[lbo-talk] Obama, community organizer

[John Thornton]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> --- Charles Brown <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
> wrote:
>
>   
>>> CB: Late in the war, the Chinese stopped supporting
>>>       
>> the Vietnamese; and
>> even started a little fight with them. It was the
>> Soviets who supported
>> the Vietnamese all the way through.
>>
>>     
>
> [WS:} Yes, you are absolutely right on this.  The Sino
> Vietnamese war
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War was a
> direct reaction to Vietnam invasion of Cambodia
> against the Chinese puppet there, the Khmer Rouge. 
>   

This wasn't until after Nixon decided against using nukes so Chinese 
support was part of the equation when he discussed using them.


> Claiming that Nixon intended to nuke Vietnam simply
> because he or his administration had such plans is
> silly and betrays the total lack of understanding how
> bureaucratic organizations (such as governments or thr
> military) operate.  
> more confrontational policy toward the USSR.  So from
> that poiont of view, maintaining that Nixon "planned"
> to nuke Vietnam to "teach Ghina & the USSR a lesson"
> but was dissuaded by a bunch of hippies and freaks in
> the streeets is rather silly - it resembles stories
> told while passing a bong rather than a realistic
> account of history.
>
> Wojtek

My personal believe is that Nixon never intended to use nukes, only that 
he was using the Mad Man strategy . He may however have gone through 
with it if the bluff didn't work. No one will ever know.
The claim he dropped the idea is after seeing a TeeVee protest, as I 
said, is in a biography of Nixon. If one chooses to disbelieve that 
analysis they are free to. I'm agnostic on the subject but as I said I 
wasn't there so I'm not prepared to argue the reality of that analysis 
against someone who was. It sounds incredible but sometimes incredible 
things happen.

John Thornton