When Moscow helped topple the Khmer Rouge

[geovalin]

March 19, 2016 Ajay Kamalakaran, RBTH

While backing the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, Moscow helped rebuild the country that was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. Russia was also one of the main initiators of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, which brought lasting peace to the nation.

On the morning of March 18, 1970, Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was in Moscow to negotiate the exit of the Vietnamese communists from his country, received an alarming telegram from Phnom Penh. Prime Minister Lon Nol, backed by the military, staged a coup and appointed himself the Head of State of the Southeast Asian country.

The coup had the covert backing of the Richard Nixon administration, which was smarting from a series of reverses in Indochina at the hands of pro-Moscow forces. The coup d’etat led to Cambodia no longer being a neutral party in the Vietnam War and openly expressing support for the South Vietnamese. The events on March 1970 would lead to a series of wars in Cambodia, which culminated in one of the worst genocides in Asia.

Appalled by the coup, the Soviet Union refused to recognize the new government and gave a green light to North Vietnamese forces to invade Cambodia. Sihanouk, who left Moscow for Beijing, supported the North Vietnamese, who invaded at the request of Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea. A civil war ensued for the next five years, with the US providing air support to Lon Nol’s forces. The Khmer Rouge finally managed to seize power in 1975, unleashing a reign of terror on anyone considered an opponent.

Sino-Soviet split and Cambodian genocide

The Khmer Rouge regime, which renamed Cambodia to Democratic Kampuchea, ruled the country from 1975 to 1979. It had the backing of China and was recognized as the legitimate government by most western countries. This arrangement was the result of the Sino-Soviet split and the warming of ties between Washington and Beijing.

long and interesting document

http://rbth.com/arts/2016/03/19/when-moscow-helped-topple-the-khmer-rouge_576789

[johna]

When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, bringing an end to the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge the US and UK supported the Khmer Rouge, supplying them with weapons, training and political support in the UN. It was one of Americas most disgraceful foreign policy acts, and I believe was due to Americas humiliation at their failure in the Vietnam war.

[cgtours]

When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, bringing an end to the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge the US and UK supported the Khmer Rouge, supplying them with weapons, training and political support in the UN. It was one of Americas most disgraceful foreign policy acts, and I believe was due to Americas humiliation at their failure in the Vietnam war.

usiness of Other Government and Countries, they have left behind hundreds of thousands, dead,human suffering beyond words and utter chaos. !!

From the Boer War in South Africa to India and the famine, KOREA to Vietnam, the Disgrace of Cambodia ( other escapades in South American Countries) and NOW AFGHANISTAN, and whole of Middle East is burning and virtually destroyed where they interfered. USA and UK have caused this Refugee Crises and EUROPE will never be the same ever again. They removed SADDAM ( yes he was a terror) but Middle Eastern people need Dictators and even Christians and Yashidis etc had their villages and if they obeyed his laws, they lived well, those that did not ( ISIS elements) were eliminated. and then Gaddafi ( another despot but he ruled with an iron fist and kept the Tribes in place and those that were ISIS Elements in disguise already then , they eliminated.) The USA and UK unleashed ISIS on the Middle East. No Western European Country can rule the Middle East or change their Mentalities to Western Thinking and Democracy. their way of thinking and Mentalities are totally different and Incompatible with Western Laws, culture and thinking and the various factions in the Muslim World are not even compatible with each other and murder and kill each other. ONLY DESPOTS/Dictators like Saddam and Gaddafi were, can keep the various tribes and sects in Place..

[epampersonal]

Yes, the balance is being broken after armed interventions... I heard that many isil warlords used to be officers in Saddam's army. Just sifting from one dictatorship into another. After ousting of Gaddafi, waves of migrants are invading Europe, cause Gaddafi used to stop the immigration from Africa at Lybian borders.

[maoro2013]

Where were Saddam's weapons of mass destruction? Never found.

US has anthrax isn't that one?

I think this in conflict with the US own ideas, not.

[Cats4ever]

The charming but rather ineffectual Foreign Minister of Australia, Andrew Peacock, backed off criticising Vietnam's invasion because he had seen reports of Khmer Rouge atrocities. He could not openly support the Vietnamese, but did not attack them. He backpedalled a little on the alliances. An example of common sense taking over from power politics. China invaded Vietnam in 1978 and did not do that well.

[AlexRRR]

OH MY GOODNESS....You can't say those things....censorship is rifle here....