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A common denominator to
world ills is the declining
power and prest ige of the
United States.
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Climateof
Fearand
Appeasement
WHY
AMERICA
ISIN
GLOBAL
RETREAT
6
~~~
n 1945, the United States
emerged from the war as the
strongest military and econom–
ic power
in
the world. She had
more than half the gross national
product of the non-Communist
world, and the monopoly of atomic
weapons."
How times have chaoged! Yet
it
was only a little over three decades
ago when the above situation pre–
vailed-as recounted by Mr. Lee
Kwan Yew, prime minister of Sin–
gapore, in a world-overview speech
delivered to bis fellow heads of gov–
ernment at the annual Common–
wealth Conference in London on
June 8, 1977.
While American power, prestige
and intluence has skidded remark–
ably, the prime minister stressed ,
the Communist world has been em–
boldened in its aims. A huge chunk
of Southeast Asia has fallen into the
totalitarian orbit, with a sleepy res–
ignation to the new reality there on
the part of the United States and the
rest of the Western world.
Despite the new concept being
floated in Washington that we are
now living in "a new world," the
same old East-West struggle goes
on, asserted the prime minister. He
added: "Marxist-Leninist dogma as–
serts that the Western capitalist sys–
tem is doomed for the dustbin of
history. But the Soviet Union sets
out to help history all the time.
Every issue which offers a chance to
weaken the West, whether it is
blacks versus whites in southern Af–
ríca, or the Arabs and their oil ver–
sus Israel in the Middle East, is
exploited to the utmost. Of course,
their greatest triumph was in Viet–
nam, where American self-con–
fidence took a beating."
Common Denominator: American
Weakness
Mr. Lee's analysis is not a rosy one,
but is nevertheless very realistic.
And a factor common to nearly all
of the crises affecting the free world
is the "unrelieved retreat" on the
part of the United States from its
once high pinnacle of world power
and prest ige.
Whether it desired it or not, the
U.S. was thrust into the position of
tbe leader of the free world in 1945.
Washington subseq uently pro-
ceeded to construct a global system
of a lliances to co.ntain the advances
of Communism.
For a while it worked. A serious
Communist challenge was rolled
back from Greece in 1948 due to
aggressive action on the part of the
Trumao Administration.
But slowly America's resolve be–
gan to erode. Communist aggression
was thwarted but not defeated in
1953 in Korea-where it still lurks
today as an unvanquished foe.
Nothing was done to assist the Hun–
garian uprising against Communist
rule in 1956. The scene was re–
peated in much the same fashioo in
Czechoslovakia twelve years later.
The 1961 Bay of Pigs attempt to
rid Cuba of Communist rule was
one of the most bungled operations
in American history, redeemed only
in part by Presiden! Kennedy's fi rm
staoce toward Moscow in the Cuban
missile crisis the following year.
Yet America still had pride in its
power- until Vietnam.
After the decade-long agony in
Vietnam during which Lyndon
Johnson continually emphasized
that "it is our will which is being
tested," it was America's will which
was found wanting. An expenditure
of $300 billion and 55.000 lives all
proved to be in vain. Vietnam was
los
t.
Quickly, in domino fashion (prov–
ing the theory after all), went Cam–
bodia and Laos , both of them
falling to two of the cruelest, most
oppressive regimes in recent times.
Vietnam Syndrome
The Vietnam experience has hung
like a stifiing cloud over American
foreign policy ever since. Every for–
eign policy problem, it seems, is
viewed as a potential Vietnam,
whether it is indeed or not.
The United States, along with
major Western allies, was on the
verge of a major victory against So–
viet and Cuban-backed forces in the
Angolan civil war in 1975 until the
U.S. Congress- fearful of "another
Vietnam"- got cold feet and backed
off. The Communist-supported s ide
won by default.
Ever since the Angolan fiasco,
U.S. policy in Africa has been a co–
Iossal failure. The so-called Kiss–
inger Formula for Rhodesia never
The PLAIN TRUTH
January
1978