Word: sihanouk
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Sihanouk heard of his overthrow from Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Moscow. At first he took the news calmly. A few hours later, just before flying off to Peking for talks with Premier Chou Enlai, he told Cambodian students at Vnukovo II Airport that he might establish an exile government in Moscow or Peking. Earlier, he had sent off a cable to his mother quoting Kosygin as having said: "If the extreme right continues to strike foul blows on our allies, war is inevitable between Cambodia and Viet...
...Nonetheless, Defense Secretary Melvin Laird indicated that the U.S. would probably continue to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Cambodia could be a plus -over the short run, at least-provided the situation does not degenerate into anarchy and prompt a panicky Hanoi to mount a full-scale invasion. (Sihanouk was useful in that he kept Cambodia stable. If the new regime swings violently antiCommunist, there could be serious trouble.) Hanoi, too, had a mixed week, with a definite plus in Laos all but outweighed by a possible minus in Cambodia. The survival of the sanctuary in Cambodia...
...positive factor for everybody would be a multinational peace conference whose aim would be a settlement embracing all of Indochina. The Soviets have opposed reconvening the 14 nation Geneva parley until the U.S. stops its bombing in Laos; the dangers posed by Sihanouk's departure from the scene could persuade them to drop their opposition. Hanoi, with its lifeline in Cambodia endangered, now has more reason to come to the bargaining table. A more remote possibility is that the Communist Chinese, whose foreign policy is no longer distorted by the lunatic frenzies of the Cultural Revolution, might be persuaded...
...shadow of the war next door and amid the growing misery of the one in their own front yard, take small comfort in the ancient Buddhist temples of Luangprabang. To a certain extent, Cambodians could relive the triumphs of the Khmers in the resounding rhetoric of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who at least kept the kingdom independent. Clearly, if the past sometimes seems impossibly remote and unreal to Indochina's long-suffering peoples, that is the result of an all too real present...
...Prince Norodom Sihanouk...