March 18, 2019
Lon Nol coup resonates decades on

Today is the 49th anniversary of the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s rule that paved the way for Marshal Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic.

Many in the Kingdom blame the United States for being involved in the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk, a prelude to the Khmer Rouge genocide in which nearly two million people died.

In 1970, during the height of instability in the region due to the Vietnam War, Prince Sihanouk, who was head of state at the time, was on an official visit to Moscow in the Soviet Union to meet communists leaders when he was deposed.

The overthrow of his leadership was done as soon as he left the country. It began with a large-scale anti-Vietnamese demonstration in Phnom Penh.

Soon after, the National Assembly voted to remove Prince Sihanouk from power, forcing him to live in exile in Beijing. Prime Minister Marshal Lon Nol then took over and renamed the country the Khmer Republic.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50587785/l ... ecades-on/

Not everyone is familiar with Cambodia's history. Who was Lon Nol ?

Marshal Lon Nol (Khmer: លន់ នល់, also លន់ ណុល; November 13, 1913 – November 17, 1985) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister twice (1966–67; 1969–71), as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister. He led the military coup of 1970 against Prince Norodom Sihanouk and became the self-proclaimed President of the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic, ruling until 1975. He was the founder and leader of the short-lived Social Republican Party, and commander-in-chief of the Khmer National Armed Forces. After the Khmer Rouge took power, Lon Nol fled to the United States, and remained there until his death in 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Nol

[If anyone has good links to the subject please feel free to post them.]

Remembering Cambodia’s 1970 Coup
A look back at a significant development in the country with implications that continue to play out today.
By Andrew Nachemson
March 20, 2020

This week marked the 50th anniversary of Cambodia’s 1970 coup, whereby King Norodom Sihanouk was removed from power, paving the way for Lon Nol to take control and remake Cambodia into a short-lived republic. The move is believed to have precipitated the power struggles that would eventually tear the country apart, leading to a civil war, the subsequent Khmer Rouge takeover, millions of deaths, and ten years of Vietnamese occupation.

Today, the coup has become a political prop, a way for Prime Minister HE to demonize any regime change as leading to mass chaos and civil war. It’s a strategy he has continue to employ over his decades of rule, with manifestations that can be seen even in Cambodia’s contemporary politics.

Cambodia’s opposition party was banned in 2017 for allegedly trying to topple the government with U.S. support – an outlandish claim made without a shred of evidence. Last year, Cambodia’s exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced he would return to lead peaceful protests against HE’s authoritarian regime. HE quickly labeled the plan a coup attempt. The government arrested scores of Rainsy’s supporters, mobilized troops along the Thai border, and successfully appealed to Thailand’s government to deny him access to the country. When Rainsy failed to return, the government went on a months-long victory lap.

“The government and Interior Ministry have achieved great success in maintaining peace and stability,” said interior ministry spokesman, Khieu Sopheak, at a press conference this month, bragging that authorities arrested over 200 people.

While most would struggle to see how a peaceful protest against an authoritarian dictator qualifies as a coup, it’s not the first time that HE has stretched the limits of the word for his own political advantage. Even Lon Nol’s coup wasn’t actually much of a coup.

A coup is usually defined as a violent or illegal seizure of power. The removal of Sihanouk was neither. There was no fighting in the streets, no mass executions, not a single drop of blood was shed at the time. Members of the National Assembly voted unanimously to invoke an article of the constitution to remove Sihanouk from power. All of this took place against growing public unrest against Sihanouk, who was allowing the North Vietnamese to use Cambodia as a base of operations during the Vietnamese War.
Full article : https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/remembe ... 1970-coup/

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:43 am Who was Lon Nol ?

He was the guy, a certifiable lunatic, who removed the king to the horror of the vast majority of Cambodians
and then promptly invited the Americans to bomb Cambodia back to the stone age
a mission that they successfully accomplished, partly directly,
partly indirectly, because it is unlikely that the KR would ever have come to power without the bombing chaos and the revulsion that it stirred amongst the masses .


(just my viewpoint)