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They occupied Cambodia for 11 years, so it's a stretch to say they were adamantly against the idea of foreign interference. Khmer Rouge were nasty to their ow

by gedy 2y ago

They occupied Cambodia for 11 years, so it's a stretch to say they were adamantly against the idea of foreign interference. Khmer Rouge were nasty to their own civilians, but so were the Viet Cong, especially early on in the conflict and to the south after the war.

notahacker 2y ago
tbf, whilst the Viet Cong were often nasty to their civilians, the Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of their own population and had made multiple advances into Vietnam to continue a genocide that had started with ethnic Vietnamese living within Cambodia. It's not really a tenable argument the Viet Cong didn't have just cause for invasion or that their military sticking around whilst the remaining Khmer Rouge cadres waited for an opportunity to return resembled Western colonialism, and the Khmer Rouge is not fondly remembered by Cambodian nationalists or royalists or anticommunists Hun Sen, the Cambodian they installed as deputy PM is still in power having allied with just about every faction in Cambodian politics in various elections and coups; not a testament to the vibrancy of Cambodian democracy but a testament to how the real distinction wasn't between an independent Cambodia and occupation, but between the Khmer Rouge and everything else.
- corimaith 2y ago
  You could say the exact same about Saddam Hussein
  - notahacker 2y ago
    It does miss the bit where Saddam Hussein invades Key West and massacres all its inhabitants...
xuki 2y ago
I'm Vietnamese so I'm obviously biased, but what option did they have? If they left immediately, Khmer Rouge would be back in no time and the cycle would begin again. I don't think the politburo enjoyed occupying Cambodia, as Vietnam was severely punished by the international community for the occupation. It probably pushed back Vietnam's development 10-20 years.
- gedy 2y ago
  I'm not saying there were great alternatives or that it was it was even wrong, just that it's incorrect/naive to call the (then) North Vietnamese gov't "freedom fighters" motivated primarily by anti-colonialism. For sure the propaganda to everyday citizens and soldiers was that it was, but it's pretty clear that was just propaganda at this point.

by gedy 2y ago

notahacker 2y ago

tbf, whilst the Viet Cong were often nasty to their civilians, the Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of their own population and had made multiple advances into Vietnam to continue a genocide that had started with ethnic Vietnamese living within Cambodia. It's not really a tenable argument the Viet Cong didn't have just cause for invasion or that their military sticking around whilst the remaining Khmer Rouge cadres waited for an opportunity to return resembled Western colonialism, and the Khmer Rouge is not fondly remembered by Cambodian nationalists or royalists or anticommunists Hun Sen, the Cambodian they installed as deputy PM is still in power having allied with just about every faction in Cambodian politics in various elections and coups; not a testament to the vibrancy of Cambodian democracy but a testament to how the real distinction wasn't between an independent Cambodia and occupation, but between the Khmer Rouge and everything else.

corimaith 2y ago
You could say the exact same about Saddam Hussein
- notahacker 2y ago
  It does miss the bit where Saddam Hussein invades Key West and massacres all its inhabitants...

xuki 2y ago

I'm Vietnamese so I'm obviously biased, but what option did they have? If they left immediately, Khmer Rouge would be back in no time and the cycle would begin again. I don't think the politburo enjoyed occupying Cambodia, as Vietnam was severely punished by the international community for the occupation. It probably pushed back Vietnam's development 10-20 years.

gedy 2y ago
I'm not saying there were great alternatives or that it was it was even wrong, just that it's incorrect/naive to call the (then) North Vietnamese gov't "freedom fighters" motivated primarily by anti-colonialism. For sure the propaganda to everyday citizens and soldiers was that it was, but it's pretty clear that was just propaganda at this point.