Posted on 11/16/2006 7:30:34 PM PST by Lunatic Fringe
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) President Bush has arrived in Vietnam.
So many interesting comments here. I'll just leave it at this:
For those who are interested, Merrill Lynch has produced two excellent and detailed reports this year on the state of Vietnam and its economy. If you have any interest in the topic I'd encourage you to read both.
Here they are (direct links to PDFs):
Oct 05,2006
http://rsch1.ml.com/9093/24013/ds/78923062.PDF
http://www.vinacapital.com/upload/files/VietnamStrategyFeb06.pdf
US President George W. Bush (L) and first lady Laura Bush receive flowers upon their arrival in Hanoi November 17, 2006. Bush became the second U.S. president to visit post-war Vietnam on Friday, looking to advance mutual trade and security ties and avoid dwelling on a war that still strains the American psyche 30 years later.REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Just wonderin', did Jane Fonda make the trip? She could have shown them around, pointed out the old anti-aircraft installations.
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A Freeper Vet goes to the Vietnam Wall
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1019769/posts
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good tagline
The U.S. and Vietnam share common strategic interests as we now have a common potential future threat: China.
Vietnam is now semi-capitalist and semi-free-market just as China is now and just as Germany was in 1939. It is still authoritarian just as China is now and just as Germany was in 1939.
Communist authoritarian propaganda alway stressed the "capitalist" aspect of why they opposed us but what really made Communism our enemy was their desire to forcibly impose their authoritarian ideology on others.
If Canada voted itself into being a purely Communist economy (while respecting the property of U.S. investors) , and respected civil liberties, could vote itself out of Communism whenever Canadian citizens wished and did not try to export their ideology by force of arms, the U.S. would have no problem with such a Communist neighbor as the Canadians would only be hurting themselves of their own free will.
If China had remained a purely Communist economic basket case, it would now be a far less dangerous future threat to the U.S. than the militaristic, nationalistic, authoritarian, semi-capitalistic economic powerhouse that China has become after discarding Communist economic dogma.
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From the very start of the Vietnam War on, Communist Dictator HO CHI MINH's (that's MINH, instead of Ming) propaganda Radio arm Hanoi Radio kept telling the world over and over again that there wasn't a single one of his Communist North Vietnamese Soldiers inside a Free South Vietnam.
But then CLARITY trumps Propaganda every time, perhaps..?
CLARITY =
The Photo I personally snapped of two Communist North Vietnamese Soldiers we captured during our 1965 Battle of the IA DRANG Valley with 1,000's of them on November 14, 1965, way inside Free South Vietnam.
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set3.htm
(See last Photo)
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Ho Chi Minh was co-founder of the **French** Communist Party in 1920's (yes, French), and later the premiere founder of the Communist Party Of Indochina (gosh, didn't they train the genocidal murderers Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea, Son Sen and Ta Mok?).
Bac Ho was trained in Moscow, and there are several photos of him hanging out with the murderous Bolshevist Communists there.
We can assume that Bac Ho was a true Leninist/Stalinist believer, which means he was also a murderer and a liar.
Not to mention they are a blood-sucking Communist dictatorship that is attaching to the biggest host of all time (namely, the USA). No Aid and Trade with parasites!
"We need to ally with Vietnam to stem the expansion of China in the region."
I agree 100%. Countries do not have permanent allies. They have permanent interests. Vietnam does not threaten our interests. China threatens our interests, and Vietnam's interests.
I understand, BTW, that the Vietnamese have some impressive Naval facilities in Cam Rahn Bay that could be pretty nice with a little refurbishment. Good RnR in Cap St. Jacques, too.
My uncle is among the 58,000 opinions I'd defer to....but I don't support normalized relations with ANY commies.
Communists always use dogma to suite their needs at the time. One example was that during WW II, Stalin never asked his people to fight Germany to preserve COMMUNISM; it was always fight for the MOTHER LAND.
I have been to those impressive Naval facilities in Cam Rahn Bay after the USA built them.
"I have been to those impressive Naval facilities in Cam Rahn Bay after the USA built them."
Well that means the original plans are in English. Let's send a set to Halliburton and get the refurbishment underway chop chop.
Cam Rahn was also a huge communications facility for the fleet. We pulled outlying security for a while.
"We can assume that Bac Ho was a true Leninist/Stalinist believer, which means he was also a murderer and a liar."
Not any more.
Caterpillar Inc. said today that it had formed an official dealership venture, V-TRAC, in Hanoi. The majority shareholder of V-TRAC is Anthony Salzman, an American businessman who went to Vietnam in 1992, when Caterpillar was barred from doing business here under a United States economic embargo lifted in February. Caterpillar holds an undisclosed equity interest in V-TRAC, which is 100 percent United States owned.
Amen, RM.
Unfinished business: our POW/MIAs.... betrayed by Kerry and McCain.
This shot is not directed at you, but at David letterman. I saw Letterman making that same joke, and I thought, "Gee Dave, you're about the same age as the President, why don't you tell us all about your tour in 'Nam?"
Of course, he does USO tours, so he's light years ahead of most people in entertainment, but people who didn't serve don't get to make draft dodger jokes, IMHO.
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