Laos: Bogged Down

The prince on whom the U.S. had pinned its hopes for an early peace in Laos flew off instead on a trip around the world.

Only a fortnight ago, Neutralist Prince Souvanna Phouma agreed with a delegation from the royal pro-Western government that the thing to do was get a neutral nations commission into Laos to stop the fighting. But last week, in one of the unpredictable twirls that make him a baffling puzzle to East and West alike. Prince Souvanna repudiated the whole idea, blithely boarded a plane for Rangoon, Peking, Moscow, London and Paris (and hoping for a...

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