4 ms·

Just asking to nail down definition of "puppet": is SK a US puppet?

lisper 10y ago
A puppet state is one that is set up to look like an independent state but is in fact entirely de facto controlled by (i.e. cannot do anything without the approval of) another state. Iran between 1953 and 1979 was a U.S. puppet. Syria seems to be on the road to becoming a Russian puppet. SK is not a US puppet, and NK is not really a Chinese puppet either (that's what I meant by the "Chucky" comment). It has generally become unfashionable to have puppet states nowadays. They're too hard to maintain.
- eternalban 10y ago
  > Iran between 1953 and 1979 was a U.S. puppet. Are you repeating n-th hand propaganda? I kind of don't blame you since Google refuses to dig up the story of "Soviet-Iranian Agreement of Cooperation" of 1966. This agreement was reached because the West refused to support Iran's industrialization program under the Shah, so the "puppet" went ahead and reached an agreement with USSR. Intelligence Memorandum, CIA, June 1967: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000381440.pdf https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000381440....
  - lisper 10y ago
    > Are you repeating n-th hand propaganda? Quite possible. The document you cite was news to me. Maybe there has never been an actual U.S. puppet state, I don't know.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Wikipedia lists the Republic of Texas as one, and South Vietnam as a potential one. Assassinating an uncooperative leader while a bunch of American soldiers were in the country certainly seems like the sort of thing that would happen in a puppet state, anyway.
    - eternalban 10y ago
      > The document you cite was news to me. "There is a deeply disturbing trend in the world of ever increased deference to power. The free press is ..." I respectfully suggest to you that this is no "trend".
    - AlgorithmicTime 10y ago
      Eh, Cuba after the Spanish-American War, Panama immediately after their revolution, and of course the Banana Republics of late 19th - early 20th century fame.
- Floegipoky 10y ago
  I think the argument could be made that the Philippines were a US puppet state at certain points in their history

A puppet state is one that is set up to look like an independent state but is in fact entirely de facto controlled by (i.e. cannot do anything without the approval of) another state. Iran between 1953 and 1979 was a U.S. puppet. Syria seems to be on the road to becoming a Russian puppet. SK is not a US puppet, and NK is not really a Chinese puppet either (that's what I meant by the "Chucky" comment). It has generally become unfashionable to have puppet states nowadays. They're too hard to maintain.

eternalban 10y ago
> Iran between 1953 and 1979 was a U.S. puppet. Are you repeating n-th hand propaganda? I kind of don't blame you since Google refuses to dig up the story of "Soviet-Iranian Agreement of Cooperation" of 1966. This agreement was reached because the West refused to support Iran's industrialization program under the Shah, so the "puppet" went ahead and reached an agreement with USSR. Intelligence Memorandum, CIA, June 1967: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000381440.pdf https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000381440....
- lisper 10y ago
  > Are you repeating n-th hand propaganda? Quite possible. The document you cite was news to me. Maybe there has never been an actual U.S. puppet state, I don't know.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    Wikipedia lists the Republic of Texas as one, and South Vietnam as a potential one. Assassinating an uncooperative leader while a bunch of American soldiers were in the country certainly seems like the sort of thing that would happen in a puppet state, anyway.
  - eternalban 10y ago
    > The document you cite was news to me. "There is a deeply disturbing trend in the world of ever increased deference to power. The free press is ..." I respectfully suggest to you that this is no "trend".
  - AlgorithmicTime 10y ago
    Eh, Cuba after the Spanish-American War, Panama immediately after their revolution, and of course the Banana Republics of late 19th - early 20th century fame.
Floegipoky 10y ago
I think the argument could be made that the Philippines were a US puppet state at certain points in their history