Word: souvanna
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...rested on a weekend meeting between the key Laotian princes in Zurich. Up from Nice, where he has been sunning himself, came the U.S.'s favorite Premier, Prince Boun Oum. From Geneva, looking as relaxed as a pair of tourists, came Russia's favorite Premier, "neutralist" Prince Souvanna Phouma, and his brother, "Red Prince" Souphanou-vong, who commands the Pathet Lao. Prince Souvanna greeted his rival warmly and talked in friendly style about getting together on a "broad-based coalition government." The way things were going back home, one diplomat cracked, "Boun Oum will be lucky...
...deny the shooting. Padong is "the Dienbienphu of 1961 for the U.S.," crowed the New China News Agency, predicting that just as France had been forced to negotiate from defeat in 1954, the U.S. would now have to surrender Laos. The Communists' two favorite Laotian princes, ex-Premier Souvanna Phouma and his half brother, Souphanouvong, arrived in Geneva from Moscow to explain that Padong was only a "cleansing" operation (Western delegates were calling it a disaster, but in some ways, Souvanna's term was more accurate, since in typical Laotian fashion, only ten defenders were killed at Padong...
...doing nothing in particular, was not much help. "The Pathet Lao are the strongest on all fronts," he wailed. "They will capture Vientiane, Luangprabang, Savannakhet, anything they want. Nothing can stop them." Prince Boun Oum hoped to get together with his rival princes to plead for peace. But Prince Souvanna was openly contemptuous. "Boun Oum is playing hide-and-seek," he said. "If we would go to Nice, he might take off for the North Pole...
...matter what happened at Geneva, the key question remaining seemed to be how the Princes Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong would split up power between them once they take over Laos. Here, too, the outlook was dim. Souvanna is recognized by the Communists as Premier, and 2,000 good troops commanded by Captain Kong Le support him. Both Kong Le and Souvanna insist that they do not want a Communist Laos. But Souphanouvong, a Mephistophelean-looking fellow in his sideburns and trim mustache, is a hardened Communist guerrilla. His sneaker-shod troops total 12,000 and are veterans of jungle fighting...
...allies. The French viewed the whole episode through the bifocals of expiring colonialism. They seemed to see the problem of Laos not as any defense of freedom but as a handy lesson to America not to get involved in far-flung parts of the globe. They openly wanted Prince Souvanna back as Premier (as did the British), though he now seems hopelessly committed to the Communists. Souvanna promised to eradicate U.S. influence in Laos, but he quietly hinted to the French that they would be welcome...