Strategic US clean-up in Vietnam

Strategic US clean-up in Vietnam

The oil companies are competing for Vietnam's petroleum (which was what the war for .)Â

Revitalized US efforts to decontaminate part of Vietnam affected by Agent Orange started this week at a former air base, with the US$49 million initiative coming amid strengthened bilateral ties linked to Washington's "pivot" towards Asia. A long-running source of Vietnamese anger at the US, the defoliant is estimated to have affected the health of more than 4 million Vietnamese. Asia Times
- Richard S Ehrlich (Aug 8, '12)

Comments: 15

Larry M. Aug 9, 2012, 9:51am UTC

Then perhaps we can do something about all those unexploded bombs that liter the countryside.

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 12:21am UTC

If true, I like.

However, I think the Brits & Canadians would spell it differently, "litre the countryside."

Larry M. Aug 10, 2012, 7:46am UTC

My spell checker appears to be culturally biased. :-)

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Pete S. Aug 9, 2012, 2:07pm UTC

This whole problem could have been obviated had we used Nair instead of the much more expensive Agent Orange.

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 12:24am UTC

We were trying to complement the skin tone of the natives.

If not outright kill them.

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 12:30am UTC

Tune in next post to see if Clarke will ban us from ever again disgracing his serious blog.

Pete S. Aug 10, 2012, 2:34am UTC

We (the plural inclusive everybody on the whole Goddamned planet regardless of race, creed or place of national origin we) have managed to foul up this poor planet SOOOOOOO badly for SOOOOOOO long in SOOOOOOO many ways that without a bit of gallows humor now and then I just want to crawl into the fetal position and SCREAM!

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 9:18am UTC

Oh, great - another liberal who can't use logic, so all he can do is emo-rage. Typical.

Pete S. Aug 10, 2012, 3:44pm UTC

The bee problem is one of the worst confronting us. Never mind that the pollinating of so many different useful and necessary plants is a difficult and dangerous job and that they do it without complaining, never mind the fact they they give us honey and wax and ask for very little in return; they are in and of themselves delightful little creatures to watch. I allow them to land on me, I pat them on their furry little backs, I rescue them from drowning in pools and half-dead glasses of Scotch (and I once resuscitated a drunken, half-drowned bee from such a situation by alternately pouring small amounts of water on her and blowing her dry until she could fly, unsteadily, away) and I freaked a friend out by finding a bee whose hind legs were so caked with pollen that she could not fly; I scraped just enough off to make her airworthy again. I have not been stung in over half a century. Do what you can for them... the extinction of the honeybee would be a greater disaster than anyone can imagine.

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 8:16pm UTC

It's all clear now. I thought you had previously said you are a beerkeeper.

Well, at least Four More Years & I now know the cause of colony collapse.

Pete S. Aug 10, 2012, 8:21pm UTC

I don't keep them, HI... it's purely catch-and-release.

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Pete S. Aug 10, 2012, 1:53pm UTC

HI, logic. like truth, is too precious a commodity to be wasted on those who cannot appreciate it.

Hyper Intellect Aug 10, 2012, 8:20pm UTC

Not sure if you refer to a specific conversation, or just talking to yourself here.

Liberals always force me to read between the lies.

Pete S. Aug 10, 2012, 8:30pm UTC

"For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying." -- Gandalf the Grey, in The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Strategic US clean-up in Vietnam

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