I have a passion for history. I love reading biographies and hanging out on history forums.<p>As we're getting to the 50-year mark past the American involvement in Vietnam, things are progressing in ways not anticipated at the time. Vietnam, like several other Asian countries, is embracing capitalism and entrepreneurs. Old enemies hug and pose for photographs.<p>This seems to be a pattern, at least among American conflicts (I have not studied others very much). As the combatants grow into old age, it's not worth carrying a grudge around. Things that were worth dying and killing for 50 years ago are still important, but they're fights for young people. It becomes easier to see things from the other side.<p>I'd argue that by simply having a huge presence of Americans in Vietnam for so many years, the two countries have become joined for the next century or so, much the same as having kids in a marriage joins the two partners together even if they can't stand one another. I also note that things may end up turning out better for Vietnam in terms of economic development than if South Vietnam had won the war -- which would have only institutionalized worse corruption than they currently have.<p>This is all speculative, of course, but I seriously doubt anybody in the mid-70s would have guessed that this is where we'd all be 40 years later. It's been an interesting journey for both countries.
No mention of Cuba in the article but I think we can all agree that increased engagement could very well lead to the same results - increased freedom and wealth for all Cubans.<p>Interesting note on that topic: only 20 years after Bill Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam it's now "one of the most pro-American countries in Southeast Asia, with 78% of Vietnamese people viewing the U.S. favorably in 2015" according to Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States–Vietnam_relations" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States–Vietnam_relation...</a>
Hello Saigon! I'm curious what other tech entrepreneurs/nomads we have out here. I've met many interesting, passionate technology people here, some expats and some locals. It's great to see the diversity in the scene here, just like you would expect from a major US city.<p>There's a lot of raw talent here, thanks to the outsourcing industry, university system, professional schools and huge number of young people looking to exceed their parents' standards.<p>If you're in Saigon - what are you doing here? I have a US company and am building the product with a relatively small team. Web focused, microservices/React stack.
Totally agree. Never felt so free to go about my life and business as in Saigon. Watch out with physical businesses however, foreigners can get scammed out of their stake.
Also a good place for digital nomads & bootstrappers: <a href="https://medium.com/digital-nomad-stories/bootstrapping-in-saigon-fc9744367386" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/digital-nomad-stories/bootstrapping-in-sa...</a>