Posted on 06/22/2007 4:49:14 AM PDT by Lou L
John E. Carey
The Washington Times
June 22, 2007
Today, Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet will visit the United States. This is the first time a head of state from Vietnam has visited the U.S. since before the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975.
President Triet is making the trip to reciprocate President Bush’s state visit to the communist-run country last November. While attending the Asia-Pacific summit in Hanoi, Mr. Bush told Mr. Triet to feel welcome to visit the U.S.
The two presidents are expected to sign a trade agreement in the White House today.
(Excerpt) Read more at johnib.wordpress.com ...
We dropped more bombs on that country then had been dropped by all participants in all theaters of World War II. So, what was that all about?
Had congress not abandoned tham to communism, its great leader would not now (30+ years of communism later) be here in the US begging for a handout to recover from the economic devastation that communism always brings, along with the many other stymying effects it has always heaped upon people under its heel.
Never forget
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp (Vietnam Human Rights Bill)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848594/posts
Freedom First for Vietnam Act of 1993 (Duncan Hunter, anti-communist)
A couple of my favorite conservative talk show personalities have visited VN and in general were impressed. VN is permitting free enterprise.
Friends from VN who are now US citizens and doing well tell me that during their visit to VN they met old friends who are doing very well running private businesses.
VN is now a member of the WTO and, I believe, we have normal trade relations.
Is the average American, especially older Americans, ready for normal relations? I for one will never believe that capitalism's Invisible Hand is enough to slap down the commies -- but in the meantime economic progress just might make the VN commies relax a little and slowly "fade away" in a few decades. (Not so the Chi-coms, IMO. Red China is whole 'nuther story.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1841173/posts
Book: We Left POWs Behind in Vietnam
COPY:
Aloha again, Nut Cracker!
Rembrandt is out of the country but messaged me with some skinny.
Capitalism in Saigon is going very strong; shops all over the damn place. Thriving black market, of course.
There are plenty of pretty nice resort places. There’s a real pricy one in DaLat as well as some inexpensive ones. Driving East from Saigon (I wouldn’t recommend driving), there is an area called Vung Tau which is a weekend haven for the cowboys from Saigon - don’t go there on a weekend cause it’s a madcap, teenage Vietnamese outing. Anyone wanting to go, I’d recommend taking the hydrofoil which one can catch from right downtown in Saigon (~one hour, 15 minutes and they sell beer on board).
Much better is Nha Trang which is just miles to the South of Cam Rang. Nha Trang is very laid back although it also gets its share of Saigon cowboys on the weekends, not as bad as Vung Tau since it’s further away. Great beach.
There’s a crummy beach area 20 minutes East of Hai Phong (Do Son), hardly worth the trip. There is a casino out there but, obviously no VN people, since only foreigners are allowed to partake.
I never got to the DaNang beach area or Hoi An but that’s where the big growth has been; expensive but supposedly nice.
Hue has very little in the way of a beach. The perfume river is odiferous because it’s nothing more than an open sewer. Up the river though are all the mausoleums of the former emperors. I enjoyed touring the Forbidden City.
Viet Nam is a good place to visit if you have an attachment, like you and I do Jack. For someone who has no emotional attachment, I’d suggest Thailand.
Just my opinion.
Just another view of things, Nut Cracker. Although the Lao Dong have power, their control is tenuous.
/copy
Boy, was I wrong. They've been fending off Chinese (and each other) for more than two thousand years.
I often wonder what it would have been like if the U.S. had prevailed in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people certainly wouldn't have had to put up with 30 years of totalitarian rule and a devastating centralized economy.
I have found the Vietnamese to be a very friendly and forgiving people. Some of the older ones ask "Why did you abandon us to 30 years of Communist rule?" However, most Vietnamese prefer to not even talk about "American War." They don't care to dwell on the past, preferring to look ahead to a bright future.
The Vietnamese are happy to see the Americans return and, for the most part, harbour no hard feelings, despite the propaganda they have been fed by their government all these years.
Umm, South Vietnam is not and never was some American satrapy. Our country spent decades over there lending a helping hand to bail out the incompetent French and nationalist Vietnamese forces. Isn't it just a little bit pathetic that they crumpled like a paper doll virtually the day after we ended our commitment?
I guess maybe those folks assumed that we would be their protectors forever. I would think just a little more gratitude would be in order.
Just to be clear, communism has not always failed, but its limited successes are probably its biggest indictment, and probably nothing the left would care for.
Historically, Christian monasteries have operated on a communal, (small "c") communist organization. Note that this is obviously not atheist marxism, but communism nonetheless, in the sense that abbots have been the master planners, and members generally adhere to a "to each according to their needs, from each according to their abilities..." lifestyle.
Some admittedly sustain themselves by providing goods and services to surrounding communities, but others have existed pretty much a closed system for centuries.
The kicker (for the left, anyways) is that communism has only proven to be succesful amongst a population who has espoused poverty and has taken vows committing themselves to such. (Theocratic) Communism has, in that regard, proven itself to be the near perfect economic system for a population that has the desire to dedicate itself to poverty. In any population that is not entirely willing to embrace an ascetic life of austerity, communism has, and always will be an abject failure.
“whatever” small w, too
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