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Earlier this month, Senator John McCain indicated that it was time for the United States to consider selling lethal weapons to Vietnam after a 30-year embargo. The recent maritime standoff between Beijing and Hanoi over Chinese oil exploration off the central coast of Vietnam exposed Hanoi’s many strategic weaknesses. Providing Vietnam with coast guard and maritime systems as a first step - and eventually radar, fighter aircraft and spare parts for leftover American military equipment - would bolster Hanoi’s strategic capabilities vis-a-vis China and give substance to the "comprehensive partnership" announced last year between Hanoi and Washington. But more than...

The United States’ top military officer is in Vietnam for historic talks with Communist Party officials, as part of the latest effort to expand defense ties between the two former foes. General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets Thursday in Hanoi with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh. Before entering a closed-door meeting, Dempsey told reporters the visit is “one of the highlights” of his career. It is the first time since 1971 a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has visited Vietnam. Vietnam’s defense ministry said the talks...

Japan will give six navy boats to Vietnam to boost its patrols and surveillance in the East Sea (aka South China Sea), Japan's foreign minister said on Friday, in the latest sign of a strengthening of alliances between states locked in maritime rows with China. The used vessels, worth 500 million yen (US$4.86 million), would be accompanied by training and equipment to help the coastguard and fisheries surveillance effort, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said after talks with Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh. The deal represents a notable shift in the two countries' close diplomatic and investment ties towards defense,...

Already scrambling to confront multiple simultaneous international crises, the Obama administration stepped up efforts Saturday to avert another, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on China and its smaller neighbors to take new steps to ease tensions over maritime disputes in Asian waters that many fear could spark conflict....

U.S. Sen. John McCain said Friday in Vietnam that it’s time for the United States to ease the ban on selling lethal arms to the communist country, saying it has progressed on human rights. McCain told reporters in Hanoi that the easing should happen gradually, but he hoped it could begin as early as next month. “It should be limited at first to those defensive capabilities such as coast guard and maritime systems that are purely for external security,” he said.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence that somebody like Jesse Ventura is also a major fan of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara? (Or claims to be for the publicity value among the “hip”?) Recalling his visit to Cuba and meeting with Fidel Castro in 2002 Ventura grew misty-eyed: “Fidel Castro looked into my eyes and told me I was a man of great courage…Maybe he (Castro) saw a little of him in me.” Recall the Cowardly Lion’s reaction when the Wizard grants him “the NERVE.” Well, Jesse Ventura’s moronic gloating outdoes even the lion’s (“Shucks, folks, I’m speechless..ha-ha…Ain’t it the truth!...

Ho Chi Minh would be appalled if he could see Vietnam now. Share submit to reddit inShare EmailEmail PrintPrint Well, perhaps not appalled—he was less doctrinaire than the likes of Vladimir Lenin and Fidel Castro, and even hard-line ideologues can become more flexible over time—but he certainly wouldn’t recognize it. The Doi Moi market reforms that began in 1986 (a mere eleven years after the fall of Saigon and national unification under the Communist Party) and a general slackening of state micromanagement have transformed the country out of all recognition.

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

Courtesy of the author The genius of Maya Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial -- “The Wall” -- is the visitor’s overwhelming sense of loss. The names of the dead, on 140 black granite panels, appear infinite in number. It has been 32 years since The Wall was dedicated. It has become a place of healing, where Americans could separate the sacrifice of the warriors from what had become America’s most unpopular war. Back then, a young veteran, Jan Scruggs, took $2,000 of his own money and began raising the $8.4 million in private contributions to build what...

On Tuesday, the state-backed China Oilfield Services Limited said the billion-dollar platform, which had been drilling in the heart of highly contested waters claimed by Vietnam, had “precisely extracted the related geological data as planned” and was being redeployed to sea blocks off China’s Hainan Island. (Please see full article at link)

China told the United States on Tuesday to stay out of disputes over the South China Sea and leave countries in the region to resolve problems themselves, after Washington said it wanted a freeze on stoking tension. Michael Fuchs, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Strategy and Multilateral Affairs, said no country was solely responsible for escalating tension in the region. But he reiterated the U.S. view that "provocative and unilateral" behaviour by China had raised questions about its willingness to abide by international law. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain...

Above: Employees of the nightshift at Lowe’s in Staten Island, New York - David, Marcus and Souleyman - get to work.by Gina Cassini | Top Right NewsVeteran Michael Sulsona had been waiting on a new wheelchair from the VA for years. But as with so many vets suffering under scandalous conditions in the VA system, he got nowhere. His wheelchair was rickety and always seemed on the verge of collapse. Then one day it did exactly that-- right when he was shopping in a Staten Island-area Lowe's. But what happened next That’s when three strangers stepped right in to help...

---snip--- Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have been forming an alliance against China, as China has been moving to annex other countries' territories in the South and East China Seas. Relations between Vietnam and China have become particularly hostile since China deployed an oil rig in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). (See "China's neighbors react to new South China Sea claims" from last week.) Now Australia is signaling that it is also joining this alliance. The change in policy was indicated in a statement by Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop, during a visit by Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe to...

From a devilish-looking bat to a frog that sings like a bird, scientists have identified 126 new species in the Greater Mekong area, the WWF said in a new report detailing discoveries in 2011. But threats to the region's biodiversity mean many of the new species are already struggling to survive, the conservation group warned. "The good news is new discoveries. The bad news is that it is getting harder and harder in the world of conservation and environmental sustainability," Nick Cox, manager of WWF-Greater Mekong's Species Programme, said.

CNN's "The Sixties" episodes started out giving me feelings of nostalgia, as I grew up in that era. The Beatles coming to America and all the great 60's TV shows brought a smile to my face! But then they started getting into the Vietnam War which I really didn't pay attention to until I enlisted in 1969 and spent a year there. I guess I missed the obvious bias of Walter Cronkite etal as they declared us baby killers. One of the CNN segments quoting CBS said US Forces were killing 25,000 Vietnamese civilians a year. Bull crap! Vietnam is...

Independence Day is the yearly pinnacle of patriotism. But, as the media in the 1960s and 70s reported, Americans did not seem very patriotic when it came to the Vietnam War. What if what we know about Americans’ lack of support for our troops in Vietnam is wrong?

History is written by the victors. But it doesn't take a lot of digging to reveal that the history of Vietnam -- written by the American Left -- is not the story of America losing the Vietnam War. America WON the Vietnam War. What America lost was the Vietnam PEACE. In his latest hard-hitting Firewall, Bill Whittle shows how that happened and how the exact same thing is happening in Iraq, as the Left once again tries to pull defeat from the jaws of victory. ------------------ TRANSCRIPT: LAST HELICOPTER OUT OF BAGHDAD Hi everybody. I’m Bill Whittle and this is...

On Monday night, University professor and former Weather Underground founder Bill Ayers joined Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly where he was grilled over his past violent activities and his controversial views. The interview became heated when Kelly and Ayers argued over whether the violence he advocated is equivalent to the violence perpetuated by the United States in conducting operations overseas. “You sound like — with respect — Osama bin Laden,” Kelly said when Ayers asserted that it would be “fair and balanced” for American media outlets to examine the violent history of the United States as thoroughly as they...

While his government’s focus remains squarely on domestic issues, Mr Modi is also charting a rather ambitious foreign policy course. He has already visited Bhutan and his future destinations over the next few months are likely to include Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Australia and Nepal. Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign minister has saluted the new Modi government for injecting “new vitality into an ancient civilisation”.