Actually it would be more accurate to say that the leader of the alliance now has swung fully behind the British policy of seeking to achieve a neutral Laos via the international bargaining table.

You can see it, for example, in the extensive efforts President Kennedy has made to enlist solid bipartisan support for his actions toward both Cuba and Laos ; ;

This is another of the modifications of policy on Laos that the Kennedy administration has felt compelled to make.

Laos has been construed by Gregory Nagy, following Leonard Palmer, to mean a corps of soldiers, a muster.

The Royal Cambodian Government ( RGC ) has established diplomatic relations with most countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, as well as all of its Asian neighbors, to include the People's Republic of China, India, Vietnam, Laos, South Korea, North Korea, and Thailand.

The Mekong has thus not been an obstacle but a facilitator for communication, and the similarities between Laos and northeast Thai society — same people, same language — reflect the close contact that has existed across the river for centuries.

Although the Mekong was established as a border by French colonial forces, travel from one side to the other has been significantly limited only since the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( LPDR, or Laos ) in 1975.

Laos has a tropical monsoon climate, with a pronounced rainy season from May through October, a cool dry season from November through February, and a hot dry season in March and April.

Because of its mountainous topography and lack of development, Laos has few reliable transportation routes.

At the same time, international concern about environmental degradation and the loss of many wildlife species unique to Laos has also prompted the government to consider the implications of these developments.

With a median age of 19. 3, Laos has the youngest population of Asia.

This has greatly facilitated travelling across Laos.

In terms of sea travel, Laos has a merchant marine consisting of 1 cargo ship of.

Laos has 136 km of pipeline for transport of petroleum products.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and with Vietnam's decreased ability to provide assistance, Laos has sought to improve relations with its regional neighbors.

Laos ' emergence from international isolation has been marked through improved and expanded relations with other nations such as Australia, France, Japan, Sweden, and India.

* Laos has an embassy in Moscow.

In so doing, Laos has opened the door to rapprochement with Thailand and China at some expense to its special dependence on Vietnam.

Laos might have reached the same point of normalization in following Vietnam's economic and diplomatic change, but by moving ahead resolutely and responding to Thai and Chinese gestures, Laos has broadened its range of donors, trading partners, and investors independent of Vietnam's attempts to accomplish the same goal.

Thus, Vietnam remains in the shadows as a mentor and emergency ally, and the tutelage of Laos has shifted dramatically to development banks and international entrepreneurs.

Burma has a low fertility rate ( 2. 23 in 2011 ), slightly above replacement level, especially as compared to other Southeast Asian countries of similar economic standing, like Cambodia ( 3. 18 ) and Laos ( 4. 41 ), representing a significant decline from 4. 7 in 1983 to 2. 4 in 2001, despite the absence of any national population policy.

Burma also has a low fertility rate, of 2. 07 children per woman ( 2010 ), especially as compared to other Southeast Asian countries of similar economic standing, like Cambodia ( 3. 18 ) and Laos ( 4. 41 ), representing a significant decline from 4. 7 in 1983, despite the absence of a national population policy.

Several tributary dams were constructed, but only one — the Nam Ngum Dam ( completed 1971 ), in Laos — outside of Thailand, whose electricity was sold to Thailand.

But why was Laos the new Southeast Asian battleground??

In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek in Laos through the Mu Gia Pass to Tan Ap Railway Station in Vietnam's Quang Binh Province, on the North – South Railway.

** Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.

After French rule ended, the French language was still largely used among the new governments ( with the exception of North Vietnam ) and French is still spoken in the region today by the educated and elderly and is sometimes used in administration in Laos and Cambodia.

As part of plans established by ASEAN, however, two new railways are under development: one branch connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and one connecting the North – South Railway to Thakhek in Laos.

This new " Liberation Route " turned west from the trail at Muong May, at the southern end of Laos, and paralleled the Kong River into Cambodia.

With the rediscovered interest in Lao pop music, Lao concerts are not only held in Laos, but also in Isan region of Thailand, thus, continually garnering new Thai fans of Lao pop music.

Ram Khamhaeng, an early ruler of the new Thai dynasty in Sukhothai, made himself the agent of Mongol interests, and in 1282-84 eliminated the vestiges of Khmer and Cham power in central Laos.

This was a chaotic time in Laos history where it completely collapsed with the kingdom spliting into 3 new kingdoms, Vientiane, Luang Phrabang and Kingdom of Champasak.

In October, 1945, a Lao nationalist movement called Lao Issara ( Free Laos ) was founded as a new government for Laos.

The French turned over its Lao French Union troops to the new nation ; as a residual effort, it kept two bases in Laos and supplied advisors to the new Lao military.

Many of the professional and intellectual class, who had initially been willing to work for the new regime, changed their minds and left – a much easier thing to do from Laos than from either Vietnam or Cambodia.

Phonsavan ( Lao: ໂພນສະຫວ ັ ນ ) ( population 37, 507 ) is the new capital of Xieng Khouang Province, Laos.

The North Vietnamese Transportation Group 559, then under the leadership of Major-General Phan Trong Tue, was ordered to open a new transportation and communication lines through southern Laos and South Vietnam.

One indication of the comprehensiveness of the new American effort was Clinton's visit to Laos, the first by a US Secretary of State since John Foster Dulles in 1955.

* A rodent species representing a new family of mammals, Laonastidae, is discovered in Laos.

This also coincides with the traditional new year in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Nepal and Thailand.

This project represents a new effort by WCS to conserve the biodiversity and habitat of Laos ’ Savannakhet Province,

The receding population was quickly supplemented by a new wave of residents, including African Americans from elsewhere in the city, and immigrants from Asia ( Korea, mainly, as well as Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Laos ) and Latin America ( Puerto Rico, Colombia, Mexico ).

The end of the Korean War and Vietnam War and the " Secret Wars " in Southeast Asia brought a new wave of Asian American immigration, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia arrived.

In response to this and other government policies limiting the traditional role of Buddhist monks in village life, the number of monks in Laos declined during the late 1970s as new ordinations declined, combined by an exodus of monks either fleeing to neighboring Thailand or leaving the sangha and returning to lay life.