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We did not defeat Communism.Reader comment on item: An Arab Prince Denounces Islamism Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jan 13, 2015 at 12:49 The prince said, "We faced communism and we faced it together. But when we faced communism we understood it as an ideology. Terrorism is not an ideology."" It is certainly true that "terrorism is not an ideology". But is the rest of what the prince said true? Did we really fight "Communism" in the past century? No. Here's a list of whom we fought: Korea. We fought against nationalistically-motivated Koreans and Chinese. They saw the American occupation as a continuation of the Japanese occupation. Vietnam. ditto. Substitute "Vietnamese" for "Koreans and Chinese". Russia. We succeeded in driving the Communist Party from power, by forcing the Soviet Union to its knees ECONOMICALLY. Note that our targets were Russian bellies, not Russian minds. The Communist ideology is still alive and well, in Russia and elsewhere. The Russians aren't buying it, however, because you can't eat an ideology. China. How did we "defeat" Communist China? By giving official recognition to the Communists instead of to the Kuomintang? That's an odd way to defeat an ideology. The last I heard, the Communist Party still ruled in China, and in North Korea, and in Vietnam; and it's been finding new life in Latin America. We never defeated Communism. What we defeated, was the Soviet Union; and we co-opted the Chinese and Vietnamese -- while they have also co-opted us. The notion that social inequality can be remedied by stealing from the rich and redistributing the wealth, is alive and well in America; and its chief proponent is the US President. So we didn't defeat Communism -- not in Russia, not in China. We just merged with it; and today we are merging with Islam. Meanwhile, we've re-labeled "Islam" as "Terrorism", and simultaneously re-labeled "terrorists" as "militants". In this way, we've made both "Islam" and "terrorism" meaningless. Our President, meanwhile, a Muslim born and bred, is going about fighting "terrorism" by relentlessly pressuring Israel to concede to Hamas and Fatah. With that fellow as our "Interpreter-in-Chief", it's a small wonder that those who follow him (and re-elected him) are also confused. The prince has a point, though. As long as we CALLED the "Cold War" a "War against Communism", we were able to focus our enmity against countries, which were real enemies. Today, we can't focus on anything -- we live, fight and die in a blur. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Reader comments (42) on this item
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All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |