Donald Trump’s campaign war cry is to make America great
again. This statement is an acknowledgement and admission that America is no
longer the great America of yesterday. America’s status and reputation as the great
or greatest nation on earth has taken a severe beating and is now only a shadow
of its past. It is now a big quest to want to make America great again.
The peak of American power was at the end of WW2 when it
triumphed over Germany/Italy and the Japanese Axis powers. America was the
undisputed world Number One superpower. The Soviet Union was a close second
while the rest of the European powers were as good as bankrupt after the war.
There was world peace but not for long. America must have an enemy and
Communism led by Russia, its war ally, became enemy Number One. The war allies soon broke apart with The USSR
leading the communist camp and the victory of communist in China. China was the
next big communist country, followed by Vietnam and North Korea.
Vietnam was a missed opportunity screwed up by western
treachery. Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist though embracing communism. He led his
Viet Minh in his fight for independence for Vietnam. But he was played out by
the western allies. The Allies took control of Vietnam from the Japanese and
duly released the French locked up in the prison by the Japanese to continue
its colonial rule of Indochina with Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh left out in
the cold. Ho Chi Minh turned to the USSR
and the Vietcong was formed to fight the French and subsequently the Americans.
Vietnam was divided with the communist in the north just like in the Korean
Peninsula.
The Americans fought its first war against the communist in
Korea, driving the North Koreans who had almost conquered the whole of Korea,
from Pusan back to the Yalu River. The Americans had de facto control of the
whole of Korean. The supremacy of the American forces was unmatched until the
Chinese sent in their peasant volunteered armies to drive the Americans back to
the 38 parallel, and to a military stalemate. This was a rude shock to the
American war machine, but they nonetheless claimed victory over the North
Koreans. Half a victory was still as good as none.
The Korean War tested the American supremacy but did not
damage its Number One superpower status. The North Korea was another country
that had gone communist and thus creating the feared Domino Theory that
dominated American policies in Asia for more than half a century in the era of
Cold War. The USA did all it could to contain the spread of communism in Asia
and fought the Vietnam War till it was defeated in 1975.
The defeat of the Americans in Vietnam threw SE Asia in
disarray. It was panic station in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and
Singapore. The Vietnamese had marched into Laos and Cambodia and were at the
Thai border. No one had the army to take on the battle hardened and war tested
Vietnamese Army. Two more dominoes fell in Laos and Cambodia with Thailand at
the brink of falling into Vietnamese hands.
The calls for help from the Americans fell on deaf ears. The
Americans had no more appetite to fight a ground war in Asia. They were
wallowing in self pity. The Number One superpower was no longer like what it
was before. Vietnam was the watershed
that saw the waning fortune of the American Empire.
The Domino Theory was becoming a reality and the Americans
were not there to stop the falls any more. Asean countries were desperate and
in fear and needed help and turned to arch enemy in communist China to stop
Vietnam, and to prevent the Domino Theory from becoming a stark reality.
China obliged, told the Vietnamese to pull out of Laos and
Cambodia. Vietnam refused, Deng Xiao Ping sent in his PLA, bashed into North
Vietnam and taught the Vietnamese a bitter lesson, not to mess around with
China. China was no USA. The Vietnamese subsequently pulled out from Laos and
Cambodia and Thailand and Asean was safe. Yes, China was the knight in shining
armour that defeated the Vietnamese and saved Thailand and Asean, not the USA.
The West and their pride could not take this insult. How
could China defeat the Vietnamese when the latter defeated the world Number One
super power? So they went on a rage publishing articles that China was given a
lesson by the Vietnamese. If their story was true, the Domino Theory would have
realized to its fullest and Thailand and Asean would have been under communist
regimes today. But many fools are still sticking to the story that Vietnam
taught China a lesson and Asean was saved from communism, from the mighty
Vietnamese Army by the Americans, that ran away and making a comeback today in
its pivot to Asia and trying to make love with Vietnam to compensate for
destroying that country. And some ungrateful Asean countries have forgotten who
saved them from the jaws of the Vietnamese Army, to become fallen dominoes.
The Americans’attempt to defeat communism, to stop the
Domino Theory from becoming a reality ended in 1975 when they were driven out
of Vietnam. It was left to China to do
the necessary The rest is history. I walked through the history books of those
days.
Now that the ungrateful Asean countries have turned against
China, it would be interesting to know what would be their fate if China had
not answered their plea for help but instead backed Vietnam’s expansion into
Laos and Cambodia and make the Domino Theory a reality? Would Thailand,
Malaysia and Singapore be communist states today and be part of the communist
camp? Who bought time and security to these 3 states after the Americans fled
Southeast Asia? Who was there to stand up to the Vietnamese when there was no
Americans around?
