re: #13 EPR-radar
My understanding of Vietnam is that the North was motivated by anti-colonialism and self-determination to an extent that we could never match in the South with a doctrinaire application of cold war ideology.
Anti-colonialism, yes. But you should replace “self-determination” with “imposition of Communism” for the North sought to impose its system upon the whole of Vietnam, regardless of the wishes of those in the South who did not want a totalitarian system. Remember that the North’s final offensive was not a popular uprising, it was a crushing conventional attack spearheaded by Soviet-provided T-55s tanks.