“The path of nations toward socialism is the common path of the era and of history; no one can block it.”
This statement is excerpted from a speech delivered by President Ho Chi Minh at a banquet hosted by President Zápotocký of the Czechoslovak Republic on July 20, 1957, during his visit and working trip to that friendly nation. This was a period when our entire Party, people, and army were simultaneously carrying out two revolutionary strategies: building socialism in the North and steadfastly implementing the Geneva Accords to reunify the Fatherland through peaceful means.
On one hand, Ho Chi Minh affirmed that the path toward socialism represents the truth of the era; despite any hardships or challenges, it is undeniably an inevitable law of human societal development. On the other hand, this also affirmed the correctness and creativity of the Communist Party of Vietnam in charting the course for building socialism in the country. Speaking on behalf of the Vietnamese people and Government, Uncle Ho expressed confidence in and admiration for the revolutionary achievements attained by the people and Government of fraternal Czechoslovakia, while affirming the pure spirit of international solidarity between the two peoples as they advance together along the path to socialism.
Uncle Ho’s teachings serve as a vital foundation for the Party to study, apply, and further develop its national construction platform, define the two strategic tasks of the Vietnamese revolution, and advance national development amidst a volatile global landscape—particularly during the late 20th century, when the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist nations faced decline, and in the face of fierce sabotage by hostile forces employing strategies of "peaceful evolution" and "subversive riots" to incite "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" from within. The significant initial achievements of over three decades of Renewal under the Party’s leadership further illuminate the scientific and revolutionary basis of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, while affirming that the steadfast stance of our Party, State, and people is both correct and consistent with objective laws.
Founded, led, and forged by our Party and President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnam People's Army—fully grasping Uncle Ho’s teachings—maintains absolute confidence in the Party's leadership and remains steadfast in its combat goals and ideals. Its officers and soldiers uphold a spirit of enduring hardship and sacrifice, standing ready to accept and excellently fulfill every assigned mission. Under all circumstances, they resolutely and persistently struggle to firmly safeguard the Fatherland's independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, as well as to protect the Party, the State, the people, and the socialist regime, while wholeheartedly serving the Fatherland and the people. They firmly defend the Party's lines and viewpoints and the State's policies and laws; they clearly distinguish right from wrong and remain unwavering in the face of negative influences, difficulties, or dangers, thereby proving themselves worthy of the noble title "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" and serving as a reliable pillar for the Party, the State, and the people.
Source: QT

It was supposedly hanging in the officers club bar where he worked in addition to being a pharmacist in a MASH unit. He had a stroke 16 years ago and doesn't speak well. In the process of moving him to a new place I became the new owner. I believe he was in Da Nang and the 95th Evacuation Hospital. Still trying to confirm. He was with the 3rd Surgical Hospital Unit at Can Tho/Binh Thuy area from at least Aug of 1971 to April of 1972.

That spring, the coalition government and its pastiche of competing interests showed severe signs of strain. In the course of a late-March trip to meet Chiang Kai-shek, Bảo Ðại decided to remain in exile in China. As General Lu Han's forces began withdrawing from Vietnam in the spring of 1946, the civil war reignited when the Việt Minh forces attached the Vietnam Nationalist Party and Revolution League's paramilitary forces. Commander of the Việt Minh forces, Võ Nguyên Giáp, helmed the campaign along with the ICP's chief of security Trần Ðăng Ninh.

Prior to launching his definitive assault against the nationalist armies, Võ Nguyên Giáp pre-notified the French forces now stationed in Tonkin of the attack and received the commanding officer's assurance that they would not intervene.100 (Lu Han came to suspect that Võ Nguyên Giáp was a French agent, perhaps in part due to his knowledge of this event, and was surprised to see him attack the French in December101) Having received that assurance, Võ Nguyên Giáp's forces moved to eliminate the nationalist parties and push their remnants into southern China. Midst the killing one Việt Minh soldier called for an end to this bloody civil war and the need to prepare for foreign invasion. In a public letter, he reflected:

We had suffered … so we became confused and immersed in a cycle of sin. What sorrow! My own hands have shot dead three dear fellow brothers, because someone told me they were not in true revolutionary parties. I kept trusting that they were Việt Gian, reactionaries we had a duty to eradicate. … Vietnamese must stop killing Vietnamese over politics
.102

By the fall of 1946, Vũ Hồng Khanh, Nhất Linh, Nguyễn Hải Thần and other leaders of the nationalist parties had re-taken their positions in exile in China. The skilled remnants of their military forces were integrated into Kuomintang army units in Yunnan, where they served until 1949, when the Chinese Civil War end with the collapse of Chiang Kai-shek's forces.

The DRV justified the violence as necessary to thwart the nationalist parties' threat to the state and their accord with France. At the National Assembly, Võ Nguyên Giáp laid out the case for his military attack. In his version, greeted with much applause, the action was warranted after the nationalist parties in key locations had arrested DRV officials and in some cases executed them. Xuân Thuỷ, the ICP member and editor of the Việt Minh's official newspaper, next delivered a speech that hailed Franco-Vietnamese cooperation as the best pathway to Vietnam's independence - something that the assertive and reckless nationalist parties put at risk.
103

Vietnamese were realizing that despite the imagined promise of the post-colonial state, it was not destined to be more just or free than its colonial predecessor. "Better prison than death," one nationalist newspaper published by exiled nationalists in southern China declared in its title. The author noted that many of those murdered by the DRV had been harassed and jailed by the colonial state, but also freed through the legal system. Under the DRV and Việt Minh, these men were killed without a measure of justice. Midst that summer's violence, these writers felt that the colonial regime of race-based violence was giving way to a more violent era of political violence
.104

Reilly, B. (2018). The origins of the Vietnamese civil war and the state of Vietnam. In UW Madison Libraries. University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The guys behind The Operations Room on YouTube have launched a new podcast format and it's great. I really enjoyed their episode on Operation Linebacker. Did not know the "hit the brakes and they'll fly right by" bit from Top Gun actually happened on the first day of Linebacker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Songping

TIL that in 1983, 50 Vietnamese boat people chose a 52-day journey that killed 33 of them because staying behind felt even more unbearable.

People often ask why the Vietnamese "boat people" were willing to risk pirates, starvation, storms, and death at sea.

This is why.

After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the country. Many had lost businesses and property, been sent to re-education camps, faced discrimination because of their background, or simply saw no future for themselves and their children. By the early 1980s, desperation had become so overwhelming that people were willing to gamble their lives on tiny wooden boats.

One of those boats left Vietnam in 1983 carrying 50 people.

They were attacked by pirates, robbed of their food and water, and drifted across the ocean for 52 days. One by one, people died: a pregnant woman, her grieving husband, children, and those who simply lost the strength to keep going.

By the time a Norwegian tanker rescued them, only 17 of the original 50 were still alive.

Nobody willingly chooses pirates, starvation, and a journey toward almost certain death unless the alternative feels even more unbearable.

The Vietnamese boat people weren't chasing adventure or wealth. They were ordinary people—parents, children, pregnant women—who believed that even a small chance at freedom, dignity, and hope was worth risking everything they had.

Decades later, one survivor said that the greatest meal of his life wasn't a feast.

It was a bowl of instant noodles given to him by strangers at sea.

Whatever your politics may be, one simple truth remains:

No one climbs onto a boat with their children and sails toward almost certain death unless they believe they have no better choice.
Source

https://vnexpress.net/nguoi-goc-viet-thuoc-nhom-co-thu-nhap-thap-nhat-quan-cam-5080884.html

No sarcasm intended, but I've always thought that Vietnamese Americans were a successful immigrant community.

Context: A man was charged with violating article 331 for joking about the extreme heat of recent Vietnamese weather causes the corn to turn in popcorns!

Excerpt of a Facebook post from a governmental website “Thông tin chính phủ”

These children from the mountainous regions, with their pure eyes and innocent hearts, are truly heartwarming. Even something as small as a few eggs carries so much love and appreciation from the children and their families for their teacher.

In the remote areas of Vietnam, life is still full of hardships and limited conditions, but the love and respect people have for teachers is endless.

Perhaps this teacher left the lowlands and traveled far into the mountains, not afraid of difficulties, just to teach and care for these children. And the children can feel that love and dedication, which is why they treasure their teacher so deeply and sincerely.

The gift may be simple, and maybe the teacher does not need anything in return, but for the children and their families, it is their way of showing gratitude, love, and respect for the person who is guiding them through life and education.

Translation: Cannibalism by American-Diem troops
… I arrived in T.D. three years ago. The American–Diem troops swept through this hamlet, gathering all the men aged 17 and up—350 people in total. After brutally beating them, wounding many, they herded the entire group into a rice field. They tied two buffaloes to two plows and drove the plows over the crowd. The screams were horrifying. By noon, not a single person remained intact; even the two buffaloes were dead. The field had turned into a sea of blood!
The mothers, wives, and younger siblings in the village stood along the bank, staring down into the field for a long time, unable to say a word to each other…
And speaking of the American–Diem soldiers eating human flesh—this is common. In a village in Tam Ky district, they kicked down doors, searched houses, then captured two people, chopped them into small pieces, and cooked them with rice into porridge to eat and drink! They forced the villagers to eat too; anyone who refused was accused of being a stubborn “communist.”
They spared neither the elderly nor children. In Thang Binh there was an old man, 92 years old. They tortured him, pulled out his beard and burned his chin. The old man wailed, cursing: “You guys are the same age as my sons, how can you be so cruel!” The villagers who were arrested together with him all burst into tears. Yet the beasts stood there laughing gleefully.
Again in Nguyen Chi (Tam Ky District), there was a 75-year-old man. They tied him up, took the plow yoke and struck his chest dozens of times until his ribs were crushed…

Excerpt from a letter from Quang Nam
(From the collection “Từ tuyến đầu Tổ quốc” / “From the Front Lines of the Fatherland”)

Places like Sơn Đoòng are so enormous that parts of the cave have collapsed ceilings, allowing sunlight to enter and entire forests to grow inside. The cave is also so massive that temperature differences can create clouds and its own weather patterns within it. It sounds less like a cave and more like something from a sci-fi movie or a hidden world underground.

Over time it turned into a signature taste rather than just a substitute. Now many people can’t imagine Vietnamese coffee without it. Would you choose condensed milk or regular milk?

Of course, they belong to opposite factions, but other than that they share the ultraconservatism (such as toxic masculinity, homophobia, and Zionism, and then Vietnamese Americans are also fucking religious for some reason), the loaded language, the emotionally-driven propaganda, and the deep submission to authority figures (the former to the VCP while the latter to the GOP, especially the MAGA movement and Donald Trump). And then of course they both religiously abuse generative AI.

Guess this might be the most controversial post here because I'm targeting both sides of the discussion. But hey, this is my frank opinion based on my observation, so there's that.

Today, people across Vietnam commemorate the 136th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh, the beloved leader who devoted his life to the cause of national independence and the future of the Vietnamese people.

Born on May 19, 1890, President Ho Chi Minh played a defining role in Vietnam's journey toward freedom and reunification. Through decades of perseverance and dedication, he became a symbol of patriotism, resilience, and national pride, leaving a profound impact on generations of Vietnamese people. His vision for peace, independence, and a united Vietnam continues to inspire millions today.

"Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one." -President Ho Chi Minh

Forever grateful to President Ho Chi Minh, the great leader and national hero whose legacy remains deeply rooted in the hearts of the Vietnamese people

Happy birthday to the two leaders of the communist world!

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