Free Republic

China is attempting to open a new front in its territorial dispute with Japan by questioning Tokyo's sovereignty over the island of Okinawa, home to 25,000 US troops. The two countries are already pushing rival claims to the Senkakus, a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Tokyo. The dispute over the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, has hit bilateral trade and sent diplomatic relations to their lowest point for decades. Beijing began its attempt to broaden the territorial dispute earlier this month when the communist party newspaper, the People's Daily, ran...

Buckeye is more than 2,000 miles from Washington, D.C., but this week, Arizonans will have the opportunity to visit a war memorial from our nation's capital a little bit closer to home. ...The wall opens at noon to the public and there will be an evening ceremony with guest speaker Sarah Palin at 6 p.m....

PUTIN KEEPS KERRY WAITING HOURS

Jane Fonda placed her hand and footprints next to her father’s in the concrete shrine to celebrity outside Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre.

Special Forces Green Beret Master Sgt. John Hartley Robertson had forgotten how to speak English over the 44 years since he was left behind in the Vietnam War. But he never forgot that he was a father, husband and an American soldier, born in Alabama, shot down over Laos in a 1968 classified mission.

LAAD Defence and Security 2013: US mulls P-3 MPA sale to Vietnam By Gareth Jennings 4/12/2013 The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is expected to request from the US government the sale of Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), a senior company official told IHS Jane's on 10 April. Speaking at the LAAD Defence and Security 2013 exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Clay Fearnow, director maritime patrol programmes, said the Vietnamese Navy was keen to buy up to six surplus P-3s to help patrol the country's nearly 3,500 km coastline and 1,396,299 km2 Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). "The Vietnamese...

A previously poor man who built up his seasoning business from scratch is now helping those less fortunate. Tran Trong Trung reports Sixty-four-year-old Huynh Van Be is well known across the southern province of Dong Thap for his famous seasoning. He was the pioneer who brought white salt from coastal regions to Dong Thap to process, and set up the successful "Ngoc Yen" brand name in his home town of Thanh B�nh. The main ingredients for processing his seasoning are sea salt, sugar, garlic, chilli and monosodium glutamate. His delicious seasoning has been praised by many consumers, particularly when sprinkled...

I knew I wasn’t taking much of a political risk by advocating for normal relations. It was hard to accuse me of bad faith, and I felt pretty safe from criticism. I think it was the right thing to do, and I’m proud I did it. But it didn’t require any political courage on my part. That was not the case for President Clinton. He wasn’t a veteran and wasn’t protected from criticism as I was. He had to risk his self-interest to do the right thing. He had to have courage. And he did. Obviously, only the President can...

China has been roundly condemned for worsening East Sea tensions by announcing a plan to sail a cruise ship this month to the Hoang Sa (Paracels) Archipelago that Vietnam claims sovereignty over. “China will continue to develop the Paracel Islands to demonstrate that it is in effective occupation of the islands and is exercising administrative control,” said Carl Thayer, a maritime expert at the University of New South Wales in Australia. China is scheduled to let tourists visit the Xisha Islands (the name China has given to the Paracels Archipelago) ahead of the forthcoming May Day holiday, Tan Li, executive...

A sign posted outside a Collin County nail salon promoting it as "American Owned, American Staffed" is generating controversy. The merchant defends her sign by saying it's a "patriotic business decision." But others believe it's focused more on what her Fairview business isn’t: Asian owned and operated. Ed Thayer said he was offended when he saw the sign in the window of the St. Tropez Nail Spa. He's a regular customer at a Vietnamese restaurant next door. He and his wife adopted four girls who are Vietnamese-Americans. Thayer said he was so upset, he went into the salon to confront...

Vietnam To Receive Advanced Russian Sub in 2013 As tensions remain high in the South China Sea between Vietnam and China, Hanoi is reportedly set to receive its first of six advanced submarines from Russia. Ria Novsti reported that “The first of six Varshavyanka class (Project 636M) diesel-electric submarines will be delivered to Vietnam in 2013 as scheduled.” Commonly referred to as the Kilo-class, the subs reportedly boast “advanced stealth technology, extended combat range and ability to strike land, surface and underwater targets.” Hanoi placed an order for six of the Russian-made subs back in 2009. According to the report...

CBS finally apologized Sunday night one week after the television show “Amazing Race” broadcast what critics called an “anti-American” segment that offended Vietnam War veterans. “We want to apologize to veterans – particularly those who served in Vietnam – as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast,” said host Phil Keoghan in a statement at the beginning of Sunday’s night’s episode. “All of us here have the most profound respect for the men and women who fight for our country.” The episode caused widespread outrage among war veterans. James Koutz, the national commander...

CBS opened Sunday night's episode of "The Amazing Race" with an apology to veterans offended by the previous week's installment, which took place in Vietnam. "Parts of last Sunday's episode, filmed in Vietnam, were insensitive to a group that is very important to us -- our nation's veterans," host Phil Keoghan read in a statement from producers and the network. "We want to apologize to veterans -- particularly those who served in Vietnam -- as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast. All of us here have the most profound respect for the...

The Iraq War’s fair-weather hawks revealed an emptiness at the heart of American power. Ten years ago, along with three-quarters of the American people, including the men just appointed as President Obama’s secretaries of state and defense, I supported the invasion of Iraq. A decade on, unlike most of the American people, including John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, I’ll stand by that original judgment. --snip-- And so a genuinely reformed Middle East remains, like the speculative scenarios outlined at the top, in the realm of “alternative history.” Nevertheless, in the grim two-thirds-of-a-century roll call of America’s un-won wars, Iraq today...

Fox News' co-host of "The Five" Bob Beckel has called on CBS to apologize for an episode of "The Amazing Race” set in Hanoi, Vietnam. In the episode, contestants go to a B-52 Memorial, which is the wreckage of an American bomber plane shot down during the Vietnam War, to find the next clue in their televised round-the-world journey. "Do you realize, CBS, there were four Americans that went down with that plane?" Beckel said on "The Five" Thursday. "Two of them died."

The popular CBS reality show "The Amazing Race” is under fire for featuring an episode set in Hanoi, Vietnam, where contestants go to a B-52 Memorial, which is the wreckage of an American bomber plane shot down during the Vietnam War, to find the next clue in their televised round-the-world journey. In the episode, the twisted metal of the downed plane is treated as any other prop, with a bright ‘Amazing Race’ ‘Double-U-Turn’ signed planted in front of it, signifying to contestants the next phase of their scavenger hunt. The show also had contestants learn a song that was performed...

Vietnam 1966 Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot about his time in Viet Nam , other than he had been shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy, 8 x 10 black and white photo he had taken at a USO show of Ann Margret with Bob Hope in the background that was one of his treasures. A few years ago, Ann Margret was doing a book signing at a local bookstore. Richard wanted to see if he could get her to sign the treasured photo so he arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock for...

March 7, 2013 John McCain, American ‘Hero’ by Michael Walsh What, me worry? John S. McCain III, the disastrous Republican 2008 candidate who suspended his presidential campaign and refused to take the fight to Barack Obama when he had the chance to actually do something for his country, has beclowned himself yet again: Highlighting the discord among Republicans over President Barack Obama’s targeted killings policy, two prominent GOP senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, took to the Senate floor to criticize Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s 12-hour filibuster Wednesday…McCain said Thursday the Senate needed to conduct...

<p>A bill designating March 29 as Vietnam Veterans Day has passed the Alaska Legislature.</p> <p>The Senate followed the House's lead and this week passed HB67 from Fairbanks Rep. Steve Thompson. The measure now goes to the governor.</p>

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

For example, one will virtually never hear that the Palmer Raids, Prohibition, or American eugenics were thoroughly progressive phenomena. These are sins America itself must atone for. Meanwhile, real or alleged “conservative” misdeeds — say McCarthyism — are always the exclusive fault of conservatives and a sign of the policies they would repeat if given power. The only culpable mistake that liberals make is failing to fight “hard enough” for their principles. Liberals are never responsible for historic misdeeds because they feel no compulsion to defend the inherent goodness of America. Conservatives, meanwhile, not only take the blame for events...

Remember when the mainstream media mocked a politician who had to attend five colleges to graduate, whose academic record was less than outstanding, and whose subsequent success was proof of nothing? Remember how that was supposed to be a threat to national security, the economy, and so much else? That was so 2008, so Sarah Palin. It turns out that former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who is now awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense, attended five colleges and was a "D" student. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam,

An article penned by a Stanford University professor that alleges Vietnam's "aggressive tendencies" are tied to its penchant for eating meat -- particularly rats, birds and dogs -- has triggered a social media backlash from Vietnamese and others around the world. The opinion piece -- "Despite increasing prosperity, Vietnam's appetites remain unique" -- was written by Joel Brinkley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for The New York Times and posted Tuesday on the Chicago Tribune's website. Describing a trip he made to Vietnam, Brinkley said he observed a dearth of squirrels, birds and rats. He also said the "World...

Washington - As Hillary Clinton made her final speech as America's top diplomat, she suggested US had encouraged India's "Look East" policy as an exercise in 'smart power' in its pivot to Asia Pacific. "There are limits to what soft power on its own can achieve," said Secretary of State Clinton Thursday emphasising American leadership, and the need to reshape diplomacy to meet the changing landscape of the world. "And there are limits to what hard power on its own can achieve. That's why, from day one, I've been talking about smart power," she said during a forum at the...

Faced with a group of farmers refusing to give up their land for a housing project, the Communist Party officials negotiating the deal devised a solution: They went to a bank, opened accounts in the names of the holdouts and deposited what they decided was fair compensation. Then they took the land. The farmers, angry at the sum and now forced to compete for jobs in a stuttering economy, blocked the main road connecting the capital to the north of the country for one day in December. In a macabre gesture, some clambered into coffins. Police who came to break...

memory hole reminder The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry’s group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2004/10/27207/#615wufvA5oZXKuWK.99

The Soviet Union may have fallen and the Iron Curtain pulled back, but the plague of Communism still afflicts countries around the world. In this thread, I want to publicize some articles written by various bloggers in Vietnam about their own experiences living under Communism. It is my hope that by giving a louder voice to these brave people, we can eventually end this plague there, and elsewhere around the world. Here begins an article written by Nguyen Hoang Vi, translated to English. In it, she recounts the day that she attended a trial of a fellow dissident, when she...

In the wake of increased tension with Japan over disputed islands, China’s soldiers have been directed to be ready for a war in 2013 and also win it. Government Chinese media disclosed this in a report. The report also said the soldiers are being prepared to the best possible level and that they are being trained for the purpose. According to reports, in 2012, no such directive- of getting ready for a war and winning it- was given. The Chinese army has also been told to improve its activities and enhance information and intelligence gathering techniques. In 20th century, Japan...

In the ongoing dispute over the Spratly Islands claimed by China and Vietnam, the latest development is that China is opening up 3G services on the islands, not only to Chinese soldiers but also for the country’s fishermen. The development will be yet another drop of lemon in the souring of Sino-Vietnamese relations in the past year. The Vietnamese government even voiced its complaint on nguyentandung.org, the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s website. The island disputes recently ignited with anti-China protests in May 2011 after Chinese patrol boats attacked two Vietnamese oil exploration ships near the Spratly Islands. Chinese soldiers and fishermen...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. The editorial staff of the Washington Post, surely meant well. They wanted readers to think that Sen. John Kerry’s vast experience in foreign policy over four decades equips him to serve as Secretary of State in the second Obama administration. The editorial, titled “John Kerry: Well-suited to be Secretary of State,” gets that part right. The natty Mr. Kerry certainly looks the part of a globe-trotting senior U.S. diplomat. As to his qualifications for that role, we’re reminded of Frederick the Great’s response when he was urged to make a less...

A rare, authentic collection of 282 Vietnam era Zippo lighters went on the auction block June 21st at Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. The collection belongs to artist Bradford Edwards, whose collection was showcased in the book Vietnam Zippos: American Soldiers’ Engravings and Stories 1965-1973 (Sherry Buchanan, University of Chicago Press, 2010). Some of you may remember the collection, which received media attention by the New York Times, NPR, and others. The lighter collection had a starting price of $30,000 to $50,000 and was included in the book. Considering the years of search Mr. Bradford spent in Vietnam sourcing and assembling...

Forty years later, veterans still suffer rebound effects from inhabiting thick jungles during one of America’s most brutal wars. “Inside the Vietnam War,” airs tonite, December 28 at 8 p.m., in a special encore presentation on the National Geographic Channel. An outstanding memorial tribute by USA TODAY it features individual interviews of veterans from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Marine Security Guard, Bill Newell stood post at the US Embassy in Saigon on April 29, 1975, when he got the news that two of his fellow Marines became the last Americans to die in that terrible war....

HANOI, Vietnam -- It has been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy ordered U.S. "advisers" to South Vietnam to help battle the communist North and 37 years since the end of that divisive war and the country's unification under Communism. Today, Vietnam is fighting a war with itself. A local TV program reminds a visitor of Chinese propaganda "operas" circa 1970. Performers, some wearing military garb with a backdrop of missiles and an American B-52 bomber going down in flames, commemorate the 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong ordered by President Richard Nixon. Banners and posters in the...

This column was co-authored by Bob MorrisonSen. John Kerry has a long and dubious record in foreign policy. In the 1970's, he testified against his fellow Vietnam War veterans before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He charged that they were violating the Geneva Conventions every day in Vietnam. Some POWs were outraged at Kerry's disloyal statements. They said they had been tortured by their Communist captors trying to force them to make such untrue statements. Worse, Kerry went to Paris in 1971. There, he met with North Vietnamese Communists. We need to see all his notes from those meetings....

A Vietnamese water company has asked the Obama Administration for help in assessing its information and communications technology (ICT) modernization plan, and a White House agency has agreed to provide a $600,000 grant for that purpose. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) will fund the endeavor, which entails footing the bill for an ICT contractor to fly to Vietnam to provide "technical assistance" to the Saigon Water Corporation, or SAWACO. SAWACO is described as "a government-owned enterprise operating under the HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) Peoples' Committee," according to a contracting notice that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located...

Protesters in Hanoi had been trying to march to the Chinese embassy Rare protests have taken place in Vietnam over maritime territorial disputes with neighbouring China. The protests in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi were quickly dispersed by police. Tensions are high after an incident last month in which Hanoi accused Beijing of cutting the cables of a Vietnamese oil exploration ship. Vietnam is also unhappy at a map in new Chinese passports that shows disputed areas of the South China Sea as Chinese territory. Hundreds of people are reported to have taken part in the protests on Sunday...

As anybody who travels with personal documents from countries like India or China or Vietnam will tell you, an Asian passport can be a miserable thing. It means having to steel yourself through weeks, if not months, of visa-application processes that can be both interminable and humiliating. It means being forced to wait for special screening at the borders of prosperous Western nations, just by circumstance of birth and bureaucracy. It means feeling forever a second-class citizen of a world that is supposed to be growing ever more interdependent and intertwined. But, if it wasn’t enough of an albatross, the...

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - Police in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan will board and search ships which illegally enter what China considers its territory in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Thursday, a move likely to add to tensions. The South China Sea is Asia's biggest potential military trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty over waters believed to be rich in oil and gas. The shortest route between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it has some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. More than half the globe's oil tanker traffic passes through it. New...

It only took 40 years. But finally, actress-turned-workout-specialist Jane Fonda has apologized for sitting on a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun during her 1972 visit to North Vietnam. Fonda, who used her fame to push her radical leftism during her heyday, traveled to Hanoi in 1972 in solidarity with the Viet Cong. While there, she proceeded to blame the US for supposedly bombing a dike system, and did a series of radio broadcasts stating that US leaders were “war criminals.” Those broadcasts were replayed for American POWs being tortured by the Viet Cong. Later, when POWs spoke about their experiences of...

Martyrs: St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his 116 companion martyrs of Vietnam  Icon: martyrs undergoing torture for Christ. VietnamVietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. The traditional religion of Vietnam is Buddhism, along with elements of Taoism, Confucianism and local ancestors’ cult.First martyrsPortuguese Dominican missionaries began to arrive in Vietnam in the early 16th century and there must have been conflict with local power groups from the very beginning. The mission had some success when the Jesuits joined the Dominicans. Among the earliest martyrs were Spanish Dominicans, Francisco Gil de Federich, who had a fruitful apostolate...

November 24, 2012   Memorial of Saint Andrew Düng-Lac, priest and martyr, and his companions, martyrs  Reading 1 Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:Here are my two witnesses:These are the two olive trees and the two lampstandsthat stand before the Lord of the earth.If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouthsand devours their enemies.In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.They have the power to close up the skyso that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.They also have power to turn...

It only took 40 years. But finally, actress-turned-workout-specialist Jane Fonda has apologized for sitting on a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun during her 1972 visit to North Vietnam. Fonda, who used her fame to push her radical leftism during her heyday, traveled to Hanoi in 1972 in solidarity with the Viet Cong. While there, she proceeded to blame the US for supposedly bombing a dike system, and did a series of radio broadcasts stating that US leaders were “war criminals.” Those broadcasts were replayed for American POWs being tortured by the Viet Cong. Later, when POWs spoke about their experiences of...

Having reached her mid-seventies, Oscar-winner Jane Fonda is now in that phase of her career where she's celebrated with all kinds of "achievement awards." Last night at the L.A. Press Club gala honoring her, Fonda's revealed that her biggest regret in life is no longer not "f***ing" mass-murderer Che Guevera, but that moment that defined her even more than her film career: when she was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun meant to shoot down American pilots during the Vietnam War.

Video

The PeopleÂ’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City today passed sentence on Two Vietnamese songwriters . Tran Vu Anh Binh, known as Hoang Nhat Thong, 37 and Vo Minh Tri, known as Viet Khang, 34, received sentences of 6 years and 4 years, respectively, with two additional years of house arrest . The songwriters were charged with spreading anti-government propaganda under Article 88 of the countryÂ’s criminal code. They were founding members of the Vietnamese Patriot Youth, an organization not recognized as an official body by the government. Chuacuuthe.com website reported that an estimated 100 security officials blocked access to...

KABUL — Of the more than 5,700 Afghans who have applied for U.S. visas under a special program tailored for those who have supported the American war effort, just 32 have been approved. In 2009, the Afghan Allies Protection Act allocated 7,500 visas for Afghans employed by the U.S. government to thousands of men and women critical to the American mission, many of whom serve on the front lines with U.S. troops. Without a swift escape route, they will be high-priority targets for the Taliban... Until late 2011, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul did not process a single visa under...

Dear Honorable UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Leaders Ref: Stop Vietnam from joining the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2014-2016. In a matter of days, the election of 18 members of the Human Rights Council will be held during on 12-16 November 2012 . UN’s stated criteria that members must “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Also Candidates must be evaluated based on their domestic human rights records . In Vietnam, serious human rights violations continue to be committed. It strips basic freedoms from the people including freedom of religion;...

64-year-old Dunagan, collapsed on a street of this Midwestern city last month and soon died, he was homeless and sorta alone — one of the 130,000. Instead of being buried in a pauper’s grave — an ending that would have reinforced his "anonymous" years — the Vietnam veteran was recognized as Army Sgt. Patrick Dunagan and honored with a military funeral.

The late George McGovern is best known for his disastrous 1972 campaign for the presidency which was built around his opposition to American intervention in Vietnam. Less well known was his proposal for a military intervention just six years later.

I REGRET that it was only upon reading his obituary this month that I first learned of Nguyen Chi Thien. He was a courageous Vietnamese dissident who had spent nearly 30 years in prison for his opposition to communist repression, cruelty, and lies. Much of Nguyen's opposition was expressed in poetry, most famously "Flowers from Hell," a collection of poems he memorized behind bars, and only put down on paper after being released from prison in 1977. The poems were published after he audaciously handed off the manuscript to British diplomats at their embassy in Hanoi, the AP obituary recalled....