It's started

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Abc123
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Re: It's started

Post by Abc123 »

that genius wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:17 pm Fuck Walmart. More effing US hypocrisy. Used Lockheed and the FBI to spy on employees. One of the world's worst anti-union organisations.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015 ... veillance/

Internally, however, Walmart considered the group enough of a threat that it hired an intelligence-gathering service from Lockheed Martin, contacted the FBI, staffed up its labor hotline, ranked stores by labor activity, and kept eyes on employees (and activists) prominent in the group. During that time, about 100 workers were actively involved in recruiting for OUR Walmart, but employees (or associates, as they’re called at Walmart) across the company were watched; the briefest conversations were reported to the “home office,” as Walmart calls its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/04/news/co ... lmart_spy/


Ex-Wal-Mart worker admits to spy campaign
A Wal-Mart employee, who was fired last month for intercepting a reporter's calls, says he was part of a sophisticated surveillance operation.
April 4 2007: 11:18 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. worker said he was part of a large surveillance operation that included snooping on employees, stockholders and others, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday.

Security worker Bruce Gabbard was fired last month after 19 years with the company for intercepting a reporter's phone calls, the paper said.

Gabbard said he recorded the calls because he felt pressured to stop embarrassing leaks. But he said his spying activities were sanctioned by superiors.

Gabbard said that as part of the surveillance, the retailer infiltrated an anti-Wal-Mart group to determine if it planned protests at the company's annual meeting last year and deployed monitoring systems to record the actions of anyone connected to its global computer network.

Many of Gabbard's statements were confirmed by other former Wal-Mart employees, the paper said.

Wal-Mart (Charts) conducted an internal investigation of Gabbard and his group's activities, fired his supervisor and demoted a vice president over the group, the paper said.

"This group is no longer operating in the same manner that it did prior to the discovery of the unauthorized recording of telephone conversations. There have been changes in leadership, and we have strengthened our practices and protocols in this area," the company said in a statement.

Wal-Mart has since disconnected some systems and an internal investigation of the group's activities was launched earlier this year, the paper said citing an executive in the security-information industry.

Wal-Mart has always had strict limits on what its employees can do while at work. Store employees are prohibited from using personal cell phones on the job. And managers receive a list of email addresses and phone numbers their employees have used as well as a list of Web sites visited, the paper said citing current and former employees.

The company also limits Internet access and blocks social-networking and video sites, according to Gabbard.

"Like most major corporations, it is our corporate responsibility to have systems in place, including software systems, to monitor threats to our network, intellectual property and our people. These situations are limited to cases which are high risk to the company or our associates, such as criminal fraud or security issues," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

A U.S. attorney is investigating whether any laws were violated as a result of the phone and pager intercepts, according to the Journal.
Yes, we all know about Walmart and its tricks, or if we didn't before, we should do now. The point is not whether Walmart are nice people. The point is that they only care about one thing - money. If the media decide to run with the story of billions of tax payers money spent on something that has failed because of one man etc, and it looks like it will effect their business/ profits then they will pull out as quick as they can. Vietnam is only next door. I personally think he's playing a dangerous game, but one he has many many years experience of. I'm fairly sure that even some of the opposition secretly admire the man's intelligence and above all power. It is Asia after all.
SmartAston Martin
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Re: It's started

Post by SmartAston Martin »

Actually, you're right. Who benefits from the US-China tug-of-war over Cambodia?

Vietnam does. So, it's possible in a strange turn of events, non-Chinese manufacturing goes to Vietnam and elsewhere (Banging Bangladesh?!) and China adopts Cambodia?

How far will each side go?

How will VN intervene to pre-empt Chinese dominance in this sphere? They obviously don't want to be bypassed by a Yunnan-Laos-Cambodia-Gulf of Thailand trade route. VN's Rising Dragon will be eclipsed by the Growing Dragon.
Melvin Udall: Never, never, interrupt me, okay?

Not if there's a fire, not even if you hear the sound of a thud from my home and one week later there's a smell coming from there that can only be a decaying human body and you have to hold a hanky to your face because the stench is so thick that you think you're going to faint.

Even then, don't come knocking...Not for ANY reason.
Abc123
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Re: It's started

Post by Abc123 »

Germany puts pressure on Cambodia, ending preferential visa treatment for Hun family and high-ranking officials

http://m.phnompenhpost.com/national-pol ... family-and

In a response to a parliamentary inquiry, the German government on Wednesday laid out a number of measures it has quietly taken over recent months to pressure the Cambodian government following its crackdown on media outlets, NGOs and the political opposition.

The response – which has not yet been made public, but was sent to the German parliament on Wednesday and obtained by The Post on Friday – reveals that the German government suspended preferential visa treatment for private travel by Cambodian government members, “including by Prime Minister HE and his family, by high-ranking military officials and the presidents of the highest Cambodian court”. It also says that Germany has encouraged other European Union members to impose similar measures.

The parliamentary inquiry was submitted under the direction of Frithjof Schmidt and on behalf of 13 other politicians from the Green Party, and revolves around Germany’s response to “the dismantling of democracy and human rights in Cambodia”.

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party spokesperson Sok Eysan said the cancellation of preferential visa treatment was “not a shame, but saves more money” as officials didn’t need to worry about spending money on trips to Germany.

“Even [if someone] encouraged me to go, I would not go to Germany,” he said.

The missive to lawmakers also indicates that Germany indefinitely postponed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia regarding “regular political consultation” in direct response to the arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha and the subsequent forced dissolution of his party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party.

The German and European Union embassies, the response shows, also requested permission to visit Sokha, but were still waiting for approval.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, said he did not know what the MoU entailed, or that its signing had been delayed. “I have no idea, my friend,” he said, directing further questions to the spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who could not be reached yesterday.

Another measure taken by the German Foreign Affairs Ministry, according to the response, was to cancel a visit by Interior Minister Sar Kheng that was scheduled for the end of November – shortly after the CNRP’s dissolution – and to postpone it indefinitely.

Mu Sochua, a self-exiled former deputy president of the CNRP, said in a message that “the cancellation of Sar Kheng’s visit is telling and significant of Germany’s stance for democracy and role among EU members that have pursue[d] sanctions and [are] speaking with one voice”.

After cancelling Kheng’s visit, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs received visits from oppositional representatives “on several occasions”. One of them was Sochua, who said she had met with the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asia Department in October. “I had just fled the country,” she said. “We discussed the release of [Kem Sokha], human rights conditions on assistance, [and] EU sanctions.”

Sochua said she was satisfied with the response by the German government, and added that Kem Monovithya, a CNRP official and Sokha’s daughter, and former lawmaker Yem Ponhearith had also visited the Foreign Affairs Ministry last month. “Germany [is] totally on the side of democracy,” she said.

The German government’s response to the parliamentary inquiry also indicates that the German government is currently revisiting funding for good governance programs in Cambodia.

The CPP’s Eysan said that although aid was up to Germany to give, not doing so would breach the Paris Peace Agreement. “In the Paris Agreement it agreed to help to develop and re-build Cambodia after the genocide. If it does not give, it will show the world that it breaks its promise.”

The agreement also enshrined the ideals of multi-party democracy and human rights, and is frequently invoked by the opposition. In a speech last year, Prime Minister HE referred to the accord as a “ghost”.

While the Foreign Affairs Ministry could not be reached yesterday, it published an opinion paper titled Cambodia, Stability and Development First – To Tell The Truth on Tuesday, and a second version on Friday.

In this 11-page paper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs argues that Cambodia required time, economic growth and stability to achieve “ideal democracy and human rights” that “took the West a few centuries to achieve”.

“Utopic democracy can wait!” they write, while calling on Western countries “to come to their senses” and not impose sanctions. “But if the West chose, regardless, to impose their sanctions, despite these hard truths that we have presented here, then let history be the judge of their actions.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, briefly addressed the situation in Cambodia in a speech on Friday on the occasion of Lunar New Year. While stressing good relations with the Southeast Asian region, he noted that Cambodia was a cause for concern. “We have expressed our attention for the democratic framework in Cambodia to be fully respected,” he said.

According to the German government’s response to the parliamentary questions, the European Council – a body comprised of EU members’ heads of state – will meet on February 26 and decide on potential actions to take regarding Cambodia.

Additional reporting by Mech Dara
willyhilly
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Re: It's started

Post by willyhilly »

In Cairns we buy Battambang rice, 20kgs is $54. Lasts for weeks, good rice.
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Beerinthemorning
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Re: It's started

Post by Beerinthemorning »

willyhilly wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:53 pm In Cairns we buy Battambang rice, 20kgs is $54. Lasts for weeks, good rice.
battambang got the best rice.
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frank lee bent
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Re: It's started

Post by frank lee bent »

there is a global labor shortage for slave wages.
people would rather eat fish and rats here than work for 140/month- you can sell those things for cash too.
old auntie runs 3000 ducks on a public lake. her house is spare, but she makes money. saves it too. buys platin and land. doesnt own a moto.
buys salt and rice from the neighbours, makes prahok and dries fish and even salts and dries ducks.
i know more than a few rat catching duck farmers.
all squat to a greater or lesser extent on state land, and do ok.
finbar
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Re: It's started

Post by finbar »

Cambodians will survive well enough without the garment factories, many of which are Chinese-owned anyway.
Europe should just go for it and end preferential tariffs.
-
Per ardua, ad stercus
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that genius
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Re: It's started

Post by that genius »

The issue is not whether they could survive economically, but the social unrest the unemployed would create.
https://cleanclothes.org/resources/publ ... ary-2015.p.

Cambodia Factsheet
Gillian Kane

Facts on Cambodia's Garment Industry

Key statistics
Population (2014): 15, 4 million
Employment in garment industry (2013/14): sources give figures from approx. 400, 000 - 650 000
Garment % of GDP (2013): 16%
Garment % of export: sources give figures from 70% - 80%
Value garment export (2013): €3.93 billion/$4.97 billion (some sources estimate the figure to be over $5
billion)
Percentage of the world market for garments (2008): 1.2%
Minimum wage (from 2015): € 102.21 / $128
(Cambodia garment workers have gained much media
attention in their campaigns for a $177 minimum wage. Such campaigning has led to some commitment to
change from leading brands).
Living wage calculation by Asia Floor Wage (2013): € 224.03 /$283
pczz
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Re: It's started

Post by pczz »

There is going to be repercussions from trade restrictions and the Chinese invasion because both are causing social unease and discussion among Khmer. Whether that is a good thing or not depends on your political leanings, but as Cambodians seem unable to even agree on which side of the road to drive on I suspect any attempt at a western style democracy would be as problematic as South Africa and Libya and Iraq.
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Re: It's started

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Apparel groups including H&M and Gap urge Cambodia garment industry reform, seek meeting with HE
21 March 2018
A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust.

In an open letter to Prime Minister HE, the apparel groups also call for amendments to the contentious 2016 Trade Union Law and ask the government to strengthen the Arbitration Council, a dispute resolution body that has gained a reputation for fairness and independence.

Since the passage of the Union Law, the number of cases heard by the council has plummeted, which unions attribute to the law’s onerous registration rules and other restrictions on unions’ activities.

In the letter, the group, which includes the US-based trade group American Apparel & Footwear Association and the UK-based advocacy group Ethical Trading Initiative, warns that restrictions on freedom of association “will make Cambodia an unattractive and expensive place to do business”.

The groups also call for an end to the harassment of labour activists like Central Director Moeun Tola and Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union President Ath Thorn, both of whom are facing criminal charges.

“Five months have passed with little progress in your government fulfilling those commitments,” the letter reads.

In addition, the organizations also ask the government to drop a proposed ban on independent research during the minimum wage negotiation process, as well as a controversial draft law on labour disputes – two floated measures that the Ministry of Labour had already said it would scuttle in October 2017.

The group has asked for a meeting with the premier to discuss its concerns.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... eeting-hun
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