The Future History of Western Relations with the Revolutionary Islamist Movement: Prologue

" "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness".

This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776.

In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the Earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and to be free.

The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights."

Those are undeniable truths."

"A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.

For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country and in fact it already has been so. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty."

Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence (2 September 1945), Ho Chi Minh



"Nothing is more precious than Independence and Liberty."


Political slogan, quoted in Ho Chi Minh and His Vietnam : A Personal Memoir (1972) 



There was one exception to the rule that all our foes have committed the Decadence Assumption. Ho Chi Minh never underestimated America. His avowed hero was George Washington and he remained in awe of the U.S., all his life. He remains the only enemy leader who ever defeated us at war, and then only because our hubris (not decadence) got the better of us.

David Brin, in "A rant about stupidity... and the coming civil war..." at Contrary Brin 

One thing is clear, the president of North Vietnam is not a fanatic. He is a very strong and determined man, but capable of listening, something that is very rare in a person of his position.

Martin Niemöller, as quoted in Martin Niemöller, 1892-1984 (1984) by James Bentley