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Article: Avoiding the Laos Trap.(human rights, Laos)
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- September 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In a seedy Bangkok hotel, I found pimps, prostitutes, and the guy who makes America's foreign policy.
THE BANGKOK HOTEL TO WHICH I pulled up on a motorbike looked more like the kind of place you go for a full-body massage than for a foreign policy briefing. Johns loitered outside the building, occasionally disappearing into the alley. Shady-looking businessmen lounged inside the lobby, sipping Johnny Walker and toasting each other--at one in the afternoon. Porters alternately grabbed people's bags and unceremoniously dumped them on the floor.
I had been asked to the hotel to interview Vang Pobzeb, head of something called the Lao Human Rights Council, an ...