VLVL 4: Vietnam War

[pynchonoid]

> 
> RJ:
>  >It
> > was an actual war between North Vietnam and South
> > Vietnam, which were
> > sovereign states until 1975, 

me:
> Only because the US sabotaged efforts for the two
> sides to reunite in the wake of the French defeat,
> in
> the '50s.  

More accurately, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's
independence in 1945, after the defeat of the
Japanese.  France wanted to regain control. The
"international community" (i.e., the US) divided the
country in 1954. A set of Geneva Accords called for
free elections throughout the country in 1956, but the
US, through its puppet Diem, prevented elections in
the southern part of the partioned nation, and instead
helped Diem fight against the North Vietnamese,
prolonging the tragedy that the French initiated.

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