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The country was in a state of civil war from the late 1940s, and North Vietnam was the sight of much intra-Vietnamese bloodshed due to revolution, land "reform" etc, without France or US involvement in the matter. In any case, your example may be undemocratic, poor judgement, etc, but that's not the same as "imperialism".

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This is just shifting goalposts to justify the horror of the US war machine, whose interventions since Vietnam have followed the same disastrous pattern. And quite the minimizing elision to call this “poor judgement.”

Staging coups and killing leaders, not imperialism. Engaging in false flag attacks so you can maintain control of a foreign country, not imperialism. Covering up civilian massacres and lying about how many of your troops are dying to maintain support for the war at home, not imperialism. And so on and so on and so on.

Again, what to your mind constitutes imperialism if these actions do not?

Would you consider Soviet troops and materiel in North Vietnam as imperialism then as well?

Absolutely. The USSR was an imperialist State Capitalist regime.

Indeed. It is actually quite refreshing to see someone consistent on that point.

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