Vietnam is seeking a strategic alliance with the US. Its uneasy relationship with China causes some American strategic thinkers to welcome such an alliance. But this should not permit Hanoi to abuse their citizens's rights with impunity. That is the message Bruce Kesler and his fellow bloggers are trying to remind US authorities. After all, the American withdrawl from Vietnam led to the deterioration in the civil rights of the South Vietnamese. The North, of course, never enjoyed any. To fully appreciate the South Vietnamese loss, one only has to look at South Korea.

Also see, Vietnamese in U.S. protest visit by prime minister