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Kremlin Threatens that Ukraine Could Become Our ‘New Vietnam’
The Kremlin is nervous. The aid bill has passed, and new arms deliveries will soon start arriving again. Russian historians are warning Americans that “You are getting into another Vietnam.” Either Russian historians are clueless as hell about the history of U.S. involvement in the rice paddies and jungles, or they think Americans are smart as hell and know their history.
To be honest, they have me scratching my head.
After majoring in political science and Russian at Rutgers College, I received a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia’s School for International and Public Affairs. I can say that I invested about 200-plus hours of my academic life studying the Vietnam War. I read upward of several thousand pages on the subject matter.
In a very nuanced way, the Kremlin’s claim that we are getting ourselves into another Vietnam could be correct. Beginning with the fall of the French army during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the decision by the U.S. to replace them to counter the communists in the region, month by month, our commitment to the region grew until it became our national obsession. At first, our assistance was restricted to Green Berets training the local forces, but we…
