tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post2456603081587102867..comments2024-03-28T01:33:22.764-04:00Comments on The DiploMad 2.0: Another January Re-Run: The Vulture EliteDiploMadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02316439950882822419noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-92217467485346567562013-01-25T11:37:59.667-05:002013-01-25T11:37:59.667-05:00Can't tell you how much I enjoy The Diplomad b...Can't tell you how much I enjoy The Diplomad being back.<br /><br />Read the first "vulture" article when it came out a number of years ago and I recall being furious about the actions of those that represent themselves as "being-there-to-help" and being thankful that someone was there on-the-ground providing direct observation as their real actions.<br /><br />Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-1407156899150983902013-01-06T17:52:39.307-05:002013-01-06T17:52:39.307-05:00It's clear that in the years since Katrina, Ge...It's clear that in the years since Katrina, George Bush has learned NOTHING.RShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06584323173315846013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-56774532962486902362013-01-06T17:12:44.167-05:002013-01-06T17:12:44.167-05:00I have a pretty good grasp of the ethnic mosaic of...I have a pretty good grasp of the ethnic mosaic of Monsoon Asia, Mamapjs. <br /><br />Hun Sen's pro-Vietnamese people were as "rouge" as Saloth Sar (Pol Pot) or any of his gang. And, before the falling out between the two Communist factions, they were all "Khmers Rouges"--Cambodian Communists. Placing the "Khmer Rouge" label 100% on Pol Pot's people was a way to whitewash Hun Sen and his Vietnamese sponsors, who were also Communist. However, in 1978, the Vietnamese (and Hun Sen), were being backed by the Soviets, whom most of the world's innaleckchewalls had decided were the geopoliticial good guys--so it wouldn't have done to suppose that Hun Sen (and the Viet saviors of Cambodia!) were ever on the same side as the thugs of Pol Pot.<br /><br />BTW, before the falling out in 1978, Hun Sen and his crew also did their fair share of the mass murder in Cambodia.<br /><br />Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-77415940492092732752013-01-06T01:45:13.102-05:002013-01-06T01:45:13.102-05:00As you wrote this and the previous article seven y...As you wrote this and the previous article seven years ago, I wondered why you weren't reprimanded for speaking such politically incorrect truth. It was obvious that you could be easily identified by your superiors, yet you continued. You stated they approved of your postings, but I worried your superors superiors might not be so generous. It was truly your finest hour and it gave me hope all was not lost at State.<br /><br />At some point I would like to reread the item where a female UNocrat visiting Aceh asked why the American and Aussie troops, who were doing the grunt work unloading the C-130s in appalling tropical conditions, weren't wearing (UN) blue helmets. That was the height of gall.<br /><br />Keep up the good work. Corky Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16363812378536729410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-24980625195856220742013-01-05T23:03:04.457-05:002013-01-05T23:03:04.457-05:00James and Kepha: Before they were "Democrati...James and Kepha: Before they were "Democratic Kampuchea", they were the Khmer Rouge, the gang of thugs Pol Pot was leading. They were Khmer by race and ethnicity, but were a relatively fractional group that were communist in ideology. <br /><br />That may be what James had on the tip of his tongue.<br /><br />MamapjsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-8959078563937571002013-01-05T16:40:15.884-05:002013-01-05T16:40:15.884-05:00Send them to Baghdad! Send them to Baghdad! jibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18318963535849041376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-51229560976144396952013-01-05T13:34:17.184-05:002013-01-05T13:34:17.184-05:00My mistake, "Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot fa...My mistake, "Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot faction)" are who was thinking of and yes I would them. Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-11358953489947875432013-01-05T12:37:22.610-05:002013-01-05T12:37:22.610-05:00There's a wonderful sign right off the freeway...There's a wonderful sign right off the freeway near me in Oregon.<br /><br />"US out of the UN, UN out of the US!"<br /><br />Seems more and more appropriate all the time.<br /><br />Aren't we supposed to give them all our guns next?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-32339668426398938992013-01-05T09:58:16.410-05:002013-01-05T09:58:16.410-05:00James, you'd nuke the Khmer? My recollections...James, you'd nuke the Khmer? My recollections of the Khmer (the majority-group Cambodians and the country people in several Thai Changwat along the Cambodian border) are that they were an unfailingly polite people, despite having been put through the proverbial wringer. They deserved a lot better than the Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot faction) and Hun Sen branches of the Red Khmer (I've decided that we can forget about French when talking Southeast Asia, since those peoples also have national vernaculars and histories of their own, quite apart from that vain, posturing, pretentious country in Europe).<br /><br />Now, I never got inside Cambodia itself to see Angkor, but the Khmer remains in Thailand--a couple of temples we visited along the southern tier of the Isaan region of Thailand and various greater and lesser influences in Thai art, culture, and language--were worth seeing. My impression was that the older Hundu-Mahayana culture of the classical Khmer learned everything it could from India when it came to using stone, and put its own masterful touch on it; whereas everything the Theravada Thai culture built in stone, you could see that they were still thinking "wood, wood, wood"--or, I suppose, "mai, mai, mai".<br /><br />Dip, my recollections of the UN Border Relief Commission that handled the Khmer DP's was that they were a can-do outfit--although, it struck me that their people were overwhelmingly American (although they had a Burmese Karen physician in one camp who was an out-and-out saint, too, considering the conditions in which he had to work).<br /><br />However, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was another matter. They wanted to do everything out of air-conditioned offices in Bangkok. And, my guess is that had the US not had an interest in erstwhile Cambodian and Lao allies from a failed war, a combination of Thai fears of their hard-won, small-scale prosperity being swamped by poor neighbors and the callousness of a bunch of Western European bureaucrats would've had the refugee/DP populations pushed back over the borders like so many pieces of scrap metal. <br /><br /><br />Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-70195725933253718662013-01-05T06:38:37.332-05:002013-01-05T06:38:37.332-05:00Yes I remember the smells, quite pungent. I've...Yes I remember the smells, quite pungent. I've had to do some hard things around the world, but nothing hardens my heart like these HPVE's. They would have made excellent candidates for the Khmer Rouge re-education camps( ironic in that I would have had no problems nuking the Khmer too!).Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-90376461250123982042013-01-05T03:48:09.795-05:002013-01-05T03:48:09.795-05:00Wow! An honest assessment of the do-gooders infec...Wow! An honest assessment of the do-gooders infecting this planet and western societies like a fatal virus! Do you think the federal government is aware that you have an Internet connection? <br /><br />For a time there the Obama Administration was flashing through my memory banks, but we both know that Dear Leader really does care about his subjects - just ask the recipients of the hurricane Sandy largesse. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com