I was wondering why your viewpoint should change.
My personal viewpoint hasn't, it's just that having someone that did fight talking to you almost every day (he was my roommate at college) gives you another vantage point.
You need a relative actually fighting to be able to do that? That's pretty pathetic.
It's hard to know all sides of an argument without hearing the arguments first. Believe it or not, media doesn't cover every side to each argument -- it's often quite biased. Prior to the war, it was pretty much anti-war. Once the war started, it became pro-war with less coverage on people against the war. That's why when reading anything, or watching anything, it must be taken with a grain of salt, or even a pinch of salt.
When will you realise that unless Vietnam sign that treaty, you have absolutely no right in being there? Does bullying become acceptable when enough people do it?
Firstly, it's annoyed me for a bit... realize (notice the z)
Secondly, if Taiwan suddenly posed immediate threat to Vatican City, you wouldn't expect the UN to intervene?
Also, let's step back a few years in history. In 1942, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam free from French rule. However, Ho Chi Minh's rein wasn't very strong in the south, and in 1945 (at the Postdam conference in July), Britain was placed in control of South Vietnam.
On September 6 of that same year, British troops did go in to Vietnam, and became a full strength fighting force (20,000 troops) in the following weeks. General Douglas Gracey was in charge and here's a direct quote: "I was welcomed on arrival by the Vietminh. I promptly kicked them out." Instead of continuing to try to do it peacefully, he set about driving nationalists off the streets, banning meetings and restoring Japanese curfew regulations. On September 23 (with his connivance and under his protection), the French troops staged a coup. They seized public buildings, including the town hall, and made widespread arrests.
Making a long story short, all of this put France back into power of Vietnam, which thereby precipitated the national liberation war that was to come.
So, if you consider America out of line for holding up a decision rendered by a group of countries, so was Britain.
I'm not entirely sure why they did form a treaty that would require entry into a non-treaty signing country to uphold it.
It's called World War II. It made a lot of things change.
They were right!
A large population is often a fickle population. That's why the legislation and party members choose who they would like to represent us.