VLVL Rex Snuvvle

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 11:20 PM
Subject: Re: VLVL Rex Snuvvle


> on 8/1/04 3:51 AM, Toby G Levy wrote:
>
> > Snuvvle was a grad student who in the course of his Southeast Asian
> > Studies discovered that the government had lied and was lying about the
> > war in Vietnam. But since he is an academic, his research carries into
> > more and more obscure details of the history of revolution in Vietnam
> > until he focuses upon a Pynchonian creation named The Bolshevik Leninist
> > Group of Vietnam, a group of Trotskyites trained in France and sent to
> > Vietnam in 1953 and promptly disappeared.  Snuvvle adores this group
with
> > religious fervor, expressing hope for their resurrection like Christians
> > awaiting the Second Coming.
>
> The details might seem "obscure" to an American, but I can assure you that
> they are pertinent to many many millions of South-East Asian people (just
as
> MLK's assassination was very pertinent to many millions of
African-American
> people in the US).
>
> I'm actually wondering whether the "handful of exiles in Paris" that Rex
is
> in communication with might include Pol Pot. A lot of the details
> ("Southeast Asian", "Bolshevik Leninist", "trained in France", "sent to
> Vietnam", "to the left of Ho Chi Minh", "exiles") seem to fit.
>

Pol Pot
Born May 19, 1925 in Prek Sbauv
1949 Studies left-wing politics in France
1953 Returns to Cambodia and joins Communist Party, which he leads a decade
later

Your assumption is baseless.

> In any discussion of the US war in Vietnam I think that what happened in
> Cambodia *after* the US supposedly pulled out of the region should be
> examined closely.
>
> best
>

Why leave out what had happened to Cambodia during the war?

"Prior to 1970, the Communist Party of Kampuchea was an insignificant factor
in Cambodian politics. However, in 1970 American-backed General Lon Nol
deposed Sihanouk, because the latter was seen as supporting the Viet Cong.

In protest, Sihanouk threw his support to Pol Pot's side. That same year,
Richard Nixon ordered a military incursion into Cambodia in order to destroy
Viet Cong sanctuaries bordering on South Vietnam. Sihanouk's popularity,
along with the United States invasion of Cambodia, and subsequent bombings
by the US (which continued illegally even after Congress voted to suspend
them) drove many to Pol Pot's side and soon Lon Nol's government controlled
only the cities.

It has been argued that the Communist Party of Kampuchea may not have come
to power without the destabilization of the Vietnam War, particularly of the
American bombing campaigns to 'clear out the Vietnamese sanctuaries' in
Cambodia."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot

So a close examination could reveal that without the American war-crimes in
the region Pol Pot never could have committed his crimes.

Otto