Word: sihanouk
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Politesse and Patience. An old Indo-China hand who once served in Vientiane and Hanoi during the French days, Rives concedes that "we're moving very slowly here." With good reason. Prince Sihanouk broke relations with Washington in 1965, partly because he considered the U.S. presence too big for comfort. It had grown to more than 200 people and an aid budget of $30 million a year. Nowadays, Sihanouk's chief fear is that a Communist victory in Viet Nam might encourage the 40,000 uninvited North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops who now use Cambodia...
Rives' posture has been cool and correct. Says one of Sihanouk's French advisers: "America has finally learned to deal with Cambodia with politesse and patience." Not that there is all that much to do. The entire nonofficial U.S. community in Cambodia consists of three women who are married to Cambodian husbands and Joe Foggy, a Negro fighter who has been coaching Cambodian boxers for several years. One of Rives' chief tasks has been negotiating a Cambodian claim for $12 million in damages to rubber trees caused by U.S. planes bombing too close to the Cambodian-Vietnamese...
Rives' toughest negotiations have not been with Sihanouk, however, but with the State Department. Foggy Bottom had completed its 1969 budget before the decision was made to resume relations with Cambodia. As a result, said an aide, "we're having a tough time breaking loose the money. We're on rock bottom." Well, not exactly. Answering the mission's call for supplies with characteristic bureaucratic efficiency, State recently dispatched a C-130 with a batch of supplies that included 30 mattresses but no bedsteads...
Shaplen's literary style, which rambles over many a back road, is occasionally illuminated by bright, incisive flashes. Describing Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk, Shaplen writes that ''his innate sense of showmanship and his graciousness as a host make his sporadic unveilings of the country seem like Happenings." Generally, as befits a man who has studied a depressing scene for more than 20 years, he is cautious, measured in his judgments, rarely hortatory. He does make hard and clear, however, what he regards as a notable danger. Rudely stated, it is that the U.S., which will probably...
...Sihanouk at first ordained that, to give the operation a bit of class, each bettor must wear a tie. Standards slipped quickly. The basic gaming uniform now is simply shirt, long trousers and shoes. For barefoot peasants who have the dels to gamble, a rent-a-sandal business thrives just outside the casino entrance...