Word: neutralistic
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...fortnight the anti-Communist forces in Laos have been in chaos. First, the charismatic commander of the neutralist army, General Kong Le, flew off to Thailand in a huff when three of his colonels challenged his right to give the orders. He was already unpopular because of three "dragon's eggs" given him by a superstitious peasant. Draconic rage at their theft supposedly brought floods down upon the land (TIME, Oct. 21), so his rest cure in Bangkok for what he called a "sprained arm" was likely to be lengthy. Then came a rebellion of royalist air force officers...
...returned from Europe at the news of the air force revolt, appeared at a news conference immaculately dressed in a double-breasted blue suit and white tie to give Kong Le a long-distance pat on the back, announcing that the fiery little general "is still head of the neutralist army." The prince apologetically explained that he would have spoken out sooner, but it had taken him all week long to figure out what was happening...
...station began broadcasting a declaration from coup-happy Laos' latest "Revolutionary Committee." The government had become too divided, proclaimed the communiqué, and the fault lay with the Royalists. Therefore, it went on, Kouprasith and a handful of other right-wing generals must be fired and replaced by neutralist officers...
...revolt failed. Premier Souvanna Phouma, a neutralist who might have shared Ma's views, was out of the country. The three prestigious prisoners escaped. And, on the instructions of American Ambassador William Sullivan, U.S. officers from the nearby Udorn airbase in Thailand saw to it that Ma's planes did not leave their base at Savannakhet for the threatened second strike. After a hasty conference with a government representative who flew to Savannakhet, Ma and eleven of his pilots fled across the border to exile in Thailand...
Fiery Tongues. But the right-wing generals who are Souvanna Phouma's principal election opponents had no intention of letting him off the hook. No sooner had he called for Kong Le than they sent the neutralist commander a telegram warning him to stay out of Vientiane or face "our cricket," which "is even more powerful than your dragon...