I think many wrongly view the Cold War as a shift away from FDR’s pro-communist stance. Reality shows we remained anti-communist if it was a choice between that and colonialism
You have definitely opened my eyes with this post, and a whole era of American foreign policy which was a puzzling question mark -- suddenly clicks into place for me. Of course!!
I had so earnestly taken in the viewpoint that anti-colonialism had simply swept the globe as this irresistible force in the 60s. Was that seemingly irresistible force... maybe just American global policy?
They knew these arrangements were delicate. They knew the flames of conflict could be fanned. Well, I guess this is what they wanted. What a miserable exercise. Just like standing up to Milosevic, as a way to pistol-whip Europe into submission and reinvigorate a newly purposeless NATO - it all becomes clear.
Thanks for putting the effort to bring this into my awareness. I will tell it to others. Unpuzzling the labrynthine thought-worlds of the 20th century takes a lot of work, and I think you have contributed something here.
In my opinion, much of the wave of decolonization that’s presented as irresistible was American and Soviet policy choices bearing fruit and destroying colonial states
This is a great quote from Raoul Salan about what the loss of French Indochina meant for the rest of the French empire:
"It's through the loss of Indochina that the foundations of the French Empire were undermined. Losing an Empire, is to lose oneself, to remove all meaning from a man's life, from the life of a builder." - June 28, 1971. The quote can be found at the end of this biographical article on Salan:
You are very right about the impartial nature of French courts in Vietnam. For example, approximately 200 suspects arrested during the Yen Bay mutiny were released due to lack of evidence against them. Pham Quynh, a high-ranking Mandarin in the Nguyen court, was very faithful to the monarchy but saw the benefits of Annam and Tonkin (both imperial domains) being French protectorates. He and Nguyen Van Vinh (a Vietnamese intellectual who wanted direct French rule, as seen in Cochin China) had differing visions to how French rule could manifest itself. Quynh's biography can be read here:
Another area of interest is the way that the highland tribes were governmentally organised by French officials. For example, Leopold Sabatier, wanted French and Chinese business interests out off the Central Highlands so that highland minorities, such as the Rhade and Jarai, were protected from them. He was supported in his position by Pierre Pasquier, the governor-general of French Indochina (1928-1934). The French also made the Central Highlands and Tonkinese highlands domains of the Nguyen monarchy during the war against the Viet Minh. Jean Cousseau (you would have came across his name in Background to Betrayal) set up this scheme:
America did not abandon this rather charming activity of theirs even after the Cold War ended. While communism as such was defeated, the ideological offshoots of that same root are still being enthusiastically forced down the throats of peoples who neither need nor deserve them.
If I had to highlight one thing in particular, it would be the consistent and ongoing screwing over of what we here tend to call the “bourgeoisie.” (People often confuse the bourgeoisie with the middle class, conveniently leaving out its most essential trait. A bourgeois is someone who, by nature, does not depend on the state. A bourgeois is independent.)
I find it quite amusing that these egalitarian do-gooders never whined about land redistribution in America or elsewhere. At least not until the estates were in private hands. One gets the impression that the goal all along was to make existence outside the state simply impossible.
Communism is jewish colonialism. It's the most effective way for a minority to take the wealth from the target country without having any real sacrifice in the conquest.
the road to dien bien phu by goscha digs into the “nationalist”/communist sleight of hand.
I will add it to my list, thanks!
Americans fought and died for the victory of communism in the 2WW. What did anyone expect?
I think many wrongly view the Cold War as a shift away from FDR’s pro-communist stance. Reality shows we remained anti-communist if it was a choice between that and colonialism
You have definitely opened my eyes with this post, and a whole era of American foreign policy which was a puzzling question mark -- suddenly clicks into place for me. Of course!!
I had so earnestly taken in the viewpoint that anti-colonialism had simply swept the globe as this irresistible force in the 60s. Was that seemingly irresistible force... maybe just American global policy?
They knew these arrangements were delicate. They knew the flames of conflict could be fanned. Well, I guess this is what they wanted. What a miserable exercise. Just like standing up to Milosevic, as a way to pistol-whip Europe into submission and reinvigorate a newly purposeless NATO - it all becomes clear.
Thanks for putting the effort to bring this into my awareness. I will tell it to others. Unpuzzling the labrynthine thought-worlds of the 20th century takes a lot of work, and I think you have contributed something here.
Thank you very much! Glad this helped
In my opinion, much of the wave of decolonization that’s presented as irresistible was American and Soviet policy choices bearing fruit and destroying colonial states
This is a great quote from Raoul Salan about what the loss of French Indochina meant for the rest of the French empire:
"It's through the loss of Indochina that the foundations of the French Empire were undermined. Losing an Empire, is to lose oneself, to remove all meaning from a man's life, from the life of a builder." - June 28, 1971. The quote can be found at the end of this biographical article on Salan:
http://saigon-vietnam.fr/raoul-salan_en.php
You are very right about the impartial nature of French courts in Vietnam. For example, approximately 200 suspects arrested during the Yen Bay mutiny were released due to lack of evidence against them. Pham Quynh, a high-ranking Mandarin in the Nguyen court, was very faithful to the monarchy but saw the benefits of Annam and Tonkin (both imperial domains) being French protectorates. He and Nguyen Van Vinh (a Vietnamese intellectual who wanted direct French rule, as seen in Cochin China) had differing visions to how French rule could manifest itself. Quynh's biography can be read here:
https://madmonarchist.blogspot.com/2011/09/monarchist-profile-pham-quynh.html
Another area of interest is the way that the highland tribes were governmentally organised by French officials. For example, Leopold Sabatier, wanted French and Chinese business interests out off the Central Highlands so that highland minorities, such as the Rhade and Jarai, were protected from them. He was supported in his position by Pierre Pasquier, the governor-general of French Indochina (1928-1934). The French also made the Central Highlands and Tonkinese highlands domains of the Nguyen monarchy during the war against the Viet Minh. Jean Cousseau (you would have came across his name in Background to Betrayal) set up this scheme:
https://indochine.uqam.ca/en/historical-dictionary/323-cousseau-jean-germain-noel-bernard-1901.html
Thank you for this thoughtful comment and wealth of resources. I shall check them out!
America did not abandon this rather charming activity of theirs even after the Cold War ended. While communism as such was defeated, the ideological offshoots of that same root are still being enthusiastically forced down the throats of peoples who neither need nor deserve them.
If I had to highlight one thing in particular, it would be the consistent and ongoing screwing over of what we here tend to call the “bourgeoisie.” (People often confuse the bourgeoisie with the middle class, conveniently leaving out its most essential trait. A bourgeois is someone who, by nature, does not depend on the state. A bourgeois is independent.)
I find it quite amusing that these egalitarian do-gooders never whined about land redistribution in America or elsewhere. At least not until the estates were in private hands. One gets the impression that the goal all along was to make existence outside the state simply impossible.
Communism is jewish colonialism. It's the most effective way for a minority to take the wealth from the target country without having any real sacrifice in the conquest.