IT IS JUST MY OPINION

Today - September 24th - is the third and final day of the Buddhist Pchhum Ben Festival.  As it started on a Monday this year it meant that the people had the benefit of the weekend as well.  During this holiday time amost everyone - including my goodly partner - headed off to their hometowns in the Provinces.  The result is that the city of Phnom Penh has been almost deserted for five days and I am what would be described as "home alone".

I enjoy the peace and quiet and especially the fact that during this time there is very little traffic around and it is actually possible to walk  across any street without thinking that one might well come face-to-face with the Good Lord before you get to the other side.  Restaurants and businesses are closed and even the often aggressive tuk-tuk drivers have vanished from the scene all much to the puzzlement of any visitors who happen to be here during this time.

As for me - being home alone gives me time to do things that I have left undone for a while.  However it also allows me far too much time to sit in front of the television and watch programmes I would never otherwise watch, including the non-stop depressing world news that is brought to us these days.  This includes what I consider as the somewhat aggressive reporting by many CNN reporters (with  the exception of Mrs. Christiane Amanpour) who seem to think they know everything on every subject and the endless parade of "specialists" and "analysts" who say they do know everything.

This week we have been treated to nonstop coverage of the air attacks in Syria and Iraq.  I have no problem with that.  However there are a few things that bother me and I say again this is just my humble opinion with which many may disagree and that is fine.

If one is about to conduct an offensive against an enemy, I don't understand why one would publicly announce and even discuss the where, when and how of the event.  Nor can I see why it is necessary to announce with very detailed explanations what particular weapons will be used - even giving precise details of the aircraft to be used and their capabilities.  To me this seems a strange tactic not to mention dangerous as well. Yet not just Mr. Obama, his Secretary of State as well as his Secretary of Defence, but it seems almost every Army, Navy and Air Force general both retired or otherwise are having a ball giving out all possible details on national television several times a day.  Should not these detailed matters not be kept secret apart from saying "we are taking action"?   Why has everyone got to know everything?

Is it any wonder it has now been reported that many ISIS fighters had evacuated some of the targeted places ahead of the attacks?  I don't recall either Sir Winston Churchill or General Dwight Eisenhower announcing to the world - and they did have radio then if not television - exactly where, when and how the D-Day landings would take place.  Had they done so I imagine there might have been a very different ending to World War II.  Something to think about! 

To me another worrying factor is why the networks spend so much time interviewing so-called analysts and specialists who seem to enjoy telling the world that "we are in imminent danger of an attack" and that American civil aircraft are being targeted by the new Korosan group that was never mentioned before.  Is there really a need to scare people like this when so many people are today scared of almost everything anyway?  Scaring people like this is just what these terrorists want to happen, so I would appeal to the media - who probably won't listen - to stop these scary interviews and discussions.

I won't stop flying and I am not scared.  I have been in four air disasters in my life - one with my unflappable mother who calmly told me to "finish your dinner - as we are landing in the water it may be a long time before we eat again".  Those things didn't stop either me or my mother from flying again.  I have been in enough war zones and seen enough killings first hand but it hasn't stopped me travelling.  However not everyone is like me - which probably is a good thing.

As I said, these are just my opinions as I watch things unfurling.  Maybe those in high places have their reasons for disclosing everything before the event but my humble mind can't see the reason or understand why they do it.  Nevertheless, I do wish all this public discussion on the how, where and when plus the never ending speeches of the scare mongering analysts and specialists will stop.

THERE IS AWAYS SOME GOOD NEWS

This is my first blog for several months and I would like to start by thanking all the people who have written to me  - many of whom I don't know and who live in countries I have never visited - asking why I had stopped writing.  The reasons are many but mainly because during some floods here my laptop ended up in 18-inches of water and needless to say drowned quite dead.  Being the great procrastinator that I am, it was some time before I got around to buying a new one.  But now I am back on line again and can bore people with my writings once more.   Having said all of the above, even if I'd had my laptop, there has been so much going on in the world that I would not know where to start.

We are at the end of the summer of 2014 now.  Few could deny the fact that it has not been the best of summers and I am not talking about the weather.  That is always unpredictable wherever you are.  I am referring to the horrific, frightening and sad things that have been happening in so many places and that have brought the world once more to the brink of war.  So many commentators and analysts have spent the summer daily analyzing the situation that it is not for me to make more than a passing mention of them.

In no special order, we have seen the horrific and heinous acts of the militant group ISIS.  We have seen all too graphically on the television their brutal killings of captured Iraqi soldiers, the horrendous murders of (to date) three hostages - two American and one British - as well as their many other atrocities including their destruction of centuries old holy places.  There is the never-ending war in Syria as well as the fighting in the Ukraine, plus the seemingly almost genocidal action of Israel against the Palestinians.  So the list goes on and on and on and the media have a blast reporting all the gory details for our benefit.

However, there has been one piece of very good news amongst all the bad, but which has been ignored by most of the media.  What a pity good news is not considered interesting!

Ever since I came to live here in Cambodia some eight years ago, I have constantly in both my writings and speeches praised the people and the country as being special.  Unfortunately it is a country that is seldom thought of by most of the western and/or powerful countries and what a shame that is!  We may be a small country and we may be a poor country but it should be recognized that it is a country that moves forward.

In the last 30+ years Cambodia suffered through the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge when some 2-million of its people were killed or starved to death.  This was followed by the incredibly harsh bombing by America during the Vietnam war, occupation by Vietnam and finally civil war.  That is quite enough to depress any country big or small, but Cambodians are a strong people and they rebound.  The country now has one of the strongest economies in South East Asia and it is growing fast.

After all these events came the heavy-handed rule of the Prime Minister - Mr. Hun Sen - who was installed by the Vietnamese and who managed to put fear into any who opposed him.With a new generation of University educated young people eligible to vote in the last General Election in July 2013, the ruling party of the Prime Minister (CPP) suffered a huge defeat losing many seats to the Opposition party (CNRP).  However the all-powerful Prime Minister ordered the National Election Committee to alter the results in certain areas to show that he at least had a small majority.  The result of that were demonstrations by the opposition all over the country for almost a year.  Foreign pundits predicted another civil war.  The two parties met maybe just two times and never spoke again.  It was not a good situation and the Opposition refused to take their seats in the National Assembly.

However, the Cambodian people had learned a lesson from their previous history - fighting whether verbal or physical and violence get you nowhere.  Talking and compromise do.

There was much "behind-the-scenes"talk by various people - no less the unofficial quiet diplomacy of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Mother.  It was Their Majesties' gracious act in invited the leading officials of both parties to the religious rite for the internment of the ashes of the late King Norodom Sihanouk that finally brought the parties together.  At the ceremony the two parties were seated together.  At such an event you cannot just ignore the person sitting next to you for a couple of hours.  As a result, the following week the leaders of the parties sat down with His Majesty at the Royal Palace and sorted out their differences.  A few days later the Opposition members were sworn in by His Majesty and took their seats in the National Assembly.  We now have a stable government that is working as never before.

The Prime Minister came to understand that change could not be ignored.  He has clamped down corruption which was rife.  The demand for higher wages by the thousands of garment workers is being addressed.  Thousands of acres of agricultural and forest land that had been grabbed by foreign companies and some corrupt wealthy Cambodians has been taken back and is being returned to the local people.

However, not everything can be fixed in a matter of weeks.  It takes time, but I am proud of the way the country has come together and is progressing.  I am proud of those in authority who decided that it would be better to talk face to face rather than argue through the media.  I am proud of the efforts of Their Majesties on behalf of their people.  No wonder they are popular.  I am just sorry that these achievements of this small country have not been recognized around the world.