Support to the US under various scenarios
Chuyên mục: US
Biden Hopes for Vietnam Breakthrough
COMMENTARY
(Foreign Policy) RAND Corporation 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 15, 2023
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS
May 12, 2023
During a ceremony held in Washington to commemorate the Lunar New Year in 2011, then–Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Le Cong Phung surprised the audience by announcing that the two countries would raise their ties to the level of “strategic partnership.” Phrases describing partnerships can be nebulous, of course. But from what we know about Vietnamese diplomacy, Hanoi’s definition of strategic partnership is not just boilerplate, but signifies concrete, mutual, long-term strategic interests.
Vietnamese officials, however, never followed up on Phung’s newsworthy announcement. Instead, Washington and Hanoi announced a comprehensive partnership in 2013—a relationship that implies a less-serious geopolitical alignment for Vietnam. The United States has been left wondering why.
Tiếp tục đọc “Biden Hopes for Vietnam Breakthrough”The United States and the Republic of the Philippines Bilateral Defense Guidelines
What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal
Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.
APRIL 29, 2023, 6:00 AM Foregn Policy
By Michael J. Green, the CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, and Paul Haenle, the director of Carnegie China.
As U.S.-China relations transition from an era of engagement to one of strategic competition, some in the Biden and former Trump administrations have claimed to be abandoning four decades of naive American assumptions about Beijing. Past U.S. policy, they say, was based on a futile view that engagement would lead to a democratic and cooperative China. This, however, is not only a misreading of past U.S. policies but also dangerous analytical ground upon which to build a new national security strategy.
The fact is that no administration since that of Richard Nixon has made U.S. security dependent on Chinese democratization. Every administration has combined engagement with strategies to counterbalance China through alliances, trade agreements, and U.S. military power. Throwing out all previous U.S. approaches to China would mean throwing out some of the most important tools the current administration relies on to compete with China. And the Biden administration will not get its China strategy right until it is clear about what has worked in the past.
Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama; Stephen J. Hadley, Peter D. Feaver, William C. Inboden, and Meghan L. O’Sullivan (eds.); Brookings Institution Press, 774 pp., $39, February 2023
Tiếp tục đọc “What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal”U.S. Support for the Philippines in the South China Sea
PRESS STATEMENT
US STATE DEPARTMENT
APRIL 29, 2023
The United States stands with The Philippines in the face of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Coast Guard’s continued infringement upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Imagery and video recently published in the media is a stark reminder of PRC harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels as they undertake routine patrols within their exclusive economic zone. We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct. The United States continues to track and monitor these interactions closely.
Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. Support for the Philippines in the South China Sea”Myanmar is a failing state, led by a junta fuelled by Russian arms, says UN rights envoy
Civilians are being killed by Russian weapons just like in Ukraine, says special rapporteur Tom Andrews in call for global action
A man sits in front of a house destroyed by a Myanmar junta air strike. The UN special rapporteur for human rights there has called for an arms embargo. Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondentWed 15 Mar 2023 19.00 GMT
Myanmar is a “failing state” and the crisis is getting exponentially worse, a UN special rapporteur for the country has warned, urging countries to adopt the same unified resolve that followed the invasion of Ukraine.
“The same types of weapons that are killing Ukrainians are killing people in Myanmar,” Tom Andrews, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Guardian in an interview, citing the supply of Russian weapons to the junta since the coup two years ago. The junta relies heavily on aircraft from China and Russia, and has increasingly resorted to airstrikes to attempt to quell determined resistance forces.
The international response to Myanmar has been inadequate and some countries are continuing to enable the junta’s atrocities, Andrews said, calling for an arms embargo.
Remarks by President Biden and President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea in Joint Press Conference
Campuchia và sự trỗi dậy của một cường quốc nhỏ
NCLS – Tháng Tư 19, 2023
Thủ tướng Hun Sen, kỹ năng chính trị và kiến thức của ông là vô song. CPP
Kavi Chongkittavorn
19 Tháng Tư, 2023
Biên dịch: GaD
Đối với Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen [Lãnh chúa chỉ huy quân sự tối cao Hun Sen], Thủ tướng Campuchia, thời gian là tất cả. Do đó, không có gì ngạc nhiên khi nhà lãnh đạo tại vị lâu nhất thế giới gần đây đã phát tín hiệu rằng ông sẽ từ chức chính trường. Không thể tin được, phải không? Ông từng nói rằng ông sẽ nắm quyền cho đến năm 90 tuổi. Nếu ông ta không nói trực tiếp điều đó, sẽ không ai tin. Quyết định được cân nhắc cẩn thận của ông được đưa ra vào thời điểm quan trọng nhất do các điều kiện bên trong và bên ngoài hiện tại và những hậu quả lâu dài có thể xảy ra.
Quan trọng hơn, nó cũng chứng tỏ khả năng của Hun Sen vượt qua mọi cơn gió chính trị đang ập đến mình. Sức mạnh bền bỉ ấy là đặc biệt nhờ bản năng chính trị của ông – điều mà người Campuchia sẽ mô tả là “Noyubuy..Ascha Nas!” Và, nó đang lan rộng ra bên ngoài đất nước.
Tiếp tục đọc “Campuchia và sự trỗi dậy của một cường quốc nhỏ”
PRC WRITINGS ON STRATEGIC DETERRENCE
TECHNOLOGICAL DISRUPTION AND THE SEARCH FOR STRATEGIC STABILITY
Alison A. KaufmanBrian Waidelich
BACKGROUND
This paper examines recent writings from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in order to highlight major themes and evolution in concepts of deterrence, strategic stability, and escalation control, particularly between 2017 and 2022.
PRC writings during this period display growing concern that innovations in military technology over the past several decades undermine strategic stability. Many PRC authors argue that the balance of military capabilities that enabled China to maintain a fairly small nuclear deterrent is becoming more fragile, and that as a result, Beijing can no longer be confident in its ability to deter other countries from attacking China with nuclear or other strategic weapons.
This paper provides a baseline for understanding, from a conceptual perspective, how PRC authors frame the challenges that these dynamics pose to China’s strategic deterrent and to strategic stability, and the implications they may have for Beijing’s approach to strategic capabilities.
KEY FINDINGS
STRATEGIC STABILITY, STRATEGIC DETERRENCE, AND STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES
PRC writings link the concepts of strategic stability, strategic deterrence, and strategic capabilities. Although PRC authors do not explicitly employ an ends-ways-means construct, based on their discussions we may think of strategic stability as the ends, strategic deterrence as the ways, and strategic capabilities as the means.
Tiếp tục đọc “PRC WRITINGS ON STRATEGIC DETERRENCE”US militray footprints in the Philippines
US, Japan to help Vietnam with bomb, mine clearance
TT – Wednesday, April 05, 2023, 17:36 GMT+7
The United States Department of Defense expressed its desire to send experts to Vietnam to help the Southeast Asian country conduct bomb and mine detection and clearance work, while Japan might donate special equipment worth over VND93 billion (US$4 million) to Vietnam.
Colonel Nguyen Hanh Phuc, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Mine Action Center, made this announcement at a press briefing on tackling post-war bomb and mine consequences in Hanoi on Tuesday.
Tiếp tục đọc “US, Japan to help Vietnam with bomb, mine clearance”
US Forces will have access to 9 Filippino Bases
Readout of President Joe Biden’s call with General Secretary Trong of Vietnam
MARCH 29, 2023 White House
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of Vietnam. President Biden reinforced the United States’ commitment to a strong, prosperous, resilient, and independent Vietnam, noting that 2023 is the 10thanniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. The two leaders discussed the importance of strengthening and expanding the bilateral relationship, while working together to address regional challenges such as climate change, ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the deteriorating environmental and security situation along the Mekong. President Biden also emphasized the United States’ commitment to ASEAN centrality, respect for human rights, and cooperating with Vietnam on its ambitious climate goals.
Saudi Arabia và Iran: Bán anh em xa…
SÁNG ÁNH 25/03/2023 13:32 GMT+7
TTCT – Saudi Arabia làm lành với Iran mở ra hy vọng về một Trung Đông bớt đi những tang thương bom đạn.
4 h sáng 14-9-2019, quân Houthi (thân Iran) từ Yemen bắn qua Saudi 25 máy bay không người lái, có lẽ giá thành là 15.000 USD một chiếc, tức tổng trị giá 375.000 USD. 19 chiếc trúng đích là khu Nhà máy dầu Abqaiq-Khurais, làm tê liệt sản xuất trong hai tuần.
Khu nhà máy này chiếm 1/2 sản xuất dầu của Saudi (mà dầu của Saudi thì chiếm 5% của thế giới) – khoảng 5,7 triệu thùng/ngày.
Cuộc tấn công khiến Saudi mất 365 triệu đô la một ngày với giá dầu lúc đó là 64 USD/thùng. Tuy dần dà cũng khắc phục được, thị trường chứng khoán Saudi mất ngay 40 tỉ USD.
A federal judge spoke at Stanford Law School. Chaos ensued.
| March 24, 2023, The New York Times, Good Morning |
 Stanford University.Ben Margot/Associated Press |
| A heckler’s veto |
| Stuart Kyle Duncan — a federal appeals court judge appointed by Donald Trump — visited Stanford Law School this month to give a talk. It didn’t go well. |
| Students frequently interrupted him with heckling. One protester called for his daughters to be raped, Duncan said. When he asked Stanford administrators to calm the crowd, the associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion walked to the lectern and instead began her remarks by criticizing him. “For many people here, your work has caused harm,” she told him. |
CVD 