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US Asks Vietnam To Stop Russian Bomber Refueling Flights From Cam Ranh Air Base
HughPickens.com writes Reuters reports that the United States has asked Vietnam to stop letting Russia use its former US base at Cam Ranh Bay to refuel nuclear-capable bombers engaged in shows of strength over the Asia-Pacific region. General Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, says the Russian bombers have conducted "provocative" flights, including around the U.S. Pacific Ocean territory of Guam, home to a major American air base. Brooks said the planes that circled Guam were refueled by Russian tankers flying from the strategic bay, which was transformed by the Americans during the Vietnam War into a massive air and naval base. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed that the airport at Cam Ranh was first used for staging Il-78 tankers for aerial refueling of Tu-95MS bombers in January 2014. Asked about the Russian flights in the region, the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington respected Hanoi's right to enter agreements with other countries but added that "we have urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia is not able to use its access to Cam Ranh Bay to conduct activities that could raise tensions in the region."
Cam Ranh is considered the finest deepwater shelter in Southeast Asia. North Vietnamese forces captured Cam Ranh Bay and all of its remaining facilities in 1975. Vietnam's dependence on Russia as the main source of military platforms, equipment, and armaments, has now put Hanoi in a difficult spot. Russia has pressed for special access to Cam Ranh Bay ever since it began delivering enhanced Kilo-class submarines to Vietnam. "Hanoi is invariably cautious and risk adverse in its relations with the major powers," says Carl Thayer. "The current issue of Russian tankers staging out of Cam Ranh pits Russia and China on one side and the United States on the other. There is no easy solution for Vietnam."
Cam Ranh is considered the finest deepwater shelter in Southeast Asia. North Vietnamese forces captured Cam Ranh Bay and all of its remaining facilities in 1975. Vietnam's dependence on Russia as the main source of military platforms, equipment, and armaments, has now put Hanoi in a difficult spot. Russia has pressed for special access to Cam Ranh Bay ever since it began delivering enhanced Kilo-class submarines to Vietnam. "Hanoi is invariably cautious and risk adverse in its relations with the major powers," says Carl Thayer. "The current issue of Russian tankers staging out of Cam Ranh pits Russia and China on one side and the United States on the other. There is no easy solution for Vietnam."
Why the hell is this submission on Slashdot?
The only relevance it has is that airplanes are a form of technology. That's it. But this isn't even about the planes and their technology. This is about some isolated third-world political squabble. It's purely a political submission, and thus it really shouldn't have any place here.
Yeah, I could "just ignore" this submission, but it's taking up a front page slot that could be being used by a relevant story. So for the next two hours we'll be deprived of a useful submission thanks to this irrelevant submission wasting front page space.
I disagree, I think they have only one option - agree to stop allowing military refueling operations entirely, for a multi-billion dollar concession. Easy money.
They're trapped between three fires...
They need to keep the Americans happy to get American diplomatic support to keep China from eating them.
They need to keep the Russians happy to get access to cheap arms and possibly whatever diplomatic pressure the Russians have these days.
And then they need to keep the chinese from salivating every time they look at them.
Given that the US and Russia are at odds again, it is a very difficult position to be in these days.
They can't give the Russians or the Americans everything they want because much of what they want is the Vietnamese to choose sides.
And if they don't keep their allies happy they look more vulnerable to the chinese.
Poor vietnam.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
political nerds?
Rest Of The World tells US to go fuck themselves.
What does this have to do with Slashdot? Whos sick idea is to post this crap on technology site?
I'm afraid of Russian nukes too but I fail to see how any one could do anything but laugh at us over this request given our military posturing.
We're upset that in the 21st century our status as an unchallenged international superpower is no longer valid. As a nation that relies on secret torture camps, extraordinary rendition, ubiquitous spying on all its citizens, and even their targeted assassination without trial or jury, we've really found ourselves in a pickle after two failed wars in the middle east that accidentally created a terror state in the process. We're incapable of maintaining a functioning government of our own, having forcibly shut down the largest economy in the world twice and lost two ratings grades with standard and poor. As a nation predicated on democracy, freedom, and liberty we're utterly incapable of peaceful foreign policy toward Iran, with the president working toward a diplomatic agreement while the congress works toward an israeli endorsed military strategy.
So if it seems like we're all for freedom and independence when it comes to our international interests, yet wholly opposed to them when it comes to Vietnams soverign military and international policy, it shouldnt come as too much of a surprise.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The Vietnamese will be likely to stop the flights.
Their current big international dispute is over their maritime boundaries with China. The CHinese claim almost the entire South China Sea on the basis of something called the "nine-dashed-line," and have a tendency to periodically engage in extreme brinksmanship with all their neighbors in the region, including Vietnam. They actually fought a war with the Chinese in '79. Which means if the Russian flights support China in any way the Vietnamese have every reason to stop them.
But they aren't involved, so we'll just have to put up with it like we do in Europe.
You're better than Russia, but only marginally better than China, you're not the *only* superpower any more so you better get used to it.
Either Vietnam lets all countries use its facilities as a simple business relationship or deems it a domestic military facility for the exclusive use of their forces. If it does allow other countries to use the facilities then there should be a clause that withdraws the facility should any country be engaging in a war and wish to use the base to re-fuel its combat aircraft.
Otherwise I wonder why this story matters.
...about the unarmed bobby who is pursuing a suspect, and yells, "Stop, or I shall have to yell Stop again!"
But yes, this is offtopic here, especially in comparison to some of the interesting ideas that never make the climb out of Firehose.
Vietnam is using Russia to balance China, their traditional enemy. Use the barbarians (non Vietnameese) to balance each other out has been used in Asia for millennia.
China would still be afraid of the economical repercussion if it takes what it wants. You may find the reaction ukrain weak, but it is still there and as war progress it is louder. There is no way Russia could appropriate fully ukraine. Same with China and vietnam really. What is far far more likely, is that vietnam and china start mutual interrest pact , exactely like USA is forcing some country at the moment.
Yet another brainwashed American foaming at the mouth yapping what should happen at the other side of earth, using their government spoon fed world history.
China had the world's largest fleet 600 years ago, their fleets were by far much larger than anyone else at the time, they traveled everywhere, they traded with Native Americans way before Europeans fucking "Discovered" it. They went to Africa, Australia before Europeans did, look up Zheng He and compare the size of China's fleet at the time with others nations at the time.
The "nine dash line" was originally the "eleven dash line", and it was drawn after WW2, nobody else protested at the time, China changed the eleven dash line to nine dash line because they were good friends with Vietnam at the time, it was done as a token of friendship. The South China Sea has been China's by default for centuries (Why the fuck do you think Japan uses Chinese in their writings, why official Koreans clothing looks exactly like ancient Chinese clothing, why do you think there are so many Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia), later oil was discovered under the sea bed, and China had a civil war in the 1940s (See Taiwan), so Vietnam and Philippines and others took the chance to steal some of the islands and installed bases there. China was robbed, they protested but they were too busy dealing with civil war at the time.
China owned South China Sea way before Philippines even fucking existed (Which was created after the raped by the Spanish and then by the Americans).
You Americans need to shut the fuck up about what other nations should do, and learn some fucking actual world history before opening your mouths. Americans were the only ones left standing after WW2, you kidnapped all the German scientists who helped you developed your space/rockets/science programs, that's where you got your head start, you guys fucking had it all, but what did you do? Fucked up the world that's what.
I haven't even got to the part where Americans stole their lands from native Americans through genocides, then use the land for slavery. Oh just shut the fuck up.
You Americans had your chances, but the world is now sick and tired of your American bullshit. Fuck off.
So we put the base in to fight the Vietnam war, lost, and now want to dictate its use?
China, their traditional enemy
Traditional enemy? US launched chemical war on Vietnam, see agent orange and the deformed orphans still in Vietnam today, US is the traditional enemy of Vietnam, not China.
China helped Northern Vietnam to defeat Southern Vietnam and unite the entire Vietnam, they were great friends until the US got involved.
Do you even know there were Northern Vietnam and Southern Vietnam in the 20th century?
If you go back far enough Vietnam was part of China.
It's as if Americans live in some sort of alternative reality bubble, they actually believe their own bullshit and has no idea how stupid they look in front of people from other nations.
That wall of text of yours is a hazard to air traffic.
Seems the solution for Vietnam would be all to easy: Simply remind the US that you kicked their asses and took that base fair and square and that if they have a problem with it, they are free to come back over and have their "operation freedom" shoved up their ass all over again because they are allied with both Russia and China and the party raising most of the tensions in the "region" is the US who keeps demanding that the world do as it says or "else".
Did I miss the part where there was a war between Vietnam and China in the late 70's as a result of China's support for the Khmer Rouge's genocide?
(currently testing something about signatures here)
From the summary, `General Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, says the Russian bombers have conducted "provocative" flights."`
Yeah. The Pol Pot in the Whitehouse claims Khrushchev's kettle in the Kremlin is boiling. Oh the irony.
The USA did lose. They retreated and abandoned the war because they lost. North Vietnam didn't retreat.
Of course, you're using the fact that the USA didn't hand over their country to the Vietnamese as evidence that the USA didn't lose the war, but a war of aggression would NEVER be lost by that meme. By that standard, Germany didn't lose WWI: the german state still existed, with some ex prussian empire states given back self control.
But the rational people understand they, like the USA lost their respective wars here.
Is this developing into a miscellaneous non-tech news dump?
The only way you can have missed that is if you have two accounts, since TomD65 was the OP who could have "missed" that.
If they had oil/gas, the US would be there giving them a taste of US democracy.
But Obama said Russia is our friend and ally. Was Romney right?
I'd rather have ten years of American hostility(?) than a thousand years of the Chinese.
Sure there is... partner with the SINO/Russian alliance, that's what is growing in the near future not the US.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
in your country, and how it has been used in other countries since the end of WW 2, and align with your closer neighbors Russia and China. None of the super-powers are angels, but at least Russia and China aren't trying to conquer the world and make other economies submit.
The US is there because they are using Japan to contain China. The US is the reason why the Japan emperor wasn't charged with war crimes.
Japan has no natural resources, a simple sanction will destroy them. All the US has to do is leave.
But it won't because it is afraid of China.
I agree. It's important to note that the US has bases all over the world; Russia does not.
This is nothing more than a request by a spoiled child.
It's Russia vs. China.
The Soviet Union used Vietnam to try and encircle China before and more Russian military presence there with their Vietnam enemies is a political situation that can be exploited. Last time the US put on their "Oh noes soshalism!" filters and missed the opportunity. Don't miss it this time.
You, sir, are an historical ignoramus. China and Viet Nam have been fighting on and off for at least a thousand years.
The US violates "international law" all the time, the UN forbids the US to build military bases on Guam, and what the fuck did the US do? It even went against the UN to start a war in Iraq/Afgan.
When the US had the power they ignored "international law", now China has the power, so fuck off. Either start a war with China, stop trading with China, or shut the fuck up, THAT is the true international law, as demonstrated by westerners in the past centuries, you idiots ignored it when you could, and now you're waving it around like it actually mean anything.
What a bunch of idiots.
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Simmer down there comrade chekist!
I am going to start calling you Sam Lowry :D
Please be sure to clean up after yourself...