The ongoing RUSSIA-UKRAINE war’s final result may not be known now, but the manner in which Russia is finding it hard to win over Ukraine does remind us of the US position in the VIETNAM WAR in the past (fought from almost 1955 to 1975) and certainly leaves important lessons for CHINA for the future ..
The VIETNAM war was also essentially a power struggle between the US and the erstwhile USSR, reflective of the cold war era of that time, with VIETNAM being the centre of conflict, exactly in the same manner as Ukraine is today.
That war was also fought on a land, foreign to both the US and the USSR and therefore neither super power were to bear any war devastations at the outset, with the host nation (then VIETNAM, today Ukraine) bearing the maximum physical and infrastructural damage.
VIETNAM was also a relatively unknown and small nation as compared to the two super powers, as much as Ukraine is today.
The VIETNAM war also led to a mass exodus of the VIETNAMESE, similar to the manner in which the Ukraine citizens today have suddenly got converted into war refugees from being well settled happy contented citizens. The then exodus from VIETNAM (especially South Vietnam) was so huge that today the people of Vietnam origin constitute the fourth largest Asian American ethnic group in the US.
Yet there was an essential difference. In the Vietnam war, the USSR played an indirect supporting role by supplying arms from the back to the local North Vietnamese soldiers to fight their war, and the US took a frontal position in support of the South Vietnamese soldiers. In the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the US and Russia have done a ROLE REVERSAL with the former taking a backseat and playing an indirect role, leaving Russia to take all the frontal backlash.
The US entered the Vietnam war with the intention of turning it in favour of the South Vietnamese pro democracy soldiers, in their fight against the North Vietnamese Communist onslaught. After regaining independence from Japan and France in 1954, a power struggle started in Vietnam, with the communist North Vietnamese administration trying to take control over the pro democracy South Vietnam, with the backend support of the erstwhile USSR and China.
The US, then glorified, much feared after the Hiroshima-Nagasaki atomic Bombs dropping and intoxicated by its super power status attained after its successive wins in both the World Wars, jumped into the VIETNAM WAR in support of South Vietnam, equipped with huge artillery and heavily armed men. The US took the war so seriously, personally and for so long that, in Vietnam it is known as the AMERICAN WAR !!!
But little did the US realise that fighting and winning wars in the open and uncrowded landscapes of Europe amidst essentially English speaking and culturally similar host population in the two World Wars, was not the same as fighting a war in the thick dense tropical forests of culturally and linguistically different Vietnam.
Neither could its artillery move through the thick jungles, nor could its helicopters land and peep through the dense foliage, nor could its communication systems work in uncertain terrains, rendering all of its heavy machinery practically useless. Besides, its Army men were also unaware of the tactics of gorilla war fare, with the locals and the opposing local North Vietnamese soldiers replicating sounds of birds and animals to send signals at lightening speed through the forest. Despite being heavily armed, the US and the South Vietnamese soldiers lost the war to the local relatively lightly armed North Vietnam.
While the USSR registered all the gains and wins by supplying hand held and shoulder supported short range guns and missiles to the local North Vietnamese soldiers, the US then learnt its bitter lesson the hard way. It embarrassingly lost some 58-60,000 of its soldiers, forcing the then President JF Kennedy to call for a withdrawal of its soldiers stating that, ‘IT IS AFTERALL THEIR WAR‘.
The US has now learnt its lesson so well that despite repeated calls for help from the Ukrainian President in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, it has categorically and repeatedly refused to enter into the war from the front, and has played only a back-end role by supplying arms, imposing sanctions, and influencing opinions.
In a similar manner, the heavily armed Russia is finding it difficult to make a significant headway in front of the tiny Ukrainian army despite using its best machinery, artillery, air force, man power, technology etc. etc. even after more than 20 days of the war, although Russia had a-priori staged tall claims of swiping over the whole of Ukraine within barely three days. So much so that, Russia has now resorted to directly hitting civilian areas, out of much desperation and frustration.
It appears that it is time now that Russia also learns its lesson the hard way, that:
‘It is men who fight war, and not weapons’
‘It is a different matter developing and possessing weapons, and using them’
Who can understand this better than the general citizens of Ukraine who have picked up arms, howsoever small and insignificant, to defend their beloved motherland and are giving a tough fight to the mighty Russian army …
Russia needs to understand that in today’s times of:
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omnipresent fast communication networks displaying real time live news and videos of war zone instantly,
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heavily integrated global financial and product markets,
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millions of people remaining glued to their screens forming and influencing opinions
… the repercussions of indulging in and waging wars is not limited to only losing your weapons and men.
There is a much greater potential loss of image, respect, authority, superiority and also of income levels of the home population to be borne, which might take ages to recover. Today, the global sentiments against Russia and in favour of Ukraine are so profound that Ukraine might recover and rebuild faster from the war than would Russia, despite bearing all the infrastructural damage.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war also serves a practical and experimental lesson for CHINA, which every now and then tries to flex its muscles to invade Taiwan or to intervene into the internal matters of India, or to claim Indian territory, despite being only a recent entrant and a novice in the World Super Power Race. It needs to learn and understand that:
‘it is a different matter threatening a country, and winning over it’
especially when China is already under suspicion and scanner for the corona virus spread, has lost much friends and respect, and is already subject to several sanctions.
Hoping for some enlightenment of both RUSSIA and CHINA ..
Amen !!!
