There appears to be a sort of Vietnam analogy possibly taking shape on the battlefields in Ukraine. I canât quite get my arms completely around it, but I do sense a certain similarity coming into focus.
More than 50 years ago, the United States was engaged in a death struggle with Vietnamese forces over control of South Vietnam. The United States won virtually every military engagement against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army. We did not win the hearts and minds of the people.
So, U.S. and North Vietnamese negotiators ventured to Paris to work out an agreement to end hostilities. The agreement came to pass in January 1973. We pulled our forces out but by April 1975, North Vietnam was able to roll its tanks into Saigon and rename the city after Ho Chi Minh.
Fast forward to the present day.
Russia has invaded Ukraine. The Russians are unable to win over Ukrainiansâ hearts and souls. Ukraine is waging a hell of a fight to save their country, much as the Vietnamese did against our forces in the1960s and 1970s. The Russian advance has been stalled. Ukraine is taking back some of the territory it lost in the initial combat.
Now we hear that Russia is beginning to give a little in talks with Ukraine. Might there be an agreement reached that could end this senseless slaughter? Might the Ukrainians be able to declare some form of âvictoryâ against a vastly superior military force?
OK, so the Vietnam-Ukraine analogy isnât aligned perfectly. I do see enough similarity, though, to suggest that Ukraine might have been able to âwin the warâ while losing all the âbattlesâ on its way to ending the Russian onslaught.
Let us not forget, either, that the U.S.-led economic sanctions are crippling the Russians to the point of disabling them from continuing the fight.