[PEN-L:11030] Re: Nike hullaballoo in Vietnam

["William S. Lear" <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, June 26, 1997 at 03:10:02 (-0700) Louis N Proyect writes:
>>From Gabriel Kolko's new book "Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace":
>>...

Louis, can you tell us if the following "synopsis" of Kolko's book,
published on the Amazon.com page for ordering it, is accurate?:

     In his penetrating analysis  of the years following the Communist
     victory    in Vietnam in  1975,    Kolko  asserts that   although
     astonishingly effective as  solders,  the Communists  have proved
     incapable of dealing with the  enormous demands of reconstructing
     their  war-torn nation.   This  book chronicles the   devastating
     results  behind the Communists'  economic  policies since 1986: a
     divided class society, corruption within the  party ranks, a lack
     of education, and social services, and more.

If this is accurate emphasis, I'm more than a bit surprised.  I would
have thought Kolko would have at least mentioned the role of the
U.S. in punishing Vietnam after the war, if not located primary
responsibility for its problems in policies pursued by the
U.S. through the IMF and other such agencies.

Also, does he mention in the book the refusal of the U.S. to share
maps of land-mine fields?  I believe the U.S. finally shared some of
this info a few years ago (probably in an area where Nike wanted to
build a factory), but have heard very little about it.

Perhaps you could post a short review of the book here, get some
critical feedback, then send it to Amazon for inclusion on the
ordering page?


Bill