Seduction of hanoi
Barack Obama became the third president of the United States, who visited Vietnam after the end of the American-Vietnamese war of 1965 – 1975. During it, the United States suffered the greatest losses after World War II - more than 58 thousand soldiers and officers. And there were 303 thousands of injured and mutilated, as well as many thousands of veterans of this war, who committed suicide. Post-Vietnamese syndrome is still felt in the country.
AMERICAN BARE TO THE FORMER ENEMY
The first American leader who tried to re-establish relations with the former enemy was Bill Clinton, who visited Vietnam in 2000 year. Six years later, a visit by George W. Bush took place. And finally, Barack Obama flew to Hanoi, who brought a kind of “gingerbread” to the country - no, not an apology for the aggression and for the death of about two million Vietnamese civilians, and the death of the American embargo weapons. The ban on the supply of non-lethal weapons was lifted back in 2014, now it is the turn to take the next step. And again, not in the direction of compensation for the monstrous damage that the republic suffered during the years of carpet bombing by the American B-52, and not for hundreds of tons of poisonous herbicides poured on the Vietnamese jungle and rice fields, which poisoned the earth, water and air for many years, but in order to meet the needs of Vietnam in modern military equipment and aviation giants of the American military industry, such as Boeing, Westinghouse, General Electric and others, have earned equipment. Barack Obama successfully completed this part of the plan.
During his visit to Hanoi, the parties signed contracts for $ 16 billion. In particular, the Boeing company will sell a hundred of its aircraft to the Vietnamese VietJet, not immediately, but within more than 10 years, but the figures, you must agree, are impressive. Pratt & Whitney also signed an agreement with VietJet to sell 135 state-of-the-art aircraft engines. GE Wind has pledged to help Vietnam develop power plants with wind turbines. No military agreements were signed, but Defense News, citing representatives of the American military-industrial complex, reports that Vietnam is interested in the supply of C-130 military transport aircraft, used F-16 fighters from the Pentagon's warehouses, as well as basic P-3C patrol aircraft. , also not new, and unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance in coastal areas, observing ships and vessels passing by the Vietnamese coast, and for conducting reconnaissance. "Second-hand", it must be understood, is purchased due to the extremely low price.
Actively supported the US military-industrial complex and the Republican Senator from Arizona John McCain. The one who, being the pilot of carrier-based aviation on the Oriscani aircraft carrier, was shot down by a Soviet missile over Hanoi in 1967, crashed into a lake in the center of the city and was almost filled with Vietnamese hoes with broken arms and legs, then spent five and a half years in a local the prison, where he was regularly beaten by guards, and released after the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement between Hanoi and Washington only in 1973 year. This ardent anti-communist and unsuccessful president of the United States did not hesitate to contact the official and, one might say, loyal letter to the Secretary General of the Communist Party, ruling in Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Chong with a proposal to cooperate in strengthening the security of the republic in the naval sphere.
“The United States and Vietnam have common strategic and economic interests and open regional trade objectives, maintain a favorable balance of forces in the Asia-Pacific region and the principles of world order, such as freedom of the seas and a peaceful solution to international conflicts,” he wrote. “I hope that we could work together in the coming years on a number of other initiatives that can strengthen our security relations.” First, I advocate strengthening Vietnamese coast guard capabilities and fleet. To this end, the United States is ready to continue work on the exchange of marine information and response capabilities in the South China Sea. I am pleased to report that last year the US Senate Committee on Armed Forces approved a funded initiative to strengthen cooperation with states such as Vietnam. ”
SHOT ONE - GOALS A FEW
In Obama’s visit to Vietnam and the lifting of the lethal American weapons embargo on Hanoi, as in McCain’s letter to the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, many observers, both domestic and foreign, see the US desire to hit several strategic targets with one shot. Not only lobbying the interests of your military-industrial complex. But also to render, first of all, moral and psychological support to Hanoi in his confrontation with Beijing over the disputed islands of Spratly and Paracel, rich in marine and oil resources. And at the same time to back this relationship. The United States does not like the strengthening of the Chinese military presence in the South China Sea, through which the lion's share of world trade passes, and they are ready to help everything, anything, to any states that will resist Chinese expansion in this region of the world’s ocean. Moreover, they themselves are transferring the main efforts of their naval forces to Southeast Asia - they are trying to place their frigates and destroyers with the Aegis and Tomahawks missile systems on board on permanent basis, to stake out naval forces for themselves base. Including the Philippines. And I would very much like to return, which shines through the lines of McCain's letter to his former base in Vietnamese Cam Ranh, a key position for controlling the Indian and Pacific oceans washing the Asian shores.
There, on Cam Ranh, during the Vietnam War, American fighters and transport workers, warships and auxiliary fleet ships were based. For them, the Pentagon even built an airfield and the most modern port for that time, workshops for repairing aircraft and boats. After 1979, this base was handed over to the Vietnamese Soviet Navy, where we deployed our logistics center. Signed an agreement with Hanoi for 25 years. Then they created the largest foreign military base area of 100 square. km, where the anti-ship missile carriers Tu-16K, naval reconnaissance Tu-95РЦ, anti-submarine aircraft Tu-142, MiG-23 fighters and even a helicopter detachment were stationed. And 8 – 10 surface ships, 4 – 8 submarines, several support vessels. But in 2001, our presence in Cam Ranh was curtailed. Some experts argue that this was not enough money, especially since Vietnam raised the fee for using the base. Others note that our fleet at that time stopped going to the Indian Ocean, and airplanes did not fly in this region, and it became useless to us.
True, a couple of years ago, this geopolitical blunder was intact. Our fleet received the right to go to Cam Ranh to repair their ships, replenish fresh water and fuel, as well as for the rest of crews. Our pilots got the same right. And, of course, the United States does not like it, they would like to take the place of Russia in Cam Ranh themselves, but so far nothing is working. And McCain’s letter to the CPV Secretary General with a transparent hint of “strengthening our security relations” and “response capabilities in the South China Sea” still doesn’t work.
THE WEAPON OF THE WINNERS FOR THE WEAPON OF THE LOSTING DOES NOT CHANGE
I think that the hope of some of our fellow citizens and their foreign like-minded people that the United States will “force Russia out of the sphere of military-technical cooperation with Vietnam” will not work, which for some reason they enthusiastically wrote about after Barack Obama’s visit to Hanoi and the lifting of the American embargo on deliveries of lethal weapons to the republic. Separate contracts for used F-16s and Orions, if any, and Drones they will not make any weather in the US-Vietnamese military-technical cooperation, and they will not be able to replace Russian weapons in any way. Even the trends will not create this.
There are a lot of reasons and grounds for such a statement. One of them is that Soviet / Russian weapons account for 93% of Hanoi's military imports. Air defense systems, naval equipment, armored vehicles of the ground forces (Tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, combat support systems - reconnaissance, navigation, target designation) - all this in absolute terms was produced in our country. Combat aircraft - including. Only in recent years, Vietnam has acquired from Russia project 636 submarines. 1 with the Club-S missile system (export analogue of Caliber, only its launch range, as permitted in the export version, is 300 km), project 11661 Cheetah patrol ships -3. 9 ”, Lightning missile boats, Bastion mobile coastal missile system - also with a range of 300 km, multi-functional Su-30MK2 fighters and other weapons. Negotiations are ongoing on the establishment of a Sukhoi family fighter service center on Vietnamese soil, which will create new jobs for the republic and the opportunity to earn money by servicing similar planes delivered by our country to the neighboring states of Southeast Asia. Vietnam ranks third among buyers of Russian weapons, followed by India and China. Recent contracts have brought us over $ 4,5 billion.
It was not by chance that the author named India among the buyers of domestic weapons. Every time when in tenders for Delhi supplies of a particular type of military equipment, the winner is not Russia, but one of its competitors in the arms market, including the US, headlines like “America crowns out Russia” immediately appear in the domestic press. from the Indian market. " They are about the same as they appeared after Barack Obama’s visit to Hanoi. But such exaggerated "sensations" is complete nonsense. Despite the fact that India has concluded several contracts with France, the United States, Germany and Israel, Russia remains the main supplier of military products for it. Today 75% of military equipment, standing on the arms of this country, made in the USSR and Russia. Moreover, we have a lot of joint projects.
But talking about military-technical cooperation with India is the topic of another article. This example is given in order to show that we are following the same path with Vietnam. Say more. It is not only a matter of “hardware”, even if it is in the most high-tech. Military-technical cooperation is also the supply of equipment and material and technical means for the operation, repair and modernization of this “iron”, the training of personnel who will fight on it if necessary, this is the mastering of the ideology and principles of using this weapon, as well as numerous communication with the enterprises that produce it. That is, a set of measures and measures that bind the two countries for many, many years. If someone thinks that these ties can be destroyed in one instant and replaced by another country, he, to put it mildly, is greatly mistaken or, if to say essentially, tries to pass the desired for the real.
Another example in support of these words is the Russian military-technical cooperation with Egypt. It survived the dawn in the days of Nasser, faded under Sadat, began to revive under Mubarak, almost ceased to exist under Mursi, and now again, like the bird Phoenix, is reborn under General As-Sisi. Vietnam’s military-technical cooperation with Russia was not interrupted for a single day and cannot be replaced by the United States by definition. On the close military and military-technical ties that we have already talked about, but also because there are historical memory not only of the Vietnamese people, but also of their leaders. They remember who helped the country during the years of the Indochina war, during the American aggression and all subsequent years - this memory cannot be killed even by economic gain.
And then, in Hanoi, they know that Washington’s policies are very fluid. Today it is profitable for the USA to add pepper to the opposition of Hanoi with Beijing - they will do it. Tomorrow for some reason they want to change the country's leadership that has not pleased them with something - the color revolution will not take long to come. Moreover, several thousand Vietnamese students have already studied in the United States, and the Peace Corps and other NGOs have firmly settled down in the region. While Russia has never interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of those countries with which it has military-technical cooperation, it does not furnish the supply of its weapons, depending on the changing policies of its partners.
Obama, like the next US president, as McCain, by the way, may try to play the Vietnamese card in his global game, against China, against Russia, but Vietnam, to their dismay, as evidenced by the fifty-year experience of this country, in such intrigues is not going to participate. Despite all the tempting overseas offers.
... Obama and McCain’s actions in Vietnam are similar to Zeus’s attempts to seduce Europe. Many people remember this famous myth. As a thunderer, he turned into a handsome bull, affectionate and submissive, like a week-old calf, with golden horns, curved like a new month, and golden wool, sparkling in the sun, as he lay down at the feet of a charming and naive girl in Europe, inviting her to ride. How it ended, remind, I think, not worth it.
So, President Obama and Senator McCain failed to seduce and kidnap Vietnam. The attempt proved futile. Barack Obama became the third US president to visit Vietnam since the end of the 1965-1975 US-Vietnam War. During it, the United States suffered the largest losses since World War II - more than 58 thousand soldiers and officers. And then there were 303 thousand wounded and mutilated, as well as many thousands of veterans of this war who committed suicide. The post-Vietnam syndrome is still felt in the country.
AMERICAN BARE TO THE FORMER ENEMY
The first American leader who tried to re-establish relations with the former enemy was Bill Clinton, who visited Vietnam in 2000 year. Six years later, a visit by George W. Bush took place. And finally, Barack Obama flew to Hanoi, who brought a kind of “carrot” to the country - no, not an excuse for aggression and for the death of about two million Vietnamese civilians, but the lifting of the lethal American arms embargo on Vietnam. The ban on the supply of non-lethal weapons was canceled in 2014 year, now it is the turn to take the next step. And again, not in the direction of compensation for the monstrous damage that the republic suffered during the years of carpet bombing by the American B-52, and not for hundreds of tons of poisonous herbicides poured on the Vietnamese jungle and rice fields, which poisoned the earth, water and air for many years, but to ensure that the giants of the American military industry, such as Boeing, Westinghouse, General Electric and others, have earned on the needs of Vietnam in modern military equipment and aviation technology. Barack Obama successfully completed this part of the plan.
During his visit to Hanoi, the parties signed contracts for $ 16 billion. In particular, the Boeing company will sell a hundred of its aircraft to the Vietnamese VietJet, not immediately, but within more than 10 years, but the figures, you must agree, are impressive. Pratt & Whitney also signed an agreement with VietJet to sell 135 state-of-the-art aircraft engines. GE Wind has pledged to help Vietnam develop power plants with wind turbines. No military agreements were signed, but Defense News, citing representatives of the American military-industrial complex, reports that Vietnam is interested in the supply of C-130 military transport aircraft, used F-16 fighters from the Pentagon's warehouses, as well as basic P-3C patrol aircraft. , also not new, and unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance in coastal areas, observing ships and vessels passing by the Vietnamese coast, and for conducting reconnaissance. "Second-hand", it must be understood, is purchased due to the extremely low price.
Actively supported the US military-industrial complex and the Republican Senator from Arizona John McCain. The one who, being the pilot of carrier-based aviation on the Oriscani aircraft carrier, was shot down by a Soviet missile over Hanoi in 1967, crashed into a lake in the center of the city and was almost filled with Vietnamese hoes with broken arms and legs, then spent five and a half years in a local the prison, where he was regularly beaten by guards, and released after the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement between Hanoi and Washington only in 1973 year. This ardent anti-communist and unsuccessful president of the United States did not hesitate to contact the official and, one might say, loyal letter to the Secretary General of the Communist Party, ruling in Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Chong with a proposal to cooperate in strengthening the security of the republic in the naval sphere.
“The United States and Vietnam share common strategic and economic interests and open regional trade objectives, maintain a favorable balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region and principles of world order, such as freedom of the seas and peaceful resolution of international conflicts,” he wrote. “I hope that we could work together in the coming years on a number of other initiatives that can strengthen our security relationship.” First, I advocate strengthening Vietnamese coast guard and fleet capabilities. To this end, the United States is ready to continue working on the exchange of maritime information and response capabilities in the South China Sea. I am pleased to announce that last year the US Senate Committee on Armed Forces approved a funded initiative to strengthen cooperation with such countries as Vietnam. "
SHOT ONE - GOALS A FEW
In Obama’s visit to Vietnam and the lifting of the lethal American weapons embargo on Hanoi, as in McCain’s letter to the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, many observers, both domestic and foreign, see the US desire to hit several strategic targets with one shot. Not only lobbying the interests of your military-industrial complex. But also to render, first of all, moral and psychological support to Hanoi in his confrontation with Beijing over the disputed islands of Spratly and Paracel, rich in marine and oil resources. And at the same time to back this relationship. The United States does not like the strengthening of the Chinese military presence in the South China Sea, through which the lion's share of world trade passes, and they are ready to help everything, anything, to any states that will resist Chinese expansion in this region of the world’s ocean. Moreover, they themselves are transferring the main efforts of their naval forces to Southeast Asia - they are trying to place their frigates and destroyers with the Aegis and Tomahawks missile systems on board on permanent basis, to stake out naval forces for themselves base. Including the Philippines. And I would very much like to return, which shines through the lines of McCain's letter to his former base in Vietnamese Cam Ranh, a key position for controlling the Indian and Pacific oceans washing the Asian shores.
There, on Cam Ranh, during the Vietnam War, American fighters and transport workers, warships and auxiliary fleet ships were based. For them, the Pentagon even built an airfield and the most modern port for that time, workshops for repairing aircraft and boats. After 1979, this base was handed over to the Vietnamese Soviet Navy, where we deployed our logistics center. Signed an agreement with Hanoi for 25 years. Then they created the largest foreign military base area of 100 square. km, where the anti-ship missile carriers Tu-16K, naval reconnaissance Tu-95РЦ, anti-submarine aircraft Tu-142, MiG-23 fighters and even a helicopter detachment were stationed. And 8 – 10 surface ships, 4 – 8 submarines, several support vessels. But in 2001, our presence in Cam Ranh was curtailed. Some experts argue that this was not enough money, especially since Vietnam raised the fee for using the base. Others note that our fleet at that time stopped going to the Indian Ocean, and airplanes did not fly in this region, and it became useless to us.
True, a couple of years ago, this geopolitical blunder was intact. Our fleet received the right to go to Cam Ranh to repair their ships, replenish fresh water and fuel, as well as for the rest of crews. Our pilots got the same right. And, of course, the United States does not like it, they would like to take the place of Russia in Cam Ranh themselves, but so far nothing is working. And McCain’s letter to the CPV Secretary General with a transparent hint of “strengthening our security relations” and “response capabilities in the South China Sea” still doesn’t work.
THE WEAPON OF THE WINNERS FOR THE WEAPON OF THE LOSTING DOES NOT CHANGE
I think that the hope of some of our fellow citizens and their like-minded foreigners will not work, “forcing the United States out of Russia from the sphere of military-technical cooperation with Vietnam”, which they for some reason wrote with enthusiasm after Barack Obama’s visit to Hanoi and lifting the American embargo on deliveries of lethal weapons to the republic. Separate contracts for used F-16 and “Orions”, if they take place, as well as drones, do not make any weather in the US-Vietnamese military-technical cooperation and cannot replace Russian armament in any way. Even this trend will not create.
There are a lot of reasons and reasons for such a statement. One of them is that Soviet / Russian weapons make up 93% of Hanoi’s military imports. Air defense systems, naval equipment, armored vehicles of the ground forces (tanks, self-propelled artillery installations, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, combat support systems - reconnaissance, navigation, target designation) are all produced in absolute terms in our country. Combat aviation - including. Only in recent years, Vietnam has acquired the submarines of the 636 project from Russia. 1 with the Club-S missile system (export analogue of Caliber, only its launch range, as permitted in the export version, 300 km), patrol ships of the 11661 project “Cheetah-3. 9, the Molniya missile boats, the Bastion mobile coastal missile system, also with a range of 300 km, Su-30МКХNUMX multifunctional fighters and other weapons. Negotiations are underway to create a service station for Sukhoi family fighters on Vietnamese land, which will create new jobs and opportunities for the republic to earn by serving similar aircraft delivered by our country to neighboring states of Southeast Asia. Vietnam ranks third among buyers of Russian weapons, after India and China. Recent contracts have brought us over 2 billion dollars.
It was not by chance that the author named India among the buyers of domestic weapons. Every time when in tenders for Delhi supplies of a particular type of military equipment, the winner is not Russia, but one of its competitors in the arms market, including the US, headlines like “America crowns out Russia” immediately appear in the domestic press. from the Indian market. " They are about the same as they appeared after Barack Obama’s visit to Hanoi. But such exaggerated "sensations" is complete nonsense. Despite the fact that India has concluded several contracts with France, the United States, Germany and Israel, Russia remains the main supplier of military products for it. Today 75% of military equipment, standing on the arms of this country, made in the USSR and Russia. Moreover, we have a lot of joint projects.
But talking about military-technical cooperation with India is the topic of another article. This example is given in order to show that we are following the same path with Vietnam. Say more. It is not only a matter of “hardware”, even if it is in the most high-tech. Military-technical cooperation is also the supply of equipment and material and technical means for the operation, repair and modernization of this “iron”, the training of personnel who will fight on it if necessary, this is the mastering of the ideology and principles of using this weapon, as well as numerous communication with the enterprises that produce it. That is, a set of measures and measures that bind the two countries for many, many years. If someone thinks that these ties can be destroyed in one instant and replaced by another country, he, to put it mildly, is greatly mistaken or, if to say essentially, tries to pass the desired for the real.
Another example in support of these words is the military-technical cooperation of Russia with Egypt. It survived the dawn of Nasser’s time, faded away under Sadat, began to revive under Mubarak, almost ceased to exist under Mursi, and now again, like the Phoenix bird, is reborn under General Al-Sisi. Vietnam’s military-technical cooperation with Russia has not been interrupted for a single day and cannot be replaced by the United States by definition. For those close military and military-technical ties, of which we have already spoken, but also because there is a historical memory of not only the Vietnamese people, but also their leaders. They remember who helped the country during the years of the Indochina war, during the American aggression and all subsequent years - this memory cannot be killed even by economic gain.
And then, in Hanoi, they know that Washington’s policies are very fluid. Today it is profitable for the USA to add pepper to the opposition of Hanoi with Beijing - they will do it. Tomorrow for some reason they want to change the country's leadership that has not pleased them with something - the color revolution will not take long to come. Moreover, several thousand Vietnamese students have already studied in the United States, and the Peace Corps and other NGOs have firmly settled down in the region. While Russia has never interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of those countries with which it has military-technical cooperation, it does not furnish the supply of its weapons, depending on the changing policies of its partners.
Obama, like the next US president, as McCain, by the way, may try to play the Vietnamese card in his global game, against China, against Russia, but Vietnam, to their dismay, as evidenced by the fifty-year experience of this country, in such intrigues is not going to participate. Despite all the tempting overseas offers.
... Obama and McCain’s actions in Vietnam are similar to Zeus’s attempts to seduce Europe. Many people remember this famous myth. As a thunderer, he turned into a handsome bull, affectionate and submissive, like a week-old calf, with golden horns, curved like a new month, and golden wool, sparkling in the sun, as he lay down at the feet of a charming and naive girl in Europe, inviting her to ride. How it ended, remind, I think, not worth it.
So, it was not possible to seduce and kidnap Vietnam President Obama and Senator McCain. The attempt was worthless.
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