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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (53900)	10/22/2002 12:04:12 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) of 281500

"Boat trip on the Mekong river which is the longest and most prosperous in Asia." Most prosperous? How'd that happen without us? You are judging an entire nation's economy on the basis of a river?? And it's not like the Communists dredged out that river or something... It was just there and has been a center of commerce for centuries. Now I greatly enjoyed the movie "A River Runs Through It"... but I never thought about turning it into an economic analysis... Especially when the Mekong River only spends the LAST portion of its run to the sea traveling through Vietnam.. The majority of the river runs through Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. And traditionally the southern portion of Vietnam has been more properous than the north anyway... a legacy of US presences in the region, in addition to the presence of the Mekong River and delta. I prefer to start off with sources that generally perceived to be fairly reliable, such as the CIA factbook: cia.gov Now take a gander at the economic section.. Most of Vietnam's economic growth has only occurred in recent years, AFTER the fall of the Soviet Union.. their patron. That left them with little choice but to open up their economy... But they are still one of the poorest nations in SE Asia. And while you're looking, take a gander at Laos, also a communist nation: cia.gov It's economic status is even worse that Vietnam's... Then compare them with Thailand, the only nation to truly escape much of the conflict inflicted upon the region by communist China, USSR, and Vietnam: cia.gov And that's even after the carnage from the collapse of the Thai Bhat, and speculative bubble that took place in 1998. Karen... The US isn't perfect... never claimed that it was.. But to make the ludicrous claim that any of these countries were better off without the support of the US in facing off communism, is just incredibly naive... I'm sorry... but I have to say that... Maybe you need to ask a few Vietnamese whether they prefer living in Vietnam or the US... Or maybe you should open up a Sampan taxi service on that "properous" Mekong river.... Hawk

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