Fighting has broken out in six sectors along the frontier, ambassadors have been recalled, residents evacuated and the border sealed, yet the most dramatic development since Thursday morning was the exchange of heavy weapons fire: F-16s from Thailand, rocket launchers from Cambodia. More than a dozen civilians have been killed and 30 wounded on Thai soil, prompting Bangkok to move 40,000 people away from the border. The death toll in Cambodia is still unknown.

Exactly how the latest clash began is unclear: accusations are flying both ways, following the wounding of several Thai soldiers who stepped on land mines – two of whom lost a leg – that Phnom Penh insists date from past wars. Who shot first on Thursday at Prasat Ta Muen Thom matters little: the Thais are flexing their muscles and so are the Cambodians, though the latter are militarily weaker.

The setting for what risks becoming a “war of stones” (due to unfolding around ancient archaeological sites) is the border between the two Southeast-Asian kingdoms, locked in territorial spats over a few kilometers of land and a handful of sacred ruins since 2008. 

Then, on May 28, at Chong Bok, where the borders of........

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