It’s interesting to compare the nature of dissent among Americans during the military action in Vietnam years ago, and Putin’s current so-called “special military action” in the Ukraine by Russian forces. Having lived during the years of the America’s military action in Vietnam, I can recognize the growing dissent among Russians over the Ukrainian invasion. One has to remember that the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was never officially declared a war by Congress, but was instead acted upon by presidential executive statements. America paid a terrible price for its involvement in Vietnam — nearly 60,000 killed in action, over 150,000 wounded, and some 1,600 missing. Then there was the draft, whereby a good number of young draft-aged Americans were forced into the military and ended up fighting in the jungles of Vietnam against determined and aggressive fighters. The U.S. military bombed the hell out of North and South Vietnam, apparently with little impact. The administration’s policy excuse was to prevent some form of domino effect in Southeast Asia should the Communists take over all of Vietnam. Unfortunately for the much better equipped U.S. military, the national desire of the Vietnamese to unite their country and expel all foreign intruders proved to be too much. After killing thousands of Vietnamese and destroying much of Vietnam’s infrastructure, the Americans were forced to leave the country with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in April 1975. Estimates for the number of North Vietnamese civilian deaths resulting from U.S. bombing range from 30,000 to 65,000.
As the Vietnamese conflict lagged on, more and more Americans began to question the U.S. involvement and related human and financial costs. Some dissent took the form of draft-aged Americans fleeing the country, many to Canada which had an open policy for draftees. Within the U.S., dissent grew among college students and even among many Vietnam vets. President Nixon took much of the brunt of such anti-Vietnam protests. Sometimes, protests became violent resulting in hundreds of arrests by the authorities. Increasingly, the American press began to question the optimistic briefings provided by the military brass, often highlighting the alleged effectiveness of strategic bombings and gains made by ground forces. However for the first time in history, video of the conflict provided by front-line war correspondents was seen by American television viewers on a nightly basis. The influence of the American media was especially important at the time and helped to sway opinion against the conflict.
The biggest difference in the case of dissent against Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine is the complete control by Putin’s regime over state media outlets. In addition, the punishment against Russians openly protesting the war has resulted in immediate imprisonment and the potential for up to 15 years in prison. However, dissent has been particularly strong among younger and better educated Russians, as demonstrated by the thousands who have already fled Russia to Eastern and Western European countries. There has even been dissent expressed among some oligarchs who normally are strongly aligned with Putin’s interests. The Russian military is even more dependent upon conscription to complement its professional army, to the point that Moscow has indicated that it will conscript around 130,000 more military-aged Russians this year. However, there have been indications that dissent has emerged among those conscripts currently serving in the Ukraine, including the abandonment of positions and deliberate disabling of equipment. Faced with a committed and fierce Ukrainian opposition and inept military command, the Russian assault on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv has been stalled.
As the Russian economy falters and the war goes on and Russian casualties mount, there is little doubt that ordinary Russians will begin to question what the Putin regime is claiming. A major difference with Vietnam is the fact that today social media is readily available, no matter how much the government attempts to control it. Scenes of Russian military actions upon civilians, including the elderly and children, are extremely disturbing. Increasingly, such actions are being depicted as “war crimes” in the eyes of the world. As was the case in Vietnam, it will be interesting to see if Russian dissent will grow with the increasing scenes of body bags being returned to the homeland? Such scenes at U.S. military bases greatly influenced the growth of American dissent as time moved on, especially when there was little indication as to an end to the Vietnam conflict.
FROLITICKS 