VIETNAM WAR. CONFLICT OF IDEOLOGY.(updated)

 

By K P PASWAN.

Vietnam war was started by J. F Kennedy, the president of US to counter the USSR under Nikita Khrushchev and China, under Mao Zedong. The war resulted in heavy causalities and there was mass agitation in US, against a war being fought with a poor country. When China adopted Communism, George S,Trueman,the war time president of USA did not launch war against China, and instead maintained friendship with a ruthless Stalin, the strongman of USSR, and this friendship was not appreciated by  Great Britain. Cold war was brewing, affecting the entire world. USSR achieved spectacular parity with US in military power. Mutual mistrust between super powers led to cold war which was being fought diplomatically and by spreading conflicting capacity of nuclear strength of two super power. Vietnam war veterans in US are given extraordinary importance. A few Congress members and even Senators fought in Vietnam. But the deadly war in Vietnam failed to ravage the nation as there were no high-rise buildings and there were no manufacturing units worth the name.

When we consider more deadly war in the Middle East, Kuwait and in Afghanistan, than we find Vietnam war, does not stand anywhere. War in central Asia destroyed ancient civilization and modern cities. In Central Asia, the US declared war against the terrorists and their organization which is not based on political ideology like Communism, but upon religious based terrorism.

Post war Vietnam is being seen as a possible danger to China along with South Korea. American and German MNCs are preferring Vietnam for starting new economic activities.  Modern Vietnam is an emerging economy and it is no longer a friend of China, as it used to be when Hochi Minh fought the US troops with help from China. Vietnam suffered badly in terms of human lose, but it soon arose on its own leg, and manufacturing activities are going on with full swing. But devastation caused in the Middle East is beyond repair. Besides countering Communist ideology, several politicians’ diplomats and even Generals had their own contribution to a war, which was fought under the shadow of Cold war. These eminent personalities were,

TRUEMAN. The second world war time president of US was, lamenting that even at the age of 80, he campaigned for the young JF Kennedy as a Democratic candidate for the presidency of US, who was losing war not to Vietnam but to a powerful USSR and less powerful China. He witnessed the fall and division of Hermit kingdom, into two parts South and North Korea. His friendship with Stalin of USSR was disliked by many of European allies. The famous president was scared of his General Douglas MacArthur. who was commanding the US forces in far east.

J F KENNEDY. The first Catholic president of US, believed that America be patient abroad, if it democratically solved problems at home, something that USSR could not do cold war struggle with US. His politics and personal life were much discussed matter of his time His policy,handling of the war in Vietnam,  invited criticism from across the political spectrum . He thought that US was losing its technical supremacy in every field to USSR, but neither the mighty CIA or his Secretary of State informed that, USSR under Nikita Khrushchev was unable to provide even modern medicines and nutritious foods to people, and they cannot travel in space beyond Moon, because the USSR lacked the technology to reach beyond Moon. Nobody informed the beleaguered president of US, that the Communism was breathing heavily, as was proved by Mao Zedong ’export of culture revolution to different countries of the world. It is still not known, how many countries imported Culture Revolution from China.

 Gen Westmoreland, the US General heading, the US forces in Vietnam never questioned, why the Americans were fighting in an impoverished and peace-loving Buddhist country. There were no uniformed Vietnamese soldiers, there were only Guerrillas, who used to appear from the dense forest to launch missiles attack, and quickly disappeared in the forest. Poor Vietnamese were being killed and the Guerrillas nicknamed as Vietcong were killing American soldiers with their old weapons supplied by USSR. But the Vietcong never made tall and false claims of their lose. The world new the mounting losses of American and Viet Cong fighters through printing media.

Nikita Khrushchev, the PM of USSR was threatening that USSR would bury the West deep into the grave, little knowing that the USSR was itself digging its own grave, but he was celebrating the loss of US in Vietnam as the Vietcong under Ho Chi Minh, were fighting the US with weapons borrowed from USSR and China. His belligerence invited criticism across the political spectrum. His withdrawal of Missiles and soldiers from Cuba was described as most humiliating, but he continued his policy of communist the entire world.

ElSE WORTH BUNKER. Perhaps the most dynamic and experienced American Diplomat of his time. He was wondering why, diplomacy was failing in Vietnam? He was aware the pathetic conditions of economy in USSR, which was serving neither the poor nor the corrupt enforcer of Marxism upon the unwilling people. But the ace diplomatic knew that KARMA, the meaning of which, he learned, while he was American ambassador in India for a brief period was playing its own part. Perhaps KARMA as mentioned in Hindu scriptures and widely understood in a Buddhist country like Vietnam, was standing like a firewall between Cold War and diplomacy in Vietnam.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU. He was democratically elected PM of an independent India. He was perhaps greatest statesman of contemporary international politics. He was facing  threat from Mao Zedong, who embolden by Americans lose in Vietnam was bound to betray the founder of modern India. Pt Nehru also known as Messenger of Peace remained neutral and earned the wrath of USA. But Pt Nehru always thought of  welfare of people of India and his policy of non-alignment was acclaimed everywhere.

HO CHI MINH. A fragile man of average height, and confirmed communist, the president of tiny Vietnam was facing a monster (US), He had only one ambition, to lift the poverty from his country and nothing else. He was an ordinary mortal, unaware that his immediate neighbor China under a belligerent Mao Zedong would send his own violent philosophy  of removing poverty from Vietnam. Capital was necessary to create infrastructure, but there was no money. For industrial growth foreign investment was essential for a weak economy, but there was not foreign investment worth the name People were devout Buddhist and no threat to any country in the region. So Unwillingly, he fell into the trap of Communism, which, Hochi Minh thought that Communist ideology was for the poor and of the poor. His supporters known as Vietcong fought the most powerful nation in the solar system, with weapons borrowed and purchased from USSR. Vietnam suffered, but it refused to die and the country did not turn its small cities into ghost towns  as being witnessed in the Middle East. A large number of Buddhists resorted to self-immolation, to express solidarity with Hochi Minh. But they remained helpless, when the Vietcong were being pounded and the Guerrillas were killing uniformed soldiers. Vietnam and China had and still has one thing in common and that is presence of deadly Wet Markets. But the lethal Coronavirus did not emerge from the Wet Markets of Vietnam. Young Vietnamese have no memory of deadly war, but older people still remember the heavy bombing by US.

FINAL WORDS.  All the eminent personalities as mentioned were interlinked with each other. But were unable and helpless to prevent the war. However the humiliating retreat of American soldiers from Vietnam proved  one thing, that US can sustain a prolonged war and any country not even USSR or China would involve themselves in a war with US, which may cause  irreparable collateral damage to opposing forces.