Those who hold that politics in Laos is already complicated enough had to resign themselves to a new surprise last week. To the world at large, it seemed that courtly Kou Abhay, 67, was the new Premier of the kingdom of Laos. But the man who was really running things was Kou's younger brother.
Laotians had known all along that it would be that way. After all, Kou had always done things together with his brother Nhouy, who is 16 years younger. Kou, whom Laotians call "the personification of wisdom," plodded his way through a technical education in France,...
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