On the night of November 6th, 2012, the cheers of O-ba-ma echoed through the air in the United States. Although bittersweet to supporters of the Republican Party, reelected President Barack Obama is perceived positively by the Vietnamese community. President Obama is in the spotlight as he is expected to focus…
Category: Vietnam
VIETNAM: Opening the Gates to the Internet
The Internet is an apparatus of information, entertainment and communication- but is it utilized as it should be? We Are Social, a global independent social media agency, reports that Vietnam’s social, digital and mobile opportunities are evolving as the country reaches about 31 million Internet users. Although this is an…
VIETNAM: Mounting Demand for Freedom For Activist Blogger Ho Thi Bich Khuong
On May 30, 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) joined hands with The Global Network For Freedom Expression (IFEX) to publicly voice concern regarding the conviction of , condemning the actions of the Vietnamese government. Khuong was convicted on December 29, 2011 for violating article 88 of the penal code forbidding any…
VIETNAM: A Rather Brutal Way to Create Real Estate Vacancy
On April 24, 2012, the Vietnamese Communist Government organized a force of more than 3,000 local, civilian, and riot police alongside a multitude of government officials. The purpose: to execute a mass land eviction. The area under siege was located across three small towns: Cuu Cao, Phung Cong and Xuan…
VIETNAM: Dramatically Reaching Out to Japan’s Kyodo News
Vietnam has had a tortured relationship at best with once-aggressive Japan, as it has had with the United States. But one thing both Tokyo and Washington have learned about this large, thinly vertical, well-populated and exceptionally feisty Southeast Asia country: Invading, occupying or even trying to “save Vietnam from communism”…
BAHRAIN: The Elite Ten List You Don’t Want to Be On
Our favorite media watchdog – Reporters Without Borders –famously publishes an elite list on which few people would want to be included. It’s a list of “Enemies of the Internet:” Countries whose governments are uncomfortable with the information flows that come from this history-altering technology. What’s particularly interesting to Internet…
WE ASK / THEY ANSWER: Getting to the Bottom of the Top Secrets
Recently I attended a presentation at the University of Southern California’s US-China Institute about the play Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which last year debuted in China. Afterward, I had an opportunity to talk with Geoffrey Cowan, the distinguished co–author of the play (along with the late…
VIETNAM: ‘Reporters Without Borders’ Calling for Support of Blogger
“We request the immediate and unconditional release of de Nguyen Tien Trung. The accusations made against him are a total fabrication,” says the press freedom organization.
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: Vietnam on the Positive side, Asia on the American Mind
16 November 2011 Los Angeles — Real-life diplomacy reveals, as Lord Palmerston, twice British prime minister (1855-8, 1859-65), famously put it: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Over the decades…