Konstantin Kisin

One thing we haven't talked about yet is, and I think it's quite an important part of this, is, of course, this is a proxy war.

And the North Vietnamese are not fighting by themselves.

They're getting support from China and also the Soviet Union, right?

What was the stated war goal?

What was the objective for the U.S.

?

Well, it sounds for younger generations, it feels kind of like Afghanistan.

You know, you stabilize it, you train the local people, everything's great.

But the moment the American forces aren't there, it reverts to the mean.

And so...

You mentioned that it's going pretty well for the first couple of years, first few years.

And the first demoralization for the American forces there is the realization that they're not being allowed to go in and do the job that they need to do to win the war.

And they're basically sitting ducks just waiting for the Viet Cong to attack rather than going out and cleaning them out, basically.

Tell us about the Tet Offensive before we talk about this.

So reading between the lines of everything you're saying, my sense, and correct me if I'm wrong, is your perspective is

You either don't fight, or if you do fight, you fight to win.

And the reason that the Vietnam War ended up not being a success is Lyndon Johnson, McNamara, they tried to sit on two stools and end up falling in between them.

Is that a fair assessment?

And why does America cut off aid to Southampton now?

Is that really fair, Mark?