Photo credit: AP | U.S. President Barack Obama, right, walks
out with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after addressing
members of the media at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday,
Nov. 19, 2012. Obama who touched down Monday morning, becoming the first
U.S. president to visit the Asian nation also known as Burma, said his
historic visit to Myanmar marks the next step in a new chapter between
the two countries. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Phnom Penh Post
By Abby Seiff
US
president Barack Obama toasted Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra, held a
historic discussion with Myanmar President Thein Sein and offered a
warm farewell to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda earlier this
week.
What he did not do during his three-day Asia trip – at
least not according to the official White House photographic record –
was share a single moment with Prime Minister Hun Sen. [This is America's sweet revenge after Hun Sen's wife treated President Obama like a servant].
In a 41-photo album of Obama’s trip posted on the White House website, the absence of Hun Sen is notable. There’s a shot of Obama with the Thai king, and four of him with Yingluck.
Thein Sein appears in one photo, and Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in three.
But
of 13 photos taken in Phnom Penh – where Obama spent 25 hours attending
ASEAN meetings, bilateral discussions and a dinner at which the
Cambodian premier was present – not a single one features Hun Sen.
The
one shot in which Hun Sen can be spotted in the distance makes no
mention of him in the caption. It says only: “President Barack Obama
delivers opening remarks at the US-ASEAN leaders meeting”, although the
picture is, in fact, an image of Hun Sen delivering a remark.
“Of
course, it’s deliberate. There couldn’t be any other explanation,”
Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of
New South Wales, said.
“It’s just a way of showing displeasure.”
Rights
groups, opposition leaders and members of the US Congress spent much of
the month before Obama’s visit urging him to either cancel it or press
the Cambodian government hard on rights issues.
A public snub
would strain protocol, but the exclusion of Hun Sen from the album sent
the appropriate message to interested parties, Thayer said.
“It’s
a nice way of putting Hun Sen down, and the congressmen would
understand what he’s doing. It’s not a snub that’s public; he just
didn’t put him in his photo book.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Abby Seiff at abby.seiff@phnompenhpost.com
2 comments:
That is the best of the best example! Cambodia is moving backward because of the Vietnamese dog Hun Sen staying in power.
Dear All,
Again, this is another example of President Obama closed the doors and beat the Dog ( Hun Sen ) on the international stage.
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