Alan: Among Uncle Sam's witless rationales for waging war, invocation of The Domino Theory to justify The Vietnam "Conflict" (it was never a declared war) was not only stupid in principle but totally inapplicable as history actually played out with Ho Chi Minh -- an early admirer of American democracy -- routing the United States.
Retired Air Force general AWC confided: "Ho was a real patriot, as well as a dependable American ally during U.S. military operations in China during World War II."
Two Sacrosanct Rules:
Don't meddle in another country's civil war.
Don't start another country's civil war.
Two Sacrosanct Rules:
Don't meddle in another country's civil war.
Don't start another country's civil war.
The Domino Theory
Ho Chi Minh
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
Fox News
President Barack Obama on Tuesday welcomed the defacto leader of Vietnam with the aim of strengthening the bilateral relationship U.S. concerns over the human rights situation in the Southeast Asian nation, the same philosophy, the White House said, that is guiding the U.S. rapprochement with Cuba.
Obama met at the White House with Nguyen Phu Trong, the first general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to visit the United States and with whom he said he wanted to turn the page on the "difficult history" between the two nations and further open the way for a "constructive relationship," 20 years after reestablishing diplomatic relations.
Some legislators and organizations criticized the meeting between Obama and Trong because of the imprisonment of political activists and dissident bloggers in Vietnam, but the White House argued that dialogue with countries with whom Washington has differences on human rights is the key to improving the situation in that area.
"We discussed candidly some of our differences around issues of human rights, for example, and freedom of religion," said Obama after meeting with Trong.
"But what I'm confident about is that the diplomatic dialogue and practical steps that we are taking together will benefit both countries, that these tensions can be resolved in an effective fashion," he added.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that diplomatic relations with Vietnam, which were resumed in 1995, reflect Obama's idea that "just trying to shun and isolate a country can, in some cases, not put as much pressure on them as actually engaging them."
Earnest likened the approach to Vietnam to that the administration has taken toward Cuba.
Contacts between Washington and Hanoi have intensified in recent years in connection with two key U.S. geopolitical interests: the presence of the two countries at the talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty and the desire to counteract China's push into the Pacific, in particular into the South China Sea.
Obama emphasized that the proposed 12-nation TPP would create "significant job growth and prosperity for both the Vietnamese and the American people."
Trong, too, along with Obama, denounced Beijing's expansive policy into the Pacific.
"We discussed and shared our views on the recent developments in the South China Sea, and also shared our concern about the recent activities that are not in accordance with international law that may complicate the situation," Trong told journalists after meeting with Obama.
Vietnam and China dispute the ownership of the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, and the tension between the two nations increased with Beijing's installation of an oil drilling platform near Vietnam's coast last year.
In that regard, Obama on Tuesday emphasized the "importance of resolving maritime disputes in the South China Sea and throughout the Asia Pacific in accordance with international law."
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