Hollow claims of triumph as China pulls back from Viet Nam
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin,
"Why, that I cannot tell, "said he;
"But 'twas a famous victory."
Robert Southey, The Battle of Blenheim
The China-Viet Nam War wilted like a frostbitten blossom last week. China's 100,000 or so infantry and armored troops arrested their languid advance 15 to 20 miles inside the Viet Nam border, wheeled, and began a gradual, piecemeal withdrawal. Vietnamese artillery and front-line units of the 70,000-man-strong border defense force put on a show...