Word: phouma
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There was very little that Laos' politically astute Premier, Prince Souvanna Phouma, could do about last week's events. Largely as a morale-boosting gesture, he declared a state of emergency. He also issued a pro-forma demand that all foreign troops be withdrawn from Laotian soil-while taking care to blame Hanoi for having pioneered the "illegal route of access and infiltration known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail" years ago. So as not to trigger a Communist stampede into western Laos-an event that would surely shatter Souvanna's already fragile relations with powerful Laotian...
...Yalu? Among Hanoi's backers, Lam Son stirred a predictable frenzy but no definite response. The operation also stirred grave fears on Souvanna Phouma's part. What if the invasion, like MacArthur's drive to the Yalu in Korea, alarmed Peking enough to send Chinese troops into the war? Last week Nixon sought to salve Peking by emphasizing that the Laotian thrust posed "no threat" to China...
...Speculation rises in (Vientiane, Saigon, Tokyo, Paris, London, Washington, Cambridge) that South Vietnamese forces have invaded Laos with American support at the express invitation of the pre-eminent clique of right-wing Laotian generals, against the wishes of neutralist Premier Souvanna Phouma...
...learn that these holdings in Thailand are for the day when the war ends and "mon general" must flee the country-the day when, as the peasants put it, Prince Souphanouvong, commander of the Pathet Lao, beats out his older but less educated half-brother, Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, in this family quarrel...
There were several reasons for the vigorous Communist advance. On one level, it was a punitive jab at Souvanna Phouma. The Premier is anxious to end the Laotian fighting, which has forced an incredible number of refugees into U.S.-run camps: 700,000, or 30% of the population. But hard-liners on the right threaten real trouble if Souvanna should open serious peace talks with the Pathet Lao or if he should suffer another major defeat. "If Long Cheng or the Bolovens Plateau falls," said one Laotian general, "Souvanna is finished." The Communist advance was also a signal to Abrams...