| Top of the Agenda Munich Security Conference Focuses on Ukraine War Effort Hundreds of Western officials are in Munich to discuss boosting support for Ukraine, which could include further military aid and stronger sanctions against Russia. In a video address to attendees, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for accelerated weapons deliveries (NYT) to defend against Russian forces. A report issued by the chair of the conference warned that “revisionist actors” are threatening the international order, but also said that the order should better address (DW) the interests of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The leaders of countries including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are expected to attend the security conference, while both Russia and Iran were uninvited (FT). Instead, the Belarusian and Russian presidents met separately to discuss their alliance. Meanwhile, Russian shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut killed five people (Kyiv Independent) yesterday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said. |
Tác giả: Trần Đình Hoành
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
.
I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC.
I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters.
I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism.
In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
I have written these books, published by Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi:
"Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống) (Oct. 2011)
"10 Core Values for Success" (10 Giá trị cốt lõi của thành công) (Dec. 2013)
"Live a Life Worth Living" (Sống Một Cuộc Đời Đáng Sống) (Oct. 2023)
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
Story Killers: inside the deadly disinformation-for-hire industry
What is Blue Carbon?
Blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems.
Did you know?
NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserves and their partners are working to make wetlands conservation and restoration profitable while lessening greenhouse gas emissions through blue carbon financial markets. These markets balance projects that feature heat-trapping emissions with contributions that take carbon out of the atmosphere. Efforts thus far have produced the first-ever U.S. guide that makes salt marsh restoration eligible for international carbon markets; research that documents carbon storage capabilities in the marsh; workshops and school curricula on the topic; and newsletters and technical assistance.
Something that has a significant effect on our daily lives and is stored within the largest system of water on our planet must be a household name, right? Not necessarily. Have you ever heard of blue carbon? Chances are the answer is no, but perhaps you know more than you realize.
Tiếp tục đọc “What is Blue Carbon?”The Drone War in Ukraine Is Cheap, Deadly, and Made in China
Crowdsourced donations are fueling eyes in the sky.
FEBRUARY 16, 2023, 10:06 AM FP
By Faine Greenwood, an expert on unmanned aerial vehicles, technology in humanitarian aid, remote sensing, spatial data, and data policy and ethics.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds up a drone carrying a mock grenade in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Feb. 9. YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Almost a year after Russian tanks first began rolling over the border into Ukraine, a war many expected would be over within a month continues to grind on. It’s grimly reminiscent of European conflicts of the 20th century—but it’s also the first war in history where both sides have made extensive use of cheap, startlingly effective small drones, the kind that can be bought at electronics stores or built with simple hobby kits.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, I knew two things for sure. First, that Ukraine was going to stun the world with what it could do with small do-it-yourself and consumer drones, a skillset that their drone hobbyists and tech experts had been tirelessly expanding ever since Russia’s earlier invasion in 2014 – efforts led by now-famous volunteer drone organizations like Aerorozvidka, whose members had become some of the world’s premier experts on building, modifying, and using small, cheap drones in warfare. Second, I knew that as an expert in both consumer and hobby drones, I was going to do my best to document what happened next.
Tiếp tục đọc “The Drone War in Ukraine Is Cheap, Deadly, and Made in China”The AI arms race is on. Are regulators ready?
BY REBECCA KLAR – 02/14/23 5:03 AM ET
The race among tech companies to roll out generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is raising concerns about how mistakes in technology and blind spots in regulation could hasten the spread of misinformation, elevate biases in results and increase the harvesting and use of Americans’ personal data.
So far tech giants Microsoft and Google are leading the race in releasing new AI tools to the public, but smaller companies and startups are expected to make progress in the field.
Tiếp tục đọc “The AI arms race is on. Are regulators ready?”The Guide to Investment Treaty Protection and Enforcement – First Edition
Global Arrbitraion Review
Chapters
- IntroductionMark Mangan and Noah Rubins KC
Dechert LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP - Negotiation, Compliance and Termination of Investment Treaties: The State’s PerspectiveKristi How and Emily Choo
Attorney-General Chambers of Singapore - Accessing Investment Treaty Protection: The Investor’s PerspectiveAlvin Yeo SC, Chou Sean Yu and Koh Swee Yen
WongPartnership LLP - Initial Stages of a Dispute: The Investor’s PerspectiveStanley U Nweke-Eze
Templars - Initial Stages of a Dispute: The State’s PerspectiveZiad Obeid, Moiz Mirza Baig, Mollie Lewis and Maria Paschou
Obeid & Partners - Managing CounselAna María Ordoñez Puentes, Elizabeth Prado López, Giovanny Vega-Barbosa and Yadira Castillo Meneses
Colombia’s National Agency for Legal Defence of the State - Financing a Claim or DefenceDeborah Ruff, Julia Kalinina Belcher, Charles Golsong and Jenna Lim
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman - Constitution of the TribunalRebeca E Mosquera
Akerman LLP - Jurisdiction: Main ElementsStanley U Nweke-Eze
Templars - Interlude – Arbitrators on procedure in investment disputes
- Procedural Issues in an Arbitration: Preliminary ConsiderationsMatthew Kronby, Hugh Meighen and Benedict S Wray
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - Procedural Issues in an Arbitration: DisclosureEun Young Park, Sup-Joon Byun, Seokchun Yun and Shul Park
Kim & Chang - Ethical ObligationsPatricia Nacimiento and Adilbek Tussupov
Herbert Smith Freehills - Applicable Law in Investment Treaty ArbitrationStefan Riegler, Dalibor Valinčić and Borna Dejanović
Wolf Theiss - Interlude: Arbitrators on the role and art of advocacy in ISDS
- Substantive Protections: MFNMark Mangan and Ananya Mitra
Dechert LLP - Substantive Protections: FairnessElodie Dulac and Jia Lin Hoe
King & Spalding LLP - Substantive Protections: ExpropriationDerek Soller, Rafael T Boza, Kristina Fridman and Roland Reimers
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman - Substantive Protections: ObligationsBabatunde Fagbohunlu and Hamid Abdulkareem
Aluko & Oyebode and Three Crowns LLP - Suitability of ISDS for Societal ChallengesAmanda Lees, Wilson Antoon, Erin Eckhoff and Jack McNally
King & Wood Mallesons - Quantification of ISDS Claims: TheoryMino Han, Konstantin Christie and Charis Tan
Peter & Kim - Quantification of ISDS Claims: Specific IssuesBoaz Moselle, Ruxandra Ciupagea and Juan Carlos Bisso
Compass Lexecon - The CourtsNicholas Lingard and Samantha Tan
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - Annulment and VacaturVijayendra Pratap Singh and Roopali Singh
AZB & Partners - Enforcement and Recovery: TheoryAndrew Battisson and Tamlyn Mills
Norton Rose Fulbright - Enforcement and Recovery: Practical StepsMark Bravin, Tiana A. Bey, Theresa B. Bowman and Albina Gasanbekova
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
South Korea’s Indo-Pacific pivot strategy
By David Scott
David Scott (davidscott366@outlook.com) is member of the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) and is a prolific writer on Indo-Pacific geopolitics (www.d-scott.com/publications).
2022 ended with South Korea adopting specific Indo-Pacific terminology with the Dec. 28 release of its Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region (SFPPIP). The key takeaway: The SFPPIP, and President Yoon Suk Yeol, signal an end to South Korea’s “strategic ambiguity” under the previous president, Moon Jae-in. Seoul pivoting away from Beijing and toward Washington—delicately, but clearly.
Tiếp tục đọc “South Korea’s Indo-Pacific pivot strategy”
Norway warns of growing importance of Russian nuclear ‘deterrent’ in Arctic
‘Tactical nuclear weapons are a particularly serious threat,’ Norwegian intelligence report says.
FEBRUARY 14, 2023 2:04 PM CET, politico.eu
While war rages in Ukraine, Norway’s intelligence service is warning of the increasing importance of Russia’s nuclear “deterrent” in the Arctic waters of the far north.
“As the importance of nuclear weapons and strategic deterrent forces increases, the Northern Fleet’s defense of the military bases in Kola, the Northern Bastion and the Barents Sea is also becoming more important,” the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report.
Tiếp tục đọc “Norway warns of growing importance of Russian nuclear ‘deterrent’ in Arctic”Germany Temporarily Does Not Recognise Vietnamese Passports
Published: 15 February 2023 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Tobias Weiß, GPIL
On 1 July 2022, Viet Nam began issuing new non-biometric passports with a dark blue cover and a serial number beginning with ‘P’. Unlike the previous green passports, the new document no longer included the place of birth of the holder. Instead, the place of birth was hidden in a twelve-digit personal numeric code that had to be deciphered using a seven-page list of tables. Contrary to international practice, Viet Nam had not informed the German Government in advance about the new passports. On 27 July 2022, Germany became the first country to stop recognising the new passports.
Tiếp tục đọc “Germany Temporarily Does Not Recognise Vietnamese Passports”Russia is planning coup in Moldova, says President Maia Sandu
‘The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions,’ according to Moldovan leader.
FEBRUARY 13, 2023 5:31 PM CET Politico
Russia wants to stage a coup d’état in Moldova, the country’s President Maia Sandu said Monday.
Sandu called for heightened security measures in Moldova after the pro-EU government resigned last week, following months of pressure from Moscow which is waging an all-out war on neighboring Ukraine.
“The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a press conference Monday.
She added that citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia would be among those entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to “change the legitimate government to an illegitimate government, controlled by the Russian Federation to stop the EU integration process.”
Tiếp tục đọc “Russia is planning coup in Moldova, says President Maia Sandu”Lawsuit says stars were paid to fuel hype behind these NFTs
A twisted tale of celebrity promotion, opaque transactions and allegations of racist tropes
Read ction lawsuit complaint in Court >>
TĐH: Excerpt from the Complaint filed in Court
Ultimately, “[t]he [BAYC NFT] series serves as a kind of fan club on steroids that encourages owners of the NFTs to move through an ever-growing and exclusive list of events and opportunities.”32 And the Company presents the Bored Ape ecosystem as a brand that is organically beloved by some of the most famous celebrities in the world. But the truth is that the Company’s entire business model relies on using insidious marketing and promotional activities from A-list celebrities that are highly compensated (without disclosing such), to increase demand of the Yuga securities by convincing potential retail investors that the price of these digital assets would appreciate and that, as members of “the club,” these investors would be given exclusive access to additional financial products and benefits.
By Elle Reeve and Samantha Guff, CNN
Updated 11:01 PM EST, Fri February 10, 2023
CNN —
Sitting across from Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” Paris Hilton, wearing a sparkling neon green turtleneck dress and a high ponytail, looked at a picture of a glum cartoon ape and said it “reminds me of me.” The audience laughed. It did not look like her at all.
Hilton and Fallon were chatting about their NFTs – non-fungible tokens, typically digital art bought with cryptocurrency – from the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The camera zoomed in on framed printouts of the ape cartoons. “We’re both apes,” Fallon said. Hilton, with her signature vocal fry, replied, “Love it.”
Super Bowl LVI was crypto’s coming out party. This year, the party’s over
“The Tonight Show” episode from January 2022 is a YouTube time capsule showing the temporary alliance between celebrity marketing and the crypto industry. Bored Ape Yacht Club was not the biggest crypto phenomenon, but it was one of the top beneficiaries of celebrity hype. That celebrity hype, in turn, helped draw new consumers to crypto — an industry rife with manipulation and fraud, and one that US regulators are now giving more scrutiny in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. But for a time, when crypto’s prices seemed to have no limit, the money appeared too good for some to ask questions — questions like: Why are some of those apes wearing prison clothes?
Tiếp tục đọc “Lawsuit says stars were paid to fuel hype behind these NFTs”U.S.-China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas: Background and Issues for Congress (Feb 8, 2023)
What China’s Surveillance Balloon Says About U.S.-China Relations
Neither the United States nor China is prepared for a serious crisis.
Blog Post by David Sacks
February 6, 2023 12:01 pm (EST), CFR
On Saturday afternoon, a U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet fired one missile into a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon, sending it plunging into the Atlantic Ocean and capping a stretch where the world’s most important bilateral relationship was dominated by a slowly moving object crossing the United States.
The incident raises questions about the extent to which China has been employing these balloons – and in the process violating U.S. territorial airspace and sovereignty – and why it has been doing so when its satellites could glean this information. Far more important, however, is what this says about the ability, or more accurately inability, of Washington and Beijing to manage a future crisis.
Tiếp tục đọc “What China’s Surveillance Balloon Says About U.S.-China Relations”Economics: Market failure – Stopping sludge
| By David Leonhardt, Good Morning, The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2023 |
| Good morning. We explain why the Biden administration is trying to crack down on those sneaky fees charged by hotels, rental cars, internet providers and more. |
 Ticketmaster is especially aggressive about imposing fees.Paul Sakuma/Associated Press |
| A market failure |
| Sneaky fees have become a big part of America’s consumer economy. |
| Hertz charges almost $6 a day simply for using a toll transponder in a rental car. Marriott and Hilton add nightly “resort fees” to the bill even at hotels that nobody would consider to be resorts. American, Delta and United list one airfare when you first search for a seat — and then add charges for basic features like the ability to sit next to your spouse. |
CFR – Daily news brief Feb. 7, 2023
| Daily News BriefFebruary 7, 2023 |
| Top of the Agenda WHO Predicts Death Toll in Syria, Turkey Quake Could Rise by ‘Thousands’ Syrian and Turkish officials said at least five thousand people were killed (NYT) by yesterday’s consecutive earthquakes at the Syria-Turkey border and their aftershocks, making the quakes one of the deadliest natural disasters to occur this century. As rescue efforts continue, an official from the Eastern Mediterranean office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the death toll could rise by thousands and that there is a “substantial” risk of another aftershock. Aid teams from more than sixty-five countries have arrived in southern Turkey to support relief efforts, Hürriyet reported, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared a three-month state of emergency in ten provinces. Meanwhile, the Syrian government is unable to receive direct aid from many countries because of sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s government. Additionally, a border crossing used to deliver humanitarian aid to rebel-held northern Syria was damaged in the disaster. |
CVD 