An 11th century peaceful Temple, Preah Vihear, is the scene of turmoil and troops after a 8 July award of World Heritage Site status to an ecstatic Cambodia. Outrage poured from Thai citizens. A border dispute rages as the Hindu temple is just inside the official Cambodian border. Thailand's military moved in. Cambodia's most ferocious troops were sent to defend, leaving one of the world's great cultural artifacts and tourism sites in a potential war zone. The militarized area around the temple is filled with mines, yet the soldiers are posing in each other's pictures and swapping cigarettes.

The soldiers here are armed with an eclectic mix of weapons. Thais have state-of-the-art American rifles; the Cambodians are using the stuff of past conflicts, especially Chinese-made B40 rocket-launchers from the Vietnam War era. The B40s were unstable then, so what are they like now?
It is the wet season, and the rains lash down, soaking everything. "We are living like worms," a Thai soldier says of life in his trench.
The Thai soldiers seem to go out of their way to be polite, almost as if they were embarrassed to have made an armed entry into Cambodian-held territory, whether or not it is disputed land. You could call it a gentlemanly invasion.

Ironically, this Khmer temple graces the top of a 525 meter (1, 720 feet down) Pey Tadi cliff, making for gorgeous panoramic views that now has few trees or the indigenous wildlife. To get to the Prasat Preah Vihear from Tailand's side requires a trip through Khao Phra Wihan National Park Now, the question is how each military exits the temple and its environs with their national pride intact and the site, pristine. In Siem Reap province, the two foreign ministers haggled and pressed their claims as thousands of troops stayed put, delaying the necessary meeting of the Joint Boundary Commission. Great difficulty ahead as one of the world's benighted landmarks, dedicated to King Jayavarman VII, swarms with armed troops as the Temple complex is set to become a stunning backdrop for an election celebration with the Cambodian First Lady Bun Rany in attendance at the new pagoda inside.

UNESCO knew the facts. The site has a bloodied storied history. More recent, in 1954, Thailand's army moved in to protect the temple/castle as the French exited Cambodia. On the 15th of June, 1962, the International Court of Justice judgment stated the kingdom of Cambodia became the legal custodian of an area of less than two square miles surrounding the temple. Cambodia's civil war in 1970, left the defeated soldiers against the Khmer Rouge still in control of the landmark. Now, Thailand agreed to the redrawn map, but it chafes that the Cambodia became official holder of the title. Thais pique is political as they walked away from the process, as a consequence the UNESCO decision suffered a delay in 2007. Acceptance of the Cambodian ownership is harder because Thailand had occupied the disputed area though the redrawn maps put Cambodia in control. The OCA or Overlapping Claims Area is believed to contain oil or other fossil fuels which are under constraints from mining. The WHS designation is dependent on the area preserving its current condition and any changes require approval.

None of this is going to bring a surfeit of international tourists and their money (which also can do great harm) to the area's environment until the dispute is mediated.

PS - not adding date this was written July 31st yet...

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Last Updated 31 August, 2008 

The expedition was led by Artur Chilingarov, a pro-Kremlin member of parliament and Arctic explorer who led the submarine team that controversially planted a Russian flag on the sea bed below the North Pole last August.

 Mr Chilingarov said just before the mission that the aim of the record-breaking attempt to reach the bottom of Lake Baikal was to preserve the unusual habitat of the lake, which was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996 because of its unique and rare wildlife.

The 18-tonne mini-submarines, Mir-1 and Mir-2, which already hold the world record for a manned dive in seawater, had to shed weight to make them less buoyant in freshwater. The mission went well even though Mr Chilingarov had anticipated difficulties. "There are technological problems, fickle weather conditions. Freshwater dictates special conditions," he had said before the expedition.

Russia has some of the most pristine natural areas left with Volcanoes of Kamchatka, though currently besieged by hungry bears and along the Curonian Split, near Kalingrad.  Lake Baikal is the site where the mini-subs only made it so far, but did break a barrier by having Natalia Komarova on board. A race to the bottom for publicity adds no value to doing the slow steady work of understanding the biodiversity and the effect of the temperature on the lake would have a much longer lasting positive effect.  This event at Lake Baikal was characterized as a success early as news of the record was released and it did not happen.

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Content of Resource & Links last updated 31 August, 2008