Ukraine War is Similar to Vietnam War

To the Editor: 
A thought came to me the other day, and I realized that the Ukrainian War bears many similarities to our own Vietnam War that I had seen close-up and personal.
In that war, one very powerful nation, the U.S., was fighting against a much smaller nation, North Vietnam, similar to the situation in the Ukrainian War.
North Vietnam was not able to conduct their war against the U.S. merely with its own resources. They had to find support, which, of course, they did.
Both Russia and China offered them large quantities of the latest modern anti-aircraft defenses, plus infantry weapons, military supplies, and clandestinely, technical military personnel to assist in the use of much of their specialized equipment.
A small country was supported by two world powers. Ukraine is similarly supported by world powers, such as the U.S, and the many countries that make up NATO.
The U.S, having a much larger Army, Airforce, and Navy, would not go full bore against North Vietnam and actually invade the north and take Hanoi. They could have, but they didn’t, based on the presumption that the Chinese Army could do exactly what they did in the Korean War.
They joined the fight against us. The U.S. didn’t want another Korea. It seems the Russians haven’t followed a similar policy.
They, instead, decided to go full bore and invade the Ukraine on the expectation that it would be a simple and quick victory. Russia guessed wrong, as their expectation of victory had been soured by the formidable defense by the Ukrainian military and the especially poor performance of their own military.
Now, we have a situation similar to what the U.S. had in Vietnam, a war without victory. You could say that the war with Ukraine is turning out to be the Russian’s Vietnam.
Casualties are building for both nations, but the Ukrainians, like North Vietnam, do not appear ready to concede defeat.
There are some rumblings in the U.S. political scene that supporting Ukraine is getting too expensive. Strangely, they are mostly by Republicans. In the Vietnam War, that same political rumbling was by the Democrats, who eventually shut off military aid to South Vietnam.
We know where that went. It is well known that a very large number of people died on both sides of that war, especially the Vietnamese people both north and south.
The Russians and the Chinese did not stop their support, and the North Vietnamese Army marched into Saigon in 1975. A small country, North Vietnam achieved victory
What will the future be for Ukraine? Will the U.S. and NATO withdraw support?
The Russians and Chinese continued theirs. The Ukrainians are fighting on their own without any American or other NATO forces taking casualties.
If Ukraine is willing to continue the fight, we should be willing to continue the support. The alternative would not be good.
This war is not Putin’s end game. He is going to want more because he needs land and people to achieve his ideal for his design of the Russian empire.
The people of Russia are disappearing. Their population is disappearing. Putin needs satellites to surround Russia for defense and commercial partners.
He needs to be stopped here. If not, it appears conflicts, tensions, and disruptions of commerce in Europe will continue for a long time.