By decision of both Congress and the Supreme Court the United States bombing of Cambodia should have stopped on 15 August. It is not yet clear whether this decision will be actually implemented, or whether Nixon and his mob will attempt some manoeuvre to extend the bombing beyond this date.
Without the support of US bombers the military position of the puppet Lon Nol regime in Cambodia will be fatally weakened.
for that reason have stepped up the bombings to an all-time high in the last tew weeks. The puppet regime has been on the brink of collapse to some me, rac nabonal docration forces — the United National Front of Cambodia (FUNK) - launched an offensive last February during which they reached the crucial Mekong River and blocked off all roads leading to the capital. Throughout July the battle zone steadily narrowed to within five miles of the capital city of Phnom Penh. The puppet army is totally demoralised and riddled with corruption. Its real strength is only about a quarter of what it appears to be on paper — the inflated figures enabling the generals to draw vast additional sums of US aid, up to the test? Over the last few days even Western journulists have been foroed to report the steady disintegration of the Lon Not forces, despite the stepped up US air support. They have grasped at any small straw — a tactical retreat by the national liberation forces, for example - to produce evidence that the FUNK was Turning out-of steam." But the next day has always brought them back to reality as more villages fall to the FUNK and another city is isolated. This military collapse of Lon Nol's forces is bound to have political consequences. Le Monde reports: "The revolutionaries appear to be warting for the regime to disintegrate. And they will not have long to wait. Le Monde of 14 August carried the news that leading figures in the present Government favour the removal of Lon Nol and the return of Prince Shanouk, former head of state and present head of the national liberation movement. This attitude is increasingly shared in US political circles, Senator Symington, a member ofithe Senate Armed Forces Committee, has recently discovered that 'Prince Sihanouk has a greater ascendancy in the country than any other person, adding bitterly Nothing could he worse than what is actually taking place.? What are the options facing US imperialism in this situation? The fitst would be to abandon Lon Nol and then attempt to do a deal with Sihanouk. This is the option favoured by "liberal" politicians in Washington, and B finding increasing favour with US financial interests who see South East Asia as a potential arca of fruitful investment once the insecurity and instability of war is ended. Recent statements of Prince Silanouk, in The inclusion of the military in Allende's new which he has talked of a possible reconciliation'with Washington if US policy were to change, would seem to offer some scope for this strategy. The stumbling block is the national Iberation forces.
The American Government is aware of this, and The backbone of the armed struggle bave been the Communist Red Khmers and Khmer Minh. Aller almost ten years of military and political struggle, it is unlikely they would settle for some tarted up compromise with US imperialism and turn-coats from the Lon Nol regime. It would thus be difficult fot Sthanouk to be a party to any open compromise within the foresecahile future, The other option for the US is to hack a full scale invasion in support of the Lon Nol regime from cither Thailand or South Vietnam, Recent revelations about secret US military activities in Cambodia in 1969 and 1970, systematically hidden from the American Congress, show that there are plenty of precedents for such an operation. But are the available instruments The Thai dictatorship is in deep economic difficulty, and is currently immersed in a major student upsurge. To throw military forces into the Cambodian struggle under present circumstances would appear to be a fool's wager, The Thieu regime in South Vietnam is willing, but its ability to carry through such a venture is highly questionable. A South Vietnamese invasion would strengthen the unity of the Cambodian people around the liberation forces, Sections of the South Vietnamese army are already having second thoughts about the Thieu Government, and the launching of a foreign adventure at this time could force those cracks wide open, Moreover the involvement of large numbers of Thieu's troops in Cambodia would be an open invitation to the National Liberation Front to give a final push which would put paid to the whole puppet regime in South Vietnam If the American Government proves able neither to come to an understanding with Sihanouk nor to provide Lon Nol with the support necessary to keep him in business, the future will be bleak for US Imperialism in Prince Sihanouk (left) with Hon Youn (his Minister of the Interior) and Hu Nim (his Minister of_Information)
South-East Asia, The Cambodian liberation forces will take power under circumstances that are likely to touch off far-reaching social change throughout the country: they will have come to power on the basis of their own strength, in the face of determined opposition from imperialism and the Cambodian reactionaries, and with no commitments other than to the Cambodian workers and peasants who have sustained their fight.
The presence of an established and sympathetic Government just across the border would inmensely strengthen the hand of the NLF in Vietnam, both politically and materially, and could encourage a new offensive which would place the whole of South Vietnam in the hands of the anti-imperialist forces.
In short, the fate of all of South-East Asia hangs in the balance in the current struggle in Cambodia, The soldarity movement in this country must take this fact to haart. It must be prepared to take to the streets and furnish other kinds of political suppott when the decisive turning point is reached.
The Popular Unity parties are deeply divided in their attitude to the new government. Allende's Socialist Party faces the threat of massive splits. Smaller parties inciuding MA PU and the Christian Left may withdraw, The MIR I Revo lutionary Left Movement) has withdrawn the critical support it originally gave Popular Unity.
Almost forty years after the betrayal of the Spanisli revolution Stains is repeating its treachery against the Chilean workers and which brought the governmental crisis to a bead, peasants. The crisis in the other Popular Unity parties is evidence of the strong opposition in the working class to the latcat moves of their leaders, But without a revolutionary marxist leadership, the Chilean workers face bitter blows from the counter-evolution which is now Tirmly on the march.
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Of the workers" parties only the Chilean CP gives unconditional support to the entry of the