#proxy wars

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I’m not great at history, so I could be off-base here, but is there a way in which the Ellimist’s and Crayak’s refusal to fight directly and instead have smaller conflicts is a parallel to the Cold War and the proxy wars fought between the US and the USSR?

For basically as long as we've had global imperialism, we've had proxy wars [ETA: and the U.S. just got in another one. Fuck this, seriously. Fuck.] and there's clearly a lot of commentary on them throughout Animorphs. Like, it's no accident that in the dark alternate timeline of MM3, nazi!Jake is talking about wiping out the entire population of South America. That's a clear escalation of what was really happening in the 1990s — the U.S. was overthrowing governments and starting civil wars in South America in the hope of gaining more economic advantages there. And writings from the founding fathers have been transparent about the fact that they took so much territory (California, Texas, Missouri, later Hawaii) because they wanted to sell stuff to the people living there. That policy has continued more or less uninterrupted; the goal shifted to South America in the 1980s, and to western Asia in the 00s.

Anyway, KAA pulls no punches with the anti-imperialism commentary. And the way that the Ellimist and Crayak pussyfoot around admitting how much they manipulate the war is clearly part of that. Like, the Rwanda genocide occurred just over a year before the series started, and the U.S. tied itself in verbal knots not to use the word "genocide" — because the U.N. charter obligated them to intervene in cases of genocide, so if it was just attempted murder of an entire ethnic group as a legal act of war, then they could keep sending attack helicopters without risking any ground troops. If the Ellimist is just making suggestions then he doesn't have to intervene and Crayak doesn't get a counter-move. As Tobias says: "total bull."

[liberalsarecool]

US and Europe are big players.

Let's not forget how Russia is a massive negative destabilizing force in the region/world.

[redriflez]

i am (unfortunately) american but the general fandom of vietnam war movies is made up of people from a multitude of countries, as is the way of the internet. so it's insanely interesting to me to see how people from other countries than mine, esp those which were not involved in the vietnam war, go about interacting with history of the war and with the media about it.

for most people in the US, it's generally a pretty touchy subject. because we're sore losers probably. also for me in particular, as i live in a quite conservative state (west virginia) and place, many veterans from the war live here. wanna preface this by saying that that is pretty far from typical here, but like, it's to a point where even though many of the veterans themselves are much older/dead now, their presence here has been so strong that most have impacted their children, who have in turn affected theirs. for example my dad's dad was in the Army there, my mom's dad and his brother were both Marines and im not sure how to explain this, but you can see the difference in the way they act as opposed to people without relatives who served. my town is fairly small, and we can still feel the weight of the cultural impact that the war has had much stronger than even the average american; it's permeated generations.

but yeah do my mutuals or anybody who isn't from america have any insights they could offer on what got them interested in the vietnam war/media about it, or describe to me any of your opinions on the war from a perspective that hasn't been tainted by it? i wanna hear

[squirmydads-creations]

More fun with Etsy resin prints; the not-Ambull-Ambull. Much cheaper than the official one and fun to paint as well. I started out with a black base, then decided to give it a grey drybrush coat, then some blue contrast paint, then a light blue drybrush, then a black wash, then more light blue drybrush, then some light grey for highlights since I had gotten pretty lost at that point and couldn't remember what my original painting idea was. Done! :D

The seller also sent me a broken print, gratis, that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺🇺🇦 IN A TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE published October 30th, Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky is described as having become immovable in his conviction that Ukraine will defeat the Russian Federation in the east of Ukraine, to the point of delusion.

According to the Time Magazine Article:

Despite the recent setbacks on the battlefield, he [Zelensky] does not intend to give up fighting or to sue for any kind of peace. On the contrary, his belief in Ukraine’s ultimate victory over Russia has hardened into a form that worries some of his advisers. It is immovable, verging on the messianic.

“He deludes himself,” one of his closest aides tells me in frustration. “We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that.”

🤡

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[ladymazzy]

Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

Britain stirred up tensions, chaos and violence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to declassified papers

From the article;

'The British government ran a secret “black propaganda” campaign for decades, targeting Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia with leaflets and reports from fake sources aimed at destabilising cold war enemies by encouraging racial tensions, sowing chaos, inciting violence and reinforcing anti-communist ideas, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The effort, run from the mid-1950s through to the late 70s by a unit in London that was part of the Foreign Office, was focused on cold war enemies such as the Soviet Union and China, leftwing liberation groups and leaders that the UK saw as threats to its interests

The campaign also sought to mobilise Muslims against Moscow, promoting greater religious conservatism and radical ideas. To appear authentic, documents encouraged hatred of Israel.

Recently declassified British government documents reveal hundreds of extensive and costly operations.'

[tabitha1917]

What we should be doing

[useleshistory]

Useless Fact #193

Over 10 million people died in the proxy wars supported by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.