You need to read a little more history. South Vietnam wasn't a "country," it was a fiction dreamed up by the Dulles Brothers and their cohorts.
Under that definition, then EVERY COUNTRY that was part of a previous empire was a "fiction".
All Arab countries.. All African countries.. And if you take it back far enough, you can say the same for every other state...
Hell, Germany could be claimed to be such a "fiction" under this definition, since it was only a bunch of principalities under the control of the Holy Roman empire, as recently as the 1800's.
en.wikipedia.org
And thus, N. Vietnam was just as much a "fiction" as S. Vietnam. And Ho Chi Minh's claim to be a nationalist was no most authoritative than Diem's.
We ignored the cultural history of Vietnam, ignored the deep feelings of hatred of 80% of the country for the 20% that were favored under the French, and tried to establish that 20% as rulers of the south and it failed. Miserably. Predictably.
It would seem that the Communists did TOO.. After all, what kind of tradional history did Communism have in Vietnamese culture?
The communist regime has only been able to retain its position of authority through fear, coercion, and absolute domination of the people. The fact that hundreds of thousands fled the country, the "re-education" camps (I know people who in them), and the blatant fact that their economy has remained a shambles for the past 30 years bears stark testament to how "non-Vietnamese" the communist regime as been.
Only recently, taking an example from China, have they commenced opening up.
Face some facts. Ho Chi Minh spent the majority of the early portion of his life LIVING OUTSIDE OF VIETNAM. He brought back foreign ideals (Communism) which were IMPOSED upon the Vietnamese people through brute force which led to a state of national terror and oppression, especially for the various other ethnicities who were subjugated.
That does not make him someone to be admired or honored.
Hawk |
