Putin signs deals with Vietnam in bid to shore up ties in Asia to offset Moscow’s growing isolation

AP via CVHO.com ^ | June 20th, 2024 | by: ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL, Associated Press

[Mariner]

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed at least a dozen deals with his Vietnamese counterpart on Thursday and offered to supply fossil fuels, including natural gas, to Vietnam during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset its growing international isolation over its war in Ukraine.

Putin and President To Lam agreed to further cooperate in education, science and technology, oil and gas exploration and clean energy. The two countries also agreed to work on a roadmap for a nuclear science and technology center in Vietnam.

Of the 12 publicly announced agreements, none overtly pertained to defense but Lam said there were other deals that were not made public.

Putin said the two countries share an interest in “developing a reliable security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region with no room for “closed military-political blocs.” Lam added that both Russia and Vietnam wanted to “further cooperate in defense and security to cope with non-traditional security challenges.”

The agreements between Russia and Vietnam were not as substantial as the pact Putin signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Wednesday, which pledged mutual aid in the event of invasion, said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and a former British ambassador to Belarus.

[Mariner]

In the last dozen or so years the US had the opportunity to bring Viet Nam into the anti China alliance. And, the US has real commercial interests in Viet Nam, not to mention our geo strategic interests.

Apparently we gave up that opportunity for Ukraine, where we have no real interests whatsoever.

[Nextrush]

Western media equate lack of ties with the West as isolation.

[dangus]

North Korea... Iran... Vietnam... China... Venezuela... Syria... This guy’s really making quite the coalition. Btw, WTF commercial interests do we have in Vietnam, besides some slave shops that the thoroughly corrupt, genocidal, atheist-Marxist dictators use to get some cash from other corrupt nations? I mean at least Ukraine was drowning in natural gas.

[hardspunned]

“Moscow’s growing isolation”?!? What total and absolute BS. The Russians now diplomatically own the non decadent West world. Africa, the entire Islamic World, the Global South, Iran, BRICS, India and China all “isolating” Russia as they kiss Putin’s ring?

[Red6]

Everything is a short term, a band aid fix.

We have no true strategic vision.

Anyone that says we do, is either naive or a liar.

At best, our time horizon is 3 years.

Many of the decisions we make are based on special interests (economic usually), what’s popular today (a sound good idea), personal bias and vendetta’s (example: Nuland, a Russian hating Jew). Do not expect US foreign policy to be based on a thorough risk and ROI analysis, keeping to our national values, and in accordance to treaties or even our own laws.

What works to our advantage is that we have a lot of allies that depend on us, we are still somewhat protected by an Atlantic and Pacific, and we have buffer states which are between us and the threats we face out there. We are economically big, politically and culturally influential, and militarily/intel powerful. But... times are changing and people aren’t really seeing that yet: BRICS expansion, the 50 year petro dollar deal expired, we’re getting the boot in many African countries (Niger, Sudan, Chad, Ivory Coast)...

We kicked things off in Ukraine which will have a lasting reverb around the planet.

[wildcard_redneck]

In United States history there have been times when the United States government publicly supported or was accused of supporting 
authoritarian governments around the World.

Head of state or government	Country	Title	Supported or accused by	Year(s)	Notes	Ref
Saddam Hussein	Iraq	President of Iraq	United States	1988	The U.S. militaryprovided aid and support to Saddam Hussein's troops at the request of the then U.S. government.	[1]
Pol Pot	Khmer Rouge	Prime Minister of Cambodia	United States	1978–1989	United States President Jimmy Cartersupported and aided the Khmer Rougefor half of his term,Ronald Reaganreplaced Jimmy Carter throughout his term. They later denied it.	[2]
Fulgencio Batista	Cuba	President of Cuba	United States	1952–1958	The US government has been accused of supporting Batista to become president to control Cuba. The U.S. has rejected these arguments.	[3]
Ngô Đình Diệm	South Vietnam	President of South Vietnam	United States	1955–1963	The U.S. government supported President Ngo Dinh Diemthroughout Diem's time in power until Diem was assassinatedby the U.S.	[4]
Muammar Gaddafi	Libya  Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	President of Libya	United States	Around 2008s	Although relations with Libya and the United States showed signs of deterioration when Muhammad Gaddafi took power, Gaddafi still exchanged some US government apparatus.	[5]
Chun Doo-hwan	South Korea	President of South Korea	United States	1979–1982	In February 1981, President Ronald Reaganwelcomed South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan to the White House after Reagan's first inaugurationone month ago.	[6][7]
Ferdinand Marcos	Philippines	President of the Philippines	United States	Around 1970s–1980s	The Reagan administrationbriefly supported Marcos' term from 1980 to 1986 before the Reagan administration began criticizing Marcos.	[8]
Adolf Hitler	Germany	Leader of Nazi Germany	United States	1935–1939	Before World War 2 began, both the United States and Western Europeancountries supported Nazi Germanyagainst the Soviet Union.	[9]
Joseph Stalin	Soviet Union	Leader of the Soviet Union	United States	1941–1945	After the Empire of JapanattackedPearl Harborin 1941, President Franklin D. Rooseveltbrought America into World War II, expressing cooperation and aid to the Soviet Unionand the Alliesin the war on Europe.	[10]

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Apparently we gave up that opportunity for Ukraine, where we have no real interests whatsoever.

But the globalists do.

[mac_truck]

Western media equate lack of ties with the West as isolation.

Meanwhile nations around the world are queuing up to join BRICS and escape Western economic sanctions/domination.

Good job Brownie!

[mass55th]

Sleepy Joe was just in Vietnam last August cutting deals on semiconductors and minerals.

Obama was the one who normalized relations with Vietnam. I'm glad my Vietnam Vet brother wasn't alive to see it. The Vietnam War was, like Ukraine, another proxy war with Russia and China. Would Vietnam actually be willing to toss China aside since they (and Russia) supported North Vietnam in that war?

[hinckley buzzard]

This is typical AP spin. The truth is that most of the world don’t have a problem with Russia, only the western “democracies.”

[Mariner]

The US had $142B in Vietnam trade in 2022.

Since, an ever expanding trade in Microchips...to balance risk in Taiwan.

Geostrategically, nearly $5T in trade passes offshore from Vietnam and its islands. That includes all seaborn oil shipment to China.

Those dwarf any do-gooder interests some Americans have in Ukraine.

Real interests.

[dangus]

Likening our playing Hitler and Stalin against each other to the Putin’s embrace of every evil madman in the world only shows that there is no depth to the depravity and anti-American sickness that you and your Soviet masters will hesitate to sink to. You disgust me with every fiber of my being.

[Mariner]

Recognizing the country’s potential, the U.S. is collaborating with Vietnam to bolster its microchip production. This collaboration includes technology transfer, financial investment, capacity-building initiatives, and a focus on creating a secure and sustainable semiconductor ecosystem in Vietnam.Nov 28, 2023

Vietnam’s Evolving Semiconductor Scene Unveiled

https://www.sourceofasia.com/vietnams-evolving-semiconductor-scene-unveiled/

[dangus]

>> The US had $142B in Vietnam trade in 2022. <<

Like I said, corrupt Westerners buying slave labor from corrupt, genocidal, atheist-Marxist dictators. “Exports were $13.8 billion, while imports were $128.4 billion.” And you write about this as if it strengthens America.

>> Geostrategically, nearly $5T in trade passes offshore from Vietnam and its islands. That includes all seaborn oil shipment to China. <<

So? It hurts us how if China had to go a few miles out of their way to reach the Middle East or Africa? And how does a poorer relationship with Vietnam matter to the trade routes?

[dangus]

>> Recognizing the country’s potential, the U.S. is collaborating with Vietnam to bolster its microchip production. <<

So the Biden administration is cozying up with a communist nation to help communists dominate microchips, instead of the U.S. or democratic allies, and again, astonishingly, you write about this as if it were a good thing, and not an example of the endless corruption of Joe Biden.

[BobL]

“Moscow’s growing isolation”?!? What total and absolute BS”

Moscow’s ‘isolation’ comes out to countries accounting for about 20% of the world’s population, and most of which are now in the process of committing Hairy Kerry due to their environment laws, globohomo, unchecked immigration, and cutting themselves off from Russian raw materials and soon Chinese finished products.

The Biden legacy - and yet some accounts here actually support this!

[BobL]

“Meanwhile nations around the world are queuing up to join BRICS and escape Western economic sanctions/domination. “

Russia had something like 140 countries at a HUGE CONFERENCE in St. Petersburg a few weeks ago, including ALL of the big players (outside of Neocons-controlled states), while the West couldn’t get jack to show up for the “Ukraine Peace Conference” last week.

If this is ‘isolation’ I suspect that Putin is saying, BRING IT ON, the more the better!

[BobL]

“So the Biden administration is cozying up with a communist nation to help communists dominate microchips”

Hell, Russia would have been a better country for chips, since at least they’re not COMMUNIST.

[Mariner]

To persons like yourself there is only right and wrong.

No other condition can exist.

[Mariner]

“Like I said, corrupt Westerners buying slave labor from corrupt, genocidal, atheist-Marxist dictators. “

Our real interests in Vietnam dwarf any real interests we have in Ukraine, as we have none there.