I really enjoyed the entertaining, funny, and engaging talk by Professor Andrew Mertha today. Professor Mertha skillfully injected humor into more serious subjects concerning the Khmer Rouge, the relationship between China and Cambodia, and China’s political structure. 

The topic that Professor Mertha talked about that really captured my attention was regarding the Khmer Rouge. When I was in high school, our World History class briefly talked about the Khmer Rouge. We viewed it as solely a political party that overthrew the previous more pro-US regime. However, Professor Mertha was able to shine more light onto the Khmer Rouge and their practices. The Khmer Rouge evacuated entire cities, abolished currency, and forced the population to work in collective infrastructure projects. Many of these workers perished under these harsh labor conditions. In a country like Cambodia that has a total population of around 7 million, around 1.7 millions Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge reign from mass execution, torture, forced labor, and famine. This was all very grim and shocking news. 

The question from the audience that really sparked my attention was comparing the U.S influence in Cambodia and the rise of the Khmer Rouge, to the current U.S involvement in Syria. Part of the rise of the Khmer Rouge was sparked by the U.S exercising more power in Cambodia, and U.S aerial bombardment of Cambodia, creating more resentment in Cambodia of western influences. Khmer Rouge was able to use these happenings to gain power as a force to overthrow the pro-U.S regime. The student in the audience thus questioned whether U.S involvement in Syria might spark a similar resentment in Syria that might lead Syria down a similar fate as the fate that Cambodia faced. This is a very interesting comparison and its definitely worth thinking about.