Noodles of politics in Cambodia

Make a meal: A vendor preparing baskets loaded with the traditional noodle at a market in Phnom Penh. — AP

PHNOM PENH: The bitter decades- long rivalry between Hun Sen, Cambodia’s strongman leader, and Sam Rainsy, his self-exiled chief political rival and critic, has sometimes played out in deadly violence. But yesterday, soup rather than blood was likely to be spilled.

The two titans of Cambodian politics, who normally agree over nothing, made stunningly similar calls to their followers this past week.