Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nixon's invasion of Cambodia to allegedly 'save it from the Communists' resulted in the rise of the infamous and murderous Pol Pot regime. Millions of Cambodians suffered and died because of that extension of the 'Domino Theory'.
Pol Pot's Khmer Regime was supported by North Vietnam in the overthrow of the western friendly Cambodian government. To be more specific, they were an offshoot of the "People's Army" of North Vietnam. I don't really believe in the Domino Theory, but it's clear that Vietnam wanted to extend it's own Hegemony to SouthEast Asia. It had nothing to do with "Nixon's invasion" - which was really centered on the Ho Chi Minh trail and the support network into South Vietnam.
After the American's left it was natural for all these communist factions/countries to then war with themselves almost immediately - Vietnam with China, Vietnam with Cambodia. Cambodia fell to the Peoples Republic of Vietnam in the late 70s. The Khmer Rouge was replaced by Vietnam occupational forces and a puppet government and civil wars for another decade.
All the evil brought onto Cambodia is a result of communist influences and agendas. Finally rid of Vietnam and communism and back to a constitutional monarchy, for only the last decade these proud people are only now starting to recover, something I witnessed first hand in a visit to Cambodia.
While most will say our involvement in Vietnam was pointless, was there anything positive about it that had the U.S never gotten involved in Vietnam in any way, shape or form would've been bad?
Our involvement wasn't pointless. Our giving up and quitting was. Our use of failed defensive style tactics was pointless. Our fear and hesitation in using all out war against the North was pointless.
If we had never gotten involved in Vietnam, then it's hard to say what would have happened really. But it's a moot point to the Vietnamese. They went under communist tyranny anyway, but at least we gave some of them the cover they needed to flee the country and find freedom.
It is generally believed that the 'Domino Theory' that was talked about at the time has generally been discredited.
BUT - The truth is we can never know for sure. It is impossible to know for sure what would have happened if the U.S. had not tried to prop up the South Vietnamese government.
The Domino Theory has only be discredited in the minds of Leftists and out-of-touch college professors and political hacks.
That's a good point. In fact the primary impetus for the formation of the entire 1960s counterculture would not have existed. The culture of the Baby Boom generation would be completely different.
The songs "Won't get fooled again" by the Who and "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath would never have been written. That would be a loss.
They would have found a different impetus. Probably nuclear disarmament or environmentalism would have started earlier.
Oh, don't be so pessimistic. There were plenty of hate targets for Americans to focus on after 1991, assuming you want to include the liberal point of view.
Political incontinence is a sad ailment. I hope you can find a cure for it. I said nothing about domestic partisan politics, though I was pretty sure someone would drop trou and take a politics anyway.
The Domino Theory was being questioned in the 1970s, and has long been proven to be false. It stated that if one of the SE Asian nations fell to Communism, the rest would quickly follow. That didn't happen. Vietnam remains the only Communist nation in SE Asia.
I think we have a good idea of what would NOT have happened, all the consequences of the Vietnam War, especially the horror that was Cambodia for a decade or more after the US pulled out. Nixon's invasion of Cambodia to allegedly 'save it from the Communists' resulted in the rise of the infamous and murderous Pol Pot regime. Millions of Cambodians suffered and died because of that extension of the 'Domino Theory'.
You either get an F in Southeast Asian history.... OR an A Plus in Western Left Revisionism, depending on who you're talking to.
Vietnam is the only SUCCESSFULLY conquered communist country in SE Asia... well uh, BESIDES Laos. Cambodia was communist even AFTER Pol Pot, from 1979 until the early 90s when the Soviet Union collapsed. And the fate of Cambodia under Pol Pot's regime and the subsequent Vietnamese Soviet-style regime had nothing to do with Nixon "extending the domino theory" and EVERYTHING to do with the totalitarian nature of communism.
A quick synopsis of the rest of Southeast Asia: There were also violent revolutionary efforts in Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaya to create communist regimes with terrorism and guerilla warfare after WW2. The Philippines STILL has an on-going communist insurgency. The communists tried to take over Singapore in the 40s and 50s using subversion and violence. Even the Sultanate of Brunei was involved in a communist insurgency against Indonesia between 1962 and 1990, with elements fighting on both sides of the conflict.
And there's really no need to limit it to SE Asia specifically, when the majority of Asia was communist or trying to go communist. One country after another. It almost seems like... Dominos. The idea was first expressed in the Truman Doctrine in 1947 over the fears of communist aggression in EurAsia. President Eisenhower said the same thing when he suggested the fall of French Indochina to the communists could create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia. Kennedy believed it. Johnson believed it. Nixon believed it. Everybody believed it.... except the Western Left Wingers sympathetic to communism. The Domino Theory was a Domino reality.
The same thing WOULD have happened in Japan and South Korea that happened in China and North Korea, had MacArthur not ordered a purge of communists from the Japanese government during his time as military governor in the 50s, or brilliantly defended South Korea with his invasion plan. The Dominos weren't allowed to fall.
What a curious coincidence the Dominos stopped falling when the Soviets took a dive, and China mellowed out a bit. The Domino Theory is only disbelieved by American leftists and the gullible people they convince with fairy tales that revise history. But a cursory look at 20th century geopolitics indicates that Yes, there were communist revolutions occurring all over most of the world after WW2. Asserting otherwise is insanity or ideology. The Bolsheviks thought it was a good time to jump... and it made sense.
History books are NEVER the friends of Left Wingers. And people who read history books are the worst enemies of Left Wingers. That's why Left Wingers always end up burning books and shooting book readers when they get in power.
Last edited by Led Zeppelin; 12-13-2015 at 03:47 PM..
The illegal drug problem got a lot worse during those years. I don't know how much the war had to do with it, but a lot of troops came back with addictions.
Political incontinence is a sad ailment. I hope you can find a cure for it. I said nothing about domestic partisan politics, though I was pretty sure someone would drop trou and take a politics anyway.
I would like to find a cure for it. It saddens me to see you suffering so much from the symptoms. Because it's obvious why you didn't want to get into "domestic politics", even though you were talking about Americans not having anything to hate after 1991... until.... but you didn't mean THAT sort of domestic politics.
Just another Kennedy blunder, like Cuba/bay of pigs, tripling the military budget and more. Really a horrible president. It was a very bad war with a TON of lives lost for no reason. What a mess. Even worse than Iraq, if that is possible!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
