Olive Branch to Viet Nam
Hegseth in Vietnam to strengthen defense ties and reassure a cautious partner
By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was in Vietnam on Sunday, reaffirming a partnership built on healing the scars of the Vietnam War in a trip that will test whether Washington can reassure a vital but wary partner.Hegseth said addressing the legacies of the war, which ended 50 years ago in April, remains the foundation and a top priority of the countries’ defense relationship.
At the end of his talks with Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang, Hegseth handed over a leather box, a belt and a small knife — wartime artifacts once taken by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Such returns have become part of broader reconciliation efforts between the two countries, with similar relics — including letters, identification tags and photographs — handed back to the U.S. in recent years.
Shoring up the Pacific to counter China of course. The administration sweetened also the pot for Viet Nam with a “Framework for an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade” policy, the art of the deal in action once again.
We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.
Lord Palmerston
Category: Big Pentagon, Vietnam
Am glad they are getting together with each other
“the war, which ended 50 years ago in April”
Yet I still find myself crying over the loss of my brothers.
The past never ends. It is the future we must preserve.
Sorry, but not sorry….
I’m calling dibs for a couple of spots down the line behind many of you who have earned a far, FAR greater spot ahead of me, however, since in 1973, we actually hosted a POW, a wingman of my father’s, in in our home in Potomac MD during the de-broief period, and I wear a bracelet (my second one) since the same time period, of my father’s *other* wingman for home I am named, I will go ahead and take the hit on this one…..for I, like 9/11, won’t forget this.
Can we PLEASE do something about this like, repatriote her to somewhere Oh I don’t know…maybe a public display of scaphism, in Huế City and then we can afterwards, take portions of her remains and dispose of them to the winds in vadious locations (Thanks Internet) such as: Dak To, Khe Sanh, Con Thien in the DMZ, Saigon, Hamburger Hill in Dong Ap Bia, scatter some remains over the Ia Drang Valley,
and of course, leave the last items, maybe her desicrated heart at the Hoa Lo Prison (the “Hanoi Hilton”)……
Oh and let’s not forget my new favorite graphic…..
Hoping her cancer comes back.
We need to find an easily accessible place to inter a bit of her remains. The Jane Fonda Memorial Piss Tube.
Cremate the bitch’s remains and flush her ashes into a septic tank where Veterans can give her the tribute she deserves.
I like it. Effective, sanitary, and environmentally friendly. Now we just need a location. I’m thinking DC, near the wall. I really have no vote on this, it’s up to ya’ll Vietnam vets.
Mmmmm, maybe divvy her ashes up into small portions and distribute them, thus many more Vets can easily pay her the proper prospects die for what she did? Just a passing thought!
I was about to suggest the same. DC can always use another public toilet, and I would not waste my energy on making a special trip even to piss on her grave.
I just figured it’d be the appropriate stop after a visit to the wall.
You can name it Fonda’s Flush.
It sings!
Love the creative touches. She is still alive and too many of my brothers died while she was being a traitor.
Hey, ask Giap…
I remember in about 1979-80 the Chinese and Vietnamese had a “border clash” which involved about 10 divisions on each side. Having lots of people to throw at a conflict creates interesting situations. “Border clash”…
Busy year for Vietnam. They also invaded Cambodia
Suggested reading:
“Tragic Mountains”
Jane Hamillton-Merritt
We have been there long time.
After my 15 months in the Viet of the Nam, I was thrilled that these Asian commies were killing each other. The Vietnamese have always hated the Chinese, who dominated Indochina for about 600 years.
“I would rather eat French sh*t for another ten years than Chinese sh*t for another thousand.” –Ho Chi Minh, 1945
They can forgive me or not, but I still hold some hard feelings towards Vietnam and all that means. Those I loved and lost would expect no less of me.
I’m a realist and willing to accept it’s in our interest to have Vietnam as a strategic partner in the Pacific, but I’m going to need them to renounce Jane Fonda before I’ll go all the way!
Even though touring the far east is still prominent on my bucket list, it’s highly unlikely I’ll visit Vietnam when I go. I can accept a strategic partnership but I don’t have to like the partner. Let’s let their oldest generation die off first.
Suspect they’ve got her number.
Wow. Fifty five years ago and I was just finishing up my tour.
May she rot in Hell along with a few others of her bent.
I was just three months into mine.
I was 7.
I was born DEC 08 1970
That’s years old, not 7 months into my tour.
You know, I don’t have a problem with better relations with Vietnam after all of these years. Nuts, I was there myself for sixteen months back in the day. What I would like is a list of ALL of the POWs left behind. Small price for detente don’t you think?
I keep unintentionally buying their shoes. Seems like every time I buy a new pair of kicks, I look at the inside labels and find they were made in Vietnam 🇻🇳. But, gotta love their shoe making skilz.
I quit buying Hanes mens briefs. They might fit a gook but
the quality is piss poor….
😂😂😂😂
“Politics and war make for strange bedfellows”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”
I know being “friendly” with Vietnam will evoke some strong feelings from many in this blog. My grandfather despised anything Japanese for about 50 years until he found out the Camry my grandmother wanted was built in Kentucky. I myself was 10 when the war ended…But, if we can use some cooperation with Vietnam as part our strategy against Chy-Na then so be it. We partnered up quickly with West Germany after WW2. I know US Navy ships have port calls in Da Nang for years so SECWAR’s critics can suck it.
MRS D and I participate in the thanksgiving “Adopt a Soldier” program. A few years back, one of the kids was a young PV2, parents were immigrants from Vietnam. Absolutely awesome kid, I couldn’t help but think my dad (LtCol D) would be amazed that I’d have a young Vietnamese kid at my table, but I also knew he’d approve.
That’s an awesome thing to do!! I’m going to say thank you for those Soldiers and their families for being a gracious host to a lonely Soldier.
It’s a great program, we send them out with a boatload of leftovers.
Not just China, a number of Asians still harbor ill feelings about the Japanese for what they did during WWII.
Can’t say I blame them. The Japanese could have given the Nazis lessons in barbarism and sadism.
Slightly related: that commie abomination is probably gonna win tomorrow, right?
Most likely. This is how the terrorists win.
50% of the people of NYC voted for the shit show that they now have! They deserve every single thing that they now get. I hate it for the other half of the citizens that didn’t want it, but are now stuck with it.
The wave is moving north. Mass is already gone but
Lewiston Maine is the new enclave.
Maine is screwed now that they voted to erase the 2nd
amendment and opened the voter roles to non citizens.
New Democrat voters ahoy!
The other thing to remember is that Vietnam is moving away from Communism, first with the Đổi Mới policy in the 1980s, and most recently the Truong Ton Dan Toc policy in 2025 and Resolution 68 that placed private enterprise at the center of economic developmentGreatness, Resolution 68 “The resolution gave responsibility for national wealth creation to self-management, self-effort, and self-empowerment. The rights of private property will be guaranteed and protected. The Vietnamese state will henceforth “serve and support” private enterprise and not contradict the “principles of the market.”
It’s still a authoritarian country and the Communist party is in charge, but it seems it’s taking a second look at things. It makes sense to encourage relationsips with a country that is moving away from Communism in an area where we have rising conflicts with the local 500 lb Communist gorilla.
Maybe they’re learning communism doesn’t pay the bills.
Much, much better graft opportunities in a free market society.
They certainly learned that free enterprise (capitalism) does pay the bills. I can tell from the quality of their shoes they weren’t made in a government owned factory with workers that pretend to work.
No it don’t but a lot of New Yorkers haven’t paid to attention to history.
Class has just started. It’s gonna be a painful lesson.
” Vietnam is moving away from Communism”
Wouldn’t bet on that. Lenin and the USSR moved away from Communism for a few years in the 1920s, the “New Economic Policy” (NEP).
” Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include “a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control”, while socialized state enterprises would operate on “a profit basis”.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy
In any event, increased economic freedom has little to do with political freedom. Nazi Germany, for example, was a capitalist country.
Except that Nazi Germany was not free enterprise if the owners and operators of the business didn’t support or go along with the government’s policies. Don’t go along to get along and one could end up in a concentration camp.
Now called Market-Leninism in China.
If the govt had done that instead of shoring up the French trying to hold onto their fading empire we would have saved 48,000 KIA and far more wounded (physical and mental) Troops from that war.
Old uncle HO actually appealed to the US before going to the commies. He would have made a better friend to us than the French turned out to be.
Hindsight and all that…
Yup. Unfortunately, the US spent almost two centuries repaying the French for their help during our revolution and wouldn’t dare side against them and the Michelin tire company. Even if it was the better choice.
What’s forgotten is the confusing war between the USA and France from about 1798 and 1800. Also, the USA and Vichy France exchanging gun fire in northern Africa. And then there was the bro-mance between DeGaulle and Stalin during WWII. Let’s not forget DeGaulle said Americans were gangsters and the Soviets were France’s true friends. No one will ever tally how much blood has been shed in France’s former colonies.
Hind sight is 20/20 but I figure the world would have better off if Truman had told DeGaulle that he should be glad he got his country back and he could forget about his empire.