Vietnam as Nammers Know It

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam’s great war hero, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, has stood up to defend his country once again, this time against what he says would be a huge mistake by the government — a vast mining operation run by a Chinese company.

Now 97, the commander who led his country to victory over both France and the United States has emerged as the most prominent voice in a broad popular protest that is challenging the secretive workings of the country’s Communist leaders.

In an unusual step, the government has taken note of the criticisms in recent weeks and appears to be making at least gestures of response, saying it will review the project’s environmental impact and slow its full implementation.

The project, approved by the Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo in late 2007, calls for an investment of $15 billion by 2025 to exploit reserves of bauxite — the key mineral in making aluminum — that by some estimates are the third largest in the world.

The state-owned Chinese mining group Chinalco has already put workers and equipment to work in the remote Central Highlands under contract to Vinacomin, the Vietnamese mining consortium that is aiming for up to 6.6 million tons of aluminum production by 2015.

General Giap and other opponents say the project will be ruinous to the environment, displace ethnic minority populations and threaten national security with an influx of Chinese workers and economic leverage.

The controversy draws together several issues in today’s Vietnam — its emulation of China’s environmentally destructive model of industrial development, a tentatively evolving relationship between the closed government system and its citizens, and a visceral distrust among many Vietnamese of their big neighbor to the north.

As the outlines of the project have emerged, a loose coalition of scientists, academics, environmentalists, war veterans and the leaders of unofficial Buddhist and Catholic groups have come together to challenge what Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called “a major policy of the party and the state.” Their voices have been amplified in the echo chamber of political blogs, a new voice in public discourse here.

Read more here.

Mới hôm kia còn ở VN cho heo ăn. Hôm nay đã ở khách sạn Four Season’s Ritz Carlton ở Chicago.

1. Even the toilet paper has the 4 Season logo 2. L’Occitane toiletry 3. Complimentary Shoeshine

We will head to the Cubs game next, if it doesn’t rain.

Quê Mỹ. Los Angeles, nói một cách chính xác hơn. Nhưng đoạn sau phải viết bằng tiếng Anh để cho mấy người bạn ở LA có thể đọc được đọc.

I had a chance to go sailing again yesterday.

This here is Spyro. Long time friend, Taekwondo coach, and avid sailor.

It was 6:30 pm, and the sun was still out.

Sunset on the wave breaker. 

The Santa Monica coastline. Those are smaller racers.

This is Joe, former USC Taekwondo friend and coworker at ITS. Pho working the jib sail. Spyro at the helm.

When the sails catch the full wind and the flags don’t fluff, the boat would lean and we would have to lean all the way on the opposite side to keep balance. This is actually the funnest part, feeling so close to the ocean, the waves, the wind.

Yesterday we also saw some dolphins. Dolphins are not scared of sail boats since there’s no noisy engine or oil spill, so they would get really close.  

Got back to grandpa’s house at 11:00 pm really tired. And a bit sick. Everyone got the flu around here.