Speaking of Cultural Genocide and War….

I am, of course, furious that Pete Hegseth is bombing Iran’s glorious historical sites. But that’s not the only time this happens in war. When I was in Cambodia in January, the Cambodians were furious about how Thailand was bombing border temples. Thailand is almost certainly the bad guy in this war that doesn’t get too much attention in the West, but they are bullies. Cambodia doesn’t even have a functional air force so Thailand can do what it wants from the air. I meant to look this up more when I got back, but then things got in the way. But now the Times has a good piece on it.

The sandstone walls are more than a millennium old but they are pockmarked with holes from artillery fire. An ornate column has collapsed. A carving of a mythical seven-headed serpent has been destroyed. All along the half-mile causeway are triangular red placards that warn of unexploded ordnance.

This monument, the Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia, was largely unscathed for centuries because it’s so remote. Conceptualized as a “stairway to heaven,” this series of stone pavilions and hallways sits on a sheer cliff in the Dangrek Mountains along the Cambodia-Thailand border.

But since colonial times, the temple — a masterpiece of Khmer architecture that was built as a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva and evolved into a Buddhist sanctuary — has been a flashpoint for tension and conflict. A few decades ago the area was a stronghold of the Khmer Rouge, and littered with land mines.

Today, it is an emblem of two warring neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand, that cannot agree on where their border sits. The International Court of Justice has affirmed that the temple belongs to Cambodia. But tensions spilled over last year into two devastating rounds of clashes that left dozens dead and hundreds of thousands displaced on both sides of the border.

During the fighting, Cambodia says Thailand attacked the temple, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thailand says it was targeting Cambodian military installations inside the temple. To support their claim, Thai officials provided images of bunkers, artillery and command posts that they said were within the temple complex. But a New York Times analysis was not able to verify those locations independently. Cambodia denies Thailand’s claim.

The fighting left deep scars at the site, which is older than the more famous Angkor Wat in nearby Siem Reap. Years of work by the United States to restore an ancient staircase have been erased. Efforts by China and India to help with other repairs have stalled.

I think it’s highly unlikely Cambodia has serious military installations inside that temple, largely because Cambodia doesn’t have the capability to threaten Thailand at all. The Cambodians perspective was that Thailand was basically saying if we can’t have it, then no one can. It’s so sad to me how modern warfare just erases the past entirely.