Editing Domino theory (section)

=== Arguments in favor of the domino theory ===
The primary evidence for the domino theory is the spread of communist rule in three Southeast Asian countries in 1975, following the [[Vietnam War|communist takeover of Vietnam]]: South Vietnam (by the Viet Cong), Laos (by the Pathet Lao), and Cambodia (by the [[Khmer Rouge]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Slater |first=Jerome |date=1993 |title=The Domino Theory and International Politics: The Case of Vietnam |journal=Security Studies |series=The Domino Theory: A Debate |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=186–224|doi=10.1080/09636419309347547 }}</ref> It can further be argued that before they finished taking Vietnam prior to the 1950s, the communist campaigns did not succeed in Southeast Asia. Note the [[Malayan Emergency]], the [[Hukbalahap Rebellion]] in the [[Philippines]], and the increasing involvement with [[Communist Party of Indonesia|Communists]] by [[Sukarno]] of Indonesia from the late 1950s until he was deposed in 1967. All of these were unsuccessful Communist attempts to take over Southeast Asian countries which stalled when communist forces were still focused in Vietnam,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brackman |first=Arnold C. |title=The Communist collapse in Indonesia |publisher=Norton |date=1969 |location=[[New York City]] |pages=121}}</ref> while Robert Grainger Thompson argued that US involvement even turned those within Communist nations toward the West.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Robert Grainger Ker |title=Revolutionary war in world strategy, 1945-1969 |publisher=Taplinger |date=1970 |pages=154}}</ref>

[[Walt Whitman Rostow]] and the then [[Prime Minister of Singapore]] [[Lee Kuan Yew]] have argued that the U.S. intervention in Indochina, by giving the nations of [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations|ASEAN]] time to consolidate and engage in economic growth, prevented a wider domino effect.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Kuan Yew |date=2000 |title=From Third World to First: The Singapore Story – 1965-2000 |location=New York |publisher=Harper Collins |page=[https://archive.org/details/fromthirdworldto00leek/page/467 467,573] |isbn=0-06-019776-5 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/fromthirdworldto00leek/page/467}}</ref> Meeting with President [[Gerald Ford]] and [[Henry Kissinger]] in 1975, Lee Kuan Yew argued that "there is a tendency in the U.S. Congress not to want to export jobs. But we have to have the jobs if we are to stop Communism. We have done that, moving from simple to more complex skilled labor. If we stop this process, it will do more harm than you can every [sic] repair with aid. Don't cut off imports from Southeast Asia."<ref>[[:File:Ford, Kissinger, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew - May 8, 1975(Gerald Ford Library)(1553067).pdf|Ford, Kissinger, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew - May 8, 1975 (Gerald Ford Library)]], pg. 7</ref>

[[McGeorge Bundy]] argued that the prospects for a domino effect, though high in the 1950s and early 1960s,<ref name="Killing">{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Geoffrey B. |title=The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66 |date=October 2019 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=9780691196497 |page=101}}</ref> were weakened in 1965 when the [[Indonesian killings of 1965–66|Indonesian Communist Party was destroyed]] via death squads in the Indonesian genocide.<ref name="Killing"/> However, proponents believe that the efforts during the containment (i.e., Domino Theory) period ultimately led to the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Linguist and political theorist [[Noam Chomsky]] wrote that he believes that the domino theory is roughly accurate, writing that communist and socialist movements became popular in poorer countries because they brought economic improvements to those countries in which they took power. For this reason, he wrote, the U.S. put so much effort into suppressing so-called "people's movements" in [[Chile]], Vietnam, [[Nicaragua]], Laos, [[Grenada]], [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], etc. "The weaker and poorer a country is, the more dangerous it is as an example. If a tiny, poor country like Grenada can succeed in bringing about a better life for its people, some other place that has more resources will ask, 'Why not us?{{' "}} Chomsky refers to this as the "threat of a good example".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Threat of a Good Example, by Noam Chomsky (Excerpted from What Uncle Sam Really Wants) |url=https://chomsky.info/unclesam01/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=chomsky.info}}</ref>

Some supporters of the domino theory note the history of communist governments supplying aid to communist revolutionaries in neighboring countries. For instance, China supplied the Viet Minh and later the North Vietnamese army with troops and supplies, while the Soviet Union supplied them with tanks and heavy weapons. The fact that the Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge were both originally part of the Vietminh, not to mention Hanoi's support for both in conjunction with the Viet Cong, also give credence to the theory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guan |first=Ang Cheng |date=2001 |title=The Domino Theory Revisited: The Southeast Asia Perspective |journal=War and Society |volume=19 |pages=109–130|doi=10.1179/072924701791201576 |s2cid=153669352 }}</ref> The Soviet Union also heavily supplied Sukarno with military supplies and advisors from the time of the [[Guided Democracy in Indonesia]], especially during and after the 1958 civil war in Sumatra.