All posts by Đọt Chuối Non

Me? Me? Me?... Yeah yeah yeah amigo... What can me say about me-self?... me-self...me-self... Ole ole ole... me me me... I'm a young banana shoot... My dad is Banana Pa... My mom is Banana Ma... I am happy happy happy... I run around... oops... I can't run... I sing aloud... all day long... I sing in the rain... I sing in the shine... I sing day and night... I sing all the time... I watch the butterflies and the bees... and the cranes and the geese... Aha aha aha... here we go again... this little swallow circling on my head... the little swallow on my head... is about to poop on me... Hey, little fella, don't cha know where to unload ya poopa?... But, that's alright... I can swallow my pride to befriend a swallow... Yup yup yup... swallow my pride to befriend a swallow...

Why Vietnam can’t and won’t leave Russia’s side

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov given the red carpet treatment in Hanoi, underscoring the depth and endurance of bilateral ties

By NATE FISCHLERJULY 7, 2022 Asiatimes

HANOI – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met this week with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, a top-level sign that the Cold War allies remain close in the New Cold War era.

Lavrov’s visit was at the invitation of Vietnam’s foreign ministry, per the Vietnamese government, and is the first by a Russian official since hostilities broke out with Ukraine on February 24. Vietnam is Russia’s top Southeast Asian partner and is viewed as a lynchpin for maintaining stable relations in the region.

Lavrov held separate meetings with Son, Chinh, and Trong during his two-day visit, representing the ministerial, state, and Party levels of Vietnam’s leadership. The diplomatic message is clear: Vietnam highly values its relationship with Russia at all levels. Vietnamese state media underscored that the visit further solidifies Russia as one of Vietnam’s pre-eminent diplomatic partners.

Continue reading Why Vietnam can’t and won’t leave Russia’s side →

Biden’s missing trade policy

Allies and rivals are striking new deals while the U.S. loses ground.

WSJ – By The Editorial Board

Updated July 5, 2022 7:16 pm ET

President Joe BidenPHOTO: AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Listen here

The news leaking from the White House is that President Biden may finally ease tariffs against some Chinese goods—a mere 18 months into his Administration. The extended indecision underscores that Mr. Biden essentially has no trade policy while the rest of the world moves ahead with new trade deals.

Continue reading Biden’s missing trade policy →

‘We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy – podcast

LUBMIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 08:  (From L to R, first row) French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger turn a wheel to symbolically start the flow of gas through the Nord Stream Baltic Sea gas pipeline at a cemerony on November 8, 2011 in Lubmin, Germany.
 Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

the guardian – Mon 20 Jun 2022 

Germany has been forced to admit it was a terrible mistake to become so dependent on Russian oil and gas. So why did it happen?

Written by Patrick Wintour, read by Andrew McGregor and produced by Tony Onuchukwu. Executive producers: Max Sanderson and Isabelle Roughol

Continue reading ‘We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy – podcast →

Where children opt for marriage over school

e.vnexpress.net

By Hai Thu   July 5, 2022 | 11:37 am GMT+7

Where children opt for marriage over school

A H’Mong ethnic girl standing next to a corn field in Meo Vac District, Ha Giang Province. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

Giang Thi Mai, an eighth grade student, remarried a week after escaping a marriage by abduction for fear of becoming a woman no one would marry.

On the morning of January 31, in a house surrounded by a peach garden in Ta De village in the northern Son La Province’s Van Ho District, the 14-year-old looked in the mirror, combed her long hair, put on lipstick, and then ventured out.

That day her cousin on the other side of the village was getting married, and Mai and a friend put on their best clothes and headed to the wedding.

Continue reading Where children opt for marriage over school →

Asia Stream: the struggle for Hong Kong’s identity

25 years after taking control of the territory, how is Beijing trying to change Hong Kong — and how is Hong Kong pushing back?

Nikkei staff writersJuly 2, 2022 07:23 JST

Nikkei

NEW YORK — Welcome to Nikkei Asia’s podcast: Asia Stream.

Every other week, Asia Stream tracks and analyzes the Indo-Pacific with a mix of expert interviews and original reporting by our correspondents from across the globe.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

This episode, we take measure of the economic impact of China’s stringent laws in Hong Kong and then take a deep dive into the social and political costs of Beijing’s crackdown on the special administrative region.

Continue reading Asia Stream: the struggle for Hong Kong’s identity →

Pres. Biden’s tweets on US and NATO

President Biden

@POTUS United States government official

Earlier this year, the U.S. surged 20,000 additional U.S. forces to Europe to strengthen our NATO Alliance in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the changing security environment. We’ll continue to adjust our posture to ensure the defense of our Allies:

We’re working with Spain to increase U.S. Navy destroyers in Rota, establishing a permanent HQ in Poland, putting an additional rotational Brigade Combat Team in Romania, enhancing our Baltic presence, and sending two more F-35 squadrons to the UK.

NATO is ready to meet threats from all directions, across every domain: land, air, sea, cyber and space.

Global migration is not abating. Neither is the backlash against it

June 29, 2022

Around the world, far-right populist parties continue to stoke the popular backlash against global migration, driving some centrist governments to adopt a tougher line on immigration. But with short-term strategies dominating the debate, many of the persistent drivers of migration go unaddressed, even as efforts to craft a global consensus on migration are hobbled by demands for quick solutions. Learn more when you subscribe to World Politics Review (WPR).

Migrants rest on a Mediterranea Saving Humans NGO boat, as they sail off Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, just outside Italian territorial waters, Thursday, July 4, 2019 (AP photo by Olmo Calvo).

Continue reading Global migration is not abating. Neither is the backlash against it →

Xi Jinping brought Hong Kong to heel. Now he’s back in a city transformed 


CNN

People wave Chinese and Hong Kong flags as fishing boats carrying banners celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China sail through the Victoria Harbour.
Chinese flags flutter above streets and red celebratory banners line the harbor front, as a beaming crowd of masked officials and school children wave and chant in unison inside Hong Kong’s high-speed rail terminus, welcoming the arrival of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

In his first trip outside mainland China since the start of the pandemic, Xi arrived in Hong Kong Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1 — a highly symbolic event at a pivotal time for both the city, and Xi himself. 
Continue reading Xi Jinping brought Hong Kong to heel. Now he’s back in a city transformed  →

CFR Daily News Brief June 30, 2022

Top of the Agenda

China’s Xi Visits Hong Kong, Praises Its ‘Rise From Ashes’Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Hong Kong for ceremonies marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the city’s handover from British rule. He said Hong Kong has “risen from the ashes” (SCMP) since his last visit in 2017. Since then, Beijing has cracked down on dissent and independent media in the city. While Xi’s 2017 visit was followed by a pro-democracy march (Bloomberg), Hong Kong’s streets have been empty of demonstrations this week because of the sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city in 2020 and warnings from police. It is Xi’s first trip outside mainland China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The anniversary also marks the halfway point of a promise Beijing made to maintain liberal institutions in Hong Kong for fifty years. The United States and United Kingdom have accused Beijing of breaking the promise.
Continue reading CFR Daily News Brief June 30, 2022 →

‘Thanks, Putin’: Defense spending spikes across NATO

FP – JUNE 30, 2022

NATO leaders emerged from their summit in Madrid this week touting a more muscular alliance ready to face down Russia and start tackling the long-term challenges from China. And it’s starting to look like they finally have plans in place to put their money where their mouths are.

Continue reading ‘Thanks, Putin’: Defense spending spikes across NATO →

Sáu năm hoạt động của tuyến BRT Hà Nội


Thứ tư, 29/6/2022, 10:37 (GMT+7) vnexpress

Được đầu tư vốn lớn cùng làn đường riêng, tuyến BRT đầu tiên của Hà Nội chưa thu hút được người dân, không giảm ùn tắc và thúc đẩy giao thông công cộng.

Tuyến BRT Kim Mã – Yên Nghĩa được phê duyệt từ năm 2007 với tổng vốn đầu tư khoảng 55 triệu USD, tương đương 1.100 tỷ đồng. Ngày 1/1/2017, tuyến bắt đầu hoạt động theo lộ trình Yên Nghĩa – Ba La – Lê Trọng Tấn – Tố Hữu – Lê Văn Lương – Láng Hạ – Giảng Võ – bến xe Kim Mã. Người dân di chuyển toàn tuyến dài 14,77 km sẽ mất khoảng 45 phút.

Dự án được thực hiện bằng vốn vay của Ngân hàng Thế giới (WB). Đây là hợp phần trong lộ trình dài hơi phát triển giao thông công cộng Hà Nội mà WB tham gia. Cơ quan này đưa ra nhiều mục tiêu khi xây dựng tuyến buýt nhanh, như cải thiện tình trạng ùn tắc, ô nhiễm; làm nền tảng phát triển hạ tầng giao thông công cộng; thúc đẩy người dân chuyển từ xe cá nhân sang phương tiện công cộng.

Continue reading Sáu năm hoạt động của tuyến BRT Hà Nội →

 The G7 Leaders – along with the leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal, and South Africa – released a statement on Democratic Resilience

,

Download statement >> 

2022 Resilient Democracies Statement

Elmau, 27 June 2022


We, the Leaders of Germany, Argentina, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Senegal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union, affirm our commitment to strengthening the resilience of our democracies and to working towards equitable, inclusive and sustainable solutions to global challenges, including climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, and reaffirm our commitment to
the rules-based international order.

Continue reading  The G7 Leaders – along with the leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal, and South Africa – released a statement on Democratic Resilience →

CFR Daily News Brief June 29, 2022

 

 

Top of the Agenda

U.S., NATO Strengthen Military Presence in Europe

U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States will send more troops and weapons (FT) to Europe as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense buildup over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Washington will establish a new permanent army headquarters in Poland, send five thousand additional troops to Romania, and up its deployments in the Baltic states. NATO is seeking a response force of three hundred thousand troops, a sevenfold increase (Politico) from the current level. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the announcements the biggest overhaul of NATO defenses since the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, Turkey dropped its veto (Al Jazeera) on Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership after the countries committed to toughening their approaches to groups Turkey views as threats.

Continue reading CFR Daily News Brief June 29, 2022 →

5 địa phương ở TP HCM nguy cơ ‘dịch chồng dịch’

Thứ tư, 29/6/2022, 13:35 (GMT+7) vnexpress

Các quận huyện Bình Tân, 12, Tân Phú, Bình Chánh và TP Thủ Đức nguy cơ bùng dịch sốt xuất huyết cũng như Covid-19, theo Giám đốc Sở Y tế Tăng Chí Thượng.

Thông tin được ông Tăng Chí Thượng nói tại cuộc họp về tình hình kinh tế – xã hội giữa năm của UBND TP HCM, sáng 29/6. Cảnh báo được đưa ra trong bối cảnh biến thể Covid-19 mới đã xuất hiện tại Việt Nam, song tỷ lệ tiêm nhắc vaccine còn rất thấp và dịch sốt xuất huyết cũng đang bùng phát ở địa phương này.

Về Covid-19, ông Thượng dẫn Tổ chức Y tế Thế giới (WHO) cho biết các biến thể mới như BA.4 và BA.5 đang có xu hướng thay thế chủng cũ (BA.2) trên toàn cầu. Theo nhận định của Cục Y tế Dự phòng, BA.5 cũng có khả năng trở thành biến thể chủ đạo ở Việt Nam trong thời gian tới.

Continue reading 5 địa phương ở TP HCM nguy cơ ‘dịch chồng dịch’ →