WI: an anti-colonial/pro-nationalist US during the Cold War?

What if the US had taken a strong stance in support of national self-determination during the Cold War and supported various nationalist rebels? Both Ho Chi Minh¹ and Fidel Castro² indicated pro-American sentiments at the beginning of their respective political projects. Could they have effectively recruited such leaders in the fight against the Soviets, and thereby changed the course of history? Or would it have inevitably clashed with American corporate interests and the need to keep Europe on its side?

¹https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-09...-communist-leader-ho-chi-minh-s-admiration-us
²https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=37WXW
 
What if the US had taken a strong stance in support of national self-determination during the Cold War and supported various nationalist rebels? Both Ho Chi Minh¹ and Fidel Castro² indicated pro-American sentiments at the beginning of their respective political projects. Could they have effectively recruited such leaders in the fight against the Soviets, and thereby changed the course of history? Or would it have inevitably clashed with American corporate interests and the need to keep Europe on its side?

¹https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-09...-communist-leader-ho-chi-minh-s-admiration-us
²https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=37WXW
The United States did not take this approach in OTL, because not only were they a colonial power themselves, but also because many of the European colonial empires were NATO allies (Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, etc.)
 
What you need to have happen is an Eisenhower willing to put his foot down and insist on mediating between the British and Mossadegh. Without Operation Ajax, the strategic and political doctrine of removing democratically elected social democrats and installing dictators never gets proven--instead, the State Dept. learns that working with such governments builds their confidence in America and disinclines them from working with the Reds. The Suez crisis, or ATL version thereof, likely reinforces this outlook.
 
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Did the Soviet Union ever use Puerto Rico against the US, like it used segregation, to undermine its claim as the "leader of the free world"?

The Cubans did.
 
They sort of were. Ask the Portuguese.

You mean the US supported independence movements in the Portuguese colonies? Do you have any links about that? Not that I'm doubting you, just interested.

I know that a lot of the pied-noir settlers in France thought that the USA was backing anti-colonial forces there, and attacked some American consulate-type thingie at one point during the conflict.
 
Probably borderline ASB given the USSR's otl ideology. You'd need to somehow make the USSR pro-imperialism("last stage of monopoly capitalism") and I reeeeaaally don't see how THAT could be spun.
 

kernals12

Banned
Probably borderline ASB given the USSR's otl ideology. You'd need to somehow make the USSR pro-imperialism("last stage of monopoly capitalism") and I reeeeaaally don't see how THAT could be spun.
The Soviet Union was extremely imperialistic. It was built on Tsarist Russia's subjugation of dozens of minority groups.
 
Probably borderline ASB given the USSR's otl ideology. You'd need to somehow make the USSR pro-imperialism("last stage of monopoly capitalism") and I reeeeaaally don't see how THAT could be spun.

You mean like conquering half a dozen countries and installing puppet regimes or annexing three independent states and colonising them with Russians?
 
Probably borderline ASB given the USSR's otl ideology. You'd need to somehow make the USSR pro-imperialism("last stage of monopoly capitalism") and I reeeeaaally don't see how THAT could be spun.
The Soviet Union was an arch-Imperialist state, aggressively colonising areas with ethnic Russians, deporting troublesome minority groups, and forcing other nations into a dependent economic relation, where their economies fuelled the Soviet Union.
 
Calling PR a colony is pretty disingenuous. They have self-governance, US citizenship, and protection of the world's n. 1 superpower without having to pay federal income tax.
 
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