These Lefties only turned against the Khmer Rouge after Communist Vietnam invaded and "liberated" Cambodia. Prior to that, they praised and defended Pol Pot. At this time, anyone challenging the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia was accussed of working with the Khmer Rouge by the Lefties.
Pilger conveniently neglects to tell us when Communist Vietnam invaded Cambodia they installed a regime of ex khmer rougers or why they chose to use Khmer Rougeafter all theyd done.
I've only recently become aware of Mr. Pilger's work and WOW! So this is what real journalism looks like. If the revolution can't be televised, it's good that the crimes of the counter-revolution are.
They were backed by the US both directly and through encouraging China to do so. The communists have no responsibility because Pol Pot was backed by two imperialist regimes, one Stalinist, one capitalist. Anyone who was educated enough to read Marx and Engels was put to death.
PolPot gave the orders!He was massively backed by the Communists from the beginning!BTW PolPot IS a communist.Most damning of all people like Chomsky denied the Rouges atrocities while they happened in a 1978 article of his.The Left did this.
Pol Pot was not a communist because he did not see the proletariat as a revolutionary force to build society up, he saw the peasant as a force to restore the past. That was what Engels called reactionary socialism as opposed to German socialism. Pol Pot killed anyone educated enough to read socialist literature. He destroyed the industrial process by evacuating the cities instead of improving it through socialism. The only person responsible for the Khmer Rouge was Pol Pot.
what gets me is that now the total evil of the Khmer Rouge cannot be denied or covered up by respected intellectuals in the West (like in the 60s and 70s) now theres this mad rush to blame Pol Pots evil on the West.He couldnt have done this in the first place without massive assisstance from the East bloc.Hed also planned this since the 1950s.
The issue of blame is redundant and pointless. It seems clear to me that no area of the world has moral authority. Western and Eastern leaders are equally venal and self interested and callous.
However, the fact that PolPot was armed and encouraged by the West (and the east too) is a disgrace to us all. The Vietnames had fought for their freedom from Japanese, Chinese, French and American invasions. They all hated Vietnam for defeating them. Vietnam alone smashed the Kmer rouge.
@willwak Id gone to school with plenty of refugees from Vietnam,Laos,Cambodia.NONE of them considered the North Vietnamese(masseivly propped up by the USSR at the time) as freedom fighters.Didnt N.Vietnam back Pol Pot in the 60s and 70s?Why doesnt seem pointless to me.
@commissarusa ..The left can twist it any way they want, but the fact remains that the khmer rouge came to power because they were supported by the North Vietnamese and Soviets in the early 70's--the US supported Lon Nol and the Cambodian government in the fight against the khmer rouge..the Lon Nol regime crumbled in 1975 because a democratic controlled US congress cut off aid to his regime a few years earlier, over the fierce objections of Nixon and Kissinger .
The Vietnamese did not support the Khmer Rouge, nor did the Soviets. Vietnamese people were specifically targeted during the Khmer Rouge regime. Vietnam invaded Cambodia to throw out Pol Pot because the West did nothing. The Lon Nol dictatorship fell because the people hated it and they didn't know anything about the Khmer Rouge. Congressional aid was the only thing that could keep that government up because it had nothing else going for it. TRY AGAIN.
@commissarusa ..the north vietnamese helped the khmer rouge , because Lon Nol didn't want the north vietnamese using cambodia as a base to attack south vietnam..it was mutual interest..then the khmer rouge turned on the vietnamese
@commissarusa... In April-May 1970, significant North-Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in response to the call for help addressed to Vietnam not by Pol Pot, but by his deputy Nuon Chea...At that time relations between Pol Pot and the North Vietnamese leaders were especially warm, though one could not tell that the Vietnamese aroused obvious hostility among the communist Cambodian leadership by their frank “elder brother” policy towards the Khmers.
@commissarusa ..looks like you just got chewed up and spit out, .North Vietnam supported the Khmer Rouge in their rise to power..,but don't feel bad, alot of people have been tricked by the leftist propaganda....see the Vietnamese commies envisioned a greater Vietnam that included laos and cambodia , that's why Lao and Cambodian communists had issues with the Vietnamese...that's why the west helped pol pot guerilla's fight back, because vietnam refused to end the occupation of cambodia..
@commissarusa ..in 1974 Vietnam granted military aid to Pol Pot with no strings attached..which he needed to take Phnom Pehh...Vietnamese leaders confessed to this blunder later.Pol Pot offered ritual phrases like “without the help and support of the Vietnam we could not achieve victory”; expressed gratitude to “brothers in North and South Vietnam”; took special note of the Vietnamese support in “the final major attack during the dry season of 1975, when we faced considerable difficulties”
@commissarusa ..A fair statement would be--The North Vietnamese supported the Khmer Rouge and the supporters of King Sihanouk against Lon Nol, but their interests remained confined to regaining their influence within the Cambodian territory.However, the Khmer Rouge went further in their insurgencies to remove Lon Nol from power and to take control of the entire country. The Pol Pot regime actually ended up straining relations with neighboring Vietnam, which actually led to their fall.
@commissarusa ..The Communist Khmer Rouge insurgency was armed,organized and sponsored by Hanoi ..It was Hanoi, therefore,if it was anyone, that made possible the genocide of the Khmer Rouge..Vietnam created a monster that they themselves had to invade and topple in 1979......Isn't the truth fun?
no, it really wasn't. The Khmer Rouge was a homegrown pack of crazy primitivists (not communists) who only used the communist label to get funding from China. Vietnam had other things to worry about when the Khmer Rouge were being created, such as resisting an imperialist invasion.
@skinz703 Even IF Vietnam did aid Khmer Rouge its bad that they did do and its bad what the Western forces and China did, and after he was in exile they were trying to put him back into power? afetr he had killed more than 1.5 Million people?
@jimbaba16 yes its very sad. The powers that be are ruthless, and will stop at nothing to install a one world government. Not to mention the mass depopulization they have been carrying out for decades. When WW3 comes thats when real hell starts for all of us.
These Lefties only turned against the Khmer Rouge after Communist Vietnam invaded and "liberated" Cambodia. Prior to that, they praised and defended Pol Pot. At this time, anyone challenging the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia was accussed of working with the Khmer Rouge by the Lefties.
RadioFreeWisconsin 9 months ago
Pilger conveniently neglects to tell us when Communist Vietnam invaded Cambodia they installed a regime of ex khmer rougers or why they chose to use Khmer Rougeafter all theyd done.
tomterahedrob 1 year ago
The most ardent deniers of the Cambodian holocaust,like the previuous ones are obviously not its victims.
tomterahedrob 1 year ago
Comment removed
willwak 1 year ago
I've only recently become aware of Mr. Pilger's work and WOW! So this is what real journalism looks like. If the revolution can't be televised, it's good that the crimes of the counter-revolution are.
pentopia 2 years ago 2
I totally agree
his book is good - reading 'Heroes' now
kellyin 2 years ago
gee,and I thought Pol Pot was massively backed by China in the first place!Wheres the Communists imperialisms responsibility in all this?
tomterahedrob 4 years ago
right next to western imperialism's
aresnfish 2 years ago
They were backed by the US both directly and through encouraging China to do so. The communists have no responsibility because Pol Pot was backed by two imperialist regimes, one Stalinist, one capitalist. Anyone who was educated enough to read Marx and Engels was put to death.
commissarusa 2 years ago
@commissarusa
the communists have no responsibility?!
PolPot gave the orders!He was massively backed by the Communists from the beginning!BTW PolPot IS a communist.Most damning of all people like Chomsky denied the Rouges atrocities while they happened in a 1978 article of his.The Left did this.
tomterahedrob 2 years ago
Pol Pot was not a communist because he did not see the proletariat as a revolutionary force to build society up, he saw the peasant as a force to restore the past. That was what Engels called reactionary socialism as opposed to German socialism. Pol Pot killed anyone educated enough to read socialist literature. He destroyed the industrial process by evacuating the cities instead of improving it through socialism. The only person responsible for the Khmer Rouge was Pol Pot.
commissarusa 2 years ago
Comment removed
willwak 1 year ago
@willwak
what gets me is that now the total evil of the Khmer Rouge cannot be denied or covered up by respected intellectuals in the West (like in the 60s and 70s) now theres this mad rush to blame Pol Pots evil on the West.He couldnt have done this in the first place without massive assisstance from the East bloc.Hed also planned this since the 1950s.
tomterahedrob 1 year ago
@tomterahedrob
The issue of blame is redundant and pointless. It seems clear to me that no area of the world has moral authority. Western and Eastern leaders are equally venal and self interested and callous.
However, the fact that PolPot was armed and encouraged by the West (and the east too) is a disgrace to us all. The Vietnames had fought for their freedom from Japanese, Chinese, French and American invasions. They all hated Vietnam for defeating them. Vietnam alone smashed the Kmer rouge.
willwak 1 year ago
@willwak Id gone to school with plenty of refugees from Vietnam,Laos,Cambodia.NONE of them considered the North Vietnamese(masseivly propped up by the USSR at the time) as freedom fighters.Didnt N.Vietnam back Pol Pot in the 60s and 70s?Why doesnt seem pointless to me.
tomterahedrob 1 year ago
Comment removed
willwak 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..The left can twist it any way they want, but the fact remains that the khmer rouge came to power because they were supported by the North Vietnamese and Soviets in the early 70's--the US supported Lon Nol and the Cambodian government in the fight against the khmer rouge..the Lon Nol regime crumbled in 1975 because a democratic controlled US congress cut off aid to his regime a few years earlier, over the fierce objections of Nixon and Kissinger .
skinz703 1 year ago
@skinz703 ..i meant chinese--not soviets....my bad
skinz703 1 year ago
@skinz703
The Vietnamese did not support the Khmer Rouge, nor did the Soviets. Vietnamese people were specifically targeted during the Khmer Rouge regime. Vietnam invaded Cambodia to throw out Pol Pot because the West did nothing. The Lon Nol dictatorship fell because the people hated it and they didn't know anything about the Khmer Rouge. Congressional aid was the only thing that could keep that government up because it had nothing else going for it. TRY AGAIN.
commissarusa 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..the north vietnamese helped the khmer rouge , because Lon Nol didn't want the north vietnamese using cambodia as a base to attack south vietnam..it was mutual interest..then the khmer rouge turned on the vietnamese
skinz703 1 year ago
@commissarusa... In April-May 1970, significant North-Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in response to the call for help addressed to Vietnam not by Pol Pot, but by his deputy Nuon Chea...At that time relations between Pol Pot and the North Vietnamese leaders were especially warm, though one could not tell that the Vietnamese aroused obvious hostility among the communist Cambodian leadership by their frank “elder brother” policy towards the Khmers.
skinz703 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..looks like you just got chewed up and spit out, .North Vietnam supported the Khmer Rouge in their rise to power..,but don't feel bad, alot of people have been tricked by the leftist propaganda....see the Vietnamese commies envisioned a greater Vietnam that included laos and cambodia , that's why Lao and Cambodian communists had issues with the Vietnamese...that's why the west helped pol pot guerilla's fight back, because vietnam refused to end the occupation of cambodia..
skinz703 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..in 1974 Vietnam granted military aid to Pol Pot with no strings attached..which he needed to take Phnom Pehh...Vietnamese leaders confessed to this blunder later.Pol Pot offered ritual phrases like “without the help and support of the Vietnam we could not achieve victory”; expressed gratitude to “brothers in North and South Vietnam”; took special note of the Vietnamese support in “the final major attack during the dry season of 1975, when we faced considerable difficulties”
skinz703 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..A fair statement would be--The North Vietnamese supported the Khmer Rouge and the supporters of King Sihanouk against Lon Nol, but their interests remained confined to regaining their influence within the Cambodian territory.However, the Khmer Rouge went further in their insurgencies to remove Lon Nol from power and to take control of the entire country. The Pol Pot regime actually ended up straining relations with neighboring Vietnam, which actually led to their fall.
skinz703 1 year ago
@commissarusa ..The Communist Khmer Rouge insurgency was armed,organized and sponsored by Hanoi ..It was Hanoi, therefore,if it was anyone, that made possible the genocide of the Khmer Rouge..Vietnam created a monster that they themselves had to invade and topple in 1979......Isn't the truth fun?
skinz703 1 year ago
@skinz703
no, it really wasn't. The Khmer Rouge was a homegrown pack of crazy primitivists (not communists) who only used the communist label to get funding from China. Vietnam had other things to worry about when the Khmer Rouge were being created, such as resisting an imperialist invasion.
commissarusa 1 year ago
@skinz703 Even IF Vietnam did aid Khmer Rouge its bad that they did do and its bad what the Western forces and China did, and after he was in exile they were trying to put him back into power? afetr he had killed more than 1.5 Million people?
jimbaba16 1 year ago
@jimbaba16 yes its very sad. The powers that be are ruthless, and will stop at nothing to install a one world government. Not to mention the mass depopulization they have been carrying out for decades. When WW3 comes thats when real hell starts for all of us.
ha38bb1 1 year ago
good stuff Gatorn..you always get the got the great movies.
antijungle 4 years ago