78-05-B8
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Desk-Cleaning [Foreign Policy]
TranscriptRemember when anti-war protesters and some well known public figures ridiculed the "domino theory"; the idea that if South Vietnam fell to the communists other Southeast Asia nations would follow? Well South Vietnam fell in 1975 and Laos shortly thereafter. Now Cambodia (already communist) is faced with attack by the North Vietnamese communists. Cambodia is or was mainly backed by Peking and North Vietnam is of course, a Soviet chant state. Cambodia has been adventuring across the border of Thailand even while it is protesting and resisting the aggression by the Vietnamese on its other border. The Mekong river which flows through Cambodia and southern Vietnam also winds between Laos and Thailand. It makes the delta region the rice bowl that it is, feeding much of Southeast Asia. It follows that control of the Mekong means control of the region and after all the ridicule, it seems the dominos are really falling. On another front, just about the time the campaign warmed up to normalize relations with Cuba we learned of the Cuban troops in Angola--airlifted there by the Soviets. We blustered and made demands unbacked by action. Now Castro has so many troops in Africa that Soviet air force units are flying the air defense patterns over Cuba. That makes it possible for Cuban flyers to fly offensive missions against Somalia--in Russian planes. Our State department expresses a hope that Cuba will "reduce" the number of troops in Africa so we can go on "normalizing" our relations with Havana. This hardly has the sound of a bold trumpet so it isn't surprising that Cuba's top diplomat in Washington has announced that the Castro government has no intention of trading its ties with Africa for improved relations with Washington. The State department will probably react to this by saying "pretty please--with sugar on it". (Cuban sugar which we might offer to buy at above the market price). One thing must be said about us Americans--it takes a lot to make us angry. We arrested a Vietnamese national several weeks ago on charges of spying. The Vietnam ambassador to the United Nations, you'll recall was sent home for his part in the espionage. Now Congressman Robert Drinan says--QUOTE--"he's a fine person, a man with high ideals and thoroughly honest. His sense of responsibility is beyond reproach." --UNQUOTE-- Well you can't quarrel with that last statement. He certainly had a sense of responsibility to his Hanoi bosses. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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