Asian Politics - the Case of the Maltese Terrier and the Sausage Dog

Carli and I went out for sushi last night. The sushi was average (we agreed on that) but the conversation was great. You see, Carli is educated in forgein politics and works in the area related to it. I, well, I don't really work in that area but I have an interest in it. So, Carli and I proceeded to discect the state of Asian politics in its current state. We first have Singapore and Malaysia. Low and behold, new information has come to me that in fact it was Malaysia that booted out Singapore when Singapore and Malaysia tried to be one country. I guess that explains why Singapore has K9 dogs at its borders and all Malaysia has is a "no smoking" sign. It also explains why Singapore refuses to build a bridge to connect to the half a bridge Malaysia has built across the Johor Strait. Bitterness anyone? A side serving of sour grapes, perhaps?

All the while, we have Malaysia who is too busy for all that nonsense and would much rather proceed with prosecuting its former Prime Minister for sodomy. Enough said.

Carli and I agree that our favourite situation is Cambodia and Thailand. They haven't been friends for a long while, you see. Dates back hundreds of years, apparently. Cambodia is the poor cousin to Thailand's riches (its all relative, I guess) and so Cambodia like to annoy Thailand by....appointing the exiled Thaksin Sinowat to be an advisor to the Cambodian Goverrnment. Did I mention that Thaksion used to run Thailand? Yes, well, there's nothing worse than having a fight with a friend and your friend going and becoming friends with your worst enemy. That's gotta hurt. Not that we consider Thaksin able to do any form of harm now that he is sitting in Cambodia's equivalent of the oval office. Carli and I both agreed that Thaksin's policies are a little....well, "off the wall", so to speak. Carli and I are far more interested in the act by Cambodia itself. We aliken it to a little Maltese Terrier yapping away at the slow, tired but (still bigger) sausage dog, and the sausage dog getting well and truly tired of it.

We could go into the state of Chinese politics in Asia but really, its too difficult to explain. The only way I can describe it is "guess who is everyone's best friend now?"