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For anyone who wants more on ‘domino theory’, here’s Robert Blackwill (2 mins) talking about domino theory, both in Vietnam and a present-day Taiwan context: https://youtu.be/2Rc6yFv_J3I?t=536

Ernest May: ‘Most such worst-cases dominos never fall.’

This is picked up again briefly at 38:30. ‘Arguments on credibility don’t get very far analytically – though they may help persuade Presidents.’ https://youtu.be/2Rc6yFv_J3I?t=2306

And: ‘American history since WWII is filled with instances in which the U.S. acted – Vietnam being the outstanding case – because of issues of credibility, which turned out, in practice, to be vacant.’

These are very bad grounds from which to escalate conflict. (There’s a line in the documentary from Marine platoon leader Karl Marlantes, ‘Killing people for your own ego’.)

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