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Tag Archives: trang tiếng Anh
Impermanence and Permanence
Hi everyone,
Very often we feel that we are completely lost, that we don’t know what we should do, what we should use our life for, which direction we should go, which job we should do or learn, how our future will be, or where our future lies.
And we feel lost. Seeing our friends work hard, building their careers, holding good positions… we wish we could be like them, know what we want and what we should do, and be happy with our life plans…
How to accept a “No”?
Hi everyone,
There’s a fear that weighs heavily upon many of us every minute, every single day, through our whole life, whether we think about it or are aware of its existence or not. That is the fear of rejection, the fear of not achieving what we aim for. In other words, it is the fear of “No” – no acceptance, no agreement from someone, no gain, no achievement…
Everyday’s Miracles
Hi everyone,
If we pay attention to what happen in our daily life with gratitude, we will see “miracles” or “God’s blessings” or “good karma” come to us almost every day. If we are not grateful, they will all seem to be coincidences and meaningless.
If we are profoundly grateful, we will see that everything has a very deep meaning.
Run, Forrest, Run!
Hi everyone,
Whoever watches Forrest Gump will never forget the famous line “Run, Forrest, run!”. This is an American comedy-drama film, a genre of movie that combines both humorous and serious content. Forrest Gump is a young boy born in Alabama, a state in the Southern part of the US. Having a crooked spine and slightly retarded since birth, he was a target for bullies. Jenny was Forrest’s only friend, and they often walked to school together. One day, Forrest was harassed by a group of boys and Jenny told him “Run, Forrest, run!”, so the disabled boy struggled to run until his leg braces broke apart, and the little boy could run for the very first time in his life.
Since then, Forrest ran everywhere, and his legs became stronger. He ran at maximum speed every time someone told him to run, incredibly fast, to the degree that he was recruited to the high school’s football team, and became a football player in the university with a football scholarship.
Critical questions: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Heads to China
By Bonnie S. Glaser and Christopher K. Johnson
CSIS
September 17, 2012
Read online here: http://cs.is/V4gvHN
Leon Panetta will make his first visit to China as U.S. secretary of defense, September 18–20.
Q1: Why is the visit important?
A1: Secretary Panetta’s upcoming visit to China is an important step in the Obama administration’s effort to create and maintain a healthy, stable, reliable, and continuous military-to-military relationship with China. After spending one day in Japan, Panetta arrives in Beijing as the guest of Defense Minister Liang Guanglie, who was hosted by Secretary Panetta for a six-day trip to the United States this past May. Liang’s visit marked the first time in nine years that a Chinese defense minister traveled to the United States. Secretary Panetta’s trip to China this month provides an opportunity for Washington to expand cooperation where U.S. and Chinese interests coincide (for example, counter piracy, drug interdictions, opposition to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and humanitarian assistance) and to have frank conversations on issues where there are differences (for example North Korea, Iran, Syria, and maritime security). Panetta will undoubtedly seek to explain the U.S. strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region, building on the explanations provided in recent months by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon.
Continue reading Critical questions: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Heads to China
Beijing as an Emering Power in the South China Sea
Cronin Testimony Before House Committee on Foreign AffairsRichard Cronin, Senior Associate and Director of Stimson’s Southeast Asia program, was invited to testify before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday, September 12th, for their hearing on Beijing as an Emerging Power in the South China Sea. To read Dr. Cronin’s testimony, please click here.
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U.S. Ambassador to Libya kiled: U.S. vows to hunt down perpetrators of Benghazi attack
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 5:18 PM EDT, Wed September 12, 2012
A burnt vehicle is seen at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Wednesday, September 12, one day after armed men stormed the compound and launched a rocket-propelled grenade. The resulting fire left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and and three other Americans dead. Stevens was trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location as part of an evacuation when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing security personnel to withdraw. Photos: Protesters storm U.S. Embassy buildingsWashington (CNN) — The United States on Wednesday vowed to track down those behind the killings of its ambassador to Libya and three other Americans amid a regional furor over a film mocking Islam’s prophet.
“We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act,” said President Barack Obama. “And make no mistake, justice will be done.”
The blessed world around us
Hi everyone,
Awakened people have an experience that those who are still deep in sleep neither have nor understand: The world around us is very beautiful and we are blessed with so many favors from God.
The wild flower petals by the front door.
A bird flying across the sky.
Sunshine among the leaves.
The city awakes, everybody starts a new day.
A delicious lunch.
A sound sleep at night.
The cute three-year-old son.
The sweet lover.
Good health.
The flamboyant tree blooming with red flowers next door.
…
Desire without suffering
Hi everyone,
The Buddha has taught that desire is the cause of suffering. If we no longer desire, we no longer suffer.
This is hard to do. If we no longer have any desire, can we be sure we are still passionate about life? still wanting to live? The truth is, desires and wishes are the goals motivating us towards achieving them – a university degree, a good job, opening a store – and that’s what makes like fun, lively, and active. Without those wishes, those dreams to follow, life would have been very dull… like dead.
This is our big problem. How to follow our dreams without being drawn into the cycle of suffering, as the Buddha has taught?
The Significance of the 2012 ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting
By Gregory Poling and Phuong Nguyen
Center for Strategic and International Studies
August 29, 2012
The ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting (AEM) and related meetings are taking place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from August 25 to September 1. Economic and trade ministers from the 10 ASEAN member countries, together with their counterparts from dialogue partners China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, Russia, and the United States, are gathering to discuss economic cooperation and trade liberalization within the ASEAN countries and between ASEAN and its foreign partners. This will be the highest-level ASEAN meeting since the failure of the foreign ministers to issue a joint communiqué at the contentious ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh in July.
Q1: What is the AEM and what has it accomplished?
Continue reading The Significance of the 2012 ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting
US Council on Foreign Relations: Armed Clash in the South China Sea (Contingency Planning)
Armed Clash in the South China Sea
Contingency Planning Memorandum No. 14
Author: Bonnie S. Glaser, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Publisher Council on Foreign Relations PressRelease Date April 2012
Introduction
The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is significant. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines have competing territorial and jurisdictional claims, particularly over rights to exploit the region’s possibly extensive reserves of oil and gas. Freedom of navigation in the region is also a contentious issue, especially between the United States and China over the right of U.S. military vessels to operate in China’s two-hundred-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). These tensions are shaping—and being shaped by—rising apprehensions about the growth of China’s military power and its regional intentions. China has embarked on a substantial modernization of its maritime paramilitary forces as well as naval capabilities to enforce its sovereignty and jurisdiction claims by force if necessary. At the same time, it is developing capabilities that would put U.S. forces in the region at risk in a conflict, thus potentially denying access to the U.S. Navy in the western Pacific.
The terrible legacy of Agent Orange
Forty years after war ended, Washington begins decontamination of worst-affected areas in Vietnam
Tran Thi Hoan, 26, studied medicine only to be told that she couldn’t become a doctor because of a war fought 20 years before she was born. The ostensible reason was that she had no legs or left hand, but the main reason, and the cause of so much misery blighting the lives of millions of other Vietnamese, is the 20 million gallons of Agent Orange sprayed in her country by US forces in the Sixties.
The Bully of the South China Sea
wallstreet journal
China’s broad territorial claims have no legal merit, and the U.S. is the only power strong enough to push back.
Last Friday, a U.S. State Department spokesman stated that Beijing’s recent decision to upgrade tiny Sansha City in the disputed Paracel Islands to a “prefecture-level city” and establish a military garrison there runs “counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region.” That muted protest was just the excuse Beijing wanted to play a round of Down With American Imperialism. The Foreign Ministry called in a U.S. Embassy official for a tongue-lashing Saturday. State-run media also went to town, telling the U.S. to “shut up” and stop “instigating” conflict in the region.
Why the irruption of ire? Partly it’s because Beijing’s various factions need to look tough on sovereignty issues ahead of the upcoming Party Congress. The Congress will pick the next generation of Party leaders.
International Friendship Day
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP DAY
(Sunday Aug 5, 2012)
International Friendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, and intended on first Sunday of August to be a day where people celebrated their friendships by sending cards.
The first Sunday in August was chosen as the centre of the largest lull in holiday celebrations.
Friendship Day was promoted by the greetings card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance – given that it was rather too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards.By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe, however it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia where several countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends.
Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated in a number of countries across the world.
This year, it’s Sunday August 5.
Đọt Chuối Non 