Andelman wrote later in @nytimes: “That none of the ruling elite—particularly the triumvirate of Deputy Prime Ministers, Khieu Samphan, Son Sen, Ieng Sary—was named for the Assembly, is an immediate indication that the body is unlikely to have any major policy‐making powers.” 4/4 A “double slate” of candidates, 515, for 250 positions, led French diplomats to suspect divisions in the KR leadership, with a pro Chinese (Khieu Samphan) and a pro Vietnamese (Ieng Sary) fraction. Sary’s wife Thirith and Info. minister Hu Nim, an ally of Khieu, were elected. 3/4 A later radio PhnomPenh broadcast claimed that 3,462,868 had voted (out of a total of 7.73 million), or 98% of…

.@CIA Dep Director Vernon Walters (file) says “We have no information that additional American prisoners are still being held in captivity in Southeast Asia. The only exception might be McKinley Nolan, who deserted in 1967 to the Vietnamese and then in 1974 to the Khmer Rouge.” https://t.co/DhtIV8hMCM

.@DMTribune writes that a large percentage of Khmer Rouge cadres are teenaged boys. “So their methods are rough and ready: unexplained orders harshly enforced”

@RPanh It feels wrong to tweet obvious propaganda like that, but I think it is also important to understand how the Khmer Rouge themselves looked at things. And I think at least to a degree they also believed it (by living in a different reality than those who “enthusiastically” build)

RT @JimLaurie_Asia: Remarkable History from @realtimeKR of Cambodia leader Norodom Sihanouk, a man who I met several times between 1979…

The Khmer Rouge Standing Committee discusses what to make of Sihanouk’s resignation (which he sent as a letter) as Head of State. It decides Sihanouk cannot leave Cambodia. Sihanouk said he resigned because of “illnesses”, the KR think bc of “class conflict” and “lack of a role” https://t.co/uq22QGUNrQ Radio PhnomPenh broadcasts: “Cambodia is one huge work site. Children, men, women and old people of all cooperatives are enthusiastically building mini dikes. At Chikreng, almost 20,000 are united in an offensive struggle to build dikes with a positive and combative attitude” The Khmer Rouge Standing committee discusses Cambodia’s relationship with Vietnam and is especially unhappy about the current border demarcation. It…

Leonard Silk writes in @nytimes that the rural Khmer Rouge appear to be take Cambodia back to the Middle Ages but that it is unclear whether the present scheme is simply the result of immediate necessity and anger. He thinks their extreme form of Communism will “likely moderate”

In view of the upcoming elections on 20 March, the Khmer Rouge hold a meeting on propaganda. They are uneasy about revealing details about the election and the democratic process in general: https://t.co/GOMjpFEX89

Bjork said Penn Nouth, the titular Prime Minister, was reluctant to put any ideological label on Cambodia: “He described Cambodia as being one large family working together” FM Ieng Sary meanwhile said to Bjork that a monetary system “might be introduced later.” 8/8 Bjork: “The Khmer Rouge are pursuing a massive social revolution that is neither communist nor capitalist and more radical than the policies of the Soviet Union or China.” “While they quote Marx, there is no ideologue which the new revolutionists claim to follow”. 7/8 He said the Khmer Rouge told him that the Vietnamese were either unwilling or unable to join Cambodian cooperatives. Therefore 600,000 were sent…

Foreign Trade Minister Li Chiang (file) heads the highest Chinese delegation to Cambodia since the Fall of PhnomPenh. At a banquet he repeats Khmer Rouge charges that US planes have bombed Siem Reap, and adds that the “US committed a serious crime against the Cambodian people” https://t.co/fVt2NCbl4j https://t.co/RK8qQNyZcX https://t.co/9Ruyto6viP https://t.co/wSC4KksD6U