IMF and World Bank to bail out the US?

I love the taste of satire in the morning and the wingnutty comments set me up for the day.

Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!

It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government...

It's funny because it could be true!

Haunted?

Yesterday I had the girls over for book club. We were discussing the marvellous work, The tenderness of wolves, which I highly recommend. After covering diverse subjects, I went down to the gate to let them out and came back upstairs to the roar of water.

Weird I thought. It's 10pm. The Khmer family below is probably not having a shower at this hour and the water pressure is far better than mine. Checked my taps but they were good. The noise was really loud and went on for ages and I eventually thought to check upstairs.

Water was cascading out of the tap in the sink and on to the floor. Luckily this wasn't an issue. Most bathroom floors in Cambodia also serve as the floor of the shower. But is was clear that the water had been flowing for a while - very environmentally friendly!

So how did the water start? I don't know. When I arrived home, I set up for bookclub but wasn't upstairs and there was no sound of water. None of the girls went upstairs nor heard anything. The cleaner wasn't there yesterday either.

I may have a ghost. Although, I've been in that house for two years and I've not had a supernatural encounter, that I can recall. Just can't think of a rational explanation for taps being turned on randomly.

Template

I've spent ages changing around with the template but I'm bored of it now and although the colours are a little clashy they are going to stay like that at least until the weekend when I have time to mess about some more.

Better than coffee?

I have made a most startling discovery. It has been tested on a sample group of one and 100% of the group agree that X is better than coffee for waking me and staying awake.

Coffee is

is a social binder, a warmer of tongues, a soberer of minds, a stimulant of wit, a foiler of sleep if you want it so. From roadside mugs to the classic demi-tasse, it is the perfect democrat.

What could possibly replace coffee, that nectar of the gods? Certainly nothing as simple as a cinnamon stick in hot water. Alas yes, while I still love my black bitter coffee, I alternate with cinnamon water - that sounds revolting. How about : tisane de cinnamon (sounds pretenious)? Cin keeps you up all night (open to misinterpretation)? Cinnamon tea is what I'll have to stick to I guess. Try it and let me know if it works for you or whether it's just me!

Gender crimes at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

A trans woman has been the first person to submit a gender related crime complaint to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Very little has been written on sexual violence under the Khmer Rouge but hopefully Som Southevy's complaint will inspire other women to come forward and make formal complaints.

Som Southevy’s story also highlights the contemporary situation with regard to sexual violence in Cambodia, which many observers and human rights organisations believe is getting worse.

Southevy told a press conference this week she had been accused of so-called ‘moral crimes’ and acting like a woman by the Khmer Rouge and incarcerated in several detention centres.

Weeping as she spoke, Southevy said that while she was in these prisons she was repeatedly sexually assaulted and gang raped by Khmer Rouge officials and cadres.

Although she cannot reveal all of the details, many of which are the subject of the official complaint to the tribunal, she was also forced to have her hair cut and wear men’s clothing.

"If I had not followed these orders I would have been killed," she said. "I was forced to marry a woman and after ten days they [the Khmer Rouge] investigated whether it was a genuine marriage -- that is they tested whether we had had sexual intercourse."

Whether by accident or design sex crimes were not included in the law establishing the KRT but all Cambodians have the right to bring complaints to the tribunal. It seems an incredible oversight given the high levels of rape, domestic violence and child sexual abuse present in Cambodia today.

Rape, forced marriage and violence was part of daily life under the Khmer Rouge but it did not end with them. There is gender based and domestic violence reported every day. Som Southevy's complaint will at the very least prompt an investigation into gender based and sexual violence under the KR, which may lead to a more equitable society in the future.

Holiday in the sun

Some pictures from Phuket in Thailand where I went for some R&R. Also shows that it's impossible to escape the ants in this part of the world!

Apology - sort of

I got a non apology from Heart for her slander.

Thanks so much to those who supported me and called her out, especially Belledame, Hexy, Lisa, Ren. Thanks to Mike and Ariane for the offline handholding!

If you are not with us...

From Heart referring to me

I will not be approving any of your comments until you e-mail me and give me more information about yourself. I went to your blog and see that you say you have been in Cambodia two years. You appear to be a man. Your blogroll is a virtual who’s who of pro-porn pro-prostitution people. My guess is you’re a john, a “punter,” a “sex tourist”, prostituting Cambodian people yourself and here to defend it.

I’m getting better and better at recognizing people like you. The day is going to come when I spam you before I read 10 words you have written. How dare you comment here as some sort of expert on Cambodian prostituted women, when what the truth most likely is, you prostitute them yourself.

Don’t comment here again until you e-mail me and tell me precisely who you are in ways I can substantiate independently because I’ll tell you what, there are many sick people on the internet, many of them prostitute women and I won’t have them commenting to this thread.

Yeah my dear friends, Heart thinks I'm a sexpat man because I made a few comments over at hers about Cambodian sex workers. It's un-frakking-believable.

The reason? I have the temerity to take offence at her for saying I don’t care how many condoms get handed out in the Third World somewhere.

So I left the following at her place

Well I care about condom distribution in the developing world (third world is pejorative now), I live in Cambodia. In Cambodia whether the sex work is through trafficking or voluntary the women call themselves sex workers. They feel that “prostitute” is pejorative. The major of sex workers in Cambodia turn to sex work through poverty, rape or trafficking and they are damned sure they want protection through condoms. People living with HIV are discriminated against and Cambodia has a high rate of HIV transmission.

It’s nice that you have the luxury not to care when you live in a country that withdraws billions of dollars in vital aid when condoms or abortions for sex workers are funded.

You have a choice not to care. You could choose not to be callous about that choice. But your government makes sure to put these women in further danger

She apologises for her remark. I add a few replies to comments addressed to me in a reasonable tone and bam I get accused of being a sexpat man. Charming, not to mention she's accusing me of a crime.

EDIT: Heart has removed her comment. She apologised for jumping to conclusions. She has not apologised for slandering me.

The virginity trade in Cambodia

VIA KI-Media

The clip speaks for itself. It is about sex work in Cambodia and contains stories that are disturbing. This is the a trailer for a feature length documentary by Matthew Watson.

Women are NOT objects

This is horrible

Government officials are importing 250,000 brides for frustrated lovelorn bachelors in Serbia. Social services chiefs are already in talks with neighbours like the Ukraine, Moldova and Russia and with Far Eastern countries like Vietnam, Burma and Cambodia.

Zeljko Vasiljevic, secretary of state for social policy, said: “There are 250,000 unmarried young men in Serbian villages who would like to get married but have no women to marry.”

The prize brides for the frustrated bachelors could come from further afield, explained the minister. “There is a lot of potential in brides from Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam. They have a tradition of bearing children. “And those girls are also good at agricultural work,” he added.

Women are not commodities. Woman cannot be imported. Women are not slaves. Women are more than their uteri. Women are not sex bots or baby making machines. Women are not prizes. Women should not be infantilised by being called girls. Women are not men's servants.

Women have agency and choice as all adults. Women have opinions and knowledge. Women have the right to refuse. Women are people.

The first article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. All human beings. Women are human beings.