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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (89148)	4/2/2003 11:26:59 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Do you think that most third world and developing countries really distinguish between the French, the Brits, and the Americans? To them we are all westerners. Our names change but we're all after the same thing. I am not saying that these guys did not believe in communism. I am saying the reason communism appealed to them was because they perceived it as the best option open to a nationalist. To ignore how the British pushed opium on the Chinese and tried to control them the way a crack dealer controls his customers is to ignore why a pro-western regime would have a very hard time coming to power in China. And yes, Mao was concerned with kicking the Japanese out. For most of the history, China has been the center of culture and progress in the far east. Japan on the other hand, from a Chinese perspective, was 3rd world country. To be subjugated by the Japanese, was as hard for them to swallow as to it would be for an American to accept being ruled by Palestinians. The tendency to minimize one's own faults and blame others for everything is not unique to Americans. Mao concluded two things: first that China had been weakened because of the Westerners. And second that Japan had risen to power not because Japanese were any better, but because they were a united force (Chinese are known to undercut each other). These were two major backdrops against which Mao came to believe in his own brand of Communism. I can point out similar things about others. Similarly, having watched tapes of trials of Iranian communists under Shah, it is clear to me that most chose communism to a great extent because America was so much in support of Shah. Think of it as the ideological version of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, with the bonus that only Soviets could provide the best support for dissenting movements. The best solution to this phenomena would have been to force those regimes to allow alternate methods of dissent. ST