‚Godbrothers‘ Fallout hängt über zerbrechlicher thailändischer Waffenstillstand

SS: Philip Heijmans and Patpicha Tanakasempipat write in *Bloomberg* that last month’s deadly Thai-Cambodian border clashes, which killed over 40 people and displaced 300,000, stem less from disputed maps and temples than from the collapse of the once-close “godbrother” alliance between Thai powerbroker Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodia’s former prime minister Hun Sen, with Thailand’s crackdown on Cambodia-based scam compounds as the central trigger. These industrial-scale cybercrime hubs, tied to Phnom Penh elites and generating up to $19 billion a year, around 60% of Cambodia’s GDP, have faced mounting pressure from both the US and China for Bangkok to dismantle. The crackdown has hit powerful interests linked to Hun Sen’s network, coinciding with tensions over a shelved Thai casino bill, a stalled joint oil and gas project, and unresolved maritime and land border disputes. A leaked phone call between Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, followed by Hun Sen’s accusations of “betrayal,” deepened the rift, leaving the scam industry’s future and regional stability inextricably linked.