Vietnam is ruled by the communist part, but it is developing quickly and has a lot of free-market industry.
Also, Vietnam never had the marxist craziness that Russia and china had under Stalin and Mao. I don’t think the communist mentality ever really took root in Vietnam.
Finally, on several trips to S. Vietnam, I see far more people in church on Sundays than in the USA. I’ve seen Catholic masses there where hundreds of attendees stand outside because the church is jam-packed.
Many things seem upside-down in this world now....
It pretty much went away after Ho Chi Minh died, the following leaders never developed the "Cult of Personality" that Ho did.
Well, Ho was Stalinist. The “land reforms” of the 1950s and the vicious VC terror campaigns in the 1960s.
You can make an argument for supplying arms to Hanoi, but please let’s not paper over its past human rights record. I expect this from someone like Chomsky, not a contributor to Free Republic.