[Bach]

Berletic:

Update: Thai-Cambodian Conflict for Monday July 29, 2025

??Despite a ceasefire agreement in Malaysia (which holds the ASEAN chair this year) fighting is being reported to continue past the midnight deadline last night;

??US attempts to take credit for talks that ASEAN organized and held in Malaysia, that US representatives (along with Chinese reps) attended;

??US President Trump cites his "trade negotiations" as the pressure that forced nations to come to the table - however these negotiations are simply economic coercion that will reduce tariffs on US products to zero, keep high tariffs on targeted countries, and force nations to import US goods even if they violate national health/safety standards;

??The Thai gov. is playing along because it is headed by US-backed billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra whose administration invited Cambodia's encroachment, forcing the Thai military - an independent institution from the current gov. - to increase the Thai troop presence at the border- then Cambodia's use of unguided multiple launch rocket systems triggered this conflict in the first place;

??Cambodia is going along because despite previous attempts by the US to overthrow Hun Sen's one-party government, in recent years a deal has been struck with the US, allowing US warships to visit Cambodian ports, and a restart of Cambodia's support for US-backed opposition groups in neighboring Thailand;

??This leaves only Thailand's independent institutions, including the Thai military, as both a target of this conflict and the only actor able to prevent the US from using this and other incidents to destabilize the region, or turn it against China in the same way Europe has been turned against Russia;

??The conflict has served as a means of dividing a rising Asia, allowing the US to insert itself into regional matters and at least across the media, appear to sideline China in its own region of the world;

??The situation should be clearer by the end of the day - assessing the scale of continued fighting and whether it is settling down or will continue despite the defacto ceasefire;

Het is ondertussen al typisch Trump te noemen om verdienste te pogen claimen voor de verwezenlijkingen van anderen. En ondertussen achter de schermen die verwezenlijkingen pogen ongedaan te maken is ook typisch VS. De wolf in schapenvacht houding van de hegemon.