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The Red Guard offensive reflected Mao's desperate intent to rekindle a revolutionary spirit in a country that he fears has gone flabby. But was there even more than that to Red China's present contortions? Last week the Red army newspaper devoted columns to the glorification of Red Chinese participation in the Korean War. The paper also warned that the U.S. might try to extract itself from its present predicament in Viet Nam by expanding the war. To some, it sounded suspiciously like a country preparing for war. Or was it rather the horrifying death rattle of a regime that recognized the imminence of its own end? Either way, the nightmare could only frighten sane men.