Obama lifts US embargo on lethal arms sales to Vietnam

[nitpicker]

Source: BBC

Obama lifts US embargo on lethal arms sales to Vietnam

13 minutes ago
President Barack Obama has announced the US is fully lifting its embargo on sales of lethal weapons to Vietnam, its one-time enemy. Speaking during a visit to communist Vietnam and talks with its leaders, Mr Obama said the move removed a "lingering vestige of the Cold War".

The US is trying to bolster its relationship with its Pacific allies, as China asserts territorial claims. But Mr Obama said the embargo decision was not related to US policy on China. "It's based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalisation with Vietnam," he said in Hanoi.
(snip)

Jonathan Head reports from Hanoi: "Whatever the differences on human rights, both these countries have put their history behind them.

"Sales will need to still meet strict requirements, including those related to human rights, but this change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself," Mr Obama said after talks with President Tran Dai Quang.
(snip)

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36356695

[mrr303am]

1. And the U.S. military industrial complex wins yet again

[PersonNumber503602]

27. If it wasn't the US selling them weapons, then it would be Russia or someone else.

Vietnam has a fear of China and it has every right to defends itself like every other nation. Are you against Vietnam buying weapons, or are you just against them buying US weapons?

[EdwardBernays]

2. MORE WAR

MORE WAR MORE WAR MORE WAR...

Golly gee whiz I wonder if this has anything to do with the recent 11B sale of Boeing planes to Vietnam... which is directly (if you believe the asian press) related to TPP.

Keep your eyes open and see how many companies represented by the Podesta Group suddenly get multi-billion dollar deals with Vietnam.

[Elmergantry]

3. Well we did vote for Hope and Change

Did we not?

Selling weapons to communists certainly is a change....Hopefull? Maybe not.

MIC wins again.

[Nyan]

4. This is so dangerously stupid.

Oh yeah. Lethal weapons to Vietnam where they're having territorial dispute with China? What could possibly go wrong?
The whole point of Pivot to Asia, and Clinton landing in Hanoi speaking of "Freedom of Navigation" was to lead up to this point -to start arms race, fan the flames of nationalist sentiments, and wait for the flash point.
You know what? Never mind. We've started two wars in Iraq. Why the fuck not Vietnam? Just re-invade them in a few years. Why the fuck not? And let's start with shit like this. Hope and Change. Thanks, Obama.

[fasttense]

6. With mercenaries and starving citizens without any other employment options

Our empire can have fairly painless endless wars.

Wars are where the rich really rake it in.

[anigbrowl]

20. My Vietnamese wife is laughing hard at you

Vietnam and China have thousands of years of territorial disputes in their history and were perfectly capable of fighting wars centuries before the US even came into existence. It's enormously amusing to those of us from other other countries that so many people on the left seem to think that the world was a peaceful Eden until the US came along and messed everything up, or even the Europeans.

The notion that tensions between Vietnam and China are somehow controlled by the west is racist BS; Asian people are perfectly capable of having long-running territorial disputes on their own, thanks very much. There's a statue in my wife's hometome to General Le Chan. She founded the city of Haiphong, and fought with the Trung sisters, who were joint queens of Viet Nam at the time, against Chinese occupiers...in 40 BC.

Your claim that the nation of Vietnam is being led around by the nose by wicked western imperialists is both wrong and offensive.

[PersonNumber503602]

25. Didn't China and Vietnam go at each other back in the 70's or 80's too?

[Adsos Letter]

31. They did.

And, iirc, it took an intervention from Vietnam to finally end the genocide in Cambodia.

[EX500rider]

32. +1 Totally agree!

[tabasco]

36. Wow, you read a lot into that post that isn't there.

Not sure why you would do that. Having a Vietnamese wife doesn't make you some kind of scholar emeritus.

[n2doc]

5. More Guns= Safer World

At least, that's the NRA's philosophy. And our foreign Policy as well, it seems

[jtuck004]

15. And this party, and its head. n/t

[EX500rider]

33. Lots of other countries will sell them weapons if we don't.

[Tavarious Jackson]

7. I saw this as a good thing along with TPP.

It takes power away from China and Russia. I listened to Obama explain this today and I agree with the President.

[sulphurdunn]

9. It's odd really.

We've spent 40 years opening trade with China that has made it stronger. Now, we want to make it weaker.

[Recursion]

11. This porridge is too hot

That's kind of the whole idea behind balance-of-power theory: you want rivals to be neither too weak nor too strong.

[sulphurdunn]

35. OK, but if the idea was to keep the Chinese porridge just right,

someone let the pot boil over. Turning up the heat might not be the best way to deal with that.

[Xolodno]

30. I'm going to assume...

...that it was envisioned that China would be weak like Russia under Yeltsin. Having never ending debt to the IMF and McDonald's everywhere.

But these damn pesky nations refuse to learn their role....ex-Communist nations "gaming" capitalism better than us...how dare they!

[Odin2005]

8. In This Thread: People attacking the US when China is the one stealing territory.

[Sunlei]

14. I see what you mean, it must suck to be a 'neighbor' country to China.

signed,

Love, Formosa

[Xithras]

19. And what territory is China stealing?

People attack the U.S. when it deserves to be attacked, but I have to ask...what territory has China stolen lately?

[anigbrowl]

21. It's laying claim to ocean territory to which others thing it has no right

And it's basically doing so on the basis of some old maps with a particular line on them that happens to suit China's sea power ambitions. If you are not familiar with the '9-dash line' issue then you need to do some studying up on this complex topic.

[Xithras]

29. I'm quite familiar with the argument over the Spratly's.

I'm also aware that the western argument tends to be bullshit, and that China has a reasonable claim on the islands stretching back to the 12th century, has exercised posession of the islands (as documented by the British) since the 1800's, has a treaty signed in the 1870's with the French affirming Chinese ownership of the islands, that the Chinese maintained possession markers on the islands through the early 1900's until the Japanese invaded, and that the Chinese reoccupied and have possessed the islands almost continuously since the Japanese were driven out in 1946. Arguments against Chinese control of the islands seem to stem more from "we don't like their claim" than from actual history.

[Odin2005]

42. LOL, what bullshit.

[EX500rider]

34. Trying to steal all the South China Sea right up to the beaches of the Philippines.

[Odin2005]

41. Philipine, Malaysian, and Vietnamese territory in the South China Sea.

China has no valid claim to those areas abd is basically saying "try and stop us, hurr durr durr". It's blatant imperialism against US allies.

[SylviaD]

10. This move puzzles me... nt

[MosheFeingold]

17. There are no eternal allies

Nor perpetual enemies. Only national interests.

Vietnam lives in a bad neighborhood.

They made (IMHO) a poor decision to embrace Communism due to (among several things): (1) the racial hatred of whites brought on by an unbelievably harsh French colonial past and (2) a French colonial economic system that effectively enslaved a large portion of the population.

Time has healed that wound enough that their traditional enemy of China is viewed as the larger evil.

This stuff is not new. It's been going on for ~500 years in that area.

[SylviaD]

44. Thank you for the info ...

I suppose sometimes we get fixated on US actions and forget that there are older enmities...

[Scientific]

12. I certainly hope we'll be selling them whiskey as well

What good are guns without whiskey?

[Sunlei]

13. I think Vietnam just made a deal for Boeing planes?

[KansDem]

16. "Sales will need to still meet strict requirements, including those related to human rights..."

Hmm...why did Saudi Arabia suddenly jump out at me?

[Javaman]

18. bottom line: what does Vietnam have that we want...

cheap labor.

[anigbrowl]

22. We already manufacture lots of stuff in viet Nam

What they have that we want are a growing middle class that wants to buy consumer goods. There haven't been any sanction-type barriers to western firms operating in Viet Nam for a while for most types of goods and services. It's not Cuba,

[Javaman]

28. good point. nt

[liberal_at_heart]

38. ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

[Doctor_J]

23. He will spend his last seven months giving as much as possible to his corporate friends

Especially the Mic. Hopefully the Grand (Social Security Cut) Bargain can be prevented.

[Nyan]

43. Bingo.

And after retirement, he'll be able to pull the Clintons and rake in millions while hitting speech circuits.

[Blue_Tires]

24. I have no problem with this

At least this prevents China from trying to get cute...

[liberal_at_heart]

37. Ah, getting a jump on the TPP I see.

[ronnie624]

39. The US has an historical concern for Vietnam's security.