Are there parallels between Israel's assault on Gaza and the American assault on North Vietnam during the Vietnam War?
Both conflicts involved asymmetrical warfare, with a technologically superior force (Israel and the United States, respectively) facing off against a determined guerrilla force (Hamas in Gaza and the Viet Cong in Vietnam). Both conflicts also saw significant civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.
@trollslayer Vietnam was fundamentally a colonial war, or a continuation of the earlier French colonial war in Indochina. There are those who say that Israel is promoting colonial ambitions in Gaza. There were elements of anti-colonial struggle on the part of the Vietnamese people who fought against U.S. foreign intervention.
No because in Vietnam,the enemy was kind of on two levels,there was the local guerilla forces the Vietcong,and also the regular forces of North Vietnam,with a large army,and airforces etc. Also Vietnam is a large country with large rural area where guerillas can operate with a lot of impunity.The N border with N Vietnam the USA tied its own hands by not invading the North..
With Gaza,the Israelis have what is Hamas,basically bottled up within the area of a city. Gaza is similar to Stalingrad..A kind of linear area,with water to its back,giving the enemy nowhere to retreat. In theory,if Israel was to disregard all humanity,it could simply level all of Gaza and quickly. Israel has allowed public opinion abroad to tie its hands in how it wipes out Hamas.
The biggest difference is that Israel borders Gaza while the US had to project power to a country on the other side of the world. The Vietnam War had more in common with the Revolutionary War, where an imperial superpower was attempting to subjugate an indigenous outpost.
Both assaults were done because people in power used fear-mongering to stay in power. The Vietnamese weren't actually a threat to us, but the government manufactured the Red Scare. With Israel, Hamas is a threat, but the government is pretending all Palestinians are Hamas. Plus, Israel pretty much created Hamas through the apartheid.
@BohemianBabe Couldn't you say France created the Vietnamese Communists and the Vietcong through colonialism? Vietnam was fundamentally a colonial war, or a continuation of the earlier French colonial war in Indochina. There are those who say that Israel is promoting colonial ambitions in Gaza. There were elements of anti-colonial struggle on the part of the Vietnamese people who fought against U.S. foreign intervention.
@trollslayer While American involvement in the Indochina War was primarily driven by Cold War considerations, including containment of communism, it was also influenced by France's colonial interests in the region. The US supported France as part of its broader strategy to prevent the spread of communism and maintain stability in Southeast Asia, but French colonialism played a role in shaping the context of that support. And again, as far as the Vietnamese were comcerned, there were elements of anti-colonial struggle on the part of the Vietnamese people who fought against U.S. foreign intervention.
Maybe. Didn't Americans ever expel the natives and declare a new land, and remove and kill the natives to get the land? Ever (trail of tears, Hawaiian overthrow... ) ever? Please stop gaslighting me.
