American air support was guaranteeing the success of ARVN after Nixon had Vietnamized the war. They were holding their own then the dem congress cut all funding for the American pilots flying the American planes. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of potential success. Of course, just like in Ukraine, we were never attacked and we were lied into it. Do we need to walk the nuclear razors edge in Ukraine for another ten or fifteen years again before we leave these people alone?
You were right about Congress but we haven’t been in Ukraine, and we aren’t in Ukraine, we are playing a minor version of Russia’s role in Vietnam and we aren’t killing them like they killed us in Vietnam.
Russia may feel like they are stuck in a Ukrainian Vietnam, but we aren’t there.
(ARVN) “were holding their own, then the dem congress cut all funding... Defeat was snatched from the jaws of potential success.”
What a tragedy that was for the people of South Vietnam.
Not only were the Northerners communists, but they had longstanding cultural differences and animosities to the Southerners, and harshly rode roughshod over them after they conquered the South (especially the first ~15 years, before the war with China).
I have heard a lot of horror stories of life under the communists. Meat rations were only 1/4 pound per month, so that they got to like the taste of rat meat. A lady I know had to barefoot for three years, unable to afford shoes, and so on.
Things are dramatically better today economically, but Southerners are still second class citizens, and Communist propaganda is still quite strident.
What does “leave them alone” mean? Let Russia take what they want, I realize that Ukraine is not part of NATO, but the point of NATO is to stop Russian aggression. Perhaps it can be said that Vietnam, iraq and Afghanistan didn’t want our “help”, but Ukraine does. The rest of the world is not fighting in Ukraine like we did in Korea, Vietnam, iraq, Libya, Afghanistan. the Ukrainians are and if they want it to end the populace have a way of making that happen. IMO the everyday Ukrainian is willing to fight to keep the jackboot of Russia off their necks.
The Russians fighting and dying are probably wondering what they are fighting for.
Now Russia is again weaponizing food, okay all’s fair in love and war, but is that where you want to be
We will disagree but I spent almost forty years in the military to give you that right, just because we disagree does not give you the right to disparage me or others who disagree with you. Neocon, nazi, might as well say racist or bigot for all those words mean.