The 2025 Thailand–Cambodia Conflict — Displacement, Peace, and Strategic Stakes. In this episode, we sit down with U.S. Army combat veteran and infantryman Veesna Roeun to discuss the deeply troubling Thailand–Cambodia border conflict of 2025 from the perspective of concerned outsiders calling for peace and humanitarian awareness.

The conversation opens with an overview of how the conflict, rooted in long-standing territorial disputes and historical grievances, erupted into open hostilities in July 2025 and again later in the year, drawing in heavy artillery exchanges, airstrikes, and significant civilian displacement. Analysts estimate hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced from their homes amid the fighting, with mass evacuations occurring on both sides of the border and severe humanitarian needs emerging in displacement sites and host communities. We reference and unpack the Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) article, “The complex fault lines of the Thai–Cambodian armed conflict,” by Morgan Michaels and Evan A. Laksmana (August 2025). The IISS analysis highlights just how layered the conflict has become: beyond historical territorial claims — including contested areas near iconic temple complexes — there are intersecting geopolitical pressures, domestic political dynamics, and broader Southeast Asian security challenges that have made the dispute difficult to resolve through traditional diplomacy alone.
While the International Court of Justice has ruled Cambodia owns the Preah Vihear temple complex decades ago, ambiguity still surrounds the demarcation of the surrounding land, fueling nationalist sentiments and military postures on both sides.

The scale of displacement — with figures ranging into the hundreds of thousands — has overwhelmed local infrastructure and strained access to clean water, health care, and protection for vulnerable populations, such as children and women.

Who benefits from escalation?
Veasna and Ingrid Centurion explore how various actors may gain strategically from continued tensions:

• Nationalist political blocs within both countries may find rallying support through border narratives that deflect from internal governance issues.
• Military establishments benefit from heightened defense budgets, recruitment, and entrenched authority in national security matters.
• External powers and regional actors — including major states with competing strategic interests in Southeast Asia — may find leverage through diplomatic influence or defense ties when conflict persists. Some observers suggest that proxies in broader US–China strategic competition could be implicated in how each side perceives security incentives.

The discussion also touches on the need for law enforcement and international law adherence, emphasizing that while border disputes should be resolved through legal and diplomatic channels, enforcement of agreed mechanisms (such as cease-fire monitoring, observer missions, and de-escalation protocols) is essential to protect civilians and prevent future flare-ups. Finally, Veasna and Ingrid Centurion reflect on the human cost: displaced families yearning for peace, the importance of calling for humanity above politics, and the urgent need for robust regional conflict-management frameworks that prioritize people over territorial pride or power politics.

Ingrid Centurion interviews Veesna Roen, first generation Cambodian, killing fields refugee. He shares his journey to become an American Citizen. An inspiring story from a refugee camp to entering the US Army to fighting for Cambodian Americans. Veesna's family survived the killing fields where collectively more than 1.3 million people were killed and buried by the Communist Party of Kampuchea during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian War (1970–75). The mass killings were part of the broad, state-sponsored Cambodian genocide.

The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Veesna shares where he was on September 11th, Fort Dix, NJ at a live fire Infantry training exercise. Veesna brought a radio walkman even after he was told not to. So the whole company listened on the radio that the Tower and Pentagon were hit. Then he deployed to the Balkans and volunteered to go to Afghanistan, as part of provincial reconstruction team in 2006. He almost did not become an American Citizen due to a fire fight in war. Hear straight from the combat veteran infantryman, Veesna Roen.

Ingrid and Alexander discuss the 14th Amendment, the Law of Nations, citizenship, privileges and immunities. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, addresses citizenship rights, equal protection under the law, and due process, playing a crucial role in defining the relationship between the federal government and the states. Its key provisions include defining citizenship for those born or naturalized in the U.S., prohibiting states from infringing upon citizens' privileges and immunities, guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law, and addressing debt related to the Civil War. Alexander Higgins says "States should not be restricting guns rights, Congressmen should be trying to help people in other states to protect their 2nd amendment rights".

Ingrid Centurion interviews Diane Hardy the founder of Mom and Pop Alliance. The Mom and Pop Alliance is a pro-small-business advocacy group founded during Covid to help empower SC's small businesses. They provide education, serve as a liaison to improve communication between SC lawmakers and small business owners, and seek common sense solutions and good governance policies to empower SC's family-owned businesses. In 2020 when small businesses were labeled "non-essential" they decided to VOLUNTEER to provide a stronger voice for SC's family-owned businesses.

Ingrid Centurion, Frank Buono and Rocky Burke discuss the Escobedo Murder Case. Authorities in Florida have re-opened the investigation into the brutal execution-style murder of a family nearly 20 years ago, after the two men convicted and sentenced to death in the killings had their sentences commuted by former President Joe Biden. St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro and 19th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl announced last week the reopening of the 2006 Escobedo family murder case. Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. were convicted in 2009 of killing Jose Luis Escobedo, 28; his wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25; and their sons, Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3. The family's bodies were found in the grass alongside Florida's Turnpike in Fort Pierce on Oct. 13, 2006, shot at close range. Authorities said the boys died in their mother's arms. Troya and Sanchez were later sentenced to death, but they were among 37 people who had their death sentences commuted by President Biden this past December 2024. Under Biden's action, all 37 were given life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Ingrid Centurion and Rocky Burke discuss the Garrity Warning. A Garrity warning is a notification of rights given to public employees during an internal investigation. It protects them from being compelled to incriminate themselves in criminal proceedings by informing them of their right to remain silent and that any statements made can't be used against them in a criminal case. This protection stems from the Supreme Court case Garrity v. New Jersey, which established that employees cannot be forced to choose between self-incrimination and job loss. Appellants, police officers in certain New Jersey boroughs, were questioned during the course of a state investigation concerning alleged traffic ticket "fixing." Each officer was first warned that: anything he said might be used against him in a state criminal proceeding; he could refuse to answer if the disclosure would tend to incriminate him; if he refused to answer, he would be subject to removal from office. The officers' answers to the questions were used over their objections in subsequent prosecutions, which resulted in their convictions. The State Supreme Court, on appeal, upheld the convictions despite the claim that the statements of the officers were coerced by reason of the fact that, if they refused to answer, they could, under the New Jersey forfeiture of office statute, lose their positions.

Ingrid Centurion interviews Bob Menges, Constitutional Law Expert about how South Carolina Governor McMaster handled the COVID-19 pandemic. It's important to study the past so we make better decisions in the future. As South Carolina gears up for a new Governor and the various candidates are entering the race. We discuss past actions to learn from the Constitutional mistakes that were made.

Ingrid Centurion and Rocky Burke discuss the Los Angeles Riots and the increase in violence on Law Enforcement Agencies. These violent protests and unrest that erupted in Los Angeles in June 2025 following U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, with demonstrations leading to vandalism, property damage, and clashes with police are going to be on the rise throughout the summer. ICE will be the agency the left liberals are going after in 2025. They discuss the violent rhetoric by high ranking politicians who are boldly supporting the violence of law enforcement officers. Protest are constitutional but not when it turns violent; leaders should not be condoning these actions. Rocky Burke says he is very happy that South Carolina leadership supports local law enforcement agencies. SC local leaders enforce protest must be peaceful. Ingrid discusses the McAllen, Texas CBP active shooter attack. Rocky discusses the Congressman LaMonica McIver who was charged with three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers. ICE officer's must have probable cause and the warrant to conduct these raids. The left are pressing for more violent protest to gain media attention. They discuss George Soros and paid agitators. Free Speech do we still have it in America. You should not say words that incite violence or talk about family members. Police officer's can get sued during investigations. Rocky's rule don't invade your body space because then its on. Police Officers show tremendous restraint with civilians.