Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War is a quite interesting conflict. It was a war that us Americans decided to join not because the world was going to be conquered by some insane, anti-semitic dictator, but because of the fear that communism was going to spread to this one country, and then eventually "take over the world." While it may have seem "logical" back then, in retrospect it now seems obviously pointless that we got involved in a war where we were fighting people who didn't want to be bothered.

What do you think about the Vietnam War?

-LegoMaster2149 (Written on February 8, 2018)

Our current involvement in Syria has many parallels to Vietnam. Including lack of exit strategy, and piecemeal battlefronts. It makes me want to believe in Military Industrial Complex conspiracy theories.

Desire to limit communist territory
Vietnam - Chinese communists backing Laos front government
Syria - Russian communists backing Iranian front government

Supporting a third party
Vietnam - US allied with Hmong
Syria - US allied with Kurds

Destabilizing force
Vietnam - Viet Cong
Syria - ISIS

horrible waste of life, as are all wars, but it contributed greatly to american music and culture for better or worse.

in retrospect the domino theory seems kind of silly, and honestly if the US wants to show off its military then a parade would be much better than destabilizing another smaller, weaker country under the guise of nationbuilding or preventing communism from taking root.

many US-backed officials in south vietnam were horribly corrupt. the toll on the country's environment and health was devastating and is still felt today. i expect this to still be a controversial issue decades from now.

Not a good analogy.

Syria is like Vietnam in reverse. The Russians (not "soviets", nor "communists", but still Russians) backing the ruling regime, with US backing the insurgents trying to overthrow the regime. The US is backing the equivalent of the Viet Cong in Syria, and Putin is backing the equivalent of the Saigon government in the Assad regime.

In neighboring Iraq ISIS were the insurgents against a US backed government. And a couple of years ago it did indeed look like it was gonna be 1975, and the Fall of Saigon all over again in Iraq as ISIS blitzed its way across northwest Iraq and seized territory and a large city. But their expansions stopped, and our allies gradually pushed them back, and have now pretty much destroyed ISIS as a nascent state (but not yet as a stateless actor). But the geopolitics of ISIS are very different than that of Hanoi and the VC. ISIS is also an enemy of Iran, of Assad, and by proxy, enemies of Moscow. Russian passengers were killed when ISIS downed one of their passenger planes. Though it is clear Assad did have a kind under the table cease fire with ISIS, but that was only so Assad could focus on crushing other factions in Syria first.

Again, the similarities of Vietnam and Syria parallel each other into the political spectrum. Our differing views of the Kurds and Russia may be due to our political affiliations. The Syrian civil war started in 2011 and was turned into a proxy way. The differences in our comments are based on which side of the proxy war we support. If you are liberal you would support the Russians. If you are conservative, you would support the other side.

The US has defended the Kurds from Iraq, Turkey, and Syria, since the at least 1990's. (Been there, done that.) Kurds do have radicals, but are called terrorists because they fight back against the surrounding muslims countries who want them exterminated. Kurds are not muslim, and according to sharia law, must be subjugated or destroyed.

Russia is communist, even if they call themselves socialist, or democratic. Research the core values of communism from 30 years ago. Russia still hold those beliefs. They are also the same as the core values of modern "socialists". What Sweden enjoys today is what socialism was 30 years ago.

The proxy war in Syria is to control a portion of the petroleum market, just like the proxy war in Ukraine. The US fighting the current Syrian government regime is pointless. The Russians have succeeded in establishing permanent military bases in Syria. This allows them to resupply their military in the Mediterranean. Now our involvement in Syria is restricted to protecting the Kurds and their petroleum resources.

Syria and Vietnam are both proxy wars, but that isn't saying much. Thus are both vaguely alike. Both are vaguely like the Spanish Civil War of the 1930's in which the opposing sides got outside help from foreign countries, and became "the dress rehearsal for WWII".

But beyond that they are the opposite in may ways. As I said before Syria is not Vietnam but Vietnam in reverse, and IS like Afganistan, and like the Bay of Pigs: the US trying to support subversion against a Russian (one time Soviet) client regime.

And who told you that the "Kurds were not Muslim"?

And what religion did you wrongly THINK that the Kurds were? Baptists?

The Kurds a very much Muslim (both Shia, and Sunni, with a Suffi minority).

They are an ethnic minority who are a thorn in the side of the nieghboring ethnic groups. And they straddle nations like Iran (our adversary), Turkey (our longtime NATO ally), and Iraq (our one time enemy, now friend and client state). They are not Arab, not Turkish, nor Iranian, so they don't want to be ruled by nations that are those things. And don't wanna assimilate. But the issues are not religious.

The Kurds and the US were natural allies against Saddam Hussien, and are now natural allies against ISIS. There is no love lost between us and Iran for us supporting Kurds and inspiring Kurdish separatism in Iran. But our tight bond with the Kurds does put us at odds with our Iraqi allies, and even more with our Turkish allies.

Being "liberal" or "progressive" doesn't cause me to like Putin, nor Assad. President Obama armed the Syrian rebels in order to over throw Assad. He would have succeeded if Putin hadn't stepped in to prop up Assad. Obama has been accused of being a liberal.

Putin supports rightwing neo fascist candidates in elections in the west. Not quite the same MO as the old Soviets who supported local communist parties in the West.

Last bumped by LegoMaster2149 on 12 Feb 2018, 9:35 am.