If you work at it, you can make a case that Americans fought on the right side in Vietnam. There is an argument — not conclusive, but defensible — that with all its faults, the anti-Communist side offered South Vietnam’s people a freer and more prosperous future than they would face if the Communists won. That didn’t mean war was a wise choice or that its goal justified the death and destruction it caused. But Americans looking for some moral comfort could at least tell themselves that they were fighting for a better outcome for the Vietnamese.
By contrast, it is harder to find anything morally defensible in American actions in Laos and Cambodia. U.S. operations in those countries, including among the heaviest bombing in military history, were conducted to support American objectives in Vietnam rather than for any achievable benefit for its smaller, weaker neighbors. That was also the reason for U.S. air support and military aid that kept weak, ineptly led local Laotian and Cambodian ground forces in the field long after it was clear they had no chance of winning against their stronger North Vietnamese enemies. Exactly the same can be said about the Vietnamese Communists, who intervened in Laos and Cambodia for the identical purpose: to support their war in Vietnam. In those “sideshow” conflicts (as the British writer William Shawcross called the Cambodian war) Americans and Vietnamese both pursued their own goals with little regard for the grievous price being paid by the Laotian and Cambodian people.
Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
French Navy escorting illegal migrants into British waters
I just witnessed the French Navy escorting illegal migrants into British waters, despite the money we are paying them.
They even tried to prevent us from filming the handover, as you can see in the video.
This is an outrage and a scandal. Time for the government to get a grip. pic.twitter.com/hT8ctbZag5
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1263119692484481025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Something to chuckle about…kekek
The Atlantic Lays Off Nearly 20% Of Its Staff As Media Companies Continue To Be Affected By Coronavirus
The Atlantic is laying off nearly 20% of its staff as the novel coronavirus continues to affect media companies.
The news came in the form of an internal memo from The Atlantic’s chairman David Bradley, according to Axios. The Atlantic is just the latest in a growing list of media companies that have been forced to issue various cuts and furloughs as the business suffers.
“This morning, we are informing 68 of our colleagues that we will not have a place for them on The Atlantic’s new course,” Bradley wrote. “The contraction affects mainly our events, sales, and editorial staffs.”
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/21/the-atlantic-layoff-staff-coronavirus-david-bradley/