HISTORY: Third World nations were mere pawns in the great game of superpower politics?

Question

This was a statement in a history test I had

(Im a student)

'The great game of superpower politics' refers, obviously, to the Cold War

'Third World nations' refers to those nations, who during the Cold War, did not support either Western or Soviet blocs

These include Korea, Cuba and Vietnam, all in which occured proxy wars

'Mere pawns' means, that these Third World nations were only smallest players during the Cold War, who were being made use of

As you know a pawn is the smallest player in chess, who is sacrificed in order to win the game

Do you agree?

Please give some analysis

PLS TICK STAR IF INTERESTING

thanks

Answer 1

I think your statement is fine; the key lesson to draw is the impact of all this on our contemporary world.  We all live with the effects and repercussions of history constantly, in everything we do.  And the effect of the particular development that concerns you is that today ALL nations are pawns in a great game of superpower politics, the superpowers now being global corporations.

Answer 2

well duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh they are third world. Why would they be more important? Were they the ones with the nukes? were they the ones that WERENT third world nations????? C'mon guy, this statement is true

Answer 3

Yes I totally agree. They call it the cold war only because

the Russians and the West were not shooting directly at

each other. They were using the third world countries to

do their dirty work.

Answer 4

In its simplest form I guess that assumption is correct.

These small countries also had the chance to pull themselves up out of that third world status during that time also.  The leaders of those countries CHOSE not to allow their people to advance (except for South Korea).  ALL of them kept their two-bit, tin-pot dictators and allowed their people to remain little more than cavemen.   Another example would be the so-called "Palestinian" (West Bank Jordanians and Gaza Strip Egyptians).  

All of the examples that you mention (except S. Korea) and the example that I added get Billions of Dollars worth of aid from all over the world (Cuba doesn't get much from the U.S., but it gets it from every other country) yet only their leaders live in any comfort.