Tác giả: Đào Thu Hằng

I'm from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I'm an author of Dot Chuoi Non (dotchuoinon.com/author/hangbelu/), a blog on Positive thinking, founded by Dr. Tran Dinh Hoanh, an attorney in Washington DC. I'm a co-founder of Conversations on Vietnam Development - cvdvn.net, a virtual think tank. I am a co-founder of two companies in Viet Nam working on children education services. I advise companies on STEAM education, English language education for children and students in Vietnam. I'm studying the Buddha's teaching and the teaching of Jesus. I practice mindful living including meditation. I hold a PhD on Sustainable Energy Systems from University of Lisbon and Aalto University. I graduated from Hanoi University of Technology on Environmental Engineering. I obtained a Master degree of the same major from Stanford University and Nanyang Technological University. My English-language blog at: hangbelu.wordpress/. I play table tennis as a hobby.

The Countries Buying Fossil Fuels from Russia in 2023

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

visualcapitalist.com

While Russia’s revenues from fossil fuel exports have declined significantly since their peak in March of 2022, many countries are still importing millions of dollars a day worth of fossil fuels from Russia.

Revenue from fossil fuels exported to the EU has declined more than 90% from their peak, but in 2023 the bloc has still imported more than $18 billion of crude oil and natural gas so far.

This graphic uses data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) to visualize the top-importing countries of fossil fuels from Russia so far this year.

China Remains Russia’s Top Fossil Fuel Importer

China continues to be Russia’s top buyer of fossil fuels, with imports reaching $30 billion in 2023 up until June 16, 2023.

With nearly 80% of China’s fuel imports being crude oil, Russia’s average daily revenues from Chinese fossil fuel imports have declined from $210 million in 2022 to $178 million in 2023 largely due to the falling price of Russian crude oil.

Following China are EU nations collectively, which despite no longer importing coal from Russia since August of 2022, still imported $18.4 billion of fossil fuels in a 60/40 split of crude oil and natural gas respectively.

CountryRussian Fossil Fuel Imports* (Total)Crude OilNatural GasCoal
🇨🇳 China$30B$23.9B$2.7B$3.3B
🇪🇺 EU$18.4B$11.2B$7.2B$0
🇮🇳 India$15.2B$12.8B$0$2.5B
🇹🇷 Türkiye$12.1B$7.3B$3B$1.7B
🇦🇪 UAE$2.3B$2.3B$0$0
🇰🇷 South Korea$2.1B$0.6B$0.3B$1.2B
🇸🇰 Slovakia$2.0B$1.1B$0.9B$0
🇭🇺 Hungary$1.9B$0.8B$1.1B$0
🇧🇪 Belgium$1.9B$0.5B$1.4B$0
🇯🇵 Japan$1.8B$0$1.5B$0.3B
🇪🇸 Spain$1.7B$0.6B$1.1B$0
🇸🇬 Singapore$1.7B$1.7B$0$0
🇧🇷 Brazil$1.6B$1.4B$0$0.2B
🇳🇱 Netherlands$1.6B$1.5B$0.1B$0
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$1.5B$1.4B$0$0
🇪🇬 Egypt$1.4B$1.3B$0$0.2B
🇧🇬 Bulgaria$1.3B$1.1B$0.3B$0
🇮🇹 Italy$1.2B$0.8B$0.4B$0
🇲🇾 Malaysia$1.1B$1.0B$0$0.1B
🇨🇿 Czech Republic$1.0B$1.1B$0$0

*Over the time period of Jan 1, 2023 to June 16, 2023 in U.S. dollars

After China and the EU bloc, India is the next-largest importer of Russian fossil fuels, having ramped up the amount of fossil fuels imported by more than 10x since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, largely due to discounted Russian oil.

Türkiye is the only other nation to have imported more than $10 billion worth of Russian fossil fuels in 2023, with every other country having imported fewer than $3 billion worth of fuels from Russia this year.

Navigating the Crude Reality of Oil Exports

Although crude oil is Russia’s chief fossil fuel export, the nation’s Urals crude traded at a $20 per barrel discount to Brent crude throughout most of 2023. While this discount has narrowed to around $16 following Russia’s announcement of further oil export cuts of 500,000 bpd (barrels per day), the price of Urals crude oil remains just 40 cents below the $60 price cap put in place by G7 and EU nations.

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A Thirst for Sand:

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

The rising demand for sand to resume post-pandemic growth drives unregulated and illegal sand mining in the Mekong River, where people living along its banks have lost their houses and fortunes to severe erosion.

By Le Dinh Tuyen, Pratch Rujivanarom, Teng Yalirozy and Lay Sopheavotey

mekongeye.com

One October morning in Vietnam’s Dong Thap province, 72-year-old Nguyen Thi Cam sat on the banks of the Mekong River, staring at dredgers hoovering up sand in the distance.

“My house was over there before,” she said, pointing to a raft floating about 50 meters from the riverbank.

“After running away from erosion twice, the house is now located here,” she said of the old, dilapidated building by the river, where the shore was jagged and looked as if it could collapse at any time.

For more than a decade, sand mining had eaten away at the foundations of Cam’s old houses. A 25-hectare islet where she used to source corn and vegetables had disintegrated too.

The insatiable hunger for sand has intensified in the Mekong region – the home to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – in the past decade due to urbanization and growing construction sectors that promise development in these countries.

Many expressways are planned or have been built, especially in Cambodia and Vietnam, where road networks are seen as the main source of investment. Infrastructure projects – ranging from airports and ports to railways – will likely be revived in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era for economic recovery.

The demand for real estate is strong in Thailand as the growing number of middle-class seek new houses and condominium units, while the sector remains one of the most profitable investment opportunities.

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About the Trafficking Inc. investigation

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

An ICIJ investigation examines networks of companies, people and business practices that draw profit from cross-border labor trafficking and sex trafficking.

By Michael Hudson Image: Rocco Fazzari / ICIJ June 12, 2023

On any given day, the United Nations estimates, nearly 28 million adults and children around the world are trapped in jobs that are so oppressive that they amount to modern slavery or human trafficking.

They are forced to work long hours for little or no pay, toiling on farms and construction sites, in sweatshops and restaurants, as janitors and, in some cases, sex workers. They are exploited by recruiters and employers who use their poverty, isolation and immigration status against them, often threatening them with violence, arrest or deportation or ensnaring them in debts they struggle to repay.

A new investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners has begun examining human trafficking in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the United States.

The investigation, Trafficking Inc., focuses on two forms of human trafficking: labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Both involve using force, fraud or coercion to induce someone to work or provide a service.

ICIJ and its reporting partners are working to bring to light untold stories of hardship and abuse suffered by trafficked people — and expose the networks of companies, individuals and business practices that set the traps and profit from them.

The investigative team includes journalists from ICIJ, Reuters, NBC News, WGBH Boston, The Washington Post, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Vietnam Freedom of the Net index 2022

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Freedomhouse.org

Country Facts

A Obstacles to Access12/25
B Limits on Content6/35
C Violations of User Rights4/40

LAST YEAR’S SCORE & STATUS: Vietnam: 22/100 Not Free

Scores are based on a scale of 0 (least free) to 100 (most free). See the research methodology and report acknowledgements.

  • Global Freedom Score 19/100: Not Free
  • Internet Freedom Score: 22/100:  Not Free
  • Freedom in the World Status: Not Free
  • Networks Restricted: No
  • Social Media Blocked: No
  • Websites Blocked: Yes
  • Pro-government Commentators: Yes
  • Users Arrested: Yes

OVERVIEW

Internet freedom remained restricted in Vietnam, as the government enforced stringent controls over the country’s online environment. Though the government did not disrupt connectivity or throttle Facebook servers as it had done previously, the state continued mandating that companies remove content and imposed draconian criminal sentences for online expression. A COVID-19 surge in late 2021 propelled government surveillance, and authorities have also sought to expand control over content on social media platforms.

Vietnam is a one-party state, dominated for decades by the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Although some independent candidates are technically allowed to run in legislative elections, most are banned in practice. Freedom of expression, religious freedom, and civil society activism are tightly restricted. Judicial independence is absent.

Key Developments, June 1, 2021 – May 31, 2022

  • Government officials ordered international social media companies to remove thousands of pieces of content, particularly targeting criticism of the authorities (see B2).
  • New regulations tightened content restrictions on websites that host advertisements and increased administrative fines on companies found to be hosting online speech that authorities deem illegal (see B3, B6, and C2).
  • Authorities imposed prison sentences on human rights defenders and everyday internet users for their online activities, including a ten-year sentence issued to activist Trịnh Bá Phương (see C3).
  • The expansion of government-run COVID-19 apps and the creation of a central database for new identification cards have raised privacy concerns (see C5).

A Obstacles to Access

A1 0-6 pts

Do infrastructural limitations restrict access to the internet or the speed and quality of internet connections? 4 6

The internet penetration rate was 71 percent by the end of 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Infomation and Communications (MIC).1 Mobile broadband has played a significant role in increasing access to faster internet service. As of May 2022, the median mobile download speed stood at 35.29 megabits per second (Mbps) while the upload speed stood at 16.89 Mbps according to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index. The median fixed broadband download speed was 71.79 Mbps and upload speed was 67.20 Mbps.2 Market data aggregator Statista estimated smartphone penetration at 61.37 percent as of May 2021.3 Fixed broadband remains a relatively small market segment.

As of December 2021, 4G signal covered 99.8 percent of Vietnam’s territory, while 5G had been tested in 16 provinces, according to the MIC.4

Disruptions to international internet cables took place repeatedly during the coverage period when the country was in full or partial lockdowns due to COVID-19 outbreaks.5 In February 2022, three undersea cables—the Intra-Asia, Asia-America Gateway, and Asia-Pacific Gateway cables—were disrupted at the same time, seriously affecting internet users nationwide.6 The cables are pivotal for connectivity to the international internet.

A2 0-3 pts

Is access to the internet prohibitively expensive or beyond the reach of certain segments of the population for geographical, social, or other reasons? 2 3

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Why are Vietnam’s schools so good?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

economist.com

It understands the value of education and manages its teachers well

Children playing football in a courtyard.
They’re on the ball image: alamy

Jun 29th 2023 | SINGAPORE

Ho chi minh, the founding father of Vietnam, was clear about the route to development. “For the sake of ten years’ benefit, we must plant trees. For the sake of a hundred years’ benefit, we must cultivate the people,” was a bromide he liked to trot out. Yet despite years of rapid economic growth, the country’s gdp per person is still only $3,760, lower than in its regional peers, Malaysia and Thailand, and barely enough to make the average Vietnamese feel well-nurtured. Still, Ho Chi Minh was alluding to a Chinese proverb extolling the benefits of education, and on that front Vietnam’s people can have few complaints.

Their children go through one of the best schooling systems in the world, a status reflected in outstanding performances in international assessments of reading, maths and science. The latest data from the World Bank show that, on aggregate learning scores, Vietnamese students outperform not only their counterparts in Malaysia and Thailand but also those in Britain and Canada, countries more than six times richer. Even in Vietnam itself, student scores do not exhibit the scale of inequality so common elsewhere between the genders and different regions.

A child’s propensity to learn is the result of several factors—many of which begin at home with parents and the environment they grow up in. But that is not enough to explain Vietnam’s stellar performance. Its distinctive secret lies in the classroom: its children learn more at school, especially in the early years.

In a study in 2020, Abhijeet Singh of the Stockholm School of Economics gauged the greater productivity of Vietnam’s schools by examining data from identical tests taken by students in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. He showed that between the ages of five and eight Vietnamese children race ahead. One more year of education in Vietnam increases the probability that a child can solve a simple multiplication problem by 21 percentage points; in India the uplift is six points.

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Vietnam’s extraordinary performance in the PISA assessment: a cultural explanation of an education paradox

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Full paper here

This paper examines the nature and drivers of Vietnam’s paradoxical performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – consistently high student achievement despite being the poorest of all participating countries and a centralized education system. The authors first document ‘Vietnam advantage’ in a wide-range of supply and demand-related indicators such as school participation rate, educational inequality, inputs and expenditure in cross-country regression models. They then estimate an augmented educational production function to show that these supply and demand-side advantages don’t explain away Vietnam’s positive deviance in PISA when compared to other participating developing and developed countries. The authors then conduct student-level analysis to examine Vietnam’s performance in PISA 2012 in a regional context, vis-a-vis three high-spending but low-performing ASEAN member countries (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand) and two high performing Asian countries (South Korea and Singapore). Pooled regression estimates show that, holding differences in various indices of socioeconomic background, the gap in average student test scores between Vietnam and South Korea in Reading and Science becomes statistically insignificant. Moreover, once school-specific differences are also accounted for, Vietnamese students do just as well as Singaporean across all subjects – equalizing for existing socioeconomic differences between countries would give Vietnam an even better advantage in the PISA. A similar gain in PISA scores is absent in the case of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The paper concludes by offering a cultural explanation for the significant variation in educational performance among high-spending East Asian countries.

The EU’s secret weapon against refugees — time

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Delays in rescuing people at sea aren’t a European policy failure. They are a deliberate, cruel strategy.

  • Aljazeera.com
  • Maurice StierlResearcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at Osnabrück University, Germany

Published On 17 May 202317 May 2023

Members of German NGO migrant rescue Sea-Watch and art Kollektiv Ohne Namen sail a boat with life vests during a symbolic art action to bring attention to the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea
Members of German NGO migrant rescue Sea-Watch and art Kollektiv Ohne Namen sail a boat with life vests during a symbolic art action to bring attention to the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea, on the Ill River in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, May 9, 2023. The slogan reads ‘Abolish Frontex’ [File: Johanna Geron/Reuters]

When boats with refugees are at risk of capsizing in the Mediterranean Sea, the speed of rescue operations is essential. Any delay in the emergency response can lead to serious bodily harm or the loss of life.

Still, offering a speedy response in such situations is not one of Europe’s priorities. In a study recently published in the journal Security Dialogue, I argue that time has become increasingly “weaponised” in Mediterranean migration governance.

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Last refugee held on Nauru arrives in Australia

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Over the last decade, and in order to prevent arrivals, European Union authorities have sought out ways to slow down rescue engagement while accelerating interceptions to Libya.

The end of Italy’s humanitarian-military operation Mare Nostrum in 2014 marked a turning point. As a response to a devastating shipwreck on October 3, 2013 near Lampedusa, this operation sped up rescue activities off the Libyan coast, leading to the rescue of about 150,000 people. However, it was denounced by critics as a “pull-factor” that would incentivise the arrival of refugees. Mare Nostrum ended and gave way to successive European operations that experimented with delays in emergency responses.

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Nearly 2,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year. Here’s why

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

npr.org June 28, 20235:01 AM ET

Laurel Wamsle

This handout image provided by Greece’s coast guard on June 14 shows scores of people on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece, drowning hundreds of migrants.

Hellenic Coast Guard via AP

Many around the world closely followed the plight last week of five wealthy men who went missing aboard a Titanic-bound submersible. Meanwhile, researchers at the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) updated the number of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe by sea this year: nearly 2,000.

The number of people who lose their lives each year in the crossing is staggering, and this year is on track to be worse than the last. Here are some of the reasons why this year has become so deadly:

Hundreds died aboard the Adriana

According to IOM data, at least 1,999 migrants died between January 1 and June 26 of this year, mostly from drowning. In the same period last year, 1,358 died. These tallies include those who died in the three major routes across the Mediterranean, as well as at the Atlantic route from West Africa.

One enormous tragedy accounts for a large portion of the uptick: the capsizing of the fishing boat Adriana two weeks ago in deep waters off the coast of Greece. The boat had departed Libya crammed with hundreds of people. When it capsized, it took the lives of most of the migrants on board, and IOM estimates the number who perished at 596.

Migrants from Eritrea, Libya and Sudan crowd the deck of a wooden boat as they wait to be assisted by aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, in the Mediterranean sea about 30 miles north of Libya, on June 17.

Joan Mateu Parra/AP

More people are attempting the crossing

Another factor is that the overall number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean is higher than it was last year.

Sponsor Message

Italy in particular has seen a significant increase in the number of migrants arriving: more than 60,000 so far this year, compared with fewer than 27,000 at this point last year. IOM estimates that the total arrivals of migrants by sea to Mediterranean Europe are more than 82,000 this year, compared to fewer than 49,000 by this time last year.

Many of the migrant boats are aiming for the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, which sits about halfway between Tunisia and Sicily. Two flows of migrants are now arriving at Lampedusa: those from Tunisia and those from Libya. Last week, 37 migrants went missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and Lampedusa.

Migrants are traveling on boats not made for high seas

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Analysis: Paris climate summit gives fresh impetus to development bank reform

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

reuters.com

By Simon Jessop, Leigh Thomas and Tommy Wilkes June 23, 20237:05 PM GMT+2Updated 11 days ago

New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris
World leaders and finance bosses attend the closing session of the New Global Financial Pact Summit, Friday, June 23, 2023 in Paris, France. The aim of the two-day climate and finance summit was to set up concrete measures to help poor and developing countries whose predicaments have been worsened by the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine better tackle poverty and climate change. Lewis Joly/Pool via REUTERS
  • Summary
  • Roadmap for genuine change’ -Barbados’ Persaud
  • Eyes on IMO meet as shipping tax idea gathers steam
  • Critics say summit fell short of world’s needs
  • PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) – A Paris summit to discuss reforming the world’s financial system scored some notable wins that should tee up greater action before climate talks later this year, though some participants were disappointed with progress to address poorer states’ debt.

  • The Summit for a New Global Financing Pact saw French President Macron host around 40 leaders, many from the Global South, to debate changes to multilateral finance institutions in the face of climate change and other development challenges.
  • Much of the discussion centred on the key requests of developing nations, framed through the “Bridgetown Initiative” led by Barbados leader Mia Mottley, and her adviser Avinash Persaud said he was pleased with the outcome of the talks.
  • “It’s a roadmap for genuine change,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the talks. “What’s emerged here is a real … understanding of the scale and pace of what is required.”
  • Among the highlights were confirmation that the richer world will likely hit a long-overdue target of providing $100 billion annually in climate finance to poorer countries, a long-delayed debt deal for Zambia, and a package to boost Senegal’s renewable energy capacity.
  • The World Bank and others also said they would start adding clauses to lending terms that allow vulnerable states to suspend debt repayments when natural disaster strikes.

  • Yet it was the wording of the final statement from attendees and subtle changes in the tone of discussions behind the scenes that gave hope to Persaud that even greater change was coming.

  • Specifically, for the first time, the document acknowledged the potential need for richer countries to provide fresh money to multilateral development institutions like the World Bank. This came alongside a plan to draw on more of their current assets, to the tune of $200 billion over 10 years.

  • Another first was in the explicit target for multilateral development banks to leverage “at least” $100 billion a year in private sector capital when they lend.

  • A reference was also made to finding “new avenues for international taxation”, as well as other Bridgetown Initiative requests including offering investors foreign exchange guarantees.
  • “That was widely discussed here and (there’s) lots of support behind an initiative that’s happening outside of Paris, at the International Maritime Organisation in a couple weeks time, on a levy on shipping emissions,” Persaud added.
  • Still, the summit was not without its critics.
  • “Unfortunately, the Paris Summit has not provided the breakthrough needed to find the funding for our planet’s survival,” Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice for ActionAid International, said, pointing to new funding pledges being loans or temporary debt relief instead of grants.
  • All eyes now turn to more traditional events later in the year, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, a G20 meeting in September and the COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
  • Persaud said his focus would be on making sure the plan to scale up multilateral development bank lending was in place by the time of annual meetings in October, and that pilot work began on reducing the cost of capital for developing countries.
  • The summit, held against a backdrop of criticism that the world is moving far too slowly to address climate change, was a success in that it delivered a roadmap requiring specific actions by specific dates, some observers said.
  • “They’ve got a clear timetable of what they want to see happen and it’s that timeline that puts the pressure on and means that it’s harder to just kick things into the long grass,” said Sonia Dunlop from think tank E3G.
  • Reporting by Simon Jessop, Leigh Thomas and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, editing by Mark Heinrich

    • In Vietnam, IKEA-style wind turbines are powering off-grid communities

    ~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

    mekongeye.com

    By Vuong Thi Hao Linh 3 July 2023 at 10:53

    The 1% of Vietnamese households without electricity rely on decentralized, micro renewable systems for power supply. Are such innovations sustainable?

    Wind turbine vietnam

    A mini wind turbine set up in the countryside of Vietnam. PHOTO: 1516 energy

    LAI CHAU, VIETNAM – In November 2019, teachers and students at the Pa U elementary boarding school in Muong Te district in Vietnam’s Lai Chau province had electricity for the first time.

    The power came from a rudimentary micro wind turbine system, which was sold and delivered to the school by a local startup named 1516 and assembled by the teachers.

    The setup was simple: aluminum tubs affixed to a sturdy wooden rod, linked to a sun box that contains a charge controller, a solar battery and an inverter to generate electricity.

    Lai Chau
    Source: Mapbox

    “The children were so excited to see those turbines in action,” recalled teacher Bui Thi Minh Khuyen. Despite a limited output that can only sustain the school’s energy needs until 10pm, the new power supply has made a vast difference.

    Pa U schoolteachers assemble a wind turbine. PHOTO: 1516 energy

    Previously, the school only had light bulbs powered by cheap solar panels imported from China. Fans, radios, TVs, phones and laptops were luxuries the school could not power.

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    Can YOU spot a deepfake from a real person? World’s first ‘certified’ deepfake warns viewers not to trust everything they see online

    ~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
    • An AI studio has created the world’s first cryptographically signed deepfake
    • Its tamper-evident seal declares that the video contains AI-generated content
    • It is hoped this will eliminate confusion as to where online videos originate

    By FIONA JACKSON FOR MAILONLINE  UPDATED: 10:43 BST, 5 April 2023

    For the last 30 years or so, children have been told not to believe everything they find online, but we may need to now extend this lesson to adults.

    That’s because we are in the midst of a so-called ‘deepfake‘ phenomenon, where artificial intelligence (AI) technology is being used to manipulate videos and audio in a way that replicates real life.

    To help set an example of transparency, the world’s first ‘certified’ deepfake video has been released by AI studio Revel.ai.

    This appears to shows Nina Schick, a professional AI adviser, delivering a warning  about how ‘the lines between real and fiction are becoming blurred’.

    Of course, it is not really her, and the video has been cryptographically signed by digital authenticity company Truepic, declaring it contains AI-generated content.

    The world's first 'certified' deepfake video has been released by AI studio Revel.ai. This appears to shows Nina Schick, a professional AI adviser, delivering a warning about how 'the lines between real and fiction are becoming blurred'.

    The world’s first ‘certified’ deepfake video has been released by AI studio Revel.ai. This appears to shows Nina Schick, a professional AI adviser, delivering a warning about how ‘the lines between real and fiction are becoming blurred’.

    Revel AI claims to have released ‘world’s first certified deepfake’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11940965/Worlds-certified-deepfake-warns-viewers-not-trust-online.html#v-5510645798719504088

    Political Apologies Across Cultures

    ~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

    politicalapologies.com

    In the past decades, there has been a considerable rise in the number of apologies offered by states for injustices and human rights violations. But are such gestures a viable reconciliatory tool and do they have a universal potential to redress injustice or restore harmony? Or do people across cultures have different notions about what political apologies mean, what purpose they serve, or how they can or should be expressed?

    In this five year project funded by the European Research Council, we bring scholarship on transitional justice together with cross-cultural psychology and anthropology to address these questions and to investigate how political apologies are viewed across cultures. The overall objective is to understand whether political apologies can be a universal reconciliation tool, or whether a tailored approach based on cultural variation is more appropriate.

    The Value and Meaning of Political Apologies across Cultures

    A central idea behind political apologies is that collectivities such as states can and should take responsibility or express remorse for past wrongdoings, and that this will help restore justice or promote harmony. But are such notions regarding collective moral responsibility and collective guilt shared across cultures? And is there a similar understanding about the function and meaning of political apologies across cultures? The aim of this subproject is to analyze whether key assumptions regarding political apologies hold across cultures, or whether this varies as a function of cross-cultural differences in key values (collectivism and individualism) and norms (face and honor). For this, we rely upon an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach using in-depth interviews, vignette studies, and surveys. Data have been collected using community samples (incl. people aged 18 and above from both urban and rural regions with mixed educational backgrounds) across 33 countries.

    PRELIMINARY SURVEY

    FIELD SURVEY

    IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

    VIGNETTE STUDY

    LARGE-SCALE SURVEY

    The Expression and Reception of Political Apologies across Cultures

    Over the past years, there has been considerable debate about the role of political apologies in reconciliation processes. Although some have heralded such gestures as a meaningful step, others have described them as political rituals that may be appropriate in some (cultural) contexts but not in others, as people may have different notions about what they mean, what purpose they serve, or how they should be expressed. What has been lacking, however, is a systematic analysis of how political apologies are expressed and received across the world. In this subproject, we aim to fill this gap by mapping and comparing the political apologies that have been made across the world, and by analyzing whether there are universals in how they are valued, expressed, and interpreted or whether this varies as a function of cross-cultural differences in key values (collectivism and individualism) and norms (face and honor). For this, we rely on a broad range of methods, varying from content analyses and in-depth interviews to (experimental) surveys. Data have been collected using community samples (incl. people aged 18 and above from both urban and rural regions with mixed educational backgrounds) across 32 countries. The Political Apologies Database is available on this website under the Database page. 


    THE POLITICAL APOLOGIES DATABASE

    CASE STUDIES: EL SALVADOR, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

    LARGE-SCALE MULTI-COUNTRY EXPERIMENTAL SURVEY

    The Expression and Reception

    How debt-for-climate swaps can help solve low-income countries’ crushing debt and environmental challenges at the same time

    ~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

    Published: October 31, 2022 12.34pm GMT

    Debt-for-climate swaps allow countries to reduce their debt obligations in exchange for a commitment to finance domestic climate projects with the freed-up financial resources.

    Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley spoke passionately to the United Nations General Assembly in September about the mounting debt many developing countries are shouldering and its increasing impact on their ability to thrive.

    The average debt for low- and middle-income countries, excluding China, reached 42% of their gross national income in 2020, up from 26% in 2011. For countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the annual payments just to service that debt averaged 30% of their total exports.

    At the same time, these countries are facing a “triple crisis of climate change, of pandemic and indeed now the conflict that is leading to the inflationary pressures that lead regrettably to people taking circumstances into their own hands,” Mottley said.

    Rising borrowing costs coupled with high inflation and slow economic growth have left developing countries like hers in a difficult position when it comes to climate change. High debt payments mean countries have fewer resources for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Yet climate change is increasing their vulnerability, and that can raise their sovereign risk, increasing the cost of borrowing. Declining productive capacity and tax base can lead to higher debt risks. It’s a vicious cycle.

    Tiếp tục đọc “How debt-for-climate swaps can help solve low-income countries’ crushing debt and environmental challenges at the same time” →

    Bê bối thu gom đồ cũ để tái chế của H&M nói gì về thời trang bền vững?

    ~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

    vietecera.com

    Nguồn: USA Today

    1. Chuyện gì đã xảy ra?

    Ngày 19/6 vừa qua, một nhóm phóng viên của Thuỵ Điển đã phát hiện nhiều nghi vấn và đặt ra các câu hỏi về chiến dịch tái chế quần áo cũ của hãng thời trang H&M nước này.

    Để thể hiện thiện chí phát triển bền vững với môi trường, H&M đã bắt đầu thực hiện chiến dịch quyên góp quần áo cũ và tái chế vào năm 2013 tại 40 thị trường trên toàn thế giới, trong đó có Việt Nam.

    Những khách hàng đem quần áo cũ của hãng đến bỏ vào thùng sẽ nhận được phiếu giảm giá cho lần mua hàng sau. Tuy nhiên các cáo buộc đã chỉ ra, đa phần quần áo cũ bị bán lại sang Châu Phi hoặc những nước nghèo, để rồi phần lớn trong số đó bị vứt bỏ hoặc đốt.

    Những lời nói dối hoa mỹ vừa bị phát giác của hãng này sẽ làm cho người tiêu dùng sẽ càng dè dặt hơn khi mua sắm quần áo, đồng thời mất niềm tin vào những cam kết bền vững của các hãng thời trang khác.

    2. Bê bối của H&M đã được phát hiện từ đâu?

    Cụ thể, nhóm phóng viên của báo Borsen đã giấu thiết bị theo dõi gắn chip GPS vào trong 10 sản phẩm còn dùng tốt và bỏ vào thùng thu gom tại các cửa hàng của H&M. Dữ liệu thu được cho thấy quần áo cũ được đưa tới 3 cơ sở phân loại tại Đức, sau đó 3 trong số 10 sản phẩm đã theo tàu biển tới Beni – quốc gia ở Tây Phi.

    Bên cạnh đó, tờ Vasterbottens cũng cho hay từ đầu năm 2023 cho tới nay, 3 công ty nhận quần áo cũ của H&M đã xuất khẩu 5.711 kiện quần áo sang châu Phi, tương đương hơn một triệu sản phẩm may mặc. Tuy nhiên, một nửa trong số đó đã bị vứt bỏ vì nhiều lý do như rách hỏng, không phù hợp với khí hậu châu Phi, quá rộng, quá chật hoặc màu sắc, kiểu dáng không phù hợp với văn hóa địa phương.

    Kết quả là thay vì bị bỏ đi ở châu Âu, số quần áo cũ của H&M đã di chuyển tổng cộng 60.000 km bằng tàu biển và xe tải, tương đương với một lần rưỡi vòng quanh thế giới, để bị vứt bỏ ở châu Phi.

    Thêm nữa, lượng chất thải cho việc chuyên chở số sản phẩm này sang các nước châu Phi và nước nghèo, để rồi sau đó một nửa bị vứt bỏ bừa bãi ra môi trường mà không được xử lý khiến cho các “chiến dịch xanh” của H&M trở nên khó chấp nhận trong mắt công chúng.

    3. Các chiến dịch vì môi trường của H&M từng gây tiếng vang thế nào?