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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."
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.
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That would work.
They present one side as "Russia and China", but really, China is in this for themslves. They're making good use of the western sanctions on Russia to enrich themselves, negotiating all of the detals with Russia that they've been wanting to negotiate for a long time at bargain-basement prices that previously Russia had been unwilling to do.
Vietnam, too, is in this for themselves. They want their military purchases from Russia, and they also want investment from America. Buying them off is almost certainly a possibility. The question then becomes however, can the US really afford to buy off everyone? It's about proportionality... if Russia can spend a couple tens of millions of dollars to make the US spend a billion, Russia wins. On the other hand, if the US can spend a billion dollars to cost Russia a billion, the US winds, because the US economy is so vastly larger than the Russian economy.
"Are you hungry? I haven't eaten since later this afternoon." -- Primer
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.
So we put the base in to fight the Vietnam war, lost, and now want to dictate its use?
Putin needs to get total victory in Ukraine. He doesn't need to actually absorb them literally but he does need to bring them into the Russian sphere of influence and break the western strategic ties in the region. If he doesn't, then his domestic political position collapses.
You have to keep in mind that prior to the invasion of Ukraine, his polling numbers in Russia were very low. Then he went to war and his numbers popped up.
If it goes on for too long and he doesn't come out of it looking like a winner then he'll probably suffer for it politically.
As to china, they have similar political problems brewing as well as mounting economic problems.
They've just recently sold their US bonds as well as many other assets. Their ability to pump money into their economy is coming to a close. And with that a sea change in china's economic position. And with that, changing political, diplomatic, and strategic relationships.
We are living in interesting times. ;)
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