Firstly, I want to be incredibly clear on something: the regime in Iran is murderous, misogynistic, autocratic, anti-diversity, torturing, kidnapping bastards.
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@Kierkegaanks Yes. There are some heartbreakingly poignant letters from him to Eisenhower begging him to recognise that all Vietnam wanted was the same freedom the US fought for in its war of Independence.
@Remittancegirl @Kierkegaanks he also purged Vietnamese radicals in 1945, account by one of them here. Was fully ready to run a modern capitalist state integrated into the global economy. Parallels with CLR James's account of the Haitian Revolution where the US was also one of the entities most resistant to any kind of independence. https://libcom.org/article/moscow-trial-ho-chi-minhs-guerrilla-movement-ngo-van-xuyet
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I think many countries - especially colonised countries - learned a LOT from the fall of France, Belgium, Holland, etc. to the Nazis during WWII.
The first was to absolutely believe your country CAN be taken from you. The second was to determine that you'd rather die than relinquish it. The third is that the invading enemy has a lower tolerance for loss than you have.
@Remittancegirl I’d also highlight the experience of the UK (which I was reading earlier today) in WW2, which could perhaps be summed up as “in war, there are no allies, only self-interested countries”. PM Churchill begged and pleaded with President Roosevelt for destroyers to attack the Nazi U-boats who were sinking the merchant fleet and starving the UK. Churchill sent an insane number of letters to Roosevelt that all went unanswered. In the end the Americans grudgingly sent the UK a small number of rusted obsolete destroyers that did nothing to help turn the tide. Lesson: do not find yourself in a position where you must depend on allies. Canada would be wise to take note.
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@Kierkegaanks Yes. There are some heartbreakingly poignant letters from him to Eisenhower begging him to recognise that all Vietnam wanted was the same freedom the US fought for in its war of Independence.
@Remittancegirl Do you have any good reading on Ho Chi Minh? I'm curious about getting a more realistic perception of him and the movement he was part of than the very superficial / stereotypical story-telling I've gotten from my national media @Kierkegaanks
