0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
the country was also seen as an important Front goal, althot.-gh the NLF
program stressed a more gradual, step-by-step approach towards eventual
national unification. One vehicle for accomplishing national unity was the
creation of a coalition government with the National Liberation Front at
its head.
the NLF
Consistent with their role as "indigenous insurgents," members of
gave priority to the revolutionary strategy of the general uprising.
This strategy, or as Douglas Pike terms it - "social myth" - was an
essential component of NLF operations, simultaneously providing it with
legitimacy as a revolutionary force representative of the Southern populace,
and with a propaganda weapon necessary for attracting new
converts. In the political sense, therefore, this strategy has a number
of pote",-ally potent features.. Militarily, it coalesced with the NVN
desire to spawn insecurity in the South (for terrorism was an essential
feature of the overall NLF program) l2/ However, its deficiencies,
especially in meeting the US-ARVN high-technological capability, were
obviously many.
3. Objectives and Strategies of the Soviet Union in Review
Moscow pursued a number of far-reaching objectives in the Southeast
Asian theater during the time period under consideration.
While the
desire to support a fraternal socialist country certainly motivated Soviet
involvement in the conflict, other reasons,
perhaps more germane to the
viability of the Soviet state, also influenced the USSR to support Hanoi,
The balance of power in Asia, of increasing concern to the Kremlin as its
relations with the PRC degenerated, could, from the Soviet perspective, be
altered favorably by creating a strong Southeast Asian neighbor.
was to serve, therefore, as the avenue for achieving this objective,
The DRV
Competition with Communist China in other spheres - particularly
in the internzi-Ional communist movement - also figured in the Soviet
Union's decision to assist Hanoi.13/ Moreover, the Vietnam conflict's
merits as a "test case" - whether as a war of limited duration ai'd magnitude
or as a "war of national liberation" - enticed the USSR to supply
North Vietnam its requisite military materiel.
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