A threat by President Donald Trump to halt trade negotiations with both Cambodia and Thailand until a truce had been reached forced both sides to the negotiating table. Even so, the ceasefire looks shaky.

Thailand and Cambodia have organized border visits for foreign diplomats to observe the damage from recent clashes.

Hun Sen is a wily survivor of Cambodian politics and the wider tumult across Southeast Asia over the last half-a-century. Born to rice farmers in a province heavily bombed during the secret U.S. war in Cambodia and Laos, he became a soldier for the Khmer Rouge, whose murderous regime from 1975 to 1979 killed about a quarter of the population.