10-16-2020, 08:54 PM
** 16-Oct-2020 World View: Notes from the Vietnam war
As I've mentioned several times, I've been spending every spare minute
writing a book on the history of Vietnam, following up on my books on
the history of China and Japan and the history of Iran and Islam. It
will be very nice to add one more book to my collection of books in
the "Generational Theory Book Series."
The history of Vietnam is very complex, much more complex than the
history of China, but I've now pretty much completed the history
narrative up to the "American-Vietnam war," and like most things, the
public understanding of this war is almost 100% wrong. Most people
view this as a war between America and Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnam.
Har, har, har.
So I now look at it as three separate wars:
With regard to the second of these, the role of the United States was
total farce. The South Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem wanted to
implement a plan called "Strategic Hamlets" that would move the South
Vietnamese civilians into fortified areas, and protect them from
terrorist attacks by the Viet Cong. Diem depended on the US for
weapons and logistics. President John Kennedy supplied the weapons,
but his chief adviser William Averell Harriman hated Diem, and did
many things to sabotage the whole project. On November 1, 1963,
Harriman succeeded in getting Diem ousted, and on November 2, Diem was
assassinated.
Ho Chi Minh believed that Diem was "one of the strongest people
resisting ... Communism," and was quoted as saying, "I can scarcely
believe the Americans would be so stupid."
It turned out later that there was another problem. The South
Vietnamese general in charge of the Strategic Hamlet program was
Albert Pham Ngoc Thao, who turns out to be a traitor who was
sabotaging the program and feeding information to Ho Chi Minh. He was
discovered and executed in 1965.
The Vietnam war got much worse after Diem's assassination.
More to follow.
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: War Between China and Japan:
Why America Must Be Prepared" (Generational Theory Book Series, Book
2), June 2019
Paperback: 331 pages, over 200 source references, $13.99
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Betwee...732738637/
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: Iran's Struggle for Supremacy
-- Tehran's Obsession to Redraw the Map of the Middle East"
(Generational Theory Book Series, Book 1), September 2018, Paperback:
153 pages, over 100 source references, $7.00
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Suprem...732738610/
As I've mentioned several times, I've been spending every spare minute
writing a book on the history of Vietnam, following up on my books on
the history of China and Japan and the history of Iran and Islam. It
will be very nice to add one more book to my collection of books in
the "Generational Theory Book Series."
The history of Vietnam is very complex, much more complex than the
history of China, but I've now pretty much completed the history
narrative up to the "American-Vietnam war," and like most things, the
public understanding of this war is almost 100% wrong. Most people
view this as a war between America and Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnam.
Har, har, har.
So I now look at it as three separate wars:
- First Indochina War (November 1946 to August 1954). This was
a war between Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh and France (the French
colonizers). It ended with France's humiliating defeat, after which
America began to fill the vacuum with "advisors."
- Second Indochina War (1959-1975). This what Americans usually
refer to as "the Vietnam War." It was actually a war between North and
South Vietnam. China was supporting North Vietnam and the US was
supporting South Vietnam, but the only real purpose of China and the
US was to serve as useful idiots for the North and South Vietnamese.
To a lesser extent, the Soviets also served as useful idiots.
- Vietnam-Cambodia-China war (1975-1989). Of the three wars, this
was the most consequential. Vietnam conducted mass slaughter of South
Vietnamese "enemies." Vietnam committed genocide of groups in Laos.
Pol Pot in Cambodia slaughtered millions of people in one of the 20th
century's greatest genocides, leading to war between Vietnam and
Cambodia. China wanted to support its ally Cambodia, but was hampered
because they don't have a common border. Hanoi confiscated property
of ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam, because their loyalty to Hanoi
was questioned. China invaded Vietnam to teach Vietnam a lesson for
being insufficiently grateful for Chinese support against the
Americans during the previous war, and because China wanted to
reestablish Vietnam's vassal relationship to China which held prior to
French colonization. China failed to do that, and once again, the
Soviets were useful idiots.
With regard to the second of these, the role of the United States was
total farce. The South Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem wanted to
implement a plan called "Strategic Hamlets" that would move the South
Vietnamese civilians into fortified areas, and protect them from
terrorist attacks by the Viet Cong. Diem depended on the US for
weapons and logistics. President John Kennedy supplied the weapons,
but his chief adviser William Averell Harriman hated Diem, and did
many things to sabotage the whole project. On November 1, 1963,
Harriman succeeded in getting Diem ousted, and on November 2, Diem was
assassinated.
Ho Chi Minh believed that Diem was "one of the strongest people
resisting ... Communism," and was quoted as saying, "I can scarcely
believe the Americans would be so stupid."
It turned out later that there was another problem. The South
Vietnamese general in charge of the Strategic Hamlet program was
Albert Pham Ngoc Thao, who turns out to be a traitor who was
sabotaging the program and feeding information to Ho Chi Minh. He was
discovered and executed in 1965.
The Vietnam war got much worse after Diem's assassination.
More to follow.
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: War Between China and Japan:
Why America Must Be Prepared" (Generational Theory Book Series, Book
2), June 2019
Paperback: 331 pages, over 200 source references, $13.99
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Betwee...732738637/
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: Iran's Struggle for Supremacy
-- Tehran's Obsession to Redraw the Map of the Middle East"
(Generational Theory Book Series, Book 1), September 2018, Paperback:
153 pages, over 100 source references, $7.00
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Suprem...732738610/
