Neutralist Government, 1960 (Laos)

On July 12 the Washington Post carried a long article on former Gen. Kong Le of Laos (W. Post, 7/12/98, pp. F1, F6). Two Black and White pictures with the article show a flag hanging on a wall. It's described as designed by Kong Le for his "neutralist" Laos but "which has never flown in that country." Kong Le overthrew the Laotian government in 1960 but was himself driven out 4 months later. He had vowed to set up a Switzerland-like neutralist Laos in the midst of that Cold War struggle over Southeast Asia.

I've never heard of this flag before and so I'll try to describe the flag, since I don't know how to make a GIF. The article says the flag is "bright blue and white." Proportions look to be 2:1. On a blue field is centered a large white star surrounded by a circle of nine smaller white stars. A white stripe about 1/15 of the hoist goes horizontally across the center of the flag but stops at both sides of the area occupied by the stars (so that the width of the flag is about 1/3 stripe// 1/3 stars// 1/3 stripe). Above this stripe and below this stripe are a narrower white stripe separated from the center stripe by narrow stripes of the blue field. The two narrow stripes stop at the same point at which the broader center stripe stops.

Anybody know anything about this one?
Edmund Midura, 17 July 1998

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