Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Force in Play

Removed from office August 2025 over leaked phone call

A Cambodian soldier died in a border firefight on May 28. Within two months, the countries were exchanging artillery fire and airstrikes across a dozen locations. Three ceasefires later—brokered by Malaysia, pressured by Trump, witnessed by ASEAN—over 100 people are dead and a million displaced. The latest truce, signed December 27, holds the same promise as the ones before it.

Updated Dec 28, 2025

Force in Play

Removed from office by Constitutional Court over leaked call with Hun Sen

Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has dissolved parliament barely three months into his term, triggering a snap election even as Thai troops trade artillery fire with Cambodia along an 800-kilometre border. At least 20 people are dead, hundreds wounded and more than half a million displaced in the worst fighting since July.

Updated Dec 12, 2025

Force in Play

Led Thailand at the start of the 2025 clashes before a change in government

In 2025, a long-simmering territorial dispute along the 817 km Thailand–Cambodia border reignited into the region’s most serious interstate conflict in years. A fatal clash on May 28 that killed a Cambodian soldier in a disputed area near Preah Vihear was followed by landmine incidents and escalating skirmishes, culminating in a five-day war in July that killed at least 48 people and displaced about 300,000 civilians before a ceasefire was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim mediating under ASEAN’s umbrella.

Updated Dec 11, 2025