Isn’t it funny how Putin’s excuses for invading a foreign country sound so much like ours for invading Viet Nam?

Yeah, as Mark Twain once pointed out, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” I’m old enough to remember the justifications we gave for our military involvement in SE Asia. There was a lot of talk about the encroachment of a hostile, foreign ideology on an area we had an interest in. It was vital to our national security, the cause of freedom itself, that this
encroachment be stopped. And there was some truth to that, there is always SOME truth.

I have to admit, I wasn’t opposed to our Viet Nam adventure (I was 18 years old in 1965). In fact, I only came to oppose the war about 5 years later, when I realized there was no way to win it. But I remember how outraged the “Free World” was about our intervention, not to mention substantial fractions of our own people. And yes, we were just as indignant as Mr Putin is about how our ideological enemies were supplying our battlefield foes with aid and weapons. And we were just as astonished as he is about how the people we were at war with had the audacity, the unmitigated gall, to fight back.

Same as it ever was…