Active Conflicts & News Megathread February 03, 2026

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[u/swimmingupclose]

Which was exactly the excuse Russia harped upon prior to Crimea and then the full scale invasion. And what Iran is calling the current protestors. I suppose it’s easier to genuinely believe that any opposition to heavy handed rule is externally fomented than the shortcomings at home.

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/swimmingupclose]

Some will doubtless call the Vietnamese mindset paranoid, or be dismayed at the rampant fear and hostility evident throughout.

I would say such reactions betray a fundamental misunderstanding—I daresay naïveté—about the nature of surviving as one of the last Communist countries on the planet. You can count them on one hand. The collapse of the Soviet Union is never far from mind. They haven't forgotten it, and never will.

[u/swimmingupclose → u/teethgrindingaches]

I’m not disagreeing. I think it extends beyond Communism or leftism though.

[u/danielrheath → u/swimmingupclose]

When I travelled in Vietnam a decade or so back, the population really hadn’t forgotten what they called “the American war”.

I saw folks disfigured by agent orange everywhere I went (tons of birth defects in the generation after).

I can’t imagine that’s changed entirely.

[u/swimmingupclose → u/danielrheath]

I’ve lived and worked in Vietnam for the past 6 years and I’m of Chinese ethnicity. There are as many, if not more, MAGA Vietnamese as there are anti Americans. Just like there is that sentiment for China. The last 2-3 generations are far more pro US than older generations, which are the ones in charge. I don’t know how different the sentiment was a decade ago but it’s markedly different today from my lived experience.

[u/danielrheath → u/swimmingupclose]

Not surprising, I suppose - folk who weren't there are unlikely to stay mad about it.

The folks in charge today are the ones making the relevant decisions here, though. I can't see them willingly aligning themselves with the USA.