Christopher Evola
(currently residing in Ankara, Turkey)
05 Jan 2010
To Whom It May Concern
The Khmer Rouge were effectively forgiven by the Vietnamese by being brought back into functional positions in government and society. And they were also forgiven by the U.S. and other members of the UN who recognized them as the legitimate government in Cambodia during the Vietnam Era. I can’t think of any parallel with the Nazis. The outside powers sanitized and entitled the KR long before the Cambodian people themselves had the capability to address the issue. Both the Vietnamese and the UN used the KR as a Cold War tool for their own purposes, which over-rode concern for genocide. This is the basis for the confusion in the world’s responses to the Nazis and the KR: we still needed the KR. Insofar as we conceded the usefulness of ignoring the genocide, and insofar as it was nevertheless real, we ourselves are main players in the indifference to human rights that has now become such a repulsive item on our plate. The solution to problems such as this is not just to rely upon an analysis of how such horrid regimes can spontaneously arise, but rather to do whatever is necessary to strengthen our worldwide commitment to human rights. The solution to the Cambodia problem lies in our own hearts. It’s either that, or give up.
1 comment:
Bingo! we have a winner and straight talk commentary here.
I felt relieve to hear someone's thought like this author.
UN(US,USSR,Viet,China,Thai, Singapore,...)help the perpetrators to stay in power until now.Genocide is a trade off for them in saving face.
Thank you.
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