King Norodom Sihanouk has died

[Kev Bar]

http://soundcloud.com/theworld/101520126-1

A nice piece from Mary Kay Magistad on Sihanouk.

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

Crowds growing in front of Palace. More offering tables in place. Black ribbons being handed out. Incense smoke thick. #Cambodia #Sihanouk


Endless photos of crowds of mourners from all walks of life coming out of Phnom Penh.

They could not be characterised as elites.

[Kev Bar]

Snooky at his best:

“Oh, I'm not entirely without blame! It was a mistake to have chosen Lon Nol as my right-hand man, my chief of staff, my prime minister, without ever suspecting that he was a traitor in league with the CIA. I thought he was a patriot... Who would have thought the Americans would use him? After all, he was a complete idiot! He never understood a damn thing, always staring at me with those bovine eyes of his, and spending all his time praying!”—Peking, June 1973
King Sihanouk, via Nate Thayer

[Kev Bar]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...73924941_n.jpg

Typical.
Planning everything down to the last detial.

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

I trust you are coming to terms with the profound limitations to your impoverished imagination.

Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes

....thousands and thousands of "non-mourners" are flocking to the Royal Palace


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southea.../NJ17Ae01.html


A good piece from Asia Times highlighting how Shanouk's power lay in the fact he was loved by the people.

[Kev Bar]

Jesus Kid Ryder, every by your standards, your latest display of pompous ignorance is pretty unsurpassed.


The body of Cambodia's late King Norodom Sihanouk returned to his homeland Wednesday afternoon, welcomed by hundreds of thousands of mourners who packed tree-lined roads in the Southeast Asian nation's capital ahead of the royal funeral.

That's whole lot of fetishists!

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...#ixzz29ZBDWDqX




http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...odom-sihanouk/

And before we hear anything about Fox News - it was a wire story.

And here's the founding publisher and editor of Cambodia's paper of repute, the Phnom Penh Post :

Michael Hayes: Kevin, couple thousand last night. Perhaps 100,000 today along the route from airport to palace.Hard to say for sure as I didn't go out airport road--traffic too jammed. Old PPPost neighborhood packed around both parks.

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

The third thing to remember, keeping Sihanouk’s accommodation of the Khmer Rouge and affiliation for Pyonyang firmly in mind, is the first thing that most of the obituaries will tell you: that the Cambodian people always remained respectful, even worshipful of him. Rather than seeing him as the personification of their wretched twentieth-century history, they imagined in him a national glory that he never represented except in fantasy.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...#ixzz29bJk1SoS

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

At the risk of labouring the point:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201...k_mourned.html

And a little insight into the tone of the affair while he was still in action

http://www.khmerlive.tv/archive/2012...es_in_2002.php

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

I have three whole months to teach you about prejudice's pernicious ways.

One can only hope you'll be an attentive and dutiful student.

And that you'll be as quick to cling to truth

As you are to gorge yourself on bitter fruit.

[Kev Bar]

A good account of his life

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...-sihanouk.html

[Kev Bar]

From a Cambodian citizen's POV though, Norodom Sihanouk was mostly a costly disaster and a poseur of a very high order. Outside of pro-monarchy fetishists and his friends among the comfortable classes, I'd imagine there's not a lot of mourning for him going down.

"According to local reports, over 1,000,000 people came out to show their respects for King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Check out this amazing aerial photo near Independence Monument in Phnom Penh."

https://www.facebook.com/khmerican

[Kev Bar]

A good piece from the PPP

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...he-uniter.html

And another

I first came here back in the 60s – 67, 68, paddling a canoe down the Mekong from Laos to Cambodia, and it’s important, because at that time Sihanouk was autocratically in charge here. He really was the dominant political figure. And I found a great sense of paranoia: wherever I went paddling down the Mekong I kept getting arrested and taken to the provincial governor and tried to explain myself because I was looking pretty eccentric, I had a big beard and was travelling with a monkey and I was completely naïve because at that time I didn’t realize there had been a big uprising at Samlaut against Sihanouk.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...-by-frame.html

[Baron von Biffo]

A good piece from the PPP

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...he-uniter.html

And another

I first came here back in the 60s – 67, 68, paddling a canoe down the Mekong from Laos to Cambodia, and it’s important, because at that time Sihanouk was autocratically in charge here. He really was the dominant political figure. And I found a great sense of paranoia: wherever I went paddling down the Mekong I kept getting arrested and taken to the provincial governor and tried to explain myself because I was looking pretty eccentric, I had a big beard and was travelling with a monkey and I was completely naïve because at that time I didn’t realize there had been a big uprising at Samlaut against Sihanouk.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...-by-frame.html

[Kev Bar]

[Kev Bar]

Pretty cool vista

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiuKdADN0us"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiuKdADN0us[/ame]