Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Thai-Khmer ceasefire. For those who are unaware, yeah, we have had a lot of tension along the border, unfortunately a lot of violence along border. Lives have been lost; it has not been a particularly good thing and we now have this ceasefire. It seems to be holding pretty well but as mentioned in the title, it appears as of now, Border Checkpoints are still not really being discussed so they are not open; it is still not possible to utilize Cambodia as a place to do Border Runs as of the time of this video. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Post ceasefire Cambodia now relying on asymmetric warfare. Quoting directly: "The core issues in the overall dispute are still unaddressed. The opening and closing of Border Checkpoints was not mentioned at all in the ceasefire agreement, nor is the Cambodian referral to the dispute to the International Court of Justice which is, in any case, a waste of time as many countries apart from Thailand - US and China for example - refuse (I think they meant) to accept any rulings they don't like."  

Well look, the International Court of Justice, I think it's kind of a nonsensical entity myself. I understand where the Thais are coming from quite frankly. The bulk of this tension arises from the fact that if you look at things historically, Thailand and Cambodia have not been able to work things through bilaterally. They have had outside powers and forces telling them how things should be that don't really have anything to do with it. Most notably, if you go back to the Franco Siamese Treaty, so-called, which it was from 1907, that was basically effectively imposed on both parties now, Cambodia and Thailand by effective Fiat by the French. That was later I think interpreted in '62 by the International Court of Justice or whatever iteration of the "International Tribunal" at that time which again, what they have to do with anything going on on the ground over here is beyond me; basically that's how I look at it. I think Thailand and Cambodia should be able to work this out bilaterally. 

That said, the point of this video and going back and quoting again: "The opening and closing of Border Checkpoints was not mentioned at all in the ceasefire agreement." That's important, especially I think for expat land that yeah, it doesn't look like there has been a lot of attention paid to the issue of reopening Border Checkpoints. It remains to be seen if we are going to see Border Checkpoints reopen anytime soon. I would say in the immediately foreseeable future, it is pretty unlikely that we will see much activity along those lines. So as a practical matter, that is probably not going to be the best idea or in any way any kind of solution, as it pertains to doing Border Runs here in Thailand.

Really quickly, they get into some other analysis in that article, and I am going to get into it in the paid news service, the further analysis of not only this Border Checkpoint stuff but basically the entire Thai-Khmer conflict as a whole. I'm going to do some commentary; I'm actually going to do it as a special report. I usually only make paid new service content on Sundays, and I do very long form content. The last one was like an hour long. I expect this paid news service excerpt will probably be quite a bit shorter; it's not going to be the usual hour by a long shot. It may not even be a half hour, but I do want to make some comments on how this impacts expat land and just some general overall commentary on some things they have talked about with respect to the conflict itself. So if you are interested in that you can check that out by emailing us, [email protected], you can get on the mailing list for the paid news service, and I can provide further insight through that. While I am talking my book, as I have discussed in other videos, my better half and I have set up a restaurant here in Thailand, Pancake Palace in downtown Bangkok. It is breakfast anytime as well as American Diner style food like buffalo wings, chilli bowls, cheeseburgers, so stuff that is sort of good home cooking, party food, sticks to your ribs as we say back in the States. If you are interested in that, the link is in the description below for Pancake Palace. 

But circling back again, it is important to point out there was no discussion of Border Checkpoint issues in the recent cease fire agreements, nor have I heard anything in some of the discussions at a bilateral level that I have seen out in the mainstream press. So at least for now, I think it is safe to presume at least through the immediately foreseeable future, Border Running to Cambodia from Thailand is not going to be a viable option for those here in the Expat Community here in the Kingdom of Thailand.