When does History Begin?

Just returned from a week in Cambodia. Traveling with The Asia Foundation gave the visit an especially insightful focus on the country's economic, social, and governmental development. What a story !...though only vaguely in mind to Americans, despite the fact that some of the most significant events occured quite recently and were in part the outcome of the regional destabilization our military activity in Vietnam caused. You'd think we'd be more aware, but attention spans are both short and narrow. There is no substitute for actually experiencing a place first hand.

In some ways, it's amazing that this country still exists at all. Roughly one quarter of its people (especially including all "elites") were annihilated in a few years in the mid to late '70's under Pol Pot's ultra-communist Khmer Rouge regime. Phnom Penh, now a blur of vibrant activity, was completely depopulated by the KR as it moved all of it's people to agricultural collectives in the countryside under the inspiration of the worst of Maoist Chinese excesses. Eventually, the country was rescued by the army of its historical foe, Vietnam, supported by the Russians. The French, having stronger interests elsewhere, left peacefully in 1953...but it was another 45 years before that power vacuum was filled by a political stability that we would recognize as "comfortable" today.

You are struck by how gentle and open the Cambodian people are. They are very young (65% under 25), still very poor (GDP per capita under $600/yr), with a very weak education system and a culture of petty corruption at all levels. Still, they are optimistic, deeply devoted to their families, and eager to welcome visitors. It's easy to see why many wealthy Westerners have engaged in private philanthropy to assist education and preserve local culture. The attraction of this place is stunning and the needs are very great. The Cambodians appear genuinely grateful for even small attention and meager support; but you feel that so much more is truly deserved.

Angkor: Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, has the bustle of a developing country's major city, a very fine National Museum, a royal enclave of exotic state buildings, reminiscent of Bangkok's Grand Palace, and the Silver Pagoda (the King's own Buddhist temple) where the entire floor is paved in silver tiles fashioned from melted coins. But the reason tourists come to Cambodia is its old capital, Angkor. Angkor Wat (the largest religious structure ever built) is merely the largest of hundreds of major and minor sites that together comprise an absolutely breathtaking assembly of ancient architecture and the evidence of a once great empire.

A few observations/recommendations:

• Come in January, the dry and relatively cool season and spend at least 3 days; I would have been happy to spend twice that long. There are many 4 and 5 star accomodations and more on the way. You can "rough it" if you want but there's no need to leave Western luxury behind.
• Make sure you devote time to some of the "lesser" sites like Preah Kahn and Ta Keo; this place is immense. The UNESCO park that encompasses the major temple areas is 144 sq. km, about half the size of Chicago.
• The great builder of many of these sites was the king Jayavarman VII ("J7") who reigned for 34 years. All of his many constructions, start to finish, were done in that brief time, with gigantic pieces of stone quarried many miles away and moved only by human and animal power and then carved, with stunning beauty, after they were in place (as high as 280 feet above ground level): in only 34 years! The great European cathedrals were tiny by comparison and took centuries.
• Religious extremism is nothing new: The Hindu pantheon and cultural legacy forms the backdrop for most of the architecture, but J7 used his building campaign to aggrandize himself, of course, but also to provide suitable venues for devotion to Buddha. Many hundred thousand statues and other carved images of Buddha were the central theme of these temples. The very next king reverted devotion to Hinduism and had all of the Buddha images removed or destroyed...all of them. An enormous amount of work, done, and then undone.
• The city that surrounded and maintained these edifices in the 9th-15th centuries is estimated to have had a population of one million people! (The largest European cities at the time had maybe 50,000). All physical traces of their habitations (all wooden, including the royal palaces) are long gone to the monsoons and forests.
• Consider what is means to "preserve" this world treasure. There are many competing points of view: all in evidence as you explore different sites that have been, still are, and are expected to still receive attention. Should we restore the structures to a pristine state, with toppled stones replaced and fresh stone installed where former pieces are missing (but... Buddha...or Vishnu?); should we merely make them safely accessible, as is, to modern tourists, enthralled by the "Tomb Raiders" romance; or something else? The monsoons, the forest, and earthquakes are not going away; and the people who built and used these temples are not coming back. When does history begin? *

*Thanks to John Sandey, our guide and teacher on our first encounter with Angkor and the author of this question.

Thoughts from Vietnam

Mid-way through a visit to Hanoi and eager to share some "first" impressions. I say "first" with qualification because I was in Vietnam before, in Dec '69-Jan '70, in the US Army during what people here call The American War. That time (40 years ago) and place (remote countryside not far south of The Demilitarized Zone in then South Vietnam) was very different from contemporary Hanoi. No-one here, by the way, seems to much care about that fact. The war is now largely historical artifact and most of the people (this is a very young country) were born after that conflict came to an end. I'm told that the official history taught in schools is that Americans were evil aggressors, but that nobody takes that very seriously. There is, again I'm told, nearly universal apathy about political ideology. Politicians are seen as venal if not corrupt and everybody seems to be in a gigantic hustle to enjoy greater participation in western culture and first world prosperity.

Still, the people are patriotic and proud of their accomplishments (ousting the French and then the Americans in the space of a two decades) in achieving a unified and independent country. Ho Chi Minh is revered as a combination of the father of his country and a saint (temples have statues of him next to Buddha and prayers and burned incense are offered to him as well); but the fact that the political regime is formally one of the few remaining Communist vestiges (if "vestige" is a word that could apply to China) seems largely beside the point.



On a considerably more mundane level, here are a few travel advisory notes:

• It's better to come here when it's not grey and constantly raining, I'm sure. One of the premier side-excursions, to Halong Bay, was pointless with the current weather.


• Don't freak-out trying to cross the road or wait for the traffic to stop. It won't...just do as the Vietnamese and walk right into it; the drivers are watching you and if you walk smoothly and directly, they'll make their way around you. Our guide yesterday explained that everyone drives slowly, watching out for other drivers (mostly motorbikes) and people on foot. If you run, they don't know how to guage your progress and, worse, you might fall; but if you just walk, they'll manage around you. It's scary at first, but it works.


• As many in America already know from the many Vietnamese restaurants now in the US, the food is great! You'll encounter some vegetables, fruit, and seafood items you may never have seen before; go ahead be daring.


• The art scene is worth getting to know. Still relatively inexpensive and some unique applications (lacquer works using paint, mother of pearl, metallic leaf, and duck egg shells). Penelope and I have bought 4 items (so far) without spending a great deal of money.


• About the money: the denominations are so big (about 17000 Dong/dollar) that most places price, and transact, in dollars. But you won't have to spend a whole lot in any event. Lunch for 2, with drinks: $15; silk ties, $8.


• The people are getting richer, but are still poor (per capita income: $1,100/yr), so tip generously. We've had tour guides during the last 2 days who speak good English (they apologize, however, indicating that they speak much better Russian...remember, while it is pretty irrelevant today, Vietnam was a Russian client state for years while many here were going to school and Russian was the key foreign language on offer for the bright and ambitious). Guiding tourists is a quite respectable occupation here. For example, our guide today has as his day job working in the Ministry of Health's Bureau of Tropical Diseases, specializing in malaria. He studied biology for 4 years in St. Petersburg. He agreed that we needed to take malarone when we got to Cambodia, but "you're OK anywhere in Vietnam...except in the jungle, of course".

More, soon

Move to the Center!

Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts is about a lot more than just healthcare or the ability of a Republican Senate minority to now filibuster legislation they don't like. I see this as a repudiation of polarized politics...from either the left or the right poles. President Obama would do well to still make good on his pre-election promise to attempt to truly change how government can function. Most of the people in this country are in the center...clearly so for the "independents" who made the difference in electing Obama and Brown...even though few in Congress are. Mr. President, you have been elected to be our chief political leader and our head of state. The American people want you to fulfill those roles by speaking to where most of us are. If you don't move closer to us, as much a we like you personally and admire your gifts of intelligence and eloquence, we might not give you a second chance.


So, I yearn for things that, though unlikely, are still possible:

• The President, whose virtue is believed to be pragmatism...more important than loyalty...should fire Emanuel and Axelrod and find true centrists to help him define and implement an agenda more in sync with what the majority of the American people want or can at least accept as wise.
• The House should quickly elect a new Speaker. Nancy Pelosi may be invulnerable in her own district, but she's clearly too extreme for the American mainstream. We should be very wary of any person being in the position of second in line to succeed to the Presidency when he or she could never muster enough support to be elected to that office.
• And the Senate majority (at least for now) should abandon Reid (he's very likely to lose his re-election bid anyway next November) as its leader.
• Finally, the Republicans in both houses should recognize that the public holds them in very low regard as well; so, no gloating! Instead, find moderates to run next November to have a chance at recapturing majority positions. We're tired of ideologues...on both sides of the aisle

We need tax policy, not tax opportunism

Sadly, today's news contained two examples of how we should not be approaching generating government revenue: a special tax or fee on (unspecified) banks which had received TARP money and application of an increased Medicare tax on "investment" income. One hopes for a comprehensive tax policy that is durable and that fosters broadly agreed upon goals for economic growth and social welfare. What members of Congress and the Administration decided to float today was just the opposite: an opportunistic grab at temporary targets of perceived riches or of populist disdain.

If we want more robust economic activity, adding additional tax burden (a new, unrelated "Medicare" tax, at an increased rate, at that) on the results of investment is not the way to get it. Raising the price of success means that we will get less of it.

Imposing a punitive tax or fee on the banks (even those which have repayed all the TARP money...with interest) reminds one of Willie Horton's response when asked why he robbed banks. Such a tax/fee would bear no relationship to the expense that the government incurred (...repaid, with interest!) and could even violate the Constitution as a "Bill of Attainder", levied specifically at individual entities by government officials.

Probably, neither of these proposals will end up as law; forces in opposition are probably strong enough. What is especially disheartening, however, is the unapologetic effort to pander to populist misunderstanding of what TARP intended to do and the success it has had thus far and the brazen grab for money wherever it can be found. Where are the statespersons...on either side of the aisle and at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue?