Comment

Why Palestinians yes, Kurds no?

16
Destro12/07/2012 10:38:07 pm PST

re: #14 ProGunLiberal

So you support Palestinian statehood? Or don’t you as a “liberal”?

And for your information, I don’t deny the Cambodian killing fields but I will bring up the fact the USA supported the Khmer Rouge at the UN because they were enemies of Vietnam.

Do you remember that American UN position?

pbs.org

After Vietnam had invaded Cambodia and set up a new government, the ousted Khmer Rouge leadership, including Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, retreated to the jungle along the Thailand-Cambodia border. Instead of becoming pariahs, they continued to play a significant role in Cambodian politics for the next two decades. The Khmer Rouge would likely not have survived without the support of its old patron China and a surprising new ally: the United States. Norodom Sihanouk, now in exile after briefly serving as head of state under the Khmer Rouge, formed a loose coalition with the guerillas to expel the Vietnamese from Cambodia. The United States gave the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition millions of dollars in aid while enforcing an economic embargo against the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government. The Carter administration helped the Khmer Rouge keep its seat at the United Nations, tacitly implying that they were still the country’s legitimate rulers.

The U.S. government’s refusal to recognize the new Cambodian government and its unwillingness to distance itself from the Khmer Rouge was motivated by several factors, primarily animosity toward its former foe, Vietnam, and Vietnam’s Soviet backers. Additionally, the United States did not want to sour its improving relations with the Khmer Rouge’s longtime patron, China. What started as a diplomatic decision to manipulate the Sino-Soviet split and isolate and punish Vietnam became a moral blunder that ensured the survival of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.