap, I’ve been feasting on blood. Morning, I might be at Taste of Khmer Soup to have their boat noodles, a Thai dish with a dark broth enriched with cow blood. Evening, I’m likely at Li La, to have their rice gruel with chitterlings, pig maw, pig’s trotter and pig blood curd. It’s not kosher, of course, and illegal even in Chinese majority Singapore, for they’ve lost their way, but I’m in Cambodia.
Last night at Li La, four white people hesitated then walked in. A disaster, I thought, and sure enough, they got up after studying the yellowed menu that’s patched with white and clear tapes. “I’m sorry,” a middle-aged white woman said as she stroked the waitress’ arm.
Though there are familiar stir fried dishes like cashew chicken, they’re tucked at the back. At the front are frightful sounding entries like “Cooked with intestine, Stomach (Big)” and “Sausaga (Big).” The latter is illustrated by a dark photo of four curving phalluses, or fossilized turds, chopped up. With your meat or blood, you can order a 50 cent portion of rice gruel or steamed rice.
Rhyming with cruel, rice gruel is so much more evocative than porridge, a pussified word suitable only for babies. Can I have more porridge, mommy?
Speaking of moms, I returned to Siem Reap with dark, free flowing fantasies of eating often at Best Mom, but since I couldn’t book a room near it, I’ve only been there twice.
At Best Mom, I was happy to meet again Max, whom I wrote about a while back. A font of embellished tales, he’s always great for a conversation. This time, he told me about the Russian gangsters who used to frequent Mikey’s. Their main business was white slavery, so little Susan from Illinois, say, could certainly disappear from a Siem Reap sidewalk, only to end up as a penetrable footstool in Dubai.
“If you already have a garage filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Aston Martins, what more do you want? A white slave, of course.”
As a proof of this trade, Max cited the case of Johnny Gosch, from his home state of Iowa. Four decades later, Gosch reappeared, said Max, except he didn’t want to go home, for he had gotten used to a comfortable life in Arabia. This didn’t happen, of course. Like millions of American children, Gosch is still missing. Powerful American pedophiles always need more boys and girls. After you’ve robbed or bombed millions of innocents, what more do you want?
Struggling to explain the unspeakable crimes of the Khmer Rouge, Short brings up, rather oddly, the case of Tat Marina. A “stunningly beautiful young actress,” she was the mistress of a government minister, Svay Sittha, so Sittha’s wife retaliated by staging an acid attack on Marina.
Short, “The parallel with Khmer Rouge atrocities is striking. One way to try to understand why the Cambodian communists acted as they did is to enter into the mind of a well-educated, intelligent woman, who exacts vengeance by pouring acid over a young girl’s head, watching as it eats away her body and every hope of happiness in her life. What can be more odious than to destroy a child’s future? The Khmers Rouges, at least, could argue that they were acting for a cause, not out of personal evil.”
An even more famous case was the murder of Pisith Pilika, a mistress of Hun Sen, the leader of Cambodia since 1985. As with the attack on Marina and many others, no one has been punished. The most powerful Cambodians are free from prosecution, it seems, but that’s true of many, if not most, countries on earth, including Western “democracies.” Typing that, I laughed so hard, I almost burped up pig’s or cow’s blood. They taste about the same.
Since history is generally bad news, it’s best to stay clear of historical figures. Sell enough rice gruel with blood curd, so you can buy something else to eat, and hope your children don’t become orphans by dusk.
In 2018, I took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh. Just outside Wat Ounalom, I ordered a can of Angkor from a 12-year-old waitress. Eager to practice her English, she chattered away. I hope she’s doing fine, this clearly bright girl.
A few days ago at Best Mom, another girl of roughly the same age was cleaning the plastic covered menus. That’s her chore, then she brought me a can of Angkor. Proud of her own competence, she briskly performed each task, and when I left, she gave me the brightest smile.
Shouting towards the back, I said to her mom in the kitchen, “Bye, mom! I’ll see you later!”
If only such normality could reign everywhere, all the time.
[Phnom Penh, 2/20/18]
[Siem Reap, 2/3/23]
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Having just written "most faces are maskless" here in Cambodia, I noticed many masked faces today, as I walked around Siem Reap. Had I misread the situation, or have more Cambodians just decided to wear masks again? If they have, it's because there has been much hype in the Cambodian press about the mass return of Chinese tourists, starting, well, yesterday!
At this point, it's probably more accurate to say "the majority" of Cambodians are maskless, instead of "most."
During the last 30 days, there have also been news items here about the "Kraken COVID-19 subvariant," with Hun Sen himself urging Cambodians to get booster shots.
Since this is a very hot country with eating out in crowded restaurants a favorite pasttime, even Cambodians who wear masks often take them off. This mask wearing business, then, is a total joke, as is just about everything else in our farcical world.
Yesterday, I suggested that many Cambodians are wearing masks again because Chinese tourists are returning. This anxiety is also felt in Thailand.
Here's an excerpt from an oped in the Thai website, Khaoso, from 1/8/23:
"Short of physically blocking and shutting down all the major international airports in Thailand or overthrowing the government, there is nothing that will stop the influx of Chinese tourists back to Thailand starting today. Those who fear that Chinese tourist re-spread coronavirus will have no choice but to take better care of themselves, wear masks, get a booster shot, and avoid crowded tourist venues, hoping for the best for Thailand in the weeks and months ahead [...]
"Like it or not, Chinese tourists are now back, and the number will likely grow in the weeks ahead. To them I say, welcome back to Thailand, and hope you will understand the anxiety suffered by some Thais about your arrival (because they do not trust your government’s low COVID infection and death figures).
"Thus, it would be kind of you, Chinese tourists, to make sure that you are not infected before traveling to Thailand so as not to burden yourself and the host country. Also, please wear sanitary masks while traveling on public transport in Thailand. (No need for Hazmat suit unless you want people to stare at you.) Most of us are not racist and we are happy to have you back as long as you take necessary sanity and health precautions.
"For Thais who are anxious, I hope you all remain as calm possible as the majority of the Thai people have been vaccinated. This is the real new-normal life, filled with uncertainties, that we all have to deal with."
Siem Riep was indeed normal when I was there in 1970 with Bill and Bob, two other Americans working in Saigon. The two best hotels were booked up, so we stayed in a small Chinese-run place.
Bob put his passport under his pillow just to be safe. When we got back to Saigon he realized he had forgotten it. Strange country, strange language, no diplomatic relations. Catastrophe!
I used my French to contact Royal Air Cambodge. They phoned Siem Riep, which sent a courier to the hotel, picked up the passport and put it on the next flight to Phnom Penh. We had an extra day in Cambodia out of it.
Well, this is how things usually happen, at least in America. Things are touted as "safe and effective", Big Pharma makes tons of money, then, 20 year later, all the rotten stuff comes out, they start to be sued, but by then most people died anyway.
It happened with talidomide, it happened with Oxycontin, and it will happen with the mRNA vaccines, but perhaps 10 or 20 years from now, when many people will be already dead and Mr. Bourla will be enjoying his retirement in a gay nudist beach in Tel Aviv.
There's media out there of the prince/king sauntering around in tight jeans and a cutoff tank top, a bizarre spectacle (I think I might have seen here first). He and his siblings give the unfortunate appearance of typical royal inbreeding, they all look like monkfish.
The sisters *seem* like decent people, though. One is a chemist. One has a degree in developmental education; he had her ankles broken, supposedly over an argument. One sister announced her candidacy for prime minister, but that was ended with a pronouncement by the manboy king. Oddly, she had to abdicate her royal title on marrying a commoner, but the king did not.
I raised a young male macaque monkey and I named him "Hui Xen", a gentle pun about the Cambodian leader. Linh will get this pun, few others will. I wanted to have a military outfit tailored for him, but never got a chance.
Before anybody asks: Hui Sen was poisoned by neighorhood kids feeding him a battery full of heavy metals. See, batteries have no smell, so why not taste it? He suffered an awful death but just lasted 24 hours.
So I've been keeping my monkeys away from the street and kids since. Less freedom but more security and fat. After all, isn't fat what we are all designed to look after?
Just had the best sweet (and fish sauce) pork and tofu stew in my 45 years existence.
Just walking out of my house to get beer, the landlord's younger brother convinced me to have a few beers. He pulled out that delicious sweet sauce pork and I ended up having 5 beers with him and informing him about the war in Ukraine. Surprisingly; in the wake of one of the most deadly wars of the 20th century, they have some tools to understand the stakes really quick: how corruption can lead a country into chaos, give way to foreign intervention, etc.
Not sure if this already posted. Don’t see it. Trying again:
You’ve got a poet’s eye for language. Two of them! Jewish has in our lifetime been a disparagement from both within and without. From within, it was faint praise: Jew-ish. Now of course a neutral word, or one that carries either pride or rancor. I try to stick with the noun, Jew. Now, of course, that is also a Nazi manner of speech, so given my other affiliations, appearance, and name, it has sometimes given pause to my audience. If you really want to howl, I suggest yid. That is the word in Yiddish. It is what the most observant call themselves while from the goyim it is a slur on the order of you-n.-what. Go figure.
Dear Linh, a stimulating postcard as ever. As far as the Thai Royal Family goes, Clif High reports that there is movement afoot among martial arts assassins in Thailand.....something to do with Pfizer executives.....and Ed Dowd has pointed out that any contract can be voided if it can be proved that fraud has taken place, which it quite definitely has in the non-reporting of the alarming results of its own trials before Pfizer released its vaccines on the world. So in the fullness of time any country that signed one of those contracts should be able to withdraw from it and Thailand may be the first of many. Thanks for your column again.
The Thai government has sent assassins into Cambodia to murder dissidents, but I seriously doubt they can get anywhere near Bourla or any top Pfizer exec. As for that squirming weasel caught on tape, he's not a worthwhile target.
Imagine waking up one morning to this headline, "Bourla, Savior of Humanity with his Miracle Vaccine, Has Just Been Defenestrated!"
Hi Linh thanks for the article. Always look forward to your new writings. I took my father to Angkor Wat around 7 years ago. Siem Reap is a good place to be. I'm certain that slave masks are more prominent in Asia whether or not we have Chinese tourists around. Still see people on back beach in VT in medical looking masks. On a positive note, my wife visited a gov't office in Saigon this week to apply for a new passport and there were maskless people in the office.
Interesting comment. Cambodia has basically been administered by the UN since 1990, after the VN army pulled out. US and EU sponsors then took over, mostly as "NGOs". It never really reached any level of independence. It then became a hub for human trafficking and all sorts of gambling and dope business. It's a failed state, but it's "OUR FAILED STATE".
A young, bright journalist wrote a book about Cambodia in 2006 if I remember, called "The dark side of NGOs" (in French, probably not translated). She was a trainee in the largest Phnom Penh French language daily paper. The day after her book was published, she "jumped out" of the 2nd floor window of the newspaper HQ. Nothing to see here.
NGOs have a long and troubled history. "The Crisis Caravan" describes how they worked in Africa 20 or 30 years ago. Axelle Kabou takes a swipe at them in "Si l'afrique refussait le developement?" Carleton Gajdusek "rescued" hundreds of New Guinea boys, some of whom I met in Bethesda 20 odd years ago. They are a sick phenomenon.
Hey, I did the research again on this (quite old story), it took me about an hour because strangely Duckduckgo didn't bring anything so I had to reluctantly Ggl it.
Although I haven't read the book, I got the same chills as 15 years ago when I first read about the story.
TBH I don't wanna post the details here for quite obvious reasons, so I'm sending an email to Linh and he will do whatever he wants, whenever he wants with that info.
Hi everyone,
Having just written "most faces are maskless" here in Cambodia, I noticed many masked faces today, as I walked around Siem Reap. Had I misread the situation, or have more Cambodians just decided to wear masks again? If they have, it's because there has been much hype in the Cambodian press about the mass return of Chinese tourists, starting, well, yesterday!
At this point, it's probably more accurate to say "the majority" of Cambodians are maskless, instead of "most."
During the last 30 days, there have also been news items here about the "Kraken COVID-19 subvariant," with Hun Sen himself urging Cambodians to get booster shots.
Since this is a very hot country with eating out in crowded restaurants a favorite pasttime, even Cambodians who wear masks often take them off. This mask wearing business, then, is a total joke, as is just about everything else in our farcical world.
Linh
Hi everyone,
Yesterday, I suggested that many Cambodians are wearing masks again because Chinese tourists are returning. This anxiety is also felt in Thailand.
Here's an excerpt from an oped in the Thai website, Khaoso, from 1/8/23:
"Short of physically blocking and shutting down all the major international airports in Thailand or overthrowing the government, there is nothing that will stop the influx of Chinese tourists back to Thailand starting today. Those who fear that Chinese tourist re-spread coronavirus will have no choice but to take better care of themselves, wear masks, get a booster shot, and avoid crowded tourist venues, hoping for the best for Thailand in the weeks and months ahead [...]
"Like it or not, Chinese tourists are now back, and the number will likely grow in the weeks ahead. To them I say, welcome back to Thailand, and hope you will understand the anxiety suffered by some Thais about your arrival (because they do not trust your government’s low COVID infection and death figures).
"Thus, it would be kind of you, Chinese tourists, to make sure that you are not infected before traveling to Thailand so as not to burden yourself and the host country. Also, please wear sanitary masks while traveling on public transport in Thailand. (No need for Hazmat suit unless you want people to stare at you.) Most of us are not racist and we are happy to have you back as long as you take necessary sanity and health precautions.
"For Thais who are anxious, I hope you all remain as calm possible as the majority of the Thai people have been vaccinated. This is the real new-normal life, filled with uncertainties, that we all have to deal with."
Linh
Siem Riep was indeed normal when I was there in 1970 with Bill and Bob, two other Americans working in Saigon. The two best hotels were booked up, so we stayed in a small Chinese-run place.
Bob put his passport under his pillow just to be safe. When we got back to Saigon he realized he had forgotten it. Strange country, strange language, no diplomatic relations. Catastrophe!
I used my French to contact Royal Air Cambodge. They phoned Siem Riep, which sent a courier to the hotel, picked up the passport and put it on the next flight to Phnom Penh. We had an extra day in Cambodia out of it.
If only normalcy had ever been as nice as this.
"but it’s hate speech to name the culprits"
Well, this is how things usually happen, at least in America. Things are touted as "safe and effective", Big Pharma makes tons of money, then, 20 year later, all the rotten stuff comes out, they start to be sued, but by then most people died anyway.
It happened with talidomide, it happened with Oxycontin, and it will happen with the mRNA vaccines, but perhaps 10 or 20 years from now, when many people will be already dead and Mr. Bourla will be enjoying his retirement in a gay nudist beach in Tel Aviv.
There's media out there of the prince/king sauntering around in tight jeans and a cutoff tank top, a bizarre spectacle (I think I might have seen here first). He and his siblings give the unfortunate appearance of typical royal inbreeding, they all look like monkfish.
The sisters *seem* like decent people, though. One is a chemist. One has a degree in developmental education; he had her ankles broken, supposedly over an argument. One sister announced her candidacy for prime minister, but that was ended with a pronouncement by the manboy king. Oddly, she had to abdicate her royal title on marrying a commoner, but the king did not.
I raised a young male macaque monkey and I named him "Hui Xen", a gentle pun about the Cambodian leader. Linh will get this pun, few others will. I wanted to have a military outfit tailored for him, but never got a chance.
Before anybody asks: Hui Sen was poisoned by neighorhood kids feeding him a battery full of heavy metals. See, batteries have no smell, so why not taste it? He suffered an awful death but just lasted 24 hours.
So I've been keeping my monkeys away from the street and kids since. Less freedom but more security and fat. After all, isn't fat what we are all designed to look after?
You didn't happen to run a guesthouse/restaurant on the riverside, did you?
Nope.
Thanks Linh!
Just had the best sweet (and fish sauce) pork and tofu stew in my 45 years existence.
Just walking out of my house to get beer, the landlord's younger brother convinced me to have a few beers. He pulled out that delicious sweet sauce pork and I ended up having 5 beers with him and informing him about the war in Ukraine. Surprisingly; in the wake of one of the most deadly wars of the 20th century, they have some tools to understand the stakes really quick: how corruption can lead a country into chaos, give way to foreign intervention, etc.
Those crazy ass rich mother fuckers. damn them.
Not sure if this already posted. Don’t see it. Trying again:
You’ve got a poet’s eye for language. Two of them! Jewish has in our lifetime been a disparagement from both within and without. From within, it was faint praise: Jew-ish. Now of course a neutral word, or one that carries either pride or rancor. I try to stick with the noun, Jew. Now, of course, that is also a Nazi manner of speech, so given my other affiliations, appearance, and name, it has sometimes given pause to my audience. If you really want to howl, I suggest yid. That is the word in Yiddish. It is what the most observant call themselves while from the goyim it is a slur on the order of you-n.-what. Go figure.
Dear Linh, a stimulating postcard as ever. As far as the Thai Royal Family goes, Clif High reports that there is movement afoot among martial arts assassins in Thailand.....something to do with Pfizer executives.....and Ed Dowd has pointed out that any contract can be voided if it can be proved that fraud has taken place, which it quite definitely has in the non-reporting of the alarming results of its own trials before Pfizer released its vaccines on the world. So in the fullness of time any country that signed one of those contracts should be able to withdraw from it and Thailand may be the first of many. Thanks for your column again.
Hi Isha,
The Thai government has sent assassins into Cambodia to murder dissidents, but I seriously doubt they can get anywhere near Bourla or any top Pfizer exec. As for that squirming weasel caught on tape, he's not a worthwhile target.
Imagine waking up one morning to this headline, "Bourla, Savior of Humanity with his Miracle Vaccine, Has Just Been Defenestrated!"
Linh
You've got to have a dream!
Hi Linh thanks for the article. Always look forward to your new writings. I took my father to Angkor Wat around 7 years ago. Siem Reap is a good place to be. I'm certain that slave masks are more prominent in Asia whether or not we have Chinese tourists around. Still see people on back beach in VT in medical looking masks. On a positive note, my wife visited a gov't office in Saigon this week to apply for a new passport and there were maskless people in the office.
With you! I'd read that book if I had the French title or the author's name.
Interesting comment. Cambodia has basically been administered by the UN since 1990, after the VN army pulled out. US and EU sponsors then took over, mostly as "NGOs". It never really reached any level of independence. It then became a hub for human trafficking and all sorts of gambling and dope business. It's a failed state, but it's "OUR FAILED STATE".
A young, bright journalist wrote a book about Cambodia in 2006 if I remember, called "The dark side of NGOs" (in French, probably not translated). She was a trainee in the largest Phnom Penh French language daily paper. The day after her book was published, she "jumped out" of the 2nd floor window of the newspaper HQ. Nothing to see here.
NGOs have a long and troubled history. "The Crisis Caravan" describes how they worked in Africa 20 or 30 years ago. Axelle Kabou takes a swipe at them in "Si l'afrique refussait le developement?" Carleton Gajdusek "rescued" hundreds of New Guinea boys, some of whom I met in Bethesda 20 odd years ago. They are a sick phenomenon.
Thanks, I don't know much about Africa but it looks interesting!
Check out the Barbara May Foundation as a genuine aid organization.
Hey, I did the research again on this (quite old story), it took me about an hour because strangely Duckduckgo didn't bring anything so I had to reluctantly Ggl it.
Although I haven't read the book, I got the same chills as 15 years ago when I first read about the story.
TBH I don't wanna post the details here for quite obvious reasons, so I'm sending an email to Linh and he will do whatever he wants, whenever he wants with that info.