Ignoring Nosey Charlie

2019 ◽  
pp. 153-189
Author(s):  
Sean J. McLaughlin

This chapter surveys transformations in the international system from the summer of 1962 to Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. In Vietnam, the Diem regime’s bloody repression of Buddhists and student protesters in mid-1963 sparked American revulsion and widespread distaste for the Kennedy administration’s wayward client state. As the situation in South Vietnam grew increasingly tumultuous, American embassy telegraphs out of Saigon revealed a profound distrust of French motives. The administration fixated on the notion that Roger Lalouette, the French ambassador, was plotting with the president’s brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, to arrange a cease-fire with the Viet Cong and potentially secure a reunification deal with the North in exchange for the removal of American forces. Lalouette was indeed working with Nhu, but he was trying to hammer out a deal that would give the Kennedy administration a “peace with honor” and an opportunity to exit the country before the situation spiraled out of control. The Kennedy administration was unable to accept that French efforts to foster North-South dialogue were the logical byproduct of a long-standing regional peace policy, interpreting Lalouette’s actions instead as part of a sinister Gaullist conspiracy to drive Americans out of Southeast Asia.

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-30
Author(s):  
Tuong Vu

The terms “decolonization” and “Cold War” refer to specific processes and periods in the international system, but they do not capture the full agency of local actors such as Vietnamese Communists. Based on recently available archival materials from Hanoi, this article maps those terms onto Vietnamese Communist thinking through four specific cases. The declassified materials underscore the North Vietnamese leaders’ deep commitment to a radical worldview and their occasional willingness to challenge Moscow and Beijing for leadership of world revolution. The article illuminates the connections (or lack thereof) between global, regional, and local politics and offers a more nuanced picture of how decolonization in Southeast Asia in the 1950s–1980s sparked not only a Cold War confrontation but also a regional war.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4920 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-144
Author(s):  
DAVID KRÁL ◽  
YUANYUAN LU ◽  
MING BAI

The genus Airapus Stebnicka & Howden, 1996 currently comprises 26 extant species distributed in the Australian and Oriental zoogeographical regions (Stebnicka & Howden 1996; Stebnicka 1998, 2009; Rakovič et al. 2019; Král et al. 2019; Minkina 2020) and one fossil species from the Eocene Baltic amber (Tamutis et al. 2017). Of the continental Southeast Asia, only three species have been known so far: Airapus cechovskyi Král, Mencl & Rakovič, 2019 (mainland Malaysia: Kelantan), A. tyri Král, Mencl & Rakovič, 2019 (Central Thailand: Phetchaburi Province) and A. sicardi ( Paulian, 1945) (Laos: “Cochinchine: Long Xuyen” and South Vietnam: “Annam: Tanh Hoa”) (Paulian 1945; Balthasar 1964; Král et al. 2019). Examination of the material housed in the collections of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, revealed Airapus material belonging to an undescribed species. Its formal description is presented in this paper. This new species is another, fourth species occurring in mainland Southeast Asia. It is also the first country record from China. The geographical distribution of the genus is now known to the north as far as Fujian Province. 


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-352
Author(s):  
Irnerio Seminatore

The emergence and evolution of the literature dealing with interdependence in the international System is looked into. An attempt is made to show its significance and main points as well as its implications. The debates on interdependence within the North-American political context are regarded as solutions to the preceding issues on dependence. Interesting passages are dedicated to the impact of the interdependence theory on the interpretation of the international system, as illustrated by two schools of thought in foreign policy (Kissinger-Brzezinski). Linkage of the tactical and strategic aspects to the economic and political interrelation of international relations, as put forward by policy makers, has brought to the fore the difficulties and limits of negotiation in the face of competition and in the aftermath of confrontation. This paper offers subtle, yet positive, conclusions on the use of the interdependance theory in international policy.


2017 ◽  
pp. 22-32
Author(s):  
Mayuri Pandya ◽  
Binod Das

Climate change is a multi-dimensional global problem. Its causes and impacts are distributed and felt across the International system, surpassing the traditional boundaries and jurisdictions of the states. The complex politics of climate change results from the global economy's interdependence on green house gas emissions. This paper attempts to explore the politics of climate change between developed and developing countries, International relations practice and environment issues in various International conferences. The historical perspective of climate change issues eliberated since Stockholm conference to the latest Paris conference is analysed. Adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology all these issues are highlighted in the paper. The paper has viewed that the International policy on environment is being shaped by inequality of bargaining power between the North and South. The developing countries under the leadership of India have taken firm position against the developed nations on the issue of green house gas emission, funding and technology, the paper has argued. Towards the end, this paper has focused on possible measures to address the problems of climate change through foreign policy initiatives, trade and investment, adaptation and mitigation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-334
Author(s):  
Edmund F. Wehrle

America's Miracle Man in Vietnam presents a prime example of the controversial new cultural trend in U.S. diplomatic history. On the surface, the author's depiction of the process whereby Ngo Dinh Diem became America's candidate to head the new country of South Vietnam is familiar (see, for instance, George Herring, America's Longest War, Temple University Press, 1986, 50–69). Echoing others, Jacobs argues that the U.S. promotion of Diem ultimately led to severe setbacks in Southeast Asia. So blatant were Diem's flaws, Jacobs insists, virtually any prescient observer could have predicted his unsuitability to lead nascent South Vietnam. Diem had no political base, was “undeniably an autocrat,” and appeared to be an eccentric loner by virtually all accounts (38). Once in office, Diem predictably launched his “reign of terror and error,” alienating legions of his countrymen and strengthening his opposition, which emerged officially as the National Liberation Front in 1960 (17).


Author(s):  
Heng Yee-Kuang

The tiny Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore has a reputation for adroit and nimble diplomacy, built upon an ingrained desire to overcome its vulnerability by maintaining its strategic relevance and economic prosperity in an international system that is seen as essentially anarchic. As its neighborhood experiences major shifts in the strategic and economic domains, Singapore finds itself once again having to strike a balance between getting out of harm’s way and capitalizing on opportunities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCOS VINICIUS ISAIAS MENDES

ABSTRACT The paper aims to present some aspects of the debate about the end of the hegemony of the United States, in light of the theories of systemic cycles of accumulation and hegemonic stability. Among the conclusions, the paper shows that the North-American hegemony is diminishing not only because of the emergence of new powerful countries, such as China, but because the international system, composed by new powerful actors such as multinational corporations, global cities, religious organizations and transnational terrorist groups, is diminishing the means by which the US has exercised its global power since the mid twentieth century.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Haun ◽  
Colin Jackson

Most traditional accounts identify the Linebacker I and Linebacker II campaigns as the most effective and consequential uses of U.S. air power in the Vietnam War. They argue that deep interdiction in North Vietnam played a central role in the defeat of the Easter Offensive and that subsequent strategic attacks on Hanoi forced the North Vietnamese to accept the Paris accords. These conclusions are false. The Linebacker campaigns were rather ineffective in either stopping the Communist offensive or compelling concessions. The most effective and consequential use of U.S. air power came in the form of close air support and battlefield air interdiction directly attacking the North Vietnamese Army in South Vietnam. The success of these air strikes hinged on the presence of a U.S.-operated tactical air control system that incorporated small numbers of ground advisers, air liaison officers, and forward air controllers. This system, combined with abundant U.S. aircraft and a reasonably effective allied army, was the key to breaking the Easter Offensive and compelling Hanoi to agree to the Paris accords. The effectiveness of close air support and battlefield air interdiction and the failure of deep interdiction and strategic attack in the Vietnam War have important implications for the use of air power and advisers in contemporary conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.


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