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Why the Vietnam War?


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Swanson's book was pretty interesting I thought.

In this review, I supplement his data with Seth Jacobs and John Newman in order to give a full picture of what happened from 1947 to 1961. Many good parts e. g.  the whole episode of how Allen Dulles discovered Diem; just how idiotic American policy was in Laos; how the British really caused the French Indochina war; how the OSS liked Ho Chi Minh.  But he goes all the way back to the French invasion in the nineteenth century.   He tries to answer the question: What the heck was America doing in Vietnam?  He says that contrary to popular belief, it was not about the Domino Theory. 

https://kennedysandking.com/reviews/why-the-vietnam-war-by-michael-swanson

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7 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Swanson's book was pretty interesting I thought.

In this review, I supplement his data with Seth Jacobs and John Newman in order to give a full picture of what happened from 1947 to 1961. Many good parts e. g.  the whole episode of how Allen Dulles discovered Diem; just how idiotic American policy was in Laos; how the British really caused the French Indochina war; how the OSS liked Ho Chi Minh.  But he goes all the way back to the French invasion in the nineteenth century.   He tries to answer the question: What the heck was America doing in Vietnam?  He says that contrary to popular belief, it was not about the Domino Theory. 

https://kennedysandking.com/reviews/why-the-vietnam-war-by-michael-swanson

Great book review. 

About six million SE Asians were killed after the US became involved in Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia.  Let alone other atrocities to numerous to even list. 

For what? 

In a cruel irony, the Vietnamese have for centuries resented Han hegemony. Even Guangxi province, to the immediate north of Vietnam, is regarded as an autonomous zone of China, as they resent Han domination also. 

From Smedley Butler to JFK to the present day, the multinationals-globalists-militarists have become more powerful, and more aligned with a powerful surveillance state. 

Good luck, everybody.

 

 

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Lansdale set up the South Vietnam Government for the Dulles brothers?  Diem was the darling of the east coast establishment before he was "chosen"?

Were the Dulles brothers diverting attention away from Indonesia by focusing it on Vietnam in the 50's and Allen in the 60's?  

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Thanks Ben.  Yes, approximately six million would perish between Vietnam and Cambodia, the latter due to Nixon's invasion.

Very good question:  For what?

Yes, Ron, as Swanson notes, it was CIA officer Bob Amory who recommended DIem to Dulles.  Then the Dulles brothers sent Lansdale to Saigon to prop him up:  rigged elections, transfer of Catholics to the south, creation of an army, construction of. prisons for dissidents, rampant nepotism, dictatorial powers including rule by decree.

Lansdale later made a famous quote about all this.  It went something like: people should not complain about a lack of democracy when I was sent to create a fascist state.

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22 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Lansdale later made a famous quote about all this.  It went something like: people should not complain about a lack of democracy when I was sent to create a fascist state.

there's an eye opener for a Monday morning...

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You got that right.  I will try and find the source on that.

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Have not found that quote yet.  Will look more.

But I just did J G Michaels show yesterday Parallax Views, which will be available soon.  One of the things we talked about was Kennedy and Vietnam.  I told him that there is  no debate about this anymore, and there never really was after the first edition of John Newman's book was published--and the second edition is even better.

He told me about a mini debate in The Nation between Jamie Galbraith and Rick Pearlstein.  The latter is one of these smart aleck lefties who  tries to imitate the late Alex Cockburn and Noam Chomsky on this issue. J G made me aware of this reply to Ricky by Jamie Galbraith in The Nation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/jfks-vietnam-withdrawal-plan-fact-not-speculation/

If you notice what he says last, about this whole issue of JFK being  "a closet peacenik", I think it was Chris Mathews who started that phrase as a term of derogation to those who were making the case that Kennedy was not a classic Cold Warrior as Ike, Nixon and LBJ were.  To me this is a fact.  And the MSM has tried to deny this and Ricky baby tried to use it.  Which shows that the MSM and the alleged left in this country meet at this dividing line.

 

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Why did Jamie Galbraith get a little upset over Ricky P? 

Because his father was in the middle of all this.  Therefore Jamie had a good source, a man with a front row seat so to speak.  Namely his father, John Kenneth Galbraith.

I discovered this essay by Richard Parker about 3-4 years ago.  Parker was a biographer of Galbraith and most people consider his book the best on the brilliant economist.  In his work on the man Parker discovered just how special Galbraith's relationship was with Kennedy.  In fact, it was really Galbraith who began Kennedy's withdrawal plan.  In my opinion, this essay by Parker, adapted from his book, is simply invaluable and it sheds light on the documents the ARRB declassified on the issue. 

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/galbraith-and-vietnam/

Galbraith was one of the many Kennedy men who became very disappointed with what LBJ did to JFK's policies after his assassination.  As you can see, for good reason.

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