Word: patheticness
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Defeated in Vientiane, the pro-Communist battalion led by Paratroop Captain Kong Le simply retreated 50 miles north into the mountain wilds, picking up support from the Russian-backed Pathet Lao guerrillas along the way. Last week plainly marked Russian Hyushin-14 planes swooped daily over Kong Le's stronghold to drop supplies from neighboring Communist North Viet...
...carnage, highlighted by vicious artillery barrages that killed three civilians for every soldier, had ended in a rout for Rebel Captain Kong Le, the malcontent paratrooper who had seized control of the city last August to demand conciliation with the Communist Pathet Lao guerrillas and an end to six years of halfhearted jungle warfare. Kong Le and his Pathet Lao allies fled north into the jungle last week, dragging their Russian-supplied howitzers behind them over primitive roads. Into the city rolled Prince Boun Oum, 53, the new Premier, along with Laos' real strongman, General Phoumi Nosavan...
Vital Stake. Seldom had the winds of war blown about such artless heads. But the danger was nonetheless clear and present. Six years of Pathet Lao insurrection had kept the countryside in turmoil, and had thus made Laos a corridor through which North Viet Nam moved men and supplies to support its guerrillas operating in South Viet Nam. This was a stake that the Communists were not prepared to lose. The Russian news agency Tass warned darkly that U.S. "intervention" could lead to "a second Korea." With the Russians supplying one side and the U.S. the other, the possibility...
...second cousin and staunch admirer of pro-Western Strongman Sarit Thanarat in neighboring Thailand) showed no more zeal than any of his predecessors for running the Communists to ground. Though he is described as a "strongman," was he strong enough, or determined enough, to battle the Pathet Lao into submission and enforce peace? It seemed doubtful. Perhaps the best that the U.S. could hope for out of Phoumi's victory in Vientiane was a chaos that calls itself pro-Western...
...bring both Thailand and South Viet Nam to the rescue and start a Southeast Asian war. But even without overt aggression, Boun Oum and Phoumi faced bitter days ahead. Though Phoumi declared that all he wanted was "a neutral Laos," the Communists were smarting for revenge, and from the Pathet Lao came an order of the day: "Develop guerrilla warfare powerfully. Destroy supply lines, communications and transport...