Phantasmatic Authority Redux

In a post a few days ago, I noted that

Is this a case of botched terror or successful phantasmatic conjuring? The next few weeks might supply the answer, depending on the state’s response. Will they crackdown further on the Khmer Krom community? Will they blame the SRP or their non-existent ‘Army’ (another clear case of phantasmatic authority), or even Kem Sokha’s new Human Rights Party?

I regret that immediately following that posting, the very next day in fact, the stories began trickling out. It turns out that the bomb-planters were Khmer Krom people living in Cambodia as moto-dops and construction workers, and although the police are woefully incompetent at solving high-profile cases, they apprehended these culprits within hours. Perhaps this is because these culprits are ‘terrorists,’ and therefore legitimate targets in the eyes of the large foreign-aid providing donor nations. Oy, gevalt.

In other news, a SRP activist in Banteay Meanchey was assassinated.