The war that became The Vietnam Conflict started immediately after WW II. The division of Vietnam into north and south provided to great for the people there. Some of that same 'tension' exists with the Koreas, but, hopefully with China's guidance all that will resolve. The issue of nukes with the Koreas is also very different than that of Iran.
The point here is that the Vietnam War was escalated to enormous capacity by the Johnson Administration following the death of JFK. It was not a contained war. The war and it's deadly content moved outside of Vietnam into Cambodia and Laos and those countries still stuggle with the 'scar' of Vietnam even today. The current struggles of Thialand in the past year clearly illustrate the 'overwhelming' military presence in those countries that lend to violence.
Somehow, 'the war' never left Southeast Asia but simply changed faces. Peace there is quite a challenge, however, Vietnam has no desire to 'begin again' the tragedy that killed over a million people. It is easy to estimate if any of the four countries, including Thialand, were to embark on a regional peace initiative it would be Vietnam and they are learning well the lessons of economic cooperation to build better lives for their people.
But, enough said about that.
The point is, the Nixon White House justified it's warring through the 'concept' of the Domino Effect. Well, it was stupid theory and it holds no validity when countries place the importance of sovereignty before any other aspect of their governance.
What is more interesting and to the chagrin of Cheney/Bush the warring in Iraq has not flowed into the surrounding countries in the way it did in Southeast Asia. The question is why? Why with such desire to rid the area of 'ethnic conflict' hasn't the region simply erupted into flames? It doesn't make sense, does it?
Of does it?
