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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the were-there-bears-involved dept.

Cambodia charges foreigners with making pornographic images

Prosecutors in Cambodia have charged 10 foreigners, including five Britons, with producing pornographic images after raiding a villa in Siem Reap. They were arrested on Thursday after images emerged of people apparently imitating sexual positions at a party in the north-western town. If convicted, they face up to a year in prison.

Two Canadians held in Cambodia for 'dancing pornographically'

A police release included photos of multiple clothed men and women straddling one another on the floor, some in sexually suggestive positions. Those photos are said to have been shared on social media prior to the arrests.

[...] [Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow with the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank,] said the Cambodian government is grappling with pressure to enforce more conservative values, an agenda that is at odds with the country's party-oriented reputation among young western travellers. Foreigners dressed in skimpy clothing while visiting religious and historical monuments have been one source of tension. "Cambodian officials have been a little frustrated," Kurlantzick said. "Partly through their own fault, they allowed a certain very seedy sex tourism culture to take place in (the capital) Phnom Penh."

He said that while the arrests are "pretty unusual," travellers should be aware that the Cambodian government is increasingly lashing out against all types of foreign influence, including boisterous tourists. "The overall environment in Cambodia has just become much more repressed over the last year," Kurlantzick said. "The country is potentially something of a tinder box because of that."


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:15AM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:15AM (#631283) Journal
    I think not. I note from the Wikipedia article it talks about this book as a critique of US foreign policy. Given that we have not a single US citizen among the group (5 Britons, 2 Canadians, and 1 each from New Zealand, Netherlands, and Norway) nor were they acting in even the slightest capacity as extensions of their governments' foreign policy, this suggestion is completely irrelevant. I get that there are a fair number of foreign tourists who don't act as you would like, but that doesn't mean that they don't respect the local country.

    Let us also remember that one of the points of tourism is to step outside the bounds of your normal life. Sorry, that's going to include sex tourism, which will happen somewhere. Sounds like Cambodia chose to host it so they'll need to deal with the consequences, such as the occasional moderately naughty pictures on Facebook. And having some experience with generic tourism, people act differently when they're on vacation and not surrounded by people they know. It's just the way it is.

    Finally, ever consider that some people travel because their personality or psychological issues might keep them from settling down? The "ugly" people don't seem to collect around any particular nationality.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:55AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:55AM (#631312) Journal

    I think not. I note from the Wikipedia article it talks about this book as a critique of US foreign policy.

    And by that, I mean the attitude of the people portrayed in the books. After all, if your foreign policy is exclusively implemented by mean drunks with condescending attitudes to the locals, for example, it may be a little lacking. And the book sounds worth reading on its own merits, apparently predicting 60 years of US foreign policy blundering.