Cambodia rejects paying ‘dirty debt’ to the US

Al Jareeza March 21, 2017

Cambodia-US relations will further deteriorate if Trump insists on collecting debt incurred by an illegitimate regime.

General Lon Nol, former prime minister of Cambodia, who incurred the principal debt of $276m, attends a national solidarity rally in Cambodia on April 16, 1970 [Ian Brodie/Getty Images]
General Lon Nol, former prime minister of Cambodia, who incurred the principal debt of $276m, attends a national solidarity rally in Cambodia on April 16, 1970 [Ian Brodie/Getty Images]

By

@chheangcam

Vannarith Chheang is a Consultant at the Nippon Foundation in Japan.

The United States has renewed its demand for Cambodia to repay a war debt of $500m amid President Donald Trump’s push to improve the state budget. Such a demand has met with an outcry from Cambodian political leaders and their people, who have consistently called the debt “dirty” and “blood-stained”.

Clearly, the memory of the United States’ war in Indochina continues to shape Cambodian perceptions of and foreign policy towards the US. Cambodia is reluctant to pay the debt. However, should the US keep forcing Cambodia to service the debt, its moral high ground may be adversely affected. Tiếp tục đọc “Cambodia rejects paying ‘dirty debt’ to the US”

Echoes of war, seeds of hope

Harvardgazette

In visit to Vietnam, Faust stresses importance of remembrance in healing from conflict

March 23, 2017 | Editor’s Pick Popular
Drew Faust travels to Asia

Even decades after the Vietnam War, the United States and Vietnam are still surveying the conflict’s aftermath, seeking understanding and healing of wounds physical and spiritual, individual and widespread, Harvard President Drew Faust said today during a visit to the Southeast Asian nation. Tiếp tục đọc “Echoes of war, seeds of hope”

North Korea vows to pursue nuclear arms amid US threat

al jazeera 5 hours ago

North Korea vows to pursue nuclear arms amid US threat

Pyongyang envoy to UN warns his country is developing ‘pre-emptive strike capabilities with nuclear forces’.

North Korean diplomat Choe Myong-nam, left, is seen at a press conference in this 2015 photo [Mike Segar/Reuters]

North Korea will pursue “acceleration” of its nuclear and missile programmes including developing a “pre-emptive first-strike capability”, a diplomat from Pyongyang warned on Tuesday. Tiếp tục đọc “North Korea vows to pursue nuclear arms amid US threat”

China warns U.S. over arms sales to Taiwan

 Japan Times

AFP-JIJI Mar 20, 2017

China on Monday reiterated its firm opposition to U.S. arm sales to Taiwan, amid reports that Donald Trump’s administration is preparing a large shipment of advanced weaponry for the self-ruling island.

“China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, this is consistent and clear-cut,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing. Tiếp tục đọc “China warns U.S. over arms sales to Taiwan”

My Lai Massacre Anniversary

    TĐH: Below is an article written by Mike Hastie, an American Army medic who started his service in Vietnam in 1970, two years after the Mỹ Lai Massacre happened. Mike has been raising funds to support My Lai Massacre Memorial and the last time he visited My Lai was on April 5-6, 2016. He wrote this article on the occasion of the 49th Anniversary of the Massacre.
    These articles by American veterans about Mỹ Lai have always been some education for me. They are always full of pain, anger, shame and guilt, so full and fresh as if everything has just happened yesterday. And that always amazes me about the American soul.
    We Vietnamese don’t keep things that long. We may talk about an event, but always with a distance between us and it, more like a history lesson than a fresh wound. I teach my Buddhist students non-attachment: “Do not grasp onto anything. All things – good or bad, happy or sad, rewarding or punishing – are simply fleeting clouds sailing through the blue transparent permanent sky which is our Buddha heart.” But these veterans’ letters, always fresh in anguish, show me more than often the depth and the purity in the American heart. Though I would still say: “Don’t grasp onto anything. Let go”.
    This article is about misery but also about healing.  It is a history lesson and a lesson about the human heart.
    After Mike’s article is a comment from our friend Chuck Searcy.

 

My Lai Massacre Anniversary

Today, March 16, 2017, is the 49th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, located in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam.

It was Saturday morning, March 16, 1968, when approximately 115 U.S. Army soldiers of the Americal Division’s Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, landed in helicopters just outside the village of My Lai 4. Over the course of the next four hours, these American soldiers, and their Military High Command, who were flying overhead in helicopters observing the massacre, took part in a horror show far beyond the human imagination. They took the term “War Crimes” and added a butcher shop to the equation of morbid extermination. In essence, they became a U.S. version of the final solution. They committed an act of barbarity that would redefine the war in Vietnam. It would take years to decipher what happened that day, as denial is the elixir that protects us from experiencing national shame. It is these two words, ” National Shame,” that continues to hide the truth of what really happened in Southeast Asia. Tiếp tục đọc “My Lai Massacre Anniversary”

Rex Tillerson in China to discuss North Korea

Al Jareeza

US secretary of state travels to Beijing after saying pre-emptive military action against North Korea may be necessary.

Rex Tillerson has arrived in Beijing for his first face-to-face talks with Chinese leaders expected to focus on North Korea’s nuclear programme.

The US secretary of state’s visit on Saturday followed his remarks the previous day in South Korea where he cautioned that pre-emptive military action against North Korea might be necessary.

He said US military action against North Korea is an “option on the table”, and warned the country to end its missile and nuclear programmes.

“The policy of strategic patience has ended,” Tillerson said during his joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, on Friday. Tiếp tục đọc “Rex Tillerson in China to discuss North Korea”

Iraqis Threaten to Sue U.S. for War Crimes

Freebacon

9/11 bill removing sovereign immunity rights will open U.S. to flood of international lawsuits

Iraq Training Troubles

U.S. army soldiers, alongside their Iraqi counterparts, provide security at a marketplace in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib suburb / AP

BY:
September 26, 2016 3:25 pm

An advocacy organization representing scores of Iraqis killed or wounded by U.S. forces has threatened to sue the American government for war crimes, according to a recent announcement that cites a new bill as opening a pathway for citizens to sue foreign governments over terror attacks.

The Iraqi National Project, a group that advocates on the behalf of Iraqi nationals, says that it is laying the groundwork to sue the United States for its war effort in the country. Tiếp tục đọc “Iraqis Threaten to Sue U.S. for War Crimes”

Iraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand Compensation

Tyler Durden's picture

As reported on Saturday, a September 11 widow was the first American to take advantage of the recently passed Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism (JASTA), aka the “Sept.11” bill courtesy of Congress which for the first time in Obama’s tenure overrode his veto, by suing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Stephanie Ross DeSimone alleged the kingdom provided material support to al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden leading to the death of her husband, Navy Commander Patrick Dunn, who was killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2009, when Stephanie was two months pregnant at the time with the couple’s daughter. Her suit is also filed on behalf of the couple’s daughter. She sued for wrongful death and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Tiếp tục đọc “Iraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand Compensation”

Thái bình dưới trướng thiên triều?

DANH ĐỨC 20.05.2012, 17:27

TTCT – Pax Sinica – thái bình dưới trướng Trung Quốc – là một khái niệm từ mấy năm nay được những nhà nghiên cứu về các vấn đề của Đông Á sử dụng để chỉ sự bành trướng của Bắc Kinh hiện nay.

Thực tế đang ngày càng khẳng định những lý giải ấy.

Thái bình dưới trướng thiên triều?
Một ngư dân Philippines ngồi trên chiếc tàu đến từ Masinloc, vùng đất gần nhất cách khu vực bãi cạn Scarborough đang tranh chấp với Trung Quốc 128 hải lý – Ảnh: Reuters

Tiếp tục đọc “Thái bình dưới trướng thiên triều?”

It’s payback time, America

By Calvin Godfrey   March 13, 2017 | 02:18 pm GMT+7

It's payback time, America

Visitors learn about the Vietnam War at a museum in Ho Chi Minh City in a file photo taken in March 2015. Photo by Minh Le

A diplomatic kerfuffle in Phnom Penh reminds us that the U.S. owes Vietnam $25.7 billion.

Last week, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, an anonymous U.S. State Department official made the strongest argument to date for Donald Trump to make good on wartime reparations promised to Vietnam by his political idol, Richard Nixon.

During Trump’s skinny days, he flew to Houston to attend a birthday party for a bankrupt Texas governor that was attended by the ex-president. Years later, Nixon wrote Trump a letter, urging him to make a play for the White House — a document Trump cherishes even today.

One wonders what Trump might make of another Nixon correspondence, one he penned at the height of his powers, to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong promising roughly $4.7 billion in wartime reconstruction aid without political conditions.

Tiếp tục đọc “It’s payback time, America”

Trump plans to host China’s Xi in April at Florida resort: report

Japan times

Trump plans to host China’s Xi in April at Florida resort: report

Reuters, Mar 13, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at a two-day summit next month at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, U.S. online media outlet Axios reported Monday, citing officials familiar with the plans.

The two-day meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 6-7, the U.S. media outlet reported.

Reuters has not verified the Axios story and does not vouch for its accuracy. Representatives of the White House and for Xi could not be immediately reached for comment.

The planned summit would follow a string of other recent U.S-China meetings and conversations seeking to reaffirm ties following months of strong rhetoric from Trump.

Last month, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi visited Washington to discuss the two countries’ economic ties and security interests. Tiếp tục đọc “Trump plans to host China’s Xi in April at Florida resort: report”

US deploys attack drones to South Korea amid tension with North

SEOUL: The United States has started to deploy attack drones to South Korea, a U.S. military spokesman said on Monday, days after it began to deploy an advanced anti-missile system to counter “continued provocative actions” by isolated North Korea.

The drones, Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coming to South Korea are part of a broader plan to deploy a company of the attack drones with every division in the U.S. Army, the spokesman said. Tiếp tục đọc “US deploys attack drones to South Korea amid tension with North”

White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations

PF Exclusive
White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations

State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs, signaling an unprecedented retreat by President Donald Trump’s administration from international operations that keep the peace, provide vaccines for children, monitor rogue nuclear weapons programs, and promote peace talks from Syria to Yemen, according to three sources.

The push for such draconian measures comes as the White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N., in next year’s budget. The United States spends about $10 billion a year on the United Nations. Tiếp tục đọc “White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations”