I recently learned that the man in the painting was arguing against rebuilding a burnt-down school
I am morbidly curious as to why
“South Vietnam was good” - friendly catholic
Bloody fuck
Building off the techniques pioneered in previous interventions, police training programs were an integral part of American counter-insurgency strategy in Vietnam, where they aided in the creation of an [antisocialist] police state and helped to stoke civil conflict. Training began in 1955 as a centerpiece of America’s “nation-building” campaign on behalf of President Ngô Đình Diệm, who replaced French puppet emperor Bảo Đại following the temporary division of the country under the 1954 Geneva Accords. Valued by the U.S. for his anticommunism, Diệm had little interest in developing a […] democracy and wanted to establish his own political dynasty. The principal U.S. motive was to contain the spread of the Chinese revolutionary movement, which threatened the Open Door policy. The Eisenhower administration refused to allow mandated elections to unify the country, which it knew would be won by the revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh, whom the State Department referred to as the “ablest” and “most charismatic leader” in the country.
[…]
The MSU team developed an identity card system to monitor political activity as part of Diệm’s anticommunist denunciation campaign. Those found with links to the Vietminh, who had led the liberation struggle against France, were arrested and faced torture at an assortment of prison camps, or were “disappeared,” as internal reports noted. Even Diệm’s own chief of staff, Trần Văn Đôn, derided the use of “Gestapo-like police raids and torture” against “those who simply opposed the government.” U.S. support was crucial in shaping South Vietnam’s evolution into what Foreign Affairs described as a “quasi-police state marred by arbitrary arrests, censorship of the press and the absence of political opposition.” The passage of law 10/59 allowing for the execution of régime opponents resulted in the declaration of armed resistance by the National Liberation Front (NLF), whose leader, Nguyễn Hữu Thọ was rescued from house arrest through infiltration of Diệm’s police by revolutionary supporters.
(Emphasis added. Source.)
friendly catholic and moderate queer
oh so you’re hating yourself on multiple different levels then
