US urges release of Vietnam bloggers facing trial

People visit an Internet shop in Hanoi. The United States on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free three bloggers facing trial for propaganda against the state, voicing deep concern at the self-immolation of the mother of one of the trio

AFP – 08/01/2012

The United States on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free three bloggers facing trial for propaganda against the state, voicing deep concern at the self-immolation of the mother of one of the trio.

The defendants were arrested after posting hundreds of political articles on the banned Vietnamese website "Free Journalists Club", as well as writing on their own blogs, in a case that has been raised by US President Barack Obama.

If convicted they face up to 20 years in prison, according to their lawyers.

Dang Thi Kim Lieng, the mother of one of the three, died after setting herself ablaze on Monday in front of the local authorities' offices in Bac Lieu province, according to people close to the family.

Divide to Conquer - the Communist Way

July 23, 2012
By Mu Sochua

The communist style strategy “divide to conquer” kills the spirit of our nation. All that for power of the current rulers. Our revered monks practice Buddhism and have a voice and role in defending human rights and freedom. Join us in giving Cambodia Movement for National Rescue the force that can and will restore our fundamental values and principles. The movement is our only choice and the right choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EeY67XvHGg

Wealthy Vietnam MP sacked over husband fraud claim [-That wouldn't happen with the corrupt CPP]

05/26/2012
AFP

One of Vietnam's wealthiest people was ousted from the communist parliament Saturday, reports said, after she was accused of failing to disclose that her Vietnamese-American husband was wanted for fraud.

Dang Thi Hoang Yen, chairwoman of industrial park developer Tan Tao Group, lost her seat on the 500-member national assembly after a vote that saw 457 deputies in support of her sacking, according to the Thanh Nien newspaper.

Earlier reports in the state-sanctioned media claimed Yen -- who was ranked Vietnam's 37th-wealthiest individual in 2011, according to stock-market holdings, and was in the top 10 from 2008 to 2010 -- failed to alert authorities to the fact her husband was wanted by the police.

Vietnam arrests 20 over land eviction: reports

Farmers hold protest signs as they stage a protest over land lost outside the National Assembly office in downtown Hanoi in February 2012. Vietnam arrested 20 people after heavily-armed riot police used tear gas to break up a protest by hundreds of angry farmers, reports said on Wednesday, in the culmination of a six-year land dispute

04/25/2012
AFP News

Vietnam arrested 20 people after heavily-armed riot police used tear gas to break up a protest by hundreds of angry farmers, reports said on Wednesday, in the culmination of a six-year land dispute.

Around 700 farmers clashed with police and plain-clothed security officers on Tuesday to end the demonstration over the confiscation of land for a planned satellite city in Hung Yen province on the outskirts of the capital Hanoi.

The official Tuoi Tre newspaper said that after a "minor clash" during the eviction, police arrested 20 people who were now under investigation for preventing public officials carrying out their duties.

Officials used two tear gas grenades to break up a crowd of farmers who were trying to prevent bulldozers from accessing the site, which is some 25 kilometres (15 miles) southeast of Hanoi, the VNExpress reported.

AKP to cooperate with repressive Cuban commie news agency: Bravo?!?!

Prensa Latina, Cambodian News Agencies Sign Accord

PHNOM PENH, March 27 (BERNAMA-NNN-PRENSA LATINA) - Cambodian news agency AKP and Prensa Latina, the Latin American News Agency on Monday signed a cooperation agreement to report on the current situation of this country in Latin America.

The document establishes the exchange of information services and support for news coverage.

AKP General Director Sok Mom Nimul and Prensa Latina Chief Correspondent in South East Asia Charly Morales signed the document.

Storm brewing up in a Beijing teacup

China's Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai reacts during the opening ceremony of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 5, 2012. Bo, a senior Chinese politician whose prospects for the top leadership are under a cloud, appeared before the media on March 9, 2012 in an apparent bid to dispel rumours that a scandal involving a one-time top ally had forced him out. Picture taken March 5, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee)

Fri Mar 9, 2012
By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese politician, whose prospects for Communist Party leadership are under a cloud, on Friday defended himself and his handling of an aide who fled to a U.S. consulate and sparked a political storm that has spilled into China's annual parliament.

Bo Xilai, the telegenic and controversial Communist Party chief of the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, told a news conference that he was taken by surprise when the city's Vice Mayor Wang Lijun fled to the U.S. consulate last month.

"Wang Lijun is now being investigated by the relevant central agencies," Bo told reporters, who pressed him on the case during a gathering of parliament members from Chongqing.

"When the results are concluded, they will be released to everyone," he added.

China's leaders have assembled in Beijing for the annual National People's Congress session, but their traditional show of unity has been unsettled this year by speculation over whether Bo will be denied a spot in the next central leadership to be settled at the 18th Party Congress late this year.

No one is infallible - Personne n'est infaillibl​e

Vietnam arrests 9 alleged members of ‘reactionary’ political group

"Let’s keep an eye on what may happen in the land of the self-imposed “giant”. No one is infallible." - Kith Chamroeun

February 7, 2012

By Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam has arrested nine members of an alleged “reactionary political organization” seeking to overthrow the government.

State media have reported that police in central Phu Yen Province raided the group’s headquarters and confiscated detonators, electronics and the equivalent of about $21,000.

Six were arrested Sunday and three others the next day, the official Vietnam News Agency reported Tuesday.

Provincial Police Chief Pham Van Hoa says they are under investigation for “abusing democracy (sic!)," VNA said.

Ringleader Phan Van Thu founded the nonviolent group in 1975 and has previously been sent to re-education camps, it said. The organization now allegedly has more than 300 members.

Vietnam does not tolerate challenges to its single-party rule.

Myanmar shows Vietnam the way

Monday, 16 January 2012
Roger Mitton
The Phnom Penh Post

On Friday, the Myanmar government released 651 detainees, most of them political prisoners.

Days earlier, Vietnam dumped yet another political activist, Bui Thi Minh Hang, in a labour camp for two years, without trial.

Western countries praised Myanmar, and the United States announced that it would restore full diplomatic ties with Naypyidaw.

Little was said about Vietnam. Indeed, it is hard to know what to say.

Week after week, lawyers, academics and journalists who advocate political reform are thrown in the slammer.

Comrade, you go to jail for not shedding enough tears for Dear Leader

December 28, 2011: In this image made from KRT television, a hearse is driven during a funeral procession of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in the snow in Pyongyang, North Korea.

North Korea reportedly punishing those who didn't sufficiently mourn Kim Jong Il

January 11, 2012
Newcore

PYONGYANG -- Following the mourning period for former leader Kim Jong Il, North Korean authorities have begun to punish citizens who did not display enough sadness at his death, The Daily NK reported Wednesday.

The Daily NK, an online newspaper based in South Korea and run by opponents of the North Korean government, said it had learned from a source in North Hamkyung Province that, "The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn't participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn't cry and didn't seem genuine."

Missing China dissident 'held in Xinjiang'

Gao Zhisheng was arrested in February 2009 and has been held incommunicado by the authorities (AFP/File, Antony Dickson)

Sunday, January 01, 2012
AFP

SHANGHAI — Prominent Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who first disappeared into police custody nearly two years ago, has been imprisoned in the far western region of Xinjiang, his brother said on Sunday.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have called on Beijing to release Gao, who has defended some of China's most vulnerable people including Christians and coal miners.

He was arrested in February 2009 and has been held largely incommunicado by authorities except for a brief release in March 2010.

North Korea's new leaders lash out at South Korea and allies [- Business as usual in Pyongyang?]

North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un looks on during the memorial for late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, in this still image taken from video December 29, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/KRT via Reuters TV)

Fri Dec 30, 2011

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea sounded a bellicose note in its first communication with the outside world since the death of leader Kim Jong-il, saying its confrontational stance against South Korea would not change and labeling its opponents "foolish."

Since Kim Jong-il died on December 17, the outside world has been watching to see whether his son Kim Jong-un, aged in his 20s, would stick to its hardline "military first" policies that have seen the isolated nation move closer to nuclear weapons capacity.

"On this occasion, we solemnly declare with confidence that foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet forces in South Korea, should not expect any changes from us," a broadcaster on state television said on Friday.

China to face more Wukan-style protests: official [-Hun Xen will face the problems also!!!]

The residents of Wukan ended their stand-off with authorities in Guangdong last week (AFP/File, Mark Ralston)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011
AFP

BEIJING — A top Chinese official who helped defuse a rare revolt by villagers has said the country should be prepared for further protests as people grow more assertive in demanding their rights.

Zhu Mingguo compared the situation in the southern Chinese village of Wukan, where residents angered by years of illegal land grabs drove out their Communist leaders, to an apple that appears healthy but is "rotten to the core".

"In this area, there were a lot of problems that were not found out in time, and once violence erupted, the aftermath was serious," the state-run Guangzhou Daily quoted Zhu as telling a meeting on social stability.

"It is like an apple rotten to the core, on the outside the skin is red, but once broke open the mess can't be cleaned up."

Vietnam economic reform faces crisis of confidence

Sunday, Oct 30, 2011
AFP

HO-CHI-MINH CITY - As Vietnam battles galloping inflation and a plummeting currency, a new challenge has emerged - a general collapse of confidence in the state's ability to heal the ailing economy.

With an eye on the brash success of neighbouring China, Vietnam's obsessive pursuit of growth lasted for two decades until economic threats forced it to shift attention to stability this year.

The ruling Communist Party, which has total control in the one-party nation, announced an overhaul of its economic model during a five-yearly congress in January and a slew of monetary and tax austerity measures have followed.

But as pressure on the economy continues to mount, the political system itself has come into question from businesses and the Vietnamese people.

Vietnam [kafkaesque] Votes [-What happens in Vietnam will happen in Nambodia next]

A truck bearing propaganda posters for the elections and equipped with a loudspeaker drives in downtown Hanoi on May 22, 2011. (AFP)

2011-05-22
Radio Free Asia

Vietnam held parliamentary elections on Sunday, with voters interviewed shrugging off the exercise as a mere formality confirming the ruling Communist Party’s power grip.

Sixty million people cast ballots for 500 members of the lawmaking National Assembly, which has in the past served largely as a rubber stamp for the Communist Party’s leadership but has begun to take on a more outspoken role.

But voters expected few surprises from the election, in which voting is mandatory and 86 percent of the candidates are Communist Party members.

A woman named Phuoc at a polling station in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon and Vietnam’s largest city, said she went to vote because she had to.

“It’s not so crowded,” she said. “We just follow as they instruct us to do, and then whoever wins, we will be informed of the winners.”

China’s critics are being silenced in South-East Asia

Bang a Gong

China’s critics are being silenced in South-East Asia

Apr 20th 2011
The Economist
BANGKOK

IN ITS foreign relations, China parades a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of others. It routinely vetoes UN resolutions on this ground (on Libya, it abstained). It boasts that unlike meddlesome Westerners it offers trade and aid without strings, (see article).

Yet in its pursuit of domestic enemies, China is making more demands of its neighbours. Inviting the Dalai Lama to visit has long been a no-no. The same goes for rebellious Uighurs. A group of 20 that fled to Cambodia in 2009 were handed back to China before they could claim political asylum.

Now the target is Falun Gong, a quasi-Buddhist sect that China banned in 1999. Apparently prodded by China, Vietnam and Indonesia have shut down Falun Gong-affiliated radio stations and prosecuted station operators, though neither country forbids the group. Two Vietnamese men arrested last year face up to five years in jail if found guilty of illegal broadcasting. Their trial had been due to begin on April 8th but was postponed. In Indonesia a station manager went on trial last month for a similar offence.

Mr. Hun Xen, even Fidel Castro couldn't stay in power until 90 ... when will YOU learn your lesson?

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro gestures during the final session of the 6th Cuban Communist Party Congress, on April 19, 2011 at the Convention Palace in Havana. (Adalberto Roque / AFP / Getty Images)

Fidel Castro officially removed as head of Cuban Communist Party

The end of an otherwise extraordinary congress sees senior party stalwarts appointed to top posts and leaves the Politburo little changed.

April 20, 2011

By Tracy Wilkinson

Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Mexico City—

It became official Tuesday: Fidel Castro was formally removed from the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party for the first time since its formation nearly 50 years ago.

But despite expectations that the new party leadership would begin to usher in a younger generation, senior stalwarts were appointed to the top posts.

The moves came at the end of an extraordinary congress of the ruling party in which participants also endorsed a potentially far-reaching package of economic reforms.

Commentary: Can we spread democracy?

Mon, Apr. 04, 2011
Ben Barber
Special to McClatchy Newspapers

The crowds screaming for the downfall of dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc. all shout out the same magical mantra: We want Democracy.

And the United States has been pushing — since the time of John F. Kennedy and before — to support similar aspirations for democracy — in Western Europe and Japan after World War II; in the failed but well-intentioned efforts to block communism from South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; in foreign aid to the former Socialist bloc after the collapse of communism; and in scores of Third World (Developing) countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Some of our democracy aid has worked well but some has failed.

In the Ukraine after 2000, U.S. aid programs brought Ukrainian journalists, judges, and young civil society leaders to visit America’s imperfect but still growing democracy or receive training at home. Then, when the old communist rulers tried to steal an election, independent pollsters named the real winner. TV journalists reported on the fraud, the Supreme Court declared the election invalid and thousands came to shiver in democracy protests in the Orange Revolution.

Vietnam: Montagnards Harshly Persecuted

Forced Renunciation of Faith, Harassment, Violence, and Arrests

March 30, 2011

Source: Human Rights Watch

"Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only. Vietnam should immediately recognize independent religious groups and let them practice their beliefs." - Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director.

(Bangkok) - The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country's Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 46-page report, "Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression," details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch found that special "political security" (PA43) units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain, and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches. More than 70 Montagnards have been detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.

Great King and Little King pay tribute to North Korea Dear Leader

Great King and Great Leader (top)

Great Leader and Dear Leader (bottom)

Floral Baskets to DPRK Embassy in Cambodia

Pyongyang, February 21 (KCNA) -- King Norodom Sihamoni and Great King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia sent big floral baskets to the DPRK embassy in Phnom Penh to celebrate the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

A delegation of the Cambodian Ministry of Royal Palace headed by Kong Sam Ol, deputy prime minister in charge of the Royal Palace, visited the embassy on Feb. 15 to lay the floral baskets before the portraits of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

The King, the CPP and Nhiek Bun Chhay congratulate the new Viet oppression leader Nguyen Phu Trong

Congratulations to Vietnam’s new Party leader

01/22/2011
VOV News/VNA

Lao Party General Secretary and State President Choummaly Sayasone has sent a congratulatory message to newly elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.

On the occasion, Chinese Party General Secretary and President Hu Jintao extended greetings to the new Vietnamese Party leader.

The Vietnamese Party chief also received congratulations from Cambodian King Samdech Preah Baromneath Norodom Sihamoni, President of the Cambodia People’s Party Samdech Chea Seam, Russian President D. A. Medvedev, General Secretary of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Workers’ Party Kim Jung Il, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, President of the Russian Communist Party G. Zyuganov, the Hungary Communist Workers’ Party Central Committee, President of the Bangladesh Communist Party M.A. Khan and General Secretary of the Cambodia FUNCINPEC Party Nhiek Bun Chay.