BOOK REVIEW 77 happy. Like other Asian statesmen, he was also influenced by negative attitudes to the left forces within the country and to the socialist countries. The stresses and strains from these two quarters were nothing compared to the pressures, blackmails, threats, conspiracies, attempted murders and all the tricks in the imperialist bag, instigated and organized in accordance with American plans. The prince deserves credit for refusing to yield to imperialist pressure in spite of his anti-Communist prejudices. That was why, after several attempts at toppling him were foiled, the CIA finally decided to organize the coup in March 1970. It was at this stage that Sihanouk called upon his supporters to go underground "to go into the jungle and to join the resistance forces already there." What followed this call to arms is described by Sihanouk himself: One of the developments which pleased me most was receiving a message, dated 26 May, three days after the broadcast Proclamation, from three leading Khmers Rouges—the leftist deputies mentioned earlier as the only honest men elected in the 1966 elections—who had chosen to flee to embryo resistance bases in the jungle. These were three of our outstanding intellectuals... In view of our rather strained relations in the past, I thought they might pose questions or demand conditions or that there might have to be negotiations before they committed themselves. Nothing of the sort happened. They had monitored the Proclamation and replied in effect: 'That's marvellous. If you, the traditional leader of the Cambodian people, decide to fight with us—we demand nothing more5, (pp 61-62) The collaboration between Sihanouk and the resistance forces led by the Cambodian left transformed the character of his 'War with the CIA'. No more can the prince as Head of State use his sovereign authority in furtherance of the Gambodian people's struggle for freedom. That sovereign power has been usurped by the reactionary forces headed by Lon Nol, the prince's former lieutenant and others, with the full and unreserved support and assistance of the American imperialists. There is however, another sovereign power whose basis was laid by the left forces at a time when they and the prince were at loggerheads. The very logic of the situation has now brought the two closer together. The left-led resistance forces see in the prince the symbol of their resistance while he sees in the resistance forces the real power of the people with whose co-operation alone he can successfully confront the anti-national forces at home and imperialism abroad. It was this development that brought him closer to the resistance forces in Vietnam and their legendary hero. Uncle Ho Chi-Minh. The prince's respect and admiration however, are not confined to Uncle Ho but extend to the whole Vietnamese resistance movement. He has nothing but warm praise for such leaders of the Vietnamese people as Vo Nguyen, Giap and who is described as "undoubtedly the greatest strategist of our time and one of the greatest of all time", (p 171) The armed forces of the