The debate over whether or not there are sets, or numbers, or other abstracta, shouldn’t be pursued by trying to work out whether talk of such things is paraphrasable away into a nominalistic language[…].
Before me rose an avenue / Of tall and sombrous pines; / Abroad their fan-like branches grew, / And, where the sunshine darted through, / Spread a vapor soft and blue, / In long and sloping lines.
The patient feels like an insect is flying across his/her body from the top of his/her head to leg like a current shock.
There is little chance that the EU’s watchdogs have, until now, simply missed the evidence of a deeper malaise. The red flags signalling a democratic deficit have always been prominent: from the long-standing harassment, detention, and assassination of peaceful human rights defenders like Chea Vichea, Chut Wutty, and Tep Vanny, to ratcheting up efforts to deter civil society organisation through dubious, hostile legislation. More likely, the trade-offs between popular power and stability have been weighed by the EU and accepted, where these have tipped in its favour—in this case, shoring up a regional ally and trading partner, as well as delivering rapid rates of economic growth that have won Cambodia middle-income status, thus serving up a ready exemplar of neoliberal development logic.