Freedom Calls: 1/6/26, "Ho Chi Min turns in his grave… and when is a ceasefire not a ceasefire?"

From the team at Freedom Asset Management

Vietnam is well worth a visit if you have not made it there yet, but as museums go, the "Ho Chi Min Museum" was not a busy museum.  In the heart of Vietnam's vibrant Da Nang, it was in fact completely deserted, except for the two of us, for the entire time of our visit.  It transpires that Vietnam's father of the nation, like Sir David Beckham, was a keen gardener and his trusty watering can was on display to show what a man of the people he really was (see below left).

Next to "The Museum of Ho Chi Min" was the "Zone 5 Military Museum".  This museum featured impressive aircraft (see the MIG21 above right) and tanks from the Vietnam War.  It was dedicated to heralding how the plucky communists, initially led by Ho Chi Min himself, overcame the "imperialist Americans" and the "puppet government of the South".  Again, we were the only visitors to this museum during our entire visit.

So where was everybody?  

Well, they were all flocking to Ba Na Hills, a "Disneyland meets Las Vegas" type resort, reached by cable car, atop a beautiful mountain range a short drive out of Da Nang….  literally thousands of them.  It transpires that everyone really does want to be American…. and live the American capitalist dream.  We were certainly encouraged to contribute strongly to the Vietnamese economy with those American tools of treachery “Google Translate” and “VISA”.  Ho Chi Min must be turning in his grave, but it is a healthy reminder that human nature gravitates towards capitalism and the pursuit of opportunity in the end, even if it has to take a few side streets and blind alleys on the way to get there.

Iran war update - when is a ceasefire not a ceasefire?

We are all watching the ongoing ceasefire in the Iran war with great interest.  The US are keen to say that the ceasefire remains in place even if there are small skirmishes and occasional rocket fire (the US base in Kuwait received incoming missiles in recent days).  The US naval blockade of Iranian ports is putting what remains of the Iranian economy under increasing strain, and is forcing the Iranian regime to act.  The government response has been to open up the internet, which had been conspicuously closed for 88 days since the start of the war (see graphic below).  This is potentially quite a dangerous move for the Iranian regime, because the people will now see what has been happening and will have a much greater ability to mobilize.  This war started, in part, to support the nationwide anti-government protests.  Let’s see where this goes.

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