Hey everyone,

Beginning in the mid 1960s a particular country in Southeast Asia became the victim of a daily planeload of bombs. The bombs "fell like rain" (according to a local who lived through the onslaught), on average, about every nine minutes. For nine years straight!

That's more than the bombs dropped on Germany and Japan, combined, during World War II. Needless to say - no citizen would want theirs to be the most bombed country in history, but the world cannot 'unring' this bell.

The bombers kept their citizens (aka their funders) in the dark the entire time. This atrocity was therefore without their consent, giving lie to the vaunted principle embedded within their venerated Constitution. America has since publicly acknowledged her role. More here from President Obama's historic visit in 2016.

The conflict that supplied the pretext for all this violence ended nearly a half century ago, but Laos is still digging out the unexploded munitions from their soil. Unfortunately these weapons of mass destruction continue to kill and maim people, given that 10-30% of them remained unexploded after they were dropped.

The silver lining is that the amount of casualties continues to steadily dwindle, thanks to a literal 24/7 cleanup effort. The people of Laos have been diligent in their quest to move on, all while documenting and bearing witness to their painful past. Below are photos from a museum in Vientiane, their nation's capital.

Below are examples of what these killing machines would look like after they were retrieved from the ground.

The ongoing need for prostheses is perhaps the most vivid way to represent the carnage. Behold:

It bears repeating - Laos has moved on. They continue to forge ahead, presuming that better days lie ahead. Below are photos of a couple iconic landmarks in Vientiane.

Lao PDR (their official name) enjoys a lesser profile than their neighbors, but it is nonetheless a country worth visiting. And if you ever make it over there, you may stumble upon this playfully-named watering hole. LOL

Have a good weekend y'all.

BST

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