This commentary article by Mu Shu is to analyze the similarities and differences between the Russian-Ukrainian War and the Vietnam War .
The reason why I talked about this topic was that I saw a Western think tank researcher's analysis and found that this contrast was interesting; it can be used as a stone in another mountain to understand the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ho Chi Minh During the Vietnam War in the 1960s, he was interviewed by American media. He even said something to Americans in fluent English: I think I am familiar with Americans. But I don't understand why ordinary Americans support this war.
The founding father of Vietnam, also a learned speaker familiar with 5 languages, was also an experienced speaker, and was also an American history student, intellectually and morally capable of raising this question. Ho Chi Minh said in an interview that he admired Washington because he was a freedom fighter who defeated colonialists.
Ho Chi Minh’s understanding of the Vietnam War, if it is put into today’s context, is it why would the Russians support launching a war in Ukraine?
Many people may think they understand the Russians, so they are willing to find some similarities and differences from the comparison between the two wars. Because the Ukrainian war has many people wonder whether this is another "Vietnam War" in Russia.
Some analysts believe that Russia is repeating the mistakes made by Western powers in Indochina and the Americans in the Vietnam War.
The first is the misunderstanding when Russia decided to launch the Ukrainian war.
One of the fundamental reasons for the failure of the United States and France in Vietnam that year is that they underestimated Vietnam. They thought that the Vietnamese were weak and that the Vietnamese ruling class was greedy for pleasure and was easily conquered. But I didn't see Ho Chi Minh's tenacity and cohesion for the nation. That's why I dare to take risks.
This is just like Russia determines that Ukrainian is a piece of loose sand, Zelensky is just a playboy movie actor, but does not deeply understand that all this in the war will be different from usual.
In the end, Russia had to pay the price of tens of thousands of lives for this misunderstanding.
The second mistake is that like Americans, they lack the understanding of the depth and breadth of war.
Americans have always believed that victory can be achieved in a short time in terms of manpower, material resources and weapons. But in the winter of 1968, he encountered the New Year offensive in Vietnam.
This made the Americans suddenly realize the enemy's resourcefulness and determination, and thus questioned the inefficiency of the management of the American War . And this is exactly the effect of Ukraine's massive counterattack on land controlled by the Russians in recent weeks.
Russia began to re-understand the breadth and depth of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and large-scale recruitment and mobilization is an example.
In other words, in order to deal with the effectiveness of the Ukrainian counterattack, Russia is currently repeating the United States' response to the fighting spirit of North Vietnam. At that time, the Johnson administration of the United States increased the number of US troops investing in Vietnam War from 180,000 to 500,000 in more than two years. But it still cannot turn the defeat around. The third mistake of
is that I think the people of my country have a strong bearing.
The United States encountered the largest anti-war movement in history during the Vietnam War. This superimposes the poor fighting on the front line, which ultimately leads to the failure and withdrawal of the US military.
Is Russia the same? Although under the strict control of the authorities, the anti-war movement could not be held as universally and publicly as during the Vietnam War, it can be seen from the fact that hundreds of thousands of Russians or elites fled the country in just 10 days that the people still have a clear understanding of the risks of the war.
The people have no enthusiasm for war, so that the Russian-Ukrainian war has become a "business" for political parties who continue to bathe in the flames and the poor who cannot leave who will die in the flames.
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