Cambodia’s reason for abandoning soldiers' bodies on the border (www.nationthailand.com)
from RandAlThor@lemmy.ca to world@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 2025 17:17
https://lemmy.ca/post/49248271

The matter escalated when the strong smell of decomposing bodies along the Thai-Cambodian border, particularly in the areas where clashes occurred, became a major issue.

The situation was so severe that campaigns were launched to collect donations for high-quality face masks, alongside direct protests from the Thai side, fearing potential disease outbreaks.

The reason Cambodia abandons its soldiers’ bodies on the battlefield without conducting proper rituals is to prevent the spread of news about the heavy casualties, which could undermine Hun Sen’s authority.

Pongsakorn assessed the losses, estimating that the troops engaged in the heaviest fighting against Thai forces had likely lost no fewer than 3,000 men.

#world

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RandAlThor@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 2025 17:21 next collapse

lost no fewer than 3,000 men.

Holy crap. I didn’t realize the battles were that huge. Even if only 10% of Thai estimates are true, that’s still a lot of deaths for a few days of what I thought were border skirmishes.

JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 2025 17:43 collapse

Same! This is really surprising based on the other stuff I’ve read.

JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 2025 18:01 collapse

The highest estimate of people killed in the conflict (both sides) that I can find is around 100. This whole article seems like made up slop.

When I looked into this newspaper I found some comments (on Reddit :-/) saying it is a fake news rag published by a right-wing nationalist group in Thailand.

RandAlThor@lemmy.ca on 05 Aug 2025 21:46 collapse

The body count isn’t from the paper. If you read, it is a direct quote attributed to a general of the Thai military.

I am not sure there are any center-left newspapers left in Thailand. The nation isn’t a rag as you claim to be. It is a reputable news outlet.

The Nation is an English-language daily online newspaper founded in 1971, published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of two English-language dailies in Bangkok, the other being the Bangkok Post. On 28 June 2019, it published its final broadsheet edition, leaving only its online edition.[5]

Though The Nation has a right-of-centre opinion page, which welcomed the 2014 coup and military rule, its daily news coverage is more center-left, criticizing, for example, Thailand’s lèse-majesté law.[8] According to acclaimed, left-of-centre journalist, Pravit Rojanaphruk, who worked at Nation for 23 years: “The Nation, at least during its heyday …, was a bastion of committed journalism and tolerance.” But over the past decade, it “morphed from a progressive newspapers into a coup-apologist cheerleader for military intervention,…” Pravit was fired from The Nation in 2015 after release from a three-day junta detention without charge for “attitude adjustment”, his second such detention.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation_(Thailand)

3abas@lemmy.world on 06 Aug 2025 03:57 collapse

There are no “reputable” English only newspapers exclusively covering non-English speaking countries, they are created by Western countries to spread Western propaganda, the audience is English speaking.

Can you find a primary source for that “direct quote”? Can you identify the “quote” part of the “direct quote”? Can you find any non English speaking source that has said “quote”?

Edit: for those with critical thinking skills, notice the downvotes instead of providing an actual source with the actual quote. Read Manufacturing Consent.

What part of this excerpt they used as evidence says this is a reputable newspaper?

But over the past decade, it “morphed from a progressive newspapers into a coup-apologist cheerleader for military intervention,…” Pravit was fired from The Nation in 2015 after release from a three-day junta detention without charge for “attitude adjustment”, his second such detention.