Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Ellen Shapiro (designatednerd@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 01-Dec-2023 09:32:13 JST Ellen Shapiro

   If you ever visit Cambodia or Laos, which I have been lucky enough to do, you will learn a lot about why all of SE Asia is ecstatic about Kissinger's death.

   There's a reasonably direct line from the illegal bombing of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge's takeover, enabling their reign of terror that killed 1/4 of the Cambodian population and drove out or killed most folks who were educated.

   There are still "bombies" from cluster munitions all over Laos, which kill or maim people on a regular basis.

   • Embed this notice
     Ellen Shapiro (designatednerd@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 01-Dec-2023 09:32:12 JST Ellen Shapiro

     in reply to

     One of my friends from college was living in Cambodia when she became quite ill, and basically had to be dragged onto a plane to Bangkok to get medical care because "institutional medical knowledge" is not a thing when someone killed the vast majority of doctors in a country.

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Ellen Shapiro (designatednerd@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 01-Dec-2023 09:32:12 JST Ellen Shapiro

     in reply to

     There is a long, complex history of interweaved problems in Southeast Asia, and the Nixon administration, spearheaded by Kissinger, just came and poured gasoline on it, then got a Nobel Peace Prize for "putting out" the fire (which they absolutely did not do).

     There's a part of me that's glad he lived long enough that a significant number of the obituaries are focusing on the long-term consequences of his illegal acts rather than the image he cultivated of himself.