Bush Arrives in Vietnam

[pollyannaish]

Well, I guess the Dems can quit asking...are we there yet?

[beans36]

Call me when Nixon sends Bush to Cambodia on Christmas Eve.

[beans36]

Didn't Kerry serve in Vietnam?

Wait...Kerry was in Vietnam? Funny that he never talked about it during the campaign.

[diesel00]

Plus we need them [Vietnamese] as an ally against China......

Vietnam has always been against China, with or without the US. China was the bastard kid in the Soviet bloc, not Vietnam (a very loyal ally of the old USSR).

Vietnam will just use us for their own anti-China purposes. You can bet on it.

[UWhusky]

I was in Vietnam last month, my third trip there. I drank blood directly from a poisonous beheaded snake in the Mekong Delta. We'll see if my life is prolonged.

Vietnam has its problems, but we should encourage their efforts to develop a market economy and engage in international trade. They're moving in the right direction, and they are certainly no friend of China.

[killjoy]

I would not consider the Socialist Republic of Vietnam a capitalist, free market system.

You obviously haven't been there lately. It is well on it's way in that direction. Give it a few years and it will be.

[gregwest]

The President's visit should remind us of the true lessons of Vietnam:

1. Democrats will, without remorse, turn their backs on an ally, condemn him to live under tyrants and suffer genocide.
2. A faithless, disloyal soldier like Kerry can become a US Senator and dupe almost half the country in electing him to the highest office in the land.
3. That without ever getting a full accounting of our POWs, a Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (co-chaired by Kerry) voted to close the issue forever, opening the way for Vietnam to get most-favored nation status (so US companies could eventually manufacture running shoes and iPods on the cheap by slave labor.)
4. That Americans are stupid enough to hand the Congress to the party that will repeat the same mistakes once again with Iraq.

[diesel00]

You obviously haven't been there lately. It is well on it's way in that direction. Give it a few years and it will be.

That's what they said about China... What makes Vietnam so different from China? Shanghai today is a hell lot more modern and worldly than Hanoi.

[Candor7]

I drank blood directly from a poisonous beheaded snake in the Mekong Delta. We'll see if my life is prolonged.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

SNAKEATERS RULE!

MAY YOU LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

[gb63]

"meal is washed down at the end with a mixture of whiskey and cobra venom,"

More than anyone ever wanted to know - - -
Naja Naja :
"Pharmacology: Cobra venom can be used as pain-reliever. At a dosage of 0.168 mg/kg its pain-relieving power is 3-4 times that of morphine at a dossage of 1 mg/kg. Does not induce dependence. Very effective against neural pains, malignant tumors, heart problems, neural problems and leprosy. Can have beneficial effects for Parkinson's disease. Function in traditional medicine: Relieves blood vessel restrictions, relieves pains of rheumatism and arthritis etc. Use: 0.3 kg of snake meat in 0.18 kg of wine. Drink the liquid."

From a Asian home-remedy site. You try it first, please!

[BW2221]

"Lots of Americans are going there for tourism."

They staying at the Hanoi Hilton?

[pollywog]

May God protect our President and First Lady on this trip so that no weapon shall prosper against them.

AMEN ohioWfan

[killjoy]

Shanghai today is a hell lot more modern and worldly than Hanoi.

There is a big difference between Hanoi and Saigon. Saigon is thriving and western companies are everywhere. By the looks of things, Vietnam is going to be a major economic force in Asia.

[UWhusky]

65% of the population is under the age of 30. It is definitely a country full of youthful vigor. The ruling communist party has lost control. Vietnam is communist in name only.

[Candor7]

You try it first, please!>>>>>>>>>>>>

Thanks! Get me a plane ticket! ( LOL) All jesting aside, your are prescient. I have tried several oriental remedies and all of them worked.So if I somehow am tempted in the future towards Viagra, I will turn rather to the remedy you cited!

[maica]

Thanks for the first hand info.
More than we will ever learn from dinosaur media.

[KevinDavis]

Plus like Britain, Japan, and Iraq, who was once our enemies, I have a feeling that we will be friends with them..

[UWhusky]

I should add, the Vietnamese people are extremely excited and proud to be hosting the APEC conference and particularly to be hosting President Bush. There are about 3 million people in Hanoi who couldn't care less about their communist leadership, but will come out by the hundreds of thousands to try and catch a glimpse of the leader of the free world. It's too bad our news media will just gloss over the event.

[MaineVoter2002]

The Vietnamese are more statist than the Chinese right now

At this point China blocks a lot from its people on the internet while Vietnamese people in internet cafes and at home can even freely surf Freerepublic.

While Vietnam is far from perfect, the people do have much more freedom of information than do the chinese people.

[diesel00]

Saigon is thriving and western companies are everywhere. By the looks of things, Vietnam is going to be a major economic force in Asia.

I agree on that point. I just don't agree with some of the posters here who are jumping on the Vietnam bandwagon while dismissing China's much larger (and historical) economic changes. It's beyond ironic considering that Vietnam is using the exact Chinese model of economic development to achieve this, and some FReepers here are jumping up and down at the news and dreaming of containing China with Vietnam (a country 1/40 the size of China).