What's Happening
in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:
May 31, 2002: Dissident’s wife protests in China. Hunger strikes focuses on Xu Wenli, longest serving political prisoner. He Xintong, a teacher by profession, normally betrays no outward signs of being a political activist. But on Friday, despite the possibility of punishment or reprisal, she staged a rare protest in Beijing. Her plea for the release of her husband, one of the highest profile political prisoners in China, publicly challenged China’s highest authorities and their policies in the run-up to a sensitive political anniversary.More NBC.
A Palestinian cry for reform. Gaza Strip residents demand law and order. It means making life better for the 1.5 million Palestinians who are packed into Gaza one of the most squalid and densely populated places on earth. That is why some of the loudest calls for reform are coming not from Israel or the United States, but from the Palestinian people and their representatives. More NBC.
May 28, 2002: Garden Grove adding classes in Vietnamese. Garden Grove Unified School District, where Vietnamese students account for 32 percent of the high school population, plans to launch Vietnamese classes in September at La Quinta and Bolsa Grande High. Vietnamese students at those schools make up more than 50 percent of the campuses. Westminster High, where 45 percent of students are Vietnamese, became the first in Orange County to offer Vietnamese as a foreign language in 1999. .... Vietnamese-language classes at East Side Union High School District in San Jose, which became the first in the nation to launch such classes in 1993. More OC Register.
NATO, Bush bring Russia into fold. In Rome, alliance formally makes ex-foe into junior partner. Amid the tightest of security, Bush joined other leaders at a seaside Italian air base to formalize the new arrangement, establishing a NATO-Russia Council giving Russia a say on many NATO decisions. More NBC.
May 27, 2002: American lives, America’s loss. Army Rangers from Hunter Airfield in Savannah, Ga., carry the coffin of fellow Ranger Marc A. Anderson, who died with seven other soldiers during a firefight, trying to rescue an injured Navy SEAL. More NBC.
May 26. 2002: How the FBI Blew the Case. The inside story of the FBI whistle-blower who accuses her bosses of ignoring warnings of 9/11. A reading of her entire memo suggests a bracing blueprint for change. More Time.com. Coleen Rowley's Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller. An edited version of the agent's 13-page letter.
May 22, 2002: Remains ID’d as Chandra Levy’s. Skeletal remains found early Wednesday in Washington’s Rock Creek Park are those of missing former intern Chandra Levy, Washington police Chief Charles Ramsey said. More NBC.
May 21, 2002: Bush: No Lifting Of Cuba Policies. President Reaffirms U.S. Sanctions. "Mr. Castro, once -- just once -- show that you're unafraid of a real election," Bush shouted to the crowd of 5,000 packed into a downtown Miami auditorium. "Show the world you respect Cuban citizens enough to listen to their voices and to count their votes. Start to release your choke hold on the working people and on enterprise." More Wash. Post.
May 20, 2002: 'I Lucky Everything' Along with a manicure, a reminder of how immigrants revitalize our nation. Buchanan opined that Le Pen did so well because of his contention that immigrants were destroying the French identity and culture. Buchanan took much the same stance in his book, "The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization." More Wash. Post.
May 19 , 2002: George W. Bush Should Learn the Lessons of History. The terrorist attacks aren’t the fault of anyone except the terrorists. But that hardly excuses what until now has been an astonishing lack of interest in who was asleep at the switch. By contrast, the last sneak attack stirred immediate interest in that question. On the evening of Dec. 7, 1941, Navy Secretary Frank Knox called President Franklin Roosevelt to ask permission to go to Pearl Harbor to begin learning why the Japanese had caught U.S. forces unprepared. By Dec. 15 with the nation now fighting both Japan and Germany Knox returned to report that the United States was not on the alert. More Wash. Post.
What Arafat's PA Reform Really Means. While that may please many of the Israeli and Western leaders frustrated in their dealings with Arafat, the irony is that a more democratic Palestinian leadership could well be even less inclined than Arafat is to accept Israel's negotiating terms. More Time.com.
May 17 , 2002: Israeli tanks invade Jenin camp- Again. More than 20 Israeli tanks and other armored vehicles entered the battle-scarred Jenin refugee camp before dawn Friday in search of militants who eluded capture during heavy fighting last month, the army said. The move came a day after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced plans for elections to be held in the next six months. More NBC.
May 15, 2002: Carter Urges Democracy for Cuba. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter made a live televised speech Tuesday at the University of Havana, outlining his vision of improved relations between Cuba and the United States. Text of Former President Carter's Speech in Cuba. By Wash. Post.
Arafat Calls for Elections, Reforms. Under Fire, Palestinian Leaders Acknowledges Criticism. President Yasser Arafat, responding to growing pressure for changes in the beleaguered Palestinian leadership, called on Wednesday for sweeping reforms and preparations for new elections. More Wash. Post.
GOP Takes In $33 Million At Fundraiser. Dinner Shatters Record; Republicans shattered the record for a single political fundraiser last night by collecting $33 million at a dinner featuring President Bush, and they hoped to increase their pre-election haul by selling donors a photo of Bush calling Vice President Cheney from Air Force One on Sept. 11. More Wash. Post.
May 14,
2002: Quake
shakes San Francisco Bay area. There were no reports of injuries
or significant damage from the quake, which was centered 35 miles south of
San Jose just outside Gilroy, the self-proclaimed "Garlic Capital of
the World." The quake struck at 10 p.m. Monday with a preliminary magnitude-5.2,
according to the U.S. Geological Service. Of several aftershocks, the largest
was a magnitude-3.2. More
SF. Chronicle. Earthquake
rocks San Francisco area. By SJMN.
May 11, 2002: The Last of the Patriarchs. Now finally at the helm, he vowed not to negotiate under fire and to fight until terror was defeated. Only then, he promised Israelis, would he make what he called "painful concessions" for peace. Conditions in Israel are now even worse than when Sharon took office. More Foreign Affairs.
The Last Negotiation. Israel believes it cannot negotiate under fire, and the Palestinians fear that, absent fire, the Israelis will have no incentive to negotiate. The violence so inconsistent with the spirit of Oslo thus became its natural successor. The only certain way to stop the killing is to offer the parties a tangible and fair way to end the underlying conflict. More Foreign Affairs (May-June).
May 11, 2002: The Last of the Patriarchs. Now finally at the helm, he vowed not to negotiate under fire and to fight until terror was defeated. Only then, he promised Israelis, would he make what he called "painful concessions" for peace. Conditions in Israel are now even worse than when Sharon took office. More Foreign Affairs.
The Last Negotiation. Israel believes it cannot negotiate under fire, and the Palestinians fear that, absent fire, the Israelis will have no incentive to negotiate. The violence so inconsistent with the spirit of Oslo thus became its natural successor. The only certain way to stop the killing is to offer the parties a tangible and fair way to end the underlying conflict. More Foreign Affairs (May-June).
Background / Will Sharon play into Arafat's hands?. The tougher the measures Ariel Sharon orders when he launches Israel's response to the deadliest suicide bombing since the start of the IDF's massive West Bank operation, the more he may risk playing into the hands of the Palestinians, especially militant organizations and his life's adversary Yasser Arafat. Said reserve brigadier-general Danny Rothschild, former Israeli policy chief for the territories, "If suicide bombers continue to blow up in clubs and in buses, and we go ahead with Defensive Shield 2, 3, and reach 10 and even Defensive Shield 16, nothing will come of this. More Ha'aretz From Israel.
May 10,
2002: Siege
at Bethlehem church over. Palestinians left Bethlehem’s Church
of the Nativity at daybreak Friday, marking the end of a 39-day standoff with
Israeli troops at one of Christianity’s holiest shrines. But the end
of the siege in Bethlehem did not end the threat of further violence in the
region, as an explosion rocked the southern Israeli city early Friday. More
NBC. When
'Martyrs' Are Not Yet Men. by Wash. Post.
May 9, 2002: Saigon South looks west. Developer of 8,000-acre master planned community in Ho Chi Minh City seeks investors in Orange County. Anaheim -- They listened carefully: the FBI agents, the parent who adopted a Vietnamese baby, the professors who travel to the Third World, the eager businessmen and alert consultants, all taking notes. They came together to learn about a project called Saigon South and to see what it would look like. Some, like the federal officers, wanted to track the immigrant community's growth. Others wanted to be part of that progress and offer a helping hand to their native land. Still, many did not wish to be identified for fear of backlash in Orange County's Little Saigon. More OC. Register.
May 8, 2002: Israel readies harsh response to blasts. Assault on Gaza, expulsion of Arafat under consideration by Sharon. In Ramallah, Arafat said he was willing to wage war on terrorism and has directed his security forces to work to foil Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians. Advertisement. However, Arafat said, his police were too weak to carry out his orders. More NBC.
U.S. peace effort hobbled by division. Latest blast adds to uncertainty around U.S. stance. ‘You’re seeing a president and an administration that is not able at this point to make a decision to go one way or another. So you have a policy that is all over the place.’ IVO H. DAALDER Brookings Institution. There are different forces at work in the White House and the president is listening to different people at different times, said Edward S. Walker Jr., former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs. More NBC. Israeli Reacts With Rage to New Attack.by Wash. Post.
May 6 , 2002: Freed Burma Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Pledges to Continue Fight for Democracy. Freed by Burma's military regime after 19 months under house arrest, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her first public appearance today, greeting ebullient supporters at the headquarters of her political party and saying she was "ready to cooperate" with the government. More Wash. Post.
May 3, 2002: Russia closes last overseas base. Closure in Vietnam highlights post-Cold War world order. HANOI, Vietnam, Russia has lowered its flag at its last overseas base left over from the Cold War, highlighting its loss of significant military and political power status in the Pacific. First used by the colonial French and upgraded by the United States during the Vietnam War, the base in the southern province of Khanh Hoa is considered one of Asia’s finest deep-water ports and offers strategic access to the sea lanes of the South China Sea. More NBC.
Filthy Rich. They've got cars, women, and enormous wealth. They've exploited their dads' connections. But justice is catching up with these playboy sons of world leaders. Political systems may have changed since the 16th century, but even today, there is no shortage of Prince Hal-like characters across the world.
In countries enjoying a wide range of political systems from despotic dictators to democratically elected, but crony-appointing leaders children of heads of state have stretched and flouted the rules of the game for their own nefarious ends. They are: Indonesia's Tommy Suharto, Iraq's Uday Hussein, Yugoslavia's Marko Milosevic and France's Jean-Christophe Mitterand. More ABC.
May 2, 2002: Defiant Arafat blasts Israel. A defiant Yasser Arafat emerged from his shattered headquarters on Thursday for the first time since the end of a month-long Israeli siege, flashing a V-for-victory sign to cheering supporters. But instead of improving the political climate in Mideast, the release of the 72-year-old Palestinian leader appeared deepen the divide between both sides after Arafat immediately labeled Israelis terrorists, Nazis and racists. More NBC.