Dear David,

I'm glad that your sons did not have to go to Vietnam.

Sons of our friends sons were called up. One being a doctor
delivered babies in a helicopter. It's an experience
he won't talk about to this day.

The other - came back mentally unstable. He never
recovered when his mates head ended up in his lap.

cont'd ...

Sorry for the typo.

I meant to say that our close friends sons were drafted.

Mr Opinion said- "But both were split on the type of political system they should have: Communist or democratic. They were both split into North and South to resolve the problem but in the Cold War era they became the battlefields for a wider global conflict between the US and the USSR. Does that help in understanding what had happened?"

Answer- Thanks for the clarification Mr Opinion. Your explanation was interesting.

It seems that we are in for further "splits" in the future. However it seems that so called "Liberal Democracy" as it gets larger begins to seem more like communism. Both Communism and Locke Liberalism believe in the Tabula Rasa paradigm. Perhaps Locke was part of the road which led to Marx. This indicates perhaps that the future wars will be between Localism and Globalism/ Traditionalism and Liberalism.

After all Marx did say that all roads lead to Communism.

This is interesting...

The Paris Commune (French: Commune de Paris, pronounced [kɔmyn də paʁi]) was a radical socialist, anti-religious, and revolutionary government that ruled Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune

This seems to be one of the very early Communist governments and earliest uses of Communist tactics.

It seems that history does repeat itself

Dear Canem Malum,

It was not so simple as a split between Communism and democracy. What the US called the Free World included many dictators. There was an endemic racism in the US. After the Hungarian revolt the US admitted many Hungarians to the United States. After Vietnam split into north and south many Vietnamese fled from the dictatorship of the north. The US was far less eager to let them in then they were to let the Hungarians in. The US supported dictators such as that of Duvalier in Haiti. Ho Chi Minh who fought the Americans with the aid of the communists was an admirer of Thomas Jefferson.

https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/ho-chi-minh-thomas-jefferson/

If the United States had really been interested in democracy it would have supported Ho Chi Minh setting up a democratic state as he had democratic tendencies rather than supporting the French puppet regime in South Vietnam under Bao Dai and later Diem.. The US became involved in the Vietnamese War helping the French maintain their colonial empire. North Vietnam in desperation turned to the communists and became a communist dictatorship.

North Vietnam was invaded by communist China in 1979 as the communist Chinese were enemies of Vietnam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War#:~:text=Chinese%20forces%20entered%20northern%20Vietnam%20and%20captured%20several,victory%20in%20the%20last%20of%20the%20Indochina%20Wars.

The communist world was split. The Soviet supported North Vietnam and the communist Chinese opposed them. If the USA had really been interested in democracy it would have supported North Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh setting up a democratic state rather than supporting the French puppet government of South Vietnam.

Vietnam now has friendly relations with the US. It could have had friendly relations all along had the United States supported their anti-colonial aspirations and Ho Chi Minh's democratic tendencies.

Real heroes are necessary, hangers-on 'experts' are not as aren't political hindsight commentators !
Many Vietnam war protesters didn't protest against the war itself so much, they protested to get out of having to pull their weight ! The Goaf & Co only won the '72 election because they offered the hangers-on a way out of serving in the forces ! Nothing whatsoever to do with principle or integrity !
No different now where they have no regard for those who provide jobs but greedily demand welfare !
I recall returned soldiers being treated like dirt by the hangers-on.

One thing that should be realized is the immense hypocrisy in international relations. People may fight, kill and die for slogans not reality. The Cold War was not democracy against communism. The Cold War was the United States and its allies versus the Soviet Union and its allies. The United States posed as the champion of democracy but supported dictators as long as they were anti-Soviet. The Soviet Union posed as the champion of anti-colonialism but was itself a patchwork of colonies inherited from the former Russian Empire. At the conclusion of the Cold War the Soviet Union imploded, and the colonies were free. The US is still struggling within to attain democracy.