Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Cold War Tensions and the Congo
What happens in the Congo is another example of how Western powers may be more accepting of dictatorship than a communist government. Why was the Lumumba leadership problematic in the Congo, especially in the eyes of the US? Why do they agree to support an un-democratic government led by Mobutu, and how does this remind us of governments in certain parts of Latin America?
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ReplyDeletewell, why does the US find anyone problematic? the Soviet Union! Lumumba asked for support from the USSR when he was denied by the UN immediately staining his name in the eyes of America on top of his violent actions towards the Belgians and Europeans living in Congo. And, lets face it, the Congo had uranium and diamonds that made the eyes of the American government simply light up along with all the other nations who were confused as to which side to take. In order to avoid the Congo falling to the Soviet Unions influence, however, the dictator Mobutu was allowed to lead his people, until he was no longer needed of course, and sent to live his remanding days in exile in Morocco.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as Lumumba asked the Soviet Union for help and they agreed, granting them military assistance, the US was fearful because like the rest of the other cold war events, the US did not want other countries to get under the USSR's sphere of influence. So even though Mobutu was not the perfectly ideal leader, he was better than Lumumba.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the article specifically states that "the eisenhower administration had supported belgian intervention due to its far that Lumumba might put into place a pro-soviet government." This fear was so large that it lead the US to plan assassinations and CIA operations to get Lumumba out of power.
DeleteLumumba's leadership was seen as problematic because the Soviet Union agreed to help him by providing him with weapons. I completely agree with Nicki- I was about to quote the same line from the text that she did. They agreed to support the un-demoncratic government because of the sphere of influence and the USSR having a lot of people under their wing.
ReplyDeleteseeing as how anything the USSR touched the US considered poison, the moment Lumumba asked the soviets for aid, he dug his own political grave, ruined any chances he had of making an alliance with the US, and put himself on the US's target list to boot. Speaking of dictatorships, anyone else remember argentine coup of 1930 with the overthrow of president Hipólito Yrigoyen?
ReplyDeleteThe leadership of lumumba was viewed as problematic for the United States of course because of the fact that he was helped by the USSR with the supply of weapons. Eisenhower supported the interventions solely because of the fact that everyone was afraid of lumumba will become an advocate of USSR government.
ReplyDeleteThe USSR had given aid to the Congo under Lumumba, which was a serious problem for the US. Like trent said, anything that the Soviets had their hands in was a problem for the US. the reason why we supported the Dictatorship is because it was anti-communists. we would of supported just about anyone who wasn't a communist sympathizer. It is like the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
ReplyDeleteI think what the UN didn't like was that Lumumba worked together with the Soviets. The Soviets gave him that much support that it looked like he would be able to overthrow the country. That would have meant that he owns the Soviet at least alliance. And for the US, any countries allied with the Ussr were a threat. Therefore Mobutu seemed to be the better option. despite his extreme methods and dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the first to say that Lumumba sort of ruined his potential relationship with the US by furthering his talks with the USSR. The US was very fearful of anything that related to Communism at this time, so they were skeptical of the potential outcomes of that interchange if it were to continue.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of detente between the USSR and US is what ultimately led to the US' view of it as a problem in the Congo. Again, the ubiquitous fear of communism emerges like in the Latin American situations. Mobutu was supported because, unlike Lucumba, he did not seek to increase interactions between the US and USSR. Funny, I didn't even notice the last part of the blog question regarding Latin America and I already mentioned it given the similarities...the fear of communism and stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe US was becoming skeptical as to who and what they were getting involved in. While this appears to be a battle for allies between the USSR and the US, I think its a battle of who can prove the biggest point. The US wants to remain top dog in the world and gaining more supporters is helpful in that process. The US feared that Lumumba would fall to the USSR, and being that they weren't communist the US felt they needed to step in.
ReplyDelete