Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
Self-determination doesn't mean unanimity and it isn't necesarily arrived at through peaceful means.

Ask yourself, honestly... if the British hadn't assured the return of French rule in 1945, or if the Americans had not stepped in after the French defeat and forced the division of Vietnam in 1954... would that not have led to a Vietnamese solution to a Vietnamese problem?

Once we'd made the decision to support the French - a very bad decision in my hindsight-equipped opinion - it became more or less inevitable that those who opposed the French were going to seek outside help. I don't see that the legitimacy of their cause would be in any way affected by seeking and receiving that help. Was the American revolution any less legitimate for having received help from France?
Legitimacy, in my view, doesn't come from the takers of power being able to speak the same language as the people they gain power over. It comes from how they treat those people. Mass murder justified by that most pure and legitimate of votes, revolutionary victory, is still mass murder and vitiates any claim to legitimacy.