Fin vs History - A Tasting Menu of Napalm | Pol Pot (Part 2/4)

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Cambodia is served a ten course tasting menu of fire from above, before Pol Pot tells an entire city to f*ck off The show for people who like history but don't care what actually happened.  For weekly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and early access to series, become a Truther and sign up to the Patreon ⁠patreon.com/fintaylor CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Communism is Boring 04:11 - Political Potty  08:05 - Pol Gets Cucked 13:44 - I’m a Communist Keep Me In Here19:11 - Rightwing Military Poo 25:00 - Napalm Set Menu31:20 - Leader of the FUNK 34:22 - Imagine There’s No Money 38:06 - Lon Nol has a stroke 42:07 - Everyone Out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1866-3-3-1-2-60 or visit comixonterio.ca. Welcome back to Finn versus History. I'm with Horatio Gould. Jungle is scary. This is part two of our Pol Pot series. We are enjoying the delights of the genocide in Cambodia. The mixed grill of the Cambodian genocide.

The mixed platter. This is. A chicken skewer, a pork chop, a steak, and some of lamb. How do you mean, how juicy the topic is? Yes, it's delicious. It's absolutely delicious. Mixed grills the best thing you can order. This is, yeah, Pol Pot at this point, sweet young man.

Charlie is charmed by him. Yeah, I'm charmed by him. I'm charmed by him. He's got a scissor kick in his locker. He's getting milked regularly. Because he doesn't understand communism because it's boring. Yeah, it's relatable. It's relatable.

I don't like that book either. Because it's... I think it's dull. and I don't think it really works. Yeah, me and Paul get on. We both think Marks is boring. We both think Marks is boring. And, you know, he's got a hell of a Syracke.

I don't think I can do a Syracicke. But I like trying. I always try. What I like about Paul is he's not afraid to fill in the gaps. No. I'll vibe it out. Yeah, I get it. You trust himself.

I get it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's like, Charlie, like, you know, with this job and as a freelancer in general, wouldn't you say advice for other freelancers that you just, you say you're ready for the job either you're not and you learn on the job yeah yeah that's what polpott's doing or you don't learn the job and you just do the job you try your best you just do the job badly yeah yeah you're a bit of a pol pot actually in many ways but this is quite it's quite the dynamics of this

history is quite similar to the dynamics in here yeah in that you know you have colonial France and you have Cambodia about there I'm pole you've got no no you're not pole what am I you're a guy under a tree waiting for a go you're a rice farmer that's all you know right and we put you in front of I love rice screens yeah yeah and ask you to produce a podcast you know what you probably wouldn't have been killed in the genocide because it was mainly intellectuals. It was anyone who was vaguely even at all intellectual and they would have said, you're actually...

Oh, we're dead. Because I'm not a threat. No. Yeah, you'll be like... But you're pure. He sees you as a pure, agrarian, simple folk. And that's where everything should be going back to that. Yeah.

And anything else is a perversion. Pol Pot, we left off. He's not called Pol Pot yet. He's called Saloth Saar. Now, he's been in France, and he's been picking up every kind of fifth word of some intellectuals in France what they're saying.

But he gets it. I get it. He's always in a class and falling asleep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. He's one of history's great as blaggers.

Yeah. He arrives in Cambodia and French colonial authorities collapsing. This is just at the tail end of the first inter-Chinese war. King Sianuk, jungle Blair,

is maneuvering to consolidate power. The Isirak are fighting for independence. The king has dissolved the Cambodian government. He's ruling by decree now and he's imprisoning people without trial, he's getting a bit naughty. He's also the only politician

anyone in Cambodia knows. He's not a politician yet. He's about to be. He's the king. He's the only political force that anyone in Cambodia knows. Because most people don't know what political forces are. They all just know the god king. So he has a huge amount of power in that sense because

he literally is the own, anything close to a cult personality, the only person that the rural peasantry have any concept of is him. He's the king god and genuinely, they think that if he kills an ox in the right way, then they'll get more rice. Right.

So that's kind of their level. Right. It's Charlie's level. Right. So the country is sort of erupting into a civil war. There are civilian massacres. It's pretty bloody from the start. From the off, really.

Cianuk reaches an agreement with the North Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh, to withdraw troops to Cambodia. And he proclaims independence. Because the North Vietnamese have been helping the rebels. The North Vietnam. Yes. And now there is a Cambodian Communist Party at this point. but that's kind of a splinter cell of the Viet Minh,

or as Charlie called them last time, the Viet Minge. Yeah. But again, they're being held back by the Vietnamese who see them as thick, and they're not wrong. Yeah. So blah, blah, blah. After returning home in 53, Pol Pot joins the Democrats,

which is a sort of center-right party, if that even exists. Now, he's due to marry someone called. Here we go. I'm going for it. No run-up. Soings on Mali. who comes from a wealthy background

There's a lot of vowels in the middle of Xion Yeah, there's three vowels there S-O-E-U-N-G Song Song-S-S-M-I-E-S-M-I-E-S-M-E-S-M-E-S-M-A It's a cargo past The Doppler effect Xion-Zi-Zong-S-Malley

comes from a wealthy background And before she agrees to marry She wants to see Pol-Pop Become a politician Fair play Yeah, respect that Respect that one when they just want to see Yeah, let me see

Go on then Let me see how actually good you are I'm hedging my bets here Yeah He wants, so there's going to be elections in 55 And Pol Pot, I guess at this point is thinking, oh, I'm going to, maybe I'm going to become a politician.

Paul politician. Paul politician. Well, I read somewhere, which wasn't in the book, that Pol Pot is short for political... Potty. Something. It's like, it is actually that.

Political potty training. Yeah. So you know how someone has to follow the president around with a briefcase with the nuclear coat in it? He's also got a travel potty with him, handcuffs to him at all times. Well, that's Putin, isn't it?

Yeah, they collect the poo out of his bin. He's got, yeah, he's got a travel case with a potty in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that he poo's in. Is that right? Do they also have a nuclear code, like,

briefcase? Come on, quit. We need to respond off. Oh, no, I've just put my hand in shit. Right. So this is where King Sue and Luke really starts to become a fascinating character. As you said in the last episode,

I think he's probably the most interesting guy. in this story. Yeah. And he's very, uh, how do you say it? Like, uh,

verbose. No, what is it? Like, how you say, how you say, it's the English, um,

articulate. Articulate. Articulate, yeah. That's ironic. Yeah. Um, so he abdicates the throne in 1955.

Yeah. And bear in mind, the, the rural farming people are like, what? You can do that? But you're a god. Yeah.

Who's going to make the rice grow? Yeah. Where's my ox gone? Hello? That's just a flavor of what Cambodian people, that's what going through Cambodian people's heads, probably. I don't know. I don't speak the language, but I love the sound of it.

So he abdicates the throne because he's like, I need to get in there. I want to get in the mix politically. Because, again, this is a very young political culture. And so he wants actual power, and he's been sort of made a figurehead. So he forms the popular socialist community, which is known as the Sankum,

Now, Sang-Cum is more of a kind of... Sancombe. Sancombe. Sancombe. It's more of a vibe than anything else. Sure. And it's probably the most wishy-washy-centric party you can imagine. Right. In that basically, he's like, yeah, whatever you want, I'll do.

Brilliant. Like, it's full... He's trying to make a party so broad that no other party can exist. The centre ground has never been wider. It's the whole country. Is everything? So it's like, it's to stop the boats. Open borders.

for pets, you know, open borders, so on the boats, NHS for pets, whatever. Yeah. Everyone, everyone's invited. Everyone has to be trans. You know, it's a free-for-all. Against gay marriage. It's against gay marriage, but everyone's trans.

Well, I guess there's no gay marriage and everyone's trans, isn't it? The organisation is an attempt to dissolve political parties across Cambodia and it wins, unsurprisingly, 83% of the vote in the 1995 election, which is probably... That's a landslide.

It is a landslide. I imagine there's a bit of fruit and fiddling going on as well. gerrymandering appears again hello dear my name's jerrymandering what are you doing it is cambodia you're in the IRA aren't you fucking tricks again aren't you

what's cherry mandering doing down here the democrats lose heavily and then this is apparently according to one of the Southsars friends it said that it's the dual setback of so he doesn't win the election which means that his wife leaves him

for see unukes number two so he's getting sexually bitter So now this sets back, the jewel setback touched you off a cycle of sexual and political frustration that would bitter pulp out for life. Right. So the charming boy is starting to turn slightly now. Yeah.

Because he's, he's, the woman he fancied. He's been cucked. He's been cucked. And he then marries his mate's sister. Poonary. Poonery. Poonery. Pondary.

Pondonari. Pondani. Poonani. Kew. Poonani. Q for the Poonani. It's Bonnie Blue. He marries Q Poonani, who is five years older than him

and one of Cambodia's first female graduates. So she's like a blue stocking, I guess. And she's infertile. And he hates that because he wants kids. Right. I reckon he could have made a great dad. I think so. He's smiling.

He's got a vibe. Get a photo of him up in his clubber. He looks cool. He's like a cool dad. Yeah, look at that. Look. Yeah. There's a lot.

I see a lot of these guys at play groups. What, like a fucking... Sort of hip's a dad. Yeah, Clapton Dad. So, he... His wife, Poonani, would later suffer from severe schizophrenia. Right.

Anyway, Pol Pot becomes a teacher. Which is quite funny to imagine Poppot as your teacher. Not just because he's a genocidal maniac, but because he's also incredibly thick. So I don't know what he's teaching people. Yeah, but he's one of the smartest people in Cambodia. I guess so. Yeah.

And it was said to be easy approachable and always dressed in a short sleep. white shirt. So yeah, all his students seem to love him. Yeah. Mr. Pot. Well, it's Mr. Sarloff. Mr. Saar. Mr. Saar. Sir. Saloth. He drives a black citron, which is obviously quite bourgeoisie to do.

So he joins the Labour Party in Cambodia. So this is, I guess, Atley's sister party. Yeah, yeah. And, but in 1958, a parcel bomb explodes at the Royal Palace. And so, Sienouc uses this. I think maybe his mum, who is one of the Queens is meant for her,

it's meant to kill his mum, but she gets someone to, what is it? Is a parcel bomb exploding at the Royal Palace? Could that be a code word for doing poo in your pants? Code word? Put it in a sentence.

I've made a parcel bomb in my royal palace. I think that's... A parcel bomb has exploded in my royal palace. Yeah, I think my makes it less subtle. But are you saying... What emotions are you saying? A parcel bomb has exploded in the Royal Palace. Are you trying to tell us

that you've done a poo in your pants now? Yeah. Were you looking for a euphemism to tell us to put your pants? Because last time we recorded you had a bono during one of the reports. Yeah. So it would make sense if you've now shut yourself.

No, I've got a passable in my... Right. Okay. Yeah. You're right. Well, we talked about boners and then the thought of a boner gave you a boner. So, yeah, the thought of shitting yourself.

It's like the brown sound, but it's brown speak. Yeah. If you talk about pooing yourself, Charlie will poo himself. He's so easily manipulative. My poll party is full. Yeah.

you've done a poll on your potty right see it's a parcel while we've exposed the Royal Palace again that doesn't mean King Soon or shush at himself

but thank you for clarifying that Charlie the audience need to know they're very very thick so we shouldn't we haven't placed this actually no

so where are we where are we going to place well we shouldn't play the Khmer Rouge 58 is not the key year no the key really the key year is 75 but we'll end the episode

in 75 right so it's after Black Sabbath's debut album 1970 yeah and it's before um is it before

Ozzy Osbourne killed 17 cats when did Ozzy Osbourne kill 17 cats I think he killed them in what year 2015 that recent yeah

that recent he killed 17 cats oh wait hang on it might not have been then it can't have been that when did Ozzy he's been sober for a while to murder his cats. In the 80s. He shot dead.

Yeah, he had a night there. He was having like an episode while being super high and paranoid and he, Sharon had loads of cats, I think. 17 in the house. Yeah, which is too many. Yeah, and he went around and killed all of them. Christ, so Sharon stays with him after

Ozzy Osbourne kills all their cats. She loved him a lot. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But I have a problem. My wife puts too many, like, cushions that aren't needed on a bed. And I, you know, I would love to just

sort of stab them all. But then I think I'd be in trouble. So Osborne, Ozzy Osbourne's about this is sort of prime Aussie. Yeah, I guess, no, it is. In the 70s. In the 70s. It's the back, the backing track to the Cambodian genocide is Black Sabbath. I mean, yeah, it kind of is.

Now, they think that his mom was targeted, Cynook's mom. It killed several people, but not anyone important. Not my words. That's on the script. So he uses this as an excuse to clamp down on anyone who's vaguely leftist, communist. And so this is where... Anyone with a septum piercing. Yes, anyone with blue hair, anyone with one more than one earring.

Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for 250 a month. Learn more at PCexpress. The future head of state under the Khmer Rouge gets beaten, undressed, photographed in the street by police. After his left wing newspaper became popular.

Yeah, so he lists publicly 34 known or suspected leftists. Among them is... So he's doing a clam down. Salasar. Yeah. And so he flees Phnom Penh for the jungle. Right. And this is important because he loves the jungle.

He loves it. I'm a communist. Keep me in here, actually. I love it. Yeah. I'm a commie. here. In 1960, Salthar gets appointed the third highest

position in the party, but this party is now known as the workers party, and then in 62, the leader of that party, too smooth, he gets killed, and it's unclear as to whether that was carried out by C. Luke or Saloth Saar. Oh, interesting. But Pot is chosen to succeed as leader.

Now, in 63, they then spend the next seven years in the Cambodian jungle. A lot of Pol Pot's life is hidden in the jungle. He loves it. Yeah. And basically, this kind of whole story is sort of the jungle. book, if Pol Pot is King Louis, I want to be like you.

He's sending a lot of orders from the jungle. He doesn't really know what's going on. Oobie do. I want to be like you, but he can't. Just like the monkey can't make fire, Pol Pot can't actually do communism. It's a liberating experience

because they love the jungle and the jungle is pure in Cambodian mind. The town is perverted and dirty and the jungle is pure because it's just rice. So the party gets renamed the Communist Party of Campuchia.

Now where does Campuchia come from? That's the ancient name for... That's an ancient name for Cambodia, I think. Which is... It's not kombucha. It's not kombucha, Charlie. But where is kombucha from? Combucha is an ancient thing, I think.

I thought it was quite recent, but it's not. But it's trendy now. Yeah. I thought it was made in the 80s. It's foul. Have you heard about a compocha mother? Yeah. Oh, my God, it's rank.

We talked about that before. Oh, it comes from one stinky thing. Oh, the stinky like fucking placenta in a jar. What is it? Type it in. It's like a rat king. It's a rat king, but it's... It looks like something, that's sort of a female thing.

So it looks like a placenta? Yes, in a jar. Oh, no, absolutely not. Is it? How old is kombucha? It's like piss and custard in a jar. And you like how you feed your, you feed your kombucha with it. It's like a, it's like a sourdough starter.

So it's alive? It's alive, but it's in a jar and it looks like sort of pissy bread. Yeah, 2,000 years old. Fuck that. It's a chin dynasty. It's Chinese ginger beer, but it's, It's gross and it's in a jar. What's the oldest kombucha mother?

Yeah. 20, so 15. What? There's one that's been continuously cultivated since. 2010. Christ. Oh, right. Yeah.

Fucking horrible. They love the jungle. They love the jungle. They love jungle music. Jungle is massive. And the lack of access to, like, markets and capitalism. Yeah. It's like, I like this, you know.

It's country life. Yeah. But it's also, it's like, you know, when you. Chris Packham is hosting it. it. Jungle file. Jungle file. Jungle file.

But you know when you leave you leave the city for like a week you think oh this is great isn't great the second week

goes past this is horrendous they never have that he sees the kind of primitive living as a blueprint for what

Cambodian communism will be and so the Khmer Rouge is officially formed in 1968 now as his status begins to grow his personality

starts to grow as well he's a big he's a good public speaker and he sort of has quite sort of cold speeches but he becomes very paranoid and suspicious and so he starts changing his name constantly right quote it is good to change your name the more often you change your name the better it confuses the enemy if he preserve secrecy half the battle is already won right so his various alices include pook as in pooky you know that video of the pooky yeah so you get that

up the fucking guy who gets his wife to dress up and he goes puky's looking so gorgeous tonight, you know. Pookie TikTok. Oh, God. It makes me sick. So this is ball pot. Fucking, I feel sick every time I watch this guy. I feel genuinely sick.

I can't start watching it, though. It's a car crash. He's a week-long work trip and poof you, my drop-dead, gorgeous wife is wearing his truck and sexy out. It's the fucking wettest blood I've ever seen. Which makes it even better. That was the hell of surprise, babe. Well, he's always doing just like little sweet things for me, so I had to do something.

It's all of the little things. Christ. So that's that's him. as a couple that is a kombucha mother so pook hay pole 87

grand uncle elder brother first brother 99 fem those are his different names 99 99

he's a bit like prince yeah she's got loads of yeah the dictator formerly known as Paul Park yeah he's just changing it every time um

99 just called himself 99 but when he's called himself Flake you can see but then when does he settle on on Paul Pot or does he never settle that's 1970 right

Pol Pot means royal slave No, Paul means royal slave He just picks pot because it's like illiterative Yeah, this is the interesting people wonder why he's called Pol Pot and it's like, no, it's not clear But it seems like the idea is so stupid It's like on yourself TikTok Yeah, it's, yeah

Because normally, I like minty fresh stuff, tick tack But when dictators rename themselves There's nearly always some sort of narcissistic Meglamiac reason behind it Yeah So it's quite hard to explain Pol Pot because it's so senseless it just rhymes

that genuinely is because it's not it doesn't imply he's this fucking amazing it's boss bem yeah it is literally his name is boss bem yeah it's ridiculous so in 1968 the Cambodian civil war kicks off right and this is

basically the beginning of it's just it's a bad decade for Southeast Asia you say it's quite repetitive this bit it's the same old shit Yeah, change the record, mate, okay? Now, King Sienuk is constantly playing off America, the Chinese, the Vietnamese,

and the differing factions within Cambodia and support all them. So he breaks off diplomatic relations with the USA while simultaneously violently cracking down on communists within Cambodia. Because also he's got the Chinese to think about because obviously if you break off from America, you have to subscribe to one of the big dogs, right?

He's trying to go alone. So he's like saying, look, America, if I'm going to break away, I'm going to go China. So it's like he's balancing the big players. Yeah. Communism versus capitalism. So Lonnoll, I know he's a big figure, but what is he, he becomes prime minister, but does senior making prime minister? Because no, Lonno is a fascist, a military,

organized as a fascist military coup. Fascist? Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah, he's like, I don't think it was that exciting. Is it, well, it's not fascist, but like, it's, It's right wing military coup. Okay, I'm listening. Yeah.

So, and this is always the case when you have a communist story, you'll have a geyser like this. Yeah. Will you laughing your head off? Nothing. Do you want to get long? Right wing military poo, as well I was laughing at. You were laughing at right wing military poo. I didn't think I should tell you, but that's why I was laughing.

You laughed out loud by yourself because you thought of the phrase right wing military poo. So Lon Nol, uh, he. Senuk puts him in charge. No. He's a nationalist. Long roll. Stop. Put type in the fucking thing.

Lon. Lon. Now, he's Prime Minister of Cambodia. I got very confused at this bit. Because also there's so many names. Yeah, but Lonnall is an important figure. I know he's important. But I don't really know what he's doing at this bit.

Basically. I think he's a nationalist who Seenuk then decides to put him in charge. And then he eventually orchestrates. a coup. Okay. But I don't know if it's a right-wing military poo or just a normal poe. When has Sinanuk become a politician?

We've done that. We've done that. Yeah. He's a politician now. And then he makes himself king again at some point. See Anuk re-establishes ties with the US because he needs military support. Oh, what?

I was just laughing. Right-wing military poo. Are you joking? You remembered it and you laughed harder. fucking hell so difficult this podcast to do it's so difficult

but then what do you expect we have literally a rice farm and producing it you know and there are comments people getting annoyed at the lack of history what we're going to do

what do you expect you literally fucking planting rice back there laughing at the idea of a right wing military poo we're in the back seat he's driving and he's pissed

He's pissing himself the idea of someone with a big hat and medals doing a poo. Is that what it is? It's more that the poo is a really

right wing. And love is right way. And love is like the water. So as it goes down, as it goes down into the water. Yeah, it's an angry, fighty poo.

Right. Okay. It's a fighter poo look. As a... Lonnell is very stupid as well. I would say that like, you know, um,

uh, choose love is like sloppy diarrhea. Yeah. Right. So the, so a firm stool is a right wing military poo. Yeah.

And a loose stool is left way. He's a hippie. He's a hippo. Yeah. Christ. Yeah. I guess you could make a spectrum. Christ.

Oh, fucking hell. That was just come to. Charlie's completely gone. He's got his head in his hands. He can't breathe. John's completely gone. And he's just thinking, he's just thinking about the phrase,

right wing, military poo. and he's gone and we're completely gone. Oh, Christ. Right, let's history. Come on, history. Lon Noll. Seenuk is overthrown by Lon Nol. While he's on holiday.

He goes on holiday. Did he go to Beijing maybe? I can't remember. He's travelling around Europe. We should say that in 68, the Khmer Rouge had to try an insurrection, but it fails. Right. And this kicks off the Civil War. So Cianuk goes in his gap year, ironically, not to Cambodia.

The reverse gap year. Inverse gap year. Yeah. He goes to France to look at the toilets rather than have someone build them in Cambodia. Yeah. And he's basically, he's quite commonly going on holiday and saying, when I get back, I'm still a leader.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But then he goes back and Lon Nol's ousted him. Yeah, can you save my seat? You come back to someone sitting in it. For fuck so. Yeah.

So Nol is now the leader of Cambodia and he orders the Vietnamese communist forces to leave Cambodia. And at this point, the Vietnamese communist forces who are at this point fighting the Americans and the French in South Vietnam

are kind of also allied to the Cambodian communist forces in the jungle. And so Pol Pot, head of the Khmer Rouge, he gets North Vietnam to send troops

to aid the Khmer Rouge which prompts the South Vietnamese in the US to intervene against them. So Cambodia gets sort of dragged into the Vietnam War. And this is the key bit, right? It's the American and US

bombing campaign. So this is now, I absolutely love this, but, right? This is March 169. Nixon, who get Nixon up, Charlie, are one of the great characters, which will do a proper episode on Watergate and everything. Nixon, Millhouse, Nick, Richard Milhouse Nixon. He basically has this theory.

Him and Henry Kissinger, Kissinger is his Secretary of State. He has this theory, which I think Trump's doing a bit, is that if I'm a madman, I'm a madman. I'm a madman. Yeah, I'm crazy. I'm crazy.

Then no one will... No one will mess with me. No one will mess with him because they're like, we don't know what he's going to do next. Yeah. So Trump's actually taking a lot out of the Nixon playbook.

Right. So Kissinger thing, right? But was Nixon that erratic on the world? I mean, there was this... Nobody was calculated. He goes, if I do something mental, yeah. They're going to think I'm a madman.

Like random. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh. I'm going to bark like a dog. Mad dog, right? So Nixon authorizes in March 69,

the secret bombing of Cambodia. How secret is it when you drop more bombs on Cambodia than when dropped to the entirety of World War II? Yeah, I guess, I guess, I guess there's a secret until they start. Yeah. But it's code named Operation Breakfast. Right. Right.

Keep them guessing. Yeah. So for breakfast, the Cambodians have a lot of... Napalm. Carpet bombing for breakfast. Napal for breakfast, right? This, he then does Operation Lunch, Operation Snack, Operation Dinner and Operation Pudding. Right.

And they become known as Operation Menu. Right. So it's basically an entire tasting menu. where every course is napalm. Yeah. Mmm. Yum. Oh, spicy.

So an off menu. Can I have some milk, please? Yeah. Do you reckon milk is the antidote to napalm? If you're on fire, I pour some milk on it. But again, lactose and tolerant of people. So it's very, very cruel, actually. When you think about it, when you put it in those terms, it is very cool.

Because if you napalmed, you know, Britain, we'd just drink some cows milk. We'd be fine. But obviously, napalming the Southeast Asians. They have got no recourse. They don't. They haven't built up a tolerance to lactose. Anyway, without Congress's knowledge, Nixon drops 110,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia and land.

Right behind their back. And this is aimed to hit all the Viet Cong bases down the Hocci Minh Trail, which you talked about last time. Because they use the Hocci Minh Trail to go into Cambodia, which is not in the war, so they can move loads of supplies. To South Vietnam. Yeah, South Vietnam.

And that's really keeping the war going. And this is also. Kissinger, right? Yes. So Kissinger who spanned... Get Kissinger up. Who spans fucking 40 years of American foreign policy.

Yeah. He's a Titanic figure. Look at how old this man is. He's still alive. No, he died in 2023. Look how old it is. It's probably the oldest man I've ever seen. There's an evilness to how old he is.

What's the peanut guy? Peanut guy. Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter, yeah. Yeah, he was up there as well. Yeah. So Jimmy Carter's a bit late. Look at him.

He's stubborn. But didn't he get a lot of hate? Did he do some genetetate him? Kissinger is a complicated figure and we should do an episode on him. I'd love to do an episode of Kissinger. But probably the most complicated foreign policy decision he makes

is the bombing of Cambodia. Most complicated. Most controversial. But he also organizes Nixon and Mao that's kind of easy. Yeah, and that's one of his biggest successes. And the idea of real politic

which is basically being like pragmatic in diplomatic relations is... You've got to bomb Cambodia. It's realistic. Yes. What you've got to deal with what's in front of you. So that's probably one of his big boo-boos. Biggest boo-boos is bombing Cambodia.

Yeah. So the campaign is aimed to hit all the Viet Cong bases, but it basically just entirely kills civilians. And a lot of why the US is doing this form of, is they just don't want to waste. US lives are the big thing that's so controversial back home. So they're trying to win a war with just bombs. Yeah.

But it's like... You're bombing a jungle. It's like, yeah. So... You're punching a pillow. I don't know. Exactly. Yeah.

It's like trying to change Dubet cover. Yeah. It's just like, I don't fucking know. Yeah. You do, I will die if I do this. You do it. Task grab it. Task rabbit.

Change my bed. Change the sheets. I can't do it. I can't do it. Get task, grab it in. Please. Wipe me down. Wipe my bottom and change the sheets.

Thank you. My task is taking fucking ages. God. I'm sitting here with a shitty ass. Who's drying on my bum? I've had a right wing military poo and I needed my bum back. This disgrace. This service is terrible.

Zero starts. So Operation Freedom Deal, follow as a tasting menu. When they begin carpet bombing, Cambodia to eradicate the now allied Viet Cong bases and the Khmer Rouge forces. The US dropped more bombs on Cambodia in this period than they did in Japan during the entire World War II. And so it drives thousands of rural Cambodians

into the hands of the Khmer Rouge who framed the bombing as a sort of proof of foreign evil and the government betrayal. I mean, they don't know what's going on. They're just in their village. They've only been in the village for thousands of years and now fucking bombs. Hayya!

Their uncle Roger Rice Farmers. I can't say that. I can't call on that. Is that a hello? No, hi-ar is what Uncle Roger says when they haven't cooked the rice properly. Now, I used to write for Uncle Roger, okay, before anyone kicks off. I used to write for Nigel Lung's character, Uncle Roger. Get of Niagara video up.

Yeah, so Uncle Roger is just your puppet, basically. Well, I wrote for a bit of his videos, and I did have to write it in the accent, which was fun. I enjoyed it Nigelun asked me to write racist jokes that he could say about his own people I was happy to do that

I'm a contract killer I'm a mercenary I will write for anyone I can't say those jokes that he can well not to his audience I can't say it I can't say it to my audience

because they were fucking wrong ones but anyway what the Cambodians say when the B-52s bomb their rice farms says hiya And then when they get rid of the Americans, they go, Foyo!

Those are his catchphrases. Anyway, so Uncle Roger's not in this story, I should say. But maybe his uncle was. Maybe. He's Malaysian, Uncle Roger. Which does his border Thailand? I believe. Thailand, yes.

So it's in the area. I want to say, let's have a look, so that might be. I don't want to comment. Yes, yep, I'm right. Look at that. Look at that. So the B-52s ruin all the rice. And in June 1970, Saloth Saar officially adopts the revolutionary name, Pol Pot.

Okay, so this is the He puts the Fajunberg moment. This is that, he puts the fedora on. Yeah. Yeah. I am the one who knocks. Pol Pot. Popat. It's not, yeah, it's not a badass name, Pol Pot.

No. Well, not to us, but to him maybe it is. Pol Pot. Palpot. Because there's other names that, all of them had names that right. as well. Yeah, but 99's pretty bad. They're like Langbang.

Yeah, 99. Yeah, I'm 99. Quite like, I'm first brother. Gangster. Yeah, 99's cool. So, uh, now this is the great, this is the great fuck up.

So King Sienuk at this point has been playing off the Americans with the South Vietnamese, the North Vietnamese, his own, the own fucking squabbles. In 1970, he declares support for the Khmer Rouge. Yes. Which is his biggest boo-boo. Yeah. He goes all in with them. Blair in Iraq.

It's Blair in Iraq. And he goes, in order to try and get rid of not long, null, of whatever, is... Basically, because of the ground support that Khmer Rouge has, the only way that Sienaq can see him getting rid of Lonell is allying with the... But he creates... I like this. He creates the National United Front of Campuchea, which the acronym is funk. And so Sienuk is now...

Seenuk's the leader of the funk. Yeah. He's got bass guitar. Yeah. And he... So Pol Pot comes back to Kambos. from being in, I guess, Vietnam or China. And he sees, now Sienuk is alive with them.

The Khmer Rouge membership grows from 6,000 to 50,000. Because as you said last time, or earlier this episode, Seenook's the only one anyone knows. Yes. So using him as a figurehead. It should be stressed at this point, literally no one in Cambodia knows who Salasar or Pol Pot is. And they don't for a long time.

No, until two years after he's in power. Yeah. And they don't even really know what the Communist Party is. No. They just know there are some people who don't farm rice and they have these big things that look like leaves with words in them. They read. I don't know what

that is. So it's a bizarre combination of having like a former god king allying with communists. Yeah. It's a strange thing. Yeah. To, you know, have a communist god king. And all these people really care about is what does this mean for my rice? Sure. He also creates

the Royal Government of National Union of Campuchia grunk, which I guess is like grime and funk. I don't know what that would sound like. And so Lon Nol declares that he's himself as the creator of the Khmer Republic. So at this point, it's like, it's a fucking free-for-all. Everyone's making stuff. 1972, Pol Pot goes on tour.

He's on tour. He's on tour. He's on tour. What goes on tour stays on tour. We've just been on tour. We've just been on tour. So we can relate to this. Similar to death toll.

Similar level of ideas being transported. But Pol Pot is starting, and the Khmer Rouge is starting to control, particularly the eastern part of Cambodia, which borders Vietnam. And in these. areas, they're starting to enact their ideas. So party membership of the Khmer Rouge is restricted to poor

peasants. So if you're a student, no thanks. Or a middle peasant. Yeah. And if you're a student, you have to basically renounce your degree to become a member. You've seen those big Arab rice dishes where they flip the

bowl and they all tap the spoon. He's just getting it, tipping on his head, and then take the lid off and we'll start with the bottom yeah yeah yeah that's kind of what it is so you have to be stupid to join yeah yeah yeah the thicker you are the the the safe the safer you are the ball right you know politically malleable basically any sort of intelligence is seen as a form of kind of corruption corruption of the human yeah nature yeah the purity of life is in the jungle and everyone should be self-sufficient everyone should basically farm for each other it's this utopia that it's just

like everyone is a collective, there's no family, everyone's a peasant. What if we didn't need money, man? It's that. John Lennon Imagine. It is John Lennon Imagine. Yeah. But the Imagine is bad.

It's terrible. Yeah. I'm imagining it seems fucking awful, John. Oh, imagine. It sounds great. We're going to do it. Oh, dear. Oh, Christ.

I take it back. Imagine there's no money. Two million people are dead, John. What are doing about that, John? It is actually the closest to imagine. It is. It is. It is.

It ruins the song. Yeah. Because he didn't say about, imagine we were fucking throwing babies at trees, did he? Not to give a little spoiler alert for the next episode. Anyway, so Pol Pot, who's now the chairman of the CPK, tours the Marxist-held areas of Cambodia, which he calls the liberated zones. And in this, he enforces bans on alcohol, gambling, into marriage. What's into marriage?

Now, this is quite funny. He says that the Communist Party, the authorities, should decide who gets to marry who. so he pairs up old blokes with yeah terrible pairs with like young women like 13 year olds with like a 9 year old you guys you're married it's arranged marriage this is going to be perfect you two work together yeah that'd be funny

you guys are incredible and if you if you cheat on them then you get killed or beaten yeah so it's state arranged marriages crazy all land is collectivised equally among peasants and you have to so people start killing their cattle rather than seeing them become communal property

because he bans all personal property. Yeah. So you have to attend these meetings where you engage in self-criticism. Right. So you go round and you say, I've not been very good today. Right.

Because I thought about the piano I used to own once. Something like that. That's awful. You should be killed. No. Anyone else? No, you don't.

The self-criticism is all right? Well, yeah. Confession. Yeah, it's like, it's sort of, it is. It's Catholic. It's like communist confession. I thought about eating something that wasn't rice today. Okay, you're absolved, maybe.

Pol Pot led these sessions, was exempt from critique. Now, that's kind of cool. Yeah, now there's an instance of, I think his number two, Yang Sarre. He was asked to criticise Paul Pot in these sessions and all he came up with his, I think you think about everyone else too much and you don't look after yourself enough. He's perfectionist. He's perfectionist.

Yeah, he is. If I have one floor as I'm a perfectionist. Yeah, sorry, yeah. That's basically what it says. So, I mean, if we're going to do that now, if we're going to do some self-criticism now, I'd say, I've been, maybe I've been a bit too racist this episode.

I've been talking too much about poo. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and just not, you know, all the other things. Not understanding anything. Not understanding anything.

Yeah. We should have self-criticism sessions. Yeah, we should. I have a rock on again. Right. I've been talking too much about poo and I have a rock on. Vietnamese troops begin to leave Cambodia

because the relationship between the Viet Cong and the Khmer Rouge start to strain. Yeah. Because it's always an ethic. tension throughout all of this. Again, which is confusing, but is there. Now, by 1973, Pol Pot orders the collectivization of all villages to control food and resources.

And then, yes, this is why I was saying, villagers start slaughtering their own livestock to resist that. 60,000 people flee the Khmer Rouge territory. So they then go to the city, even though they don't like the city because they like the jungle. Because if you said in last episode, the big, jungle versus city. That's the good versus evil. So then this growing anti-Vietnamese sentiment

leads to purges of Khmer Rouge members who are accused of having Vietnamese sympathies. I don't know Vietnamese tendencies. I don't know what on earth that means. So Vietnam has been involved in rebel actions for the last 20 years. And they've only just started to be pushed out. So now the Cambodian nationalism of the movement

comes to the fore. And this kind of anti-Vietnamese faction really comes true. Because Vietnam have had a hand in this. The whole way through. The whole way until now. And they keep saying, yeah, there's going to be a revolution in Cambodia, but we'll do it. And you'll be part of...

They basically want to annex Cambodia into Vietnam. Yeah. They're kind of expansion. But only now is Vietnam kind of being ousted and Cambodians are now to run riot, sort of. And it's Operation Tasting Menu, it's Napalm. So by... They go for Phnom Penh in the capital in 73, but it fails.

And by 74, Lon Nol's government... He's useless, Lon Nol's. He is useless. I think he had a stroke at this point? Yes. I think he's had a stroke. Type in Lonnell stroke to Google because there's a lot of good stuff about Lonnard.

He was also described himself as not particularly intelligent man. But they all did. That's what's so funny is that they have interviews with the Khmer Rouge, and they're basically being like, yeah, listen, they picked me because they thought I was one of the clever ones, but I had no fucking idea. I had no idea. Don't blow me.

Christ. That's good, though, to admit. Three major strokes. it's vulnerable well they're being vulnerable yeah but they've been vulnerable after they've killed 20% of their population

right he had two major strokes and so he doesn't know what's going on either and that government collapses but he was a thick guy before he had the strokes he has a stroke he's like I've got to

but he stays in power right Lon and Noel so he has a stroke in 1971 so the height of the 74 and 974 and then the government collapses as well as his right side the government collapses

the right side of his face collapses So the Khmer Rouge are starting to expel urban populations from the cities that they control. Yes. Now, they then camp outside Phnom Pen and they start firing rockets into Phnom Penh. Do you know where they're getting the rockets from? Yeah, the Chinese. The Chinese are at all times funding, arming the Khmer Rouge

through the Hocetian Trail. When does Poulpot meet Mao in the Forbidden City? That's... Is that when he gets in? I don't know. Because there's an interesting meeting between the two of them. Google that, Charlie. Where Mao says, just a word of advice.

That's when he's already in power. But Pol Pot is going to China quite a bit. Yeah. So they're firing rockets into Phnom Pen. And Phelon is swelled with the population because everyone's run away from the mad jungle. Yeah. And Penh is by far the biggest city in the country. Is it kind of the only city?

Yeah, sort of the only major city. What other, Charlie, can you Google major cities in Cambodia? I mean, sure there's probably some now. but at this time it's sort of like it's really the centre of anything that's Batang Bang is a province

and a Snookville yeah Co Kong yeah there's a few but Phnom Penh

to the real centre and Lonno when he flees he goes to Hawaii didn't know that and later settles in California ding ding ding ding really

okay there you go so he fucks off so Sienuk is in exile we should say I think he's in Beijing he's in the forbidden city and he's living like a kit I mean, luckily something a great time.

I mean, he's a king, I guess. Anyway, so in 1975, in Phnom Penh, on the 17th of April, these men wearing all black, they're basically boys, they're mainly young boys, wearing all black with little flat caps, and these scarfs called it, is it, Cramar? My dad brought me one back from his not sex tour of Cambodia. Right, sure.

He's in the airport. I fucking need to make it seem like I was on a sex tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just give a fridge magnet. There you go. Can you Google the Kramer? I think it's called. Not Kramer.

Not Kramer from, not Michael Richards. The one who said the N-word. No, it's not in. It's called a Kramar, I think it's called. That becomes the uniform. So that they all come in, the Khmer Rouge enter Phnom Penh, finally.

This is a big, this is one of the big cinematic moments. Yeah. And everyone is cheering. Everyone's like, yeah. War is over. The kind of, the forces that have walked in, yeah, they've lived to a village,

their whole life, they've never been to a city ever. No. And their boys, their fucking frontal cortex hasn't developed. Their sense of even basic human empathy hasn't really developed. And they're walking through. So it's like, they have no idea what's going on. So everyone's happy because the government forces have left. The Khmer Rouge Storm Pernon Penh.

They execute about 7,800 people who are like collaborators with the old regime. Everyone's cheering. Great. Here we go. Within two hours. Two hours. Two hours. Pol Pot

orders everyone in the city to fuck off Yeah Right, fuck off I mean it's so immediate It's phenomenally how Yeah

It's phenomenal You'd think there's To be over a couple of weeks But it's straight away Straight away Right Right fuck off Everyone out

Everyone out Everyone out Everyone out It's a house party House party I'm the neighbour I've come back Right stop this

It's four in the morning Out It's a laxative Yeah Everyone out Everything out it's the right wing military poo yeah

it's a left wing poo yeah everyone out so bear in mind there are two million people and a lot of them have come there because they've escaped the jungle and so he now

he says that there's going to be some US airstrikes the tasting menu is coming back yeah they're like okay we'll fuck off he says you'll literally be like three days you'll be home he then forces two million people

he empties the hospitals he empties old people everyone out you as well fuck off I'm about to get birth Unplug that. Get out. Start walking.

Yeah. Pregnant women, fuck off. Get out. Get off the bus. Fuck off. I want to sit there. Sort of reverse Rosa Parks. He's the reverse Rosa Parks.

Yeah. He reversed Rosa Parks in the entire city. I sometimes do. Have you ever been so hung over that when you're in the priority seat on a bus or tube? And then like an old person gets on and you're like. And you turn to fuck off? You think I'm, I think I'm more hung over than you are. old so I think I should get to stay here

they ask you to move and you go yeah one second and you go in your pocket and you give them one of these yeah yeah of course just want to fuck off yeah no actually I got my blue badge do you want to see it there is mate there is my blue badge keep walking sorry keep rolling keep rolling I don't want to see any more from you didn't say disabled I said old no my one was disabled I was it yeah I've done I've thought about it to

pregoes as well I go what trimester you in I got 70 year old pregnant woman so like a miracle Right, what? In a wheelchair. Wow. Ask for my seat. Triple threat. Keep fucking rolling, man.

Don't look at me like that. Roll over there, love. You've already got a seat. Well, yeah, that's, yeah, I guess that is true. Yeah. But then, are you in the fold down bit? I'm all, I'm spread across all three parts. Lying down.

Fuck off, love. I'm actually just got my foot like this in the area. So no one could be there. Right, okay. It's just like, fuck off. Anyone comes near. It's like the iron. dome. I'm fucking kicking anyone in the head.

I see. Okay. So... And I'm not even hung over. No. Fresh as a daisy, 12 hours sleep. So, the Khmer Rouge basically force, start a death march where they just start, so everyone's got to go to the jungle.

We've had enough of these people. I feel people could throw around death march a bit, but this really is a death. This is this is as much of a death march as you can get really. Because also, I should say, it's the hottest part of the year. It's the hot season in Cambodia, April 17th. Everyone is forced out.

Barmy. Pregos, oldies, wheelchairs, yeah. Everyone. Everyone. Off, on your, on your top, go on, get out. 20,000 people die just by the roadside from exhaustion and heat. Women are forced to give birth and they're trying to, and they go,

can you point me away from the corpses? Yeah. It's pretty gnarly. They give birth and then the baby has to go on them death march. Yeah, you walk as well, like. You're slouching. Come on. Get walking.

He completely guts the city. So why is he doing this? I think we want to get into that next time. But he's doing this because the city is bad and he wants everyone to be in the jungle. Because the utopia is a rural agrarian society. So get out of the city. Everyone needs to be a rice farmer now. Uncle Roger's taken over.

The Khmer Rouge conquer Pernon Pen and this marks the end of the Cambodian Civil War. But the beginning of the mixed grill. I mean, it's fruit as hell. This is real meat for the base. I've sat down, my scalp's been taken away, and an absolute plate of surf and turf arrived. I mean, this is true crime for the boys. This is Ted Bundy for the boys.

This is about as Bundy as it gets. In front of me, I've got a pork chop, I've got a fried egg in there, there's some barbecue ribs, there's a steak. There's a fried egg in there. There's a fried egg in there. It's protein rich. There's some chicken wings.

I'm dining out on this. and there's absolutely no hint of fibre, I will have, I will get piles. Shitting like a horse. Doesn't even notice it. If you would like to have your piles pop out, well that'll be on Monday's episode. Join us next week.

It's all on the Patreon now. No, it's not because we have a problem with editors. It isn't. It isn't. Don't join the Patreon. Can't see your Patreon. Don't go to your description. Patrons get a bonus episode tomorrow on Friday.

Charlie's got a bono right now. and next week we will dig in to our delicious meat platter of Cambodian genocide and it's up there with the worst things that ever happened it makes the rape of Nanking look like child's play look how the Japanese teacher in school yeah exactly and that's all next week on our lovely romp through the jungle and Pol Potts Khmer Rouge

our ASMR episode on the Kingfields some are for some of the worst people in the country. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time for Pol Pot's naughty phase. Goodbye. Bye.