you must not have many young Khmer friends on FB.
resentment is already high and many are quite vocal about their dislike of the developments happening now.
SV is seeing a wholesale economic displacement of locals by PRC newcomers- even the small market stalls.
add to that the exodus by Khmer businesses formerly in the tourist industry and I think there will be an inevitable push back.
maybe they will block FB as in the PRC and block or just shut down web based media if they get too lippy.

democracy is vastly over rated anyway.
QED

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:38 am the west failed to take up the opportunities for ongoing infrastructure investment.
how many rice mills are NOT Chinese owned?

as some apparatchik observed a few weeks ago- they gave us 15 years to invest, and all they got was backpackers and marijuana.

the USA cannot even maintain their own crumbling infrastructure ( viz; water in Flint Michigan ) much less create a belt-road system.
lets face it, we pissed away our natural advantage over decades.

But what good would that US "infrastructure investment" have done now? How would it be any advantage to the US in term of soft power now? Nobody remembers who the fuck financed the building of the local road or sewer system after 10 years. Just ask the Japanese or the French or the Aussies how much their decades-long financial assistance to Cambodia has improved their political influence. Fuck all is the answer. Fuck all.

in Cambodia, many expats; though not all,chose Cambodia as a place where it was easy to exploit the locals with a neo colonial agenda.

now it is the turn of the PRC who will be far more ruthless and rapacious than the worst of the westerners.

Tell me who from the West "exploited the locals with colonial agenda" since the French ran away? "Many expats"?
How many western-owned businesses do you know of that cater to Khmer clientele? Most western-run business that I see only "exploit" (i.e. serve) western tourists and western expats, and that's only because the locals don't understand western customer service expectations or western tastes. And I don't know of any western-run establishments that fly in their own workers. Every single one I see has all Khmer staffing. Can same be said of the new Chinese-run businesses? I don't know that answer. What is the ratio of Chinese-to-Khmer workers in the casinos and construction companies?

You are saying that the West blew their opportunity. I'm saying that it wouldn't have mattered either way, unless we staged coups and got western-friendly leaders in place. But that strategy hasn't quite panned out long-term for the US in the past, as we all know. Let the Chinese head down that path and see where it leads them in the long term. Similar actions probably lead to similar results eventually.

But what good would that US "infrastructure investment" have done now?

movement of goods and materials in trade, projection of force in war.

Tell me who from the West "exploited the locals with colonial agenda" since the French ran away? "Many expats"?

the myriad of expat run backpacker joints, restaurants and bars taking advantage of sub $200/month wages.

Kampot is a fine example.

the myriad of expat run backpacker joints, restaurants and bars taking advantage of sub $200/month wages.

Kampot is a fine example.

I don't see how paying the going rate for local labor is exploitation. Would they have made more money working at Khmer-owned businesses? As I said, many Western-owned businesses created local jobs when jobs were in very short supply. I don't know if the same can be said of the new Chinese-owned businesses.

unless we staged coups and got western-friendly leaders in place

so you do understand the genesis of status quo right?
the knee bone connected to the thighbone etc.
Lon Nol to present day, with many of the old cast still acting.

I don't see "colonial" exploitation. Salaries could be more equitable, but that's a systemic result of capitalism. The western run tourist businesses bring in money from tourists, and employ and train local staff, and in most cases the profits remain in-country. Unlike the Chinese zero-dollar setups.

Garments, palm-oil etc may be a different story.

It's quite ironic that the west "invested" (often, donated) at all in free-to-use "socialist" infrastructure like bridges, roads, education, institutions, etc, whereas the Chinese seem to be investing largely in capitalist for-profit generating assets; rice mills, factories, farms, mines, dams, ports, etc, which they own, or if they can't, Cambodia pays for it with repayable loans.

You can't turn off a road or a bridge, so you have little leverage once it's built.

But I don't have stats, so maybe more to it.

The west still has, for now, a very large lever; access to western markets. They should use it.

finbar wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:46 am
It's quite ironic that the west "invested" (often, donated) at all in free-to-use "socialist" infrastructure like bridges, roads, education, institutions, etc, whereas the Chinese seem to be investing largely in capitalist for-profit generating assets, rice mills, factories, farms, mines, dams, ports, etc, which they own, or if they can't, Cambodia pays for it with repayable loans.

And hence why chinese influence is insiduous and has greater scope for power in the longer term.

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:38 am

as some apparatchik observed a few weeks ago- they gave us 15 years to invest, and all they got was backpackers and marijuana.

I sure bet the guy who said that is considering a volte-face, swapped the MJ and backpackers for meth dealers, hardcore prostitution, gang violence, worker exploitation, drunk drivers killing Cambodian sons and daughters and turning SHV into little Guangzhou, whilst at the same time erasing any trace of Khmer culture and life.

As a proud Khmer he must be appalled, shit who am I kidding, he will be there counting how much money he made of selling the soul of Cambodia. The thing with souls they can only be sold once, once the Chinese are done raping and pillaging this place many will wish they just had the backpackers and stoners.

well done with critical thinking
pretty much validates my obs on the cack handed and insignificant interactions with barang vs PRC who are going for the jugular.
roads are for trade and tanks.
it is not about friendship, it is about control.

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:08 am

But what good would that US "infrastructure investment" have done now?

movement of goods and materials in trade, projection of force in war.

Tell me who from the West "exploited the locals with colonial agenda" since the French ran away? "Many expats"?

the myriad of expat run backpacker joints, restaurants and bars taking advantage of sub $200/month wages.

Kampot is a fine example.

And let's not forget the expat property renovators, the guys who got in on the WP scams, the guys who became 'business development managers', the guys who staff a business here that could never survive with decent wages paid to all staff...flb hit the nail on the head. Carpetbaggers the lot of them.

But the most egregious example is the type who started selling pineapples for more than 2000 riel. Shameful.