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Wednesday, 22 June, 2005
 
Call for Democracy

Tuesday there was a massive whole page ad in the Post. I'm used to seeing the logo for Martin Marietta or Lockeed on these. They always seem to have the cash on hand. This one on the other hand had a simple drawing of a torch and outline of Vietnam. "An open letter to George W. Bush..." it began. The group is A Call for Democracy - Loi Keu Goi Dan Chu. They are a dot org from Santa Barbara. They took this ad out in this paper and presumably others [apparently it ran to 3 pages in the Washington Times] because they fear a love fest (Bush Vows Increased Ties With Vietnamese) will break out between the US and the current government of Vietnam now that Prime Minister Phan Khai has come here; hung out with Bill Gates, bought planes from Boeing and met with the President. Vietnam, they caution, is still a one party state which brooks no dissent or criticism. Which, also, never made life easy for the country's remaining Catholics.

I should ask Tran what she thinks of all this, I thought. So I pulled that page out and folded it up to read it in detail later. Before I had a chance to ask her, she brought this up with me on her own. What did I think of his being here? I don't have anything against normalization of diplomatic ties, and trade, and believe that constructive engagement is the only true and practical international relation. As long as you have the fortitude and ability to take the long view. Khai Phan, Tran pointed out - and here I was struck by the rather intense way she seemed to bite the words of his name in half and hurl them into the air - Mr. Phan she declared has stated that American politicians will apologize for the war and he will graciously accept it. "He shouldn't hold his breath waiting for that," I replied, "He won't get it." He wouldn't even get that from me.

Tran seems to be be involved in a local affiliate of this Call for Democracy organization. She mentioning that people in the VA/DC/MD Vietnamese community were planning a protest against his visit on Thursday, She was considering going, but probably only if her father [didn't] need her [I knew I was misunderstanding something on the first draft of this - her father didn't go, but if he had she would have gone with him]. Apparently some people had worked for a number of months or perhaps years to prevent this visit from taking place and are not happy about it. She could not understand why President Bush would meet with this delegation . This Boston Globe article indicates the protests will be in every city Prime Minister Phan visits. Bush hosts, praises Vietnamese leader - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Asia - News . I suppose the U S Government needs to encourage at least the level of trade and globalization to allow markets to develop and the right attitude concerning intellectual property rights to foster. I also pointed out that they are meeting with national security officials to make arrangements for intelligence and military cooperation. Today's Department of Defense e-ring managers enforce a strict "don't ask don't tell" policy concerning human rights.

Engagement is a tricky thing, It has in the past led some governments to conclude that the US was happy with the way they carried out their affairs. The way we appear to compartmentalize our national security apparatus, political system and institutions of free market globalism, such as the world bank. This leads some to perceive we view these as separate buffet-items at the big table. As a practical matter I doubt I could easily pull them apart. I expect few could; except throught the prism of a particular divergence. The more Tran described all this and we talked about it, the more engaged she got. She's normally such a calm and collected person, here she seemed quite impassioned as she went over it all. "No one who has spent two weeks in Vietnam would account the least respect to the communist government." I have to admit, I like it when she gets like this.


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2005 Paul Bushmiller.
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Prolegemma to any future FAQ.

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paul bushmiller
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at the least, this.
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3 or 4 years. I used to run it by hand; Radio Userland is more convenient.
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victoria - the kinks
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Omaha - Moby Grape
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Billy in the Lowlands
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