Without foresight, your correspondent was in Hanoi on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, traveling after to the countryside bordering Laos. Herewith an unscientific reflection on Vietnam, the war, and its aftermath.
For anyone of my generation, Vietnam was not a war. It was the war: polarizing, divisive, the first American war fought and ultimately conceded by the media AKA Walter Cronkite, nightly body counts, place names of indelible memory, Tonkin, Da Nang, Khe Sanh, Tet, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Nixon’s 1972 bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, John McCain’s Hanoi Hilton. The ending was as abrupt as the war was long, a rooftop helicopter abandoning desperate souls on a staircase, even as we forsook our allies in the South.
How different the picture looks from Vietnam today. Of course the country is socialist, perhaps even communist, but unlike anything that can be caricatured. Private enterprise rules. Family comes before all. The nation is united by respect for elders and remembrance of family ancestors. Officially, Vietnam is an atheist country, but it includes 38% Buddhists, perhaps quite a bit higher unofficially, and 12% Catholics. The balance is non-religious, an increasing trend among the young, and followers of indigenous religions.
William Levin” data-src=”https://images.americanthinker.com/qi/qiz6ea46vhyfpul86zie_640.jpeg”>
Vietnam never was, and never will be, the domino of communist China. What a tragic American misreading of Vietnamese history and politics.
Hanoi today has a population of 9 million. With 8 million motorbikes, plentiful cars, and relatively few traffic signals, crossing the street is an adventure. There is not a policeman or soldier in sight. Street crime is virtually nonexistent.
The torrent of fast-moving traffic backdrops a dizzying array of stores, from repair shops to the world’s best known brands, the freshest street food and not-to-be-missed Vietnamese black or egg cream coffee. Navigation advice to the tourist is welcome and an inadvertent summary of Vietnamese strategy. “Hold out your arm, never go backward, wind your way safely by moving steadily forward.”
So what are the pitfalls facing Vietnam? One never wants to be the Walter Duranty of visitors, the New York Times reporter who shamefully wrote glowing accounts of Stalinist Russia.
It is well understood that criticism of the government, online or otherwise, is not permitted. There is corruption. For a visitor, the party’s only visible presence is the mandatory red flag flying in front of every home and business. At the same time, pride in the flag and Vietnam itself are clearly genuine, as many families wear flag shirts, especially the children.
But beyond that, the real pressure is the one facing all successful economies of late — namely, inflationary cost of living and most especially the unaffordable cost of city housing. Even on a good salary, it can take a generation of savings even to think about owning an apartment in Hanoi. Instead, as in New York, it means rental apartments, with a commute, and many roommates.
American Thinker
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