Changes

Vietnam fought three more wars after 1975 and armed Communist insurgencies with billions of dollars in an attempt to overrun [[Thailand]] and [[Malaysia]].<ref>http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/vietnam/hoan1.pdf</ref>  To combat this dangerous expansionism, Kissinger closely aligned the United States with anti-Communist nations in the area, such as [[Suharto]]'s [[Indonesia]], which was once described as ''the greatest prize in  Asia.''  As tens of thousands fled a Communist take-over in the small island of [[East Timor]] under horrible conditions following a civil war that resulted in the death or displacement of 9,000 individuals; Ford and Kissinger gave Suharto their approval to annex East Timor and remove the Soviet-backed Communist government.<ref>http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/doc4.pdf</ref>  Over the 24-year occupation; some 140,000<ref>http://www.cavr-timorleste.org/en/Brief.htm</ref> East Timorese soldiers and civilians were killed by all sides, out of a population of less than a million.

Vietnam fought three more wars after 1975 and armed Communist insurgencies with billions of dollars in an attempt to overrun [[Thailand]] and [[Malaysia]].<ref>http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/vietnam/hoan1.pdf</ref>  To combat this dangerous expansionism, Kissinger closely aligned the United States with anti-Communist nations in the area, such as [[Suharto]]'s [[Indonesia]], which was once described as ''the greatest prize in  Asia.''  As tens of thousands fled a Communist take-over in the small island of [[East Timor]] under horrible conditions following a civil war that resulted in the death or displacement of 9,000 individuals; Ford and Kissinger gave Suharto their approval to annex East Timor and remove the Soviet-backed Communist government.<ref>http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/doc4.pdf</ref>  Over the 24-year occupation; some 140,000<ref>http://www.cavr-timorleste.org/en/Brief.htm</ref> East Timorese soldiers and civilians were killed by all sides, out of a population of less than a million.

Kissinger also sought to maintain good relations with [[Thailand]].  In order to prevent Communist hegemony in the area, he sought to deliberately provoke tension between the Vietnamese Stalinists and their Maoist comrades in Phnom Penh.  In a 1975 meeting, he told Thailand's foreign minister:  "We don't mind Chinese influence in Cambodia to balance North Vietnam. As I told the Chinese when we last met when we were discussing the Vietnamese victory in Indochina, it is possible to have an ideological victory which is a geopolitical defeat. The Chinese did not disagree with me."<ref>http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/kissinger_chatichai.htm</ref>

Kissinger also worked to maintain good relations with [[Thailand]].  In order to prevent Communist hegemony in the area, he sought to deliberately provoke tension between the Vietnamese Stalinists and their Maoist comrades in Phnom Penh.  In a 1975 meeting, he told Thailand's foreign minister:  "We don't mind Chinese influence in Cambodia to balance North Vietnam. As I told the Chinese when we last met when we were discussing the Vietnamese victory in Indochina, it is possible to have an ideological victory which is a geopolitical defeat. The Chinese did not disagree with me."<ref>http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/kissinger_chatichai.htm</ref>

===Losing power===

===Losing power===