Word: souvanna
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...even their particular brands of neutrality. Each is convinced, however, that his nation's survival depends on maintaining the greatest possible distance from the war that has convulsed their common neighbor, South Viet Nam. Last week, with Sihanouk deposed as Cambodia's chief of state and Souvanna facing a major Communist offensive in Laos, their Swiss reveries seemed more remote than ever...
...Souvanna Phouma, 68, a nephew of Laos' longtime (1904-1959) King Sisavang Vong, lacks Sihanouk's brash style Nonetheless, he performs with skill. A cultivated, retiring figure who looks and acts like a country gentleman, Souvanna has four times taken on the unenviable job of leading a government that is split between the Communist left, Neutralist middle and Royalist right...
...Souvanna is mediating a family quarrel as well as a corner of the East-West war. The Pathet Lao have long been under the command of his half brother Prince Souphanouvong, 57. While Souphanouvong was labeled the Red Prince, Souvanna was sometimes called the Pink Prince, presumably because of his willingness to cooperate with the Pathet...
...Pink Prince and the Red Prince reportedly maintain some family feeling in spite of their political differences. Souvanna Phouma has occasionally denied that his half brother is a Communist at all, calling him a "misled patriot." Royal gossips, whose authority is rarely doubted in Laos, believe that Souphanouvong's politics of dissidence and his rather gaudy style are due in large part to the fact that his mother was a commoner. His half brother was born to full royalty...
...neighborly neutrality in a war fought by guerrillas and insurgents is a thankless one at best. That neither Cambodia nor Laos has yet stepped over the brink is partially due to the wits of Sihanouk and Souvanna. Perhaps the cagey Sihanouk has best summarized the plight of Southeast Asian neutralists. "I'll keep maneuvering as long as I have cards in my hand, first a little to the left and then a little to the right," he said. "And when I have no more cards to play, I'll stop...