With Vietnam in particular, some US liberals have a sort of guilt thing because of the Vietnam war, but something both Cuba and Vietnam have in common (with respect to both): They're not very big, they're not very powerful. I think the support you sometimes see for them is extremely dependent on them remaining largely powerless. Kind of the same reason for the whole "supporting every revolution, except the ones that succeeded" thing.
Also, with Cuba in particular, for many of them it was the family planning law that made Cuba the most LGBT-friendly nation on earth. Like, people who shat on Cuba and derided it as "authoritarian" before that had a sudden change of heart, almost as though it was the first real thing they learned about Cuba and it fucking blew their minds or something.
With Vietnam in particular, some US liberals have a sort of guilt thing because of the Vietnam war, but something both Cuba and Vietnam have in common (with respect to both): They're not very big, they're not very powerful. I think the support you sometimes see for them is extremely dependent on them remaining largely powerless. Kind of the same reason for the whole "supporting every revolution, except the ones that succeeded" thing.
Also, with Cuba in particular, for many of them it was the family planning law that made Cuba the most LGBT-friendly nation on earth. Like, people who shat on Cuba and derided it as "authoritarian" before that had a sudden change of heart, almost as though it was the first real thing they learned about Cuba and it fucking blew their minds or something.