Punch on: Open thread 30/04/2010

Eric says:

07:55am | 30/04/10

The domino effect was pretty much restricted to Cambodia, but still over two million people died as a result of the Communist victory.

But then, they were mostly yellow people and they weren’t communists themselves, so I guess they don’t count.

Macon Paine says:

08:41am | 30/04/10

Well T.Chong i suppose for the millions of people who didnt want to live under the misery of communism and who never got the rights you clearly take for granted it is a terrible day, but hey what do they know.

Bertrand says:

08:47am | 30/04/10

Led to a domino effect for the people of south vietnam, who quite clearly didnt want to live under a communist government.

David C says:

01:25pm | 30/04/10

exactly right, the war may have been trashed by revisionist historians but at the end of the day it achieved its stated goal, to stop the spread of communism hroughout SE Asia

Eric says:

12:48pm | 30/04/10

Lie as much as you like, Jam.

History has left you behind. Communism is bunk.

If you like dictatorship and mass murder so much, why are you in Australia? Move to your paradise in North Korea!

Paul Horn says:

12:54pm | 30/04/10

You poor foolish sap. So you reckon they have had a few problems well tell that to the million or so who sufferd torture, mutilation, imprisonment and other assorted brutalities at the hands of the genocidal Vietcong! Were it not for the treasonous filth parading as hippy peace protestors in the 60’s and 70’s the US would have been victorious and many millions would have been spared a life of abject misery. Not only that Pol Pot would not have existed and neighbouring countries would also have enjoyed democratic freedoms and a standard of living they could not even dream of under Communist / Socialist oppression.

Funny though how there were no great protests at atrocities committed by Communist forces or even the ten billion dollarrs of aid supplied by Russia. But then again to many young idiots of the 60’s and 70’s Communism represented a social nirvana. Unfortunately you Mr Jam seem to be trapped in that time warp!!

AdamC says:

01:23pm | 30/04/10

“Has its problems” ... is that a joke?

It sounds like you are satirising yourself, and arguing that South Vietnam never existed doesn’t help. I don’t know if Communist HQ put out some propaganda leaflet or something, but it certainly looked and smelled like it existed.

I fear, Jam, you are what they are talking about when they prefix ‘idiot’ with ‘useful’.

Macon Paine says:

02:24pm | 30/04/10

“South Vietnam” was always a fiction invented by right wing Vietnamese oligarchy and their US backers, no such state existed except in their minds.”
Absolute Bollocks! Why do you lie?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Vietnam

“And Vietnamese hated communism so much the US army had to destroy villages to save them!”
See the bit above about South Vietnam before you make such silly remarks. This may shock you but not all Vietnamese people wanted to be slaves under communism.

“Socialist Vietnam has its problems, no doubt about it, but it has acheived much in the last few years.”
Problems yes, well it is socialist one party state for a start! And does their progress justify what the communists did in the past? What about all the years they made no progress?
“They are still owed billions in reparations from the USA (and us).”
Wrong. Vietnam dropped all claims for reparations in 1995.

KongS says:

04:41pm | 30/04/10

You are right Jam.  There has never been a South Vietnam.  Those lands belong to the Chams and the Khmers.

Peter says:

02:03pm | 30/04/10

It’s the sharks on Wall Street that have been hedging bets against Greece (thus increasing their risk and interest rates), that have contributed to this problem. Having said that, im not a fan of bailouts and where possible countries should take their medicine. This collapse WILL have a flow on effect to the rest of europe. If Greece goes, France will follow shortly after (the French have a lot of money in Greece), if the French fall, Germany won’t be too far behind. This is a hideous situation. We must examine these financial instruments that increase the risk of countries, thus their interest rates. Imagine i took out insurance against your house betting that you will default on your mortgage, as a result of me taking out that insurance the bank decides your risk has increases and raised your rates because im hedging against you. You default because my hedging contributed to it and there i am owning your house because i bet $2000 that you won’t be able to make back your repayment. Is this right? I’m not defending Greece because it appears to be as a result of the rich avoiding tax and corrupt politicians. The personal finances of Greek individuals is actually more healthy than what we are in Australia and to a much lesser extent Greek companies that don’t hold much debt either.. The common man will pay for as a result of corrupt politicians…