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Although American intervention failed in Vietnam, it brought time for the rest of Southeast Asia. In 1965, when the U.S. military moved massively into South Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines faced internal threats from armed communist insurgencies and the communist underground was still active in Singapore. Indonesia, in the throes of a failed communist coup, was waging konfrontasi, an undeclared war against Malaysia and Singapore. The Philippines was claiming Sabah in East Malaysia. Standards of living were low and economic growth slow. America's action enabled noncommunist Southeast Asia to put their own houses in order. By 1975, they were in better shape to stand up to the communists. Had there been no U.S. intervention, the will of these countries to resist them would have melted and Southeast Asia would most likely gone communist. The prosperous emerging market economies of Asean were nurtured during the Vietnam War years.
Basically, the US saved the rest of Asia from communism.
In a way, most Americans can be excused for believing that US involvement in Viet Nam was worthless. What Lee said took decades to manifest, and by that time, most Americans went on with their lives benefiting from the Asian economic rise.
Is something similar going on in Ukraine? Yes. Not exact but parallel, and there are major differences. The most noticeable difference is that unlike poor Asia during the Vietnam War, western Europe is economically prosperous, militarily stronger today than Asia back then, and backed by the US. What could Europe and the US gain from helping to defend Ukraine? No one in Ukraine is calling for US troops, just send ammo is what they are saying. One parallel is that Europe underestimated Russia today just like Asia underestimated China back then.
The point of studying history is to look for patterns or even replication of behaviors today that could produce similar or even identical results.
The Kremlin appears to be returning to expansionist rhetoric last observed before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an effort to resurface its claims that Ukraine is part of historically Russian territory and discuss the borders Russian leaders regard as appropriate for a rump Ukrainian state. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev misrepresented US President Joe Biden’s response to a media question about whether the United States’ policy is to win the war or help Ukraine to defend itself during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on December 12. Biden stated that the United States wants to see Ukraine win and that “winning means Ukraine is a sovereign, independent nation […] that can afford to defend itself today and deter further aggression.” Medvedev misrepresented Biden’s statements to suggest that the United States would be content if Ukraine simply existed as a country but does not care what Ukraine’s borders look like. Medvedev claimed that Ukraine can still technically be a sovereign country if the whole country remains within the borders of Lviv Oblast, for example. Medvedev also falsely claimed that Biden implied that the United States only supports Ukraine in defending itself but will not help Kyiv launch counteroffensives to liberate more of its land and people. Medvedev added that Ukraine could hypothetically “defend itself” as a rump state within the borders of Lviv Oblast.
I know they are afraid of triggering WWIII. But it has occurred to me more than once that, if Ukraine had kept their nukes, this invasion never would have happened.
Wouldn't have been that simple for Ukraine.
"The deterrent value of the nuclear weapons in Ukraine was also questionable: while Ukraine had "administrative control" of the weapons delivery systems and had implemented measures to prevent Russia from using them, it would have needed 12 to 18 months to establish full operational control. The ICBMs also had a range of 5,000–10,000 km (initially targeting the United States), so they could only have been re-targeted to hit Russia's far east. The Soviet air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) had been disabled by the Russian military during the collapse of the Soviet Union, but even reconfigured and made to work by the Ukrainians, they would probably not have had a deterrent effect and had Ukraine done so, it would have faced sanctions from the West and perhaps even a withdrawal of diplomatic recognition by the United States and other NATO allies, and likely retaliation from Russia. Ukraine would also have struggled to replace the nuclear weapons once their service life expired, as it did not have a nuclear weapons program. Ukraine received financial compensation, and the security assurances of the Budapest Memorandum.[9]"
You are correct though in that Nukes prevent invasion.
War has gotten a lot deadlier for soldiers with all these drones.
Ukraine says they take over 1M pictures of Russian placements and facilities every day. They use AI to analyze the photos, comparing them with most recent ones to detect motion and so forth.
The information is then turned over to artillery, as they try to make every artillery round count. So if you are not be bombed by some drone, you are having your picture taken nearly constantly.
Throw in the fact that Russia is occupying a foreign country rife with spies and it becomes a real problem for them.
Looks like many US lawmakers consider securing the US border a higher priority than supporting Ukraine. Protecting our country's borders versus supporting a losing team. Interesting choice.
Looks like many US lawmakers consider securing the US border a higher priority than supporting Ukraine. Protecting our country's borders versus supporting a losing team. Interesting choice.
The fact these idiots in DC tied securing our own border with pissing away more in Ukraine is an outrage. Enough killing already. Can you say landlocked? On to Odessa simps.
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