Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Manet, nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize on Aug. 7, citing his "crucial role" in restoring peace after bloody border fighting with Thailand. The gushy statement praised Trump's "extraordinary statesmanship" and "innovative diplomacy." (NYT [27])
Cambodia now becomes the third country to nominate the bellicose [28] Trump for the Peace Prize after Israel [28] and Pakistan. Islamabad's nomination followed Trump's supposed involvement in the ceasefire deal with India that ended several days of mutual missile strikes [29] in May. The problem is that India denies that the US or any other foreign power had a hand in its decision to accept a truce. (Hindustan Times [30])
The Thai-Cambodia truce, agreed to at July 29 talks in Malaysia, was jointly mediated by the US and China. So Xi Jinping deserves as much credit as Trump—whose main role was threatening to withhold trade deals from the two countries as long as the fighting continued.
Fighting erupted along the Thai-Cambodian border on July 24, ultimately killing at least 40 people, and displacing over 250,000. Both sides typically said the other took the first shot. Things quickly escalated as Bangkok sent F-16 fighter jets to launch air-strikes on Cambodian territory, and Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, warned [31]: "If the situation escalates it could develop into war." Cambodia accused Thailand of violating international law by using cluster munitions for attacks on its territory, while Bangkok accused [32] Cambodia of an "inhumane attack" on a hospital in Surin province. (TNH [33], AP [34])
Thailand and Cambodia have had an almost century-long dispute [35] over Preah Vihear [36], an 11th century Hindu temple, which sits along the nations' shared border. The temple has triggered numerous border skrimishes over the years, the latest occurring [37] when a Cambodian soldier was killed on the border in May. The new fighting followed Thailand's former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra being suspended [38] after leaked text messages to Cambodian leader Hun Sen exposed were deemed a national security threat. (Jurist [39])
Hun Manet is the son of current Cambodian senate president (and longtime strongman) Hun Sen, and we suspect that this perverse Nobel nomination actually emerges from the elder Hun. Under Hun Sen's leadership, Cambodia has long been under China's effective suzerainty [22], and repression [23] has been unleashed against peasants protesting land-grabs by Chinese agbiz interests. Xi is well-assured of the stability of this relationship, and does not need buttering up. Trump, in contrast, needs to have his ego appeased to keep textiles and other export goods produced in Cambodia's sweatshops flowing to the US without prohibitive tariffs [24]. That's why it's called a Great Game.
The game is a dangerous one for the general world political climate and propaganda environment, however. Giving the Nobel Prize to Obama in 2009 was Orwellian [40] enough. But that pales before the perversity of giving it to Trump. And indeed, Trump craves the Nobel prize precisely because Obama got it. So Cambodia is not merely appeasing Trump's ego, but (whether intentionally or not) lubricating his dictatorial ambitions and the racist backlash [41] that has been the motor of his entire political project.
We submit that if the Nobel committee wishes to weigh a Peace Prize in regard to this conflict, it should consider the citizen anti-war activists who have been mobilizing on either side of the border in repudiation of their own governments, under the hashtag #PeaceForCambodiaAndThailand [42].
