As we look at the Ukraine War going nowhere but to what seems a hopeless cause, and the very real possibility of NATO open intervention with ground troops and airpower on the table, I thought it might be good to look back at another unnecessary war for empire.
The simple truth is that Vietnam was not important on a global scale until the US decided to intervene on a widescale.
LBJ greatly escalated what had been a rather small US intervention in Vietnam. Some believe he escalated the conflict as payback to defense contractors. Others believe it was to give him space politically to engage in massive social programs of the Great Society. US involvement in Vietnam prior to LBJ was minor support of South Vietnam against the Viet Cong, including training and massive rebuilding of Vietnamese society along Western lines.
The Domino Theory proposed that the Communist Bloc would advance one country at a time until it had conquered the world and that the US needed to oppose communist efforts anywhere in the world that they occurred. It was a great measure, along with Containment, to force the US into a global posture. It gave cover to the US empire, and the exploitation of the “free” world by US corporate interests.
One of the biggest fears in Washington in the immediate post-WW2 era was that the Great Depression would return. US foreign policy figures in the Truman administration had largely created the Cold War as an excuse to keep America engaged in the world and avoid another Great Depression.
The US pushed France to reoccupy Vietnam after WW2, including shipping French troops to the country and paying for French efforts to reestablish French control. Until the French troops arrived, the US used Japanese troops to keep order. This occurred even prior to Mao’s victory in the Chinese Civil War.
The Pentagon Papers explicitly found that the US had no interests in Vietnam outside of saving face and US credibility. For those who don't know, the Pentagon Papers were a US Defense Department-funded study of US involvement in Vietnam between 1945 and 1967 conducted by the RAND Corp. Daniel Ellsberg leaked portions in 1971.
LBJ’s escalation drained the US treasury and weakened the dollar. LBJ paid a price, as antiwar efforts caused him to end his 1968 reelection campaign. Nixon ran on having a “secret” plan to end the war. Nixon had built his career on the idea of his being an anti-Communist, including using Red-baiting attacks on political opponents, as well as his involvement with Whitaker Chambers.
Once Nixon won election, his plan largely consisted of increasing the war to force the Vietnamese to negotiate on his terms. He invaded Cambodia and Laos, unleashed massive bombing campaigns, and increased combat operations. Nixon created an image of himself as a “madman”, willing to risk greater conflict in order to achieve peace “with honor”.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the 1968 Tet Offensive, while fueling domestic antiwar protests, saw the destruction of the Viet Cong as a large-scale fighting force. The US gradually withdrew most of the ground troops by 1972, which saw North Vietnam launch the Easter Offensive with 300,000 troops and 1,200 tanks. North Vietnam lost most of its tanks and a large portion of the army. Almost no US ground troops engaged in combat operations during the Easter Offensive, so it appeared that the Republic of Vietnam would be able to defend itself as long as it had US air support.
However, with Nixon removed by the Watergate scandal, and Congress in full power and Ford weak, when the North Vietnamese next invaded in 1975, with an army more than twice as big, the US did not provide any air support. The South was betrayed and overrun. Millions fled rather than live under communism.
So how does this relate to Ukraine?
Ukraine also isn't really in any national interest but is also important because the US made it important to aid a policy goal of the American empire.
Yes, Ukraine has grain and seed oils and is resource rich in minerals. It was actually a mini Russia, and but for oligarch and multinational looting for 30 years, should be a rich country.
Ukraine’s main use to America is as a tool to hurt Russia and to take part of the loot. Now that America has made the Ukraine War a vital interest, the failure of Ukraine in this war may actually threaten NATO.
If NATO dies, it is not the end of the America empire, but it may bring about changes in the nature of the empire. America didn’t participate in the multipolar world of the 19th century and its leaders are ill-trained to participate in a multipolar world. The most likely result then is that American leaders will engage in further disastrous schemes that will hurt America at home and abroad. We really will be copying Athens on its path to decline.
There’s been something rolling around in my head a while and I think it may be somewhat ironic. If America disengaged from NATO and it fell apart, it seems like the fallout could be disastrous for the freedom and security many millions of people, even maybe extending to us. Conversely, it is my preferred outcome of this conflict. We cannot continue to subsidize the security of Europe. Even if the alternative is a disaster. In the wake of WW2, they need to start standing on their own. I don’t know if this is madness or a principled stand to take. Realpolitik, I guess. Did you see Robert Malones article about the Kissinger 1975 population control paper? War by other means. Life on this planet would be great if we didn’t have all of these Marxists and Oligarchs running around with their plans to fix us.