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Not full lists but: Successful: Japan, S. Korea, Germany, Grenada, Panama Unsuccessful: Iraq, Afghanistan, maybe a lot of S./Central America depending on how

Not full lists but: Successful: Japan, S. Korea, Germany, Grenada, Panama Unsuccessful: Iraq, Afghanistan, maybe a lot of S./Central America depending on how you define nation building, Vietnam, Cambodia (sort of)

adventured 8y ago
Regarding Vietnam, there's a version 2.0 of that going on currently, and it's going very well. Trade with the US represents not quite 1/4 of the Vietnamese economy. $46b in imports from Vietnam last year, with their GDP being near $200b. That's a 10x increase in imports from Vietnam since 2003 (their economy has increased in size by about 5x in that time, non-inflation adjusted). In the coming two decades, trade with the US will probably turn Vietnam into one of the world's 25 largest economies. The US appears to be intentionally trying to build up Vietnam to help offset the rising hegemony of China in the region. We're running a vast trade deficit with them (5 to 1 ratio), and hardly a word is being said about it. The recent military interactions bolster that notion. Colombia is an example of successful nation building (more like guiding/assisting, frankly) in South America. Certainly if we're listing failures in S.America, that's one of the successes. Their GDP increased from $40b in 1990, to $380b by 2013. It's a dramatically improved nation compared to 30 years ago, in just about all regards. The US has been aggressively intertwined (some would say too much) with Colombia the whole way.
- taobility 8y ago
  Besides importing goods from those countries, did US help build any infrastructure projects in these countries? I believe that's the big difference between China and western countries, especially US: no governing or military interactions, but help to improve the citizens' living with concrete infrastructure projects, like train, highway, subway, telecommunication etc.

adventured 8y ago

Regarding Vietnam, there's a version 2.0 of that going on currently, and it's going very well. Trade with the US represents not quite 1/4 of the Vietnamese economy. $46b in imports from Vietnam last year, with their GDP being near $200b. That's a 10x increase in imports from Vietnam since 2003 (their economy has increased in size by about 5x in that time, non-inflation adjusted). In the coming two decades, trade with the US will probably turn Vietnam into one of the world's 25 largest economies. The US appears to be intentionally trying to build up Vietnam to help offset the rising hegemony of China in the region. We're running a vast trade deficit with them (5 to 1 ratio), and hardly a word is being said about it. The recent military interactions bolster that notion. Colombia is an example of successful nation building (more like guiding/assisting, frankly) in South America. Certainly if we're listing failures in S.America, that's one of the successes. Their GDP increased from $40b in 1990, to $380b by 2013. It's a dramatically improved nation compared to 30 years ago, in just about all regards. The US has been aggressively intertwined (some would say too much) with Colombia the whole way.

taobility 8y ago
Besides importing goods from those countries, did US help build any infrastructure projects in these countries? I believe that's the big difference between China and western countries, especially US: no governing or military interactions, but help to improve the citizens' living with concrete infrastructure projects, like train, highway, subway, telecommunication etc.