Re: United Nations

[<AMPSOne@aol.com>]

In a message dated 2/25/2002 4:51:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, donskil@msn.com writes:

The USSR and the PRC were not "sucked" into the war.
They were consulted extensively by Kim Il Sung
on his plans for the invasion of the south. They gave their
full approval and promise of continued materiel support,
and the Soviets developed the military plan for the
invasion.  Both the USSR and the PRC released Korean
ethnic troops from their armies for participation
in the invasion.  Once the invasion was defeated, and
the communists were on the verge of complete defeat,
the PRC and the USSR made good their promises of support,
if Kim were to get into trouble.  Albeit, they did not
expect the U.S. to enter the war and their client to
be so completely defeated.  It is clear, however, that
Stalin was testing the waters for military exploits in
other areas of the world.

Don,

Most contemporary accounts indicate it was the other way around -- Kim sucked THEM into supporting his adventures by playing Mao and Stalin off against each other. Chinese offered up training bases and other logistics and Soviets offered up weapons, to include tanks, artillery up to 76mm caliber, and over 200 aircraft (86 post-war metal Yak-9s and 86 Il-10s, but only training for less than 70 pilots!)

John2's arguments are turning more Soviet -- unilateral action can only be taken to support "just wars" like "Wars of National Liberation" which is how they classified Korea. Defending oneself, and calling on one's allies for aid, whether the government is a right-wing dictatorship or a democratic republic, doesn't enter into the picture when denigrating the right of self-defense on the part of the Communists.

Cookie Sewell
AMPS