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Is Vietnam on the Verge of Change?

Wanna listen to the TPP analysis from VN deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan ??


min 16:16 .More equipments (from TPP natrions not from China) will come to Vn at a lower cost, so we can speed up our industrialization.

im16:30. The market will open , say from 25 % worth economy to 63 %


Vietnam's Top Priority For Economic Development (It's Private)



Ralph Jennings


State-owned firms took off in Vietnam with the rise of its post-war Communist government in the 1980s. They develop oil and gas. They provide phone service and run an airline. Some make dairy products or garments. They make up about one third of the country’s economy. And in the understated terms of people you talk to in Vietnam, those firms don’t always make money. The economic frontier nation of 89 million people needs something else.

It’s sort of urgent. China’s economic growth slowdown and its weaker currency may spark exporters to flood Vietnam with parts, supplies and raw materials for factory work. Shipments of steel and trucks are already increasing. The land border makes transportation cheap. Vietnam’s own supply chain can’t fill orders from export manufacturers, an economic growth engine, because it’s too small. Private industry has been held back by lack of financing and access to land. The priority: Change that or lose a chance to compete with old rival China while creating a palpable amount of wealth at home.

Hanoi-nightlife-mid-down-Aug.-25-1940x1940.jpg

Private vendors and cafes dominate Hanoi’s pulsating nightlife.

“We run a huge deficit with China. If the economy is slowing down, I think cheap Chinese products could be easier to come into Vietnam and flood the market,” says Pham Luu Hung, associate investment advisory director with SSI Research in Hanoi.


In the 1980s Vietnam followed its communist neighbor China in looking abroad for booster capital. Hanoi is still doing that now, for example by lowering the corporate income tax two percentage points next year and devaluing its currency three times so far this year. Foreign companies, mostly from other parts of Asia, still made up just 18% of Vietnam’s GDP in 2013 and they can leave Vietnam anytime according to shifts in the global economy.

Although no one can point to it on the government’s official agenda, officials will make local private investment priority to increase prosperity in a country where 12% of people still live on a tough $2 per day. “State-owned enterprises are not cutting it,” says Fabian Knopf, senior associate with the Hanoi office of business advisory Dezan Shira & Associates. “They’re not going to create wealth. If you want to create jobs, create wealth, China has proven that you need a private sector.”

The market is there. Cash-conscious Vietnamese consumers show signs of preferring local brands for their lower prices. Locally owned café chain Highlands Coffee, for example, leads Starbucks SBUX +3.10% in popularity because its drinks cost about a quarter of the foreign rival’s price. Local brand FPT is described as Vietnam’s top electronic hardware seller. Mom-and-pop clothiers easily win over any shoppers at Hanoi’s nearly empty Trang Tien Plaza, which hosts six floors of foreign fashion brands. Foreigners in the tourism-intensive parts of Hanoi give business to lane after lane of privately owned diners, hotels and souvenir shops. Private companies didn’t exist in 1990.

Local entrepreneurs lag their state and foreign peers for lack of land and financing, Mahajan says. Banks have money to lend, he says, but hesitate to issue start-up loans at the risk of defaults that have haunted the state sector. Large private companies would also need land, but today they can only lease it from the government for 30 to 90 years, a business risk. Private enterprise needs a “level playing field” to prosper, says Sandeep Mahajan, lead economist with the World Bank in Hanoi.

Officials have recognized the private sector informally with a target to privatize state-owned firms. Privatization pressure increased in 2010 after state-owned Shipbuilding Industry Corp. defaulted on a $600 million loan, and that kind of flap could come up again. The number of purely government-owned firms has declined from 10,000 to fewer than 1,000 but another 3,000 companies with partial state ownership may miss targets for more privatization. “They’ve systematically gone about it but are still holding onto those 3,000 firms,” Mahajan says.
 
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Well certainly there are opposition and forming group against Xi leadership style and campaign

Chinese whispers grow against Xi

A revolt within the ruling Communist party against the president’s stance on corruption and the economy has been exposed, says Michael Sheridan

Michael Sheridan


THE Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is facing fierce internal opposition to his policies as he prepares to take the world stage at a triumphant military parade this week to mark the end of the Second World War.

As China’s economy runs into trouble, there is “a fierce struggle beyond imagination” against him inside the Communist party, according to the People’s Daily, its flagship newspaper.

It appears to have burst into the open following the annual conclave of the party’s grandees at the beach resort of Beidaihe.

This is normally an occasion for lobbying and compromises forged over banquets and on seaside walks, after which the leaders emerge with understandings over policy later communicated through the state media. This year, by contrast, there was a resounding silence.

Chinese journalists privately believe something went wrong for Xi at the meeting, which coincided with growing unease about Chinese economic management.

Stock indexes lurched up and down as party bureaucrats tried to control share prices, while a surprise devaluation of the national currency shook global trade.

Censors banned Chinese editors from telling their public the full story about the stock market crash, fearing the ire of 90m small investors, who now outnumber the party’s 87m members.

The Global Times, a hardline newspaper, blamed its favourite villain, saying the western media wanted to see the end of China’s political and economic model and thus exaggerated things. “They reckon that an economic crisis will lead to national chaos,” it said.

Yet it is China’s own media that has revealed the extent of the resistance to Xi inside the party. This month an extraordinary sequence of articles in the People’s Daily — the voice of the Communist party’s central committee since 1948 — criticised retired cadres for wielding patronage behind the scenes.

It was a clear reference to the former president Jiang Zemin, 89, and to people connected to his successor in 2002, Hu Jintao. Some are identified with a faction linked to Hu’s power base in the Communist Youth League, a group that includes the prime minister, Li Keqiang.

Last week somebody in Beijing briefed foreign journalists that Li could take the fall for the economic trouble.

Those media hints were mild compared with an article that was given prominence by the People’s Daily and reproduced across other media outlets.

Written under the pen name of “Guoping” — thought to signify a high-level commentary group — it said Xi’s reforms to the economy and his drive against corruption had met “immense difficulties”. “There is a fierce struggle beyond imagination against the reforms,” it declared.

Bureaucratic inertia, greed and resistance by vested interests in China’s big state-owned enterprises were all singled out by commentators interpreting the piece.

Its greatest significance, however, lay in its acknowledgment of something inner circles in Beijing and dissidents in Hong Kong have talked about for more than a year: fear and loathing of Xi in the party’s own ranks.

“Chinese politics at this level is a zero-sum game and there’s deep worry about how much power this guy [Xi] has accumulated in his own hands,” said a source in Hong Kong with elite connections.

“They all fear he’s going to turn into another Mao and never leave power. There is a sense that they are turning on each other and nobody is safe.”

Some of the party’s 250-strong central committee disapproved of the purge of Zhou Yongkang, the former security boss and rival to Xi, who was given a show trial and a life sentence for alleged corruption.

Others were appalled when the party’s internal discipline department seized Ling Jihua, who was private secretary to the former president Hu, drew up a list of charges and expelled him from the party.

The net is also closing around a key power broker, Zeng Qinghong, who still has a coterie of supporters.

When Xi welcomes luminaries such as Vladimir Putin to the podium on Thursday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, however, he will exude his usual air of regal calm.

Involving about 12,000 troops from China’s People’s Liberation Army and 1,000 from other nations, the parade will be a show of might that Beijing and Moscow both know how to stage to perfection.

Just as Putin — having his sixth meeting with Xi in less than a year — faced a number of prominent no-shows at his own Second World War victory parade in May, the Chinese leader may be disappointed by the list of those attending.

The leaders of Britain, America and France — though China’s wartime allies against Japan — will not be there, although Chinese officials said Tony Blair would be present

Source: Chinese whispers grow against Xi | The Sunday Times

Well, that is good to hear. I’ve always said from last year that Xi is a sham. The Chinese economy slowed down, which is inevitable and was not his fault. But how he is dealing with it reveals his true color. This would be the time for him to listen and appreciate alternative voices, advises and opinions from the different factions. Instead, he is eliminating them because he feared that others could later take his position when things (e.g. economy) don’t go smoothly. The way his govt intervened in the stock market crash shows that he is quite petty and irrational, his reputation and image is his main priority, the country’s progress is second priority. Like the slowing economy, the stock mark crash was normal (market correction) and he should have kept his hands off, cos it wasn’t gonna make or break China anyway. But he intervened anyway to save his face, and blame other irrelevant people (like the journalists) for it while playing down his govt’s fault for not making sure the regulators do their proper job in the first place. Which means the economic reform that his country need will take a back seat. He is taking his country backwards. But its their country, their choice, so I should stop making comments on it.
 
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But if VN is a vassal to China, you would be cheering. :rolleyes:

Nope. Don't want any other countries dependent on China. Chinese teach people how to fish, not give fish to a military dictator to control the population.

@JaiMin its a long article, I will reply after I have read it thoroughly.



@utp45 remember you once asked about the old Democratic Party of Vietnam inside the VCP and whether they still held on to their old party beliefs? Well the above quote now makes the answer more clear for you I think. See, we weren’t joking when we said that inside the VCP is the Democratic party + Socialist Party + Marxist-Leninists.



Are you upset that the VCP is a plural party with many voices and peaceful discussions are nurtured between different voices while the CCP is currently run like Kim Jong Un style with Xi busy eliminating his rivals like a dictator? Remember, when one dude is desperately eliminating his rivals heavy handedly, it means that something is turning sour within the party and his clique is paranoid about something. Not a good sign for the Party.

This explains why the CCP is now also paranoid about foreign NGOs within China, trying to influence what schools are teaching, etc. Why didn’t the CCP impose these kind of policy earlier? I think the CCP is now very paranoid over something (color revolution?) while Viet Nam does not need to be paranoid over that kind of stuff yet we are still stable.

You need to be worried for the CCP, and I’m not joking here.

In China one individual can't make too big of a difference because of the entrenched bureaucracy. National momentum is already there. Xi is literally one of the most intelligent heads of state there are, being thoroughly ground in Chinese philosophy and Western/Russian literature.

You should understand that to most people in China, the stock market crash doesn't feel like a crisis. It doesn't affect their everyday life. The trains show up on time, the restaraunts open on time, life goes on. The #1 priority is to not lose what we already have. If China did not change from here on out and just had a growth rate equal to that of developed economies, alot of people can accept that, and let the environment slowly get better, let everything stabilize, etc.

This is different than Vietnam which is still building up. You guys might think radical changes are needed but today in China many people don't think that way.
 
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You should understand that to most people in China, the stock market crash doesn't feel like a crisis. It doesn't affect their everyday life. The trains show up on time, the restaraunts open on time, life goes on. The #1 priority is to not lose what we already have. If China did not change from here on out and just had a growth rate equal to that of developed economies, alot of people can accept that, and let the environment slowly get better, let everything stabilize, etc.
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Can I know about food price in China after CNY fall now ??

CN stock is just like a state owned Casino to make 'fun' for Cnese, but without that 'Casino', do you know what will happen ??
 
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Vietnam struggles as banks' bad debts refuse to go away | Business | Thanh Nien Daily

In a move to pare bad debts, banks are accelerating their sales to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC), but there is no ultimate resolution of the problem yet since the company is unable to find investors to whom it can resell the debts.
Eximbank sold bad debts worth more than VND1.5 trillion to the VAMC (US$68.2 million) in the first half of this year and Ocean Bank sold VND74 billion worth as they sought to hit the State Bank of Vietnam’s target of cutting bad debts to below 3 percent by September, a target previously set for the year end. Banks are now required to sell a minimum amount of bad debts fixed by the central bank by September 30.
Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of central bank’s HCMC office, said city-based banks alone would have to sell another VND22 trillion worth bad debts to reduce the ratio to below 3 percent from nearly 5 percent in June.
When banks’ bad debts reduce, companies would have greater access to credit, he said.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, chairman of the VAMC, said banks registered to sell bad debts worth VND64 trillion in the first seven months of this years. It has agreed to buy VND59 trillion of it for VND54 trillion.
The target is quite feasible, he said.
The VAMC has helped banks rapidly cut their bad debt ratios caused by the real estate slump, unrestrained lending and costly investments by state firms in non-core areas.
Between September 2012 and December 2014 the central bank forced them to appraise VND311.1 trillion of their bad debts.
Around 44 percent was bought by the asset company, which was set up in July 2013 following a government mandate to reduce troubled loans.
But the problem is not being comprehensively addressed, economists warn. The VAMC buys bad debts using its own funds or issues special bonds to the banks in exchange. The bonds can be used to obtain refinance from the central bank. The company will, in theory, sell the debts to investors, both foreign and local.
If the debts are not sold by the time the bonds mature, the banks would have to swap them with the bad debts. Thus, banks would still play the decisive role in tacking their NPLs, an economist said.
Few investors have been willing to buy the debts: The VAMC has so far bought VND182 trillion worth but sold only VND9 trillion, news website Banking Times reported recently.
Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said very few local investors have the financial wherewithal to buy such debts and prospective foreign buyers are concerned about the vague policies related to receivables in Vietnam.
The lack of regulations for bad debt trading procedures, and the settlement of secured assets have been hurdles."
-- Nguyen Tri Hieu, economist "Foreign investors are interested in Vietnam's receivables market since it has not yet been tapped. However, the lack of regulations for bad debt trading procedures, and the settlement of secured assets have been hurdles to their participation in the market."
Vietnam has not yet developed a market for trading receivables, he said.
Another barrier to foreign investors is that Vietnam does not have independent assessment agencies.
"Foreign investors will not participate in a market unless they know the assets' real value, the potential to resell the assets, and can understand clearly the bad debt trading procedures in Vietnam," Hieu added.
Nguyen Duc Kien, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, said few investors are willing to buy bad debts and collateral since the VAMC offers them at above market prices.
“If the VAMC sells such assets at lower prices, it will suffer losses,” he said, adding it did not dare create losses for the government.
The central bank should allow the VAMC to sell bad debt at market prices, or it would be unable to tackle the problem, he warned.
Industry changes
To effectively tackle bad debts, the central bank has set its sights on weak banks, approving eight mergers and acquisitions so far this year.
Several weak banks have been placed under special supervision -- like mid-sized lender DongA.
The SBV initially said it would appoint executives from BIDV, the country's largest partially private bank by assets, to the management to bring the bank back on track. But it later allowed the bank to nominate its own executives to replace those at the helm, who have been sacked.
The Ho Chi Minh-based lender, whose assets are valued at nearly VND90 trillion ($4.07 billion), has been one of the best-performing banks in Vietnam during its 23 years in business, and one of the pioneers of automated banking.
It was never part of the government’s restructure plan until its 2014 financial report showed a 96 percent drop in profits from the previous year to a mere VND35 billion ($1.58 million).
Some banks under such supervision, like Eximbank, have recovered and bounced back, while others like Oceanbank were eventually taken over by the central bank.
The SBV has agreed to increase the 2015 credit growth ceiling for some lenders in a bid to boost economic growth and steady the money market.
It allowed Vietcombank, the biggest lender by market value, and VietinBank to increase credit growth to 16 percent from their earlier 13 percent.
Average credit growth this year has been 7 percent, while deposits have increased by just 5 percent.
But the gap would not affect banks’ liquidity in the short term because their deposit mobilization has been much higher than lending in the past two years, Hieu said.
But the liquidity of the banking system would be threatened and bad debts could sharply rise if the situation prolongs, he warned.
The liquidity is no longer as high as it was in the recent past, which can be seen from banks’ falling demand for government bonds. Banks, which according to government data held more than 80 percent of its bonds as of late last year, have less cash on hand because of rising credit growth.
Vietnamese lenders expect to achieve credit growth of nearly 17 percent in 2015, faster than last year's 14.16 percent, as demand for credit shows signs of quickening from March, the central bank said.
Banks’ bad debts rose to 3.72 percent in June from 3.15 percent in May, according to the central bank.

Loans outstanding as of June end were worth VND4,282.6 trillion ($190.7 billion).
 
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Vietnam is taken over by Goldman Sachs.

The problem of Vietnam is there are too few patriots willing to stick her head out for the states compared to China. PRC elites no matter how bad, fought to modernize and develop the country.

In Vietnam, your elites plunder your countries, and do a premature privatization, oligarching themselves, in the name of democracy and free market capitalism.

When you guys are taken by Oligarch, it will be the end.
 
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Can I know about food price in China after CNY fall now ??

CN stock is just like a state owned Casino to make 'fun' for Cnese, but without that 'Casino', do you know what will happen ??

I don't live in China right now (I just left for the US 3 weeks ago) but when I was in China the prices were stable.
 
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I don't live in China right now (I just left for the US 3 weeks ago) but when I was in China the prices were stable.
Thats wont be for long, no nation in history can keep a stable food-medicine price when its economy is in trouble with its currency is falling deeper and deepr
 
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Thats wont be for long, no nation in history can keep a stable food-medicine price when its economy is in trouble with its currency is falling deeper and deepr


The State Bank of Vietnam weakened its reference rate by 1 percent to 21,890 dong a dollar and increased the scope for fluctuations to 3 percent on either side, after doubling the range on Aug. 12. The dong fell 1.2 percent to 22,360 as of 3:04 p.m. in Hanoi, extending its drop this month to 2.4 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
 
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The State Bank of Vietnam weakened its reference rate by 1 percent to 21,890 dong a dollar and increased the scope for fluctuations to 3 percent on either side, after doubling the range on Aug. 12. The dong fell 1.2 percent to 22,360 as of 3:04 p.m. in Hanoi, extending its drop this month to 2.4 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Actually Vietnam dong is collapsing, but it's not important to the world economy structure at all, so we don't hear it very often. Just let it collapse, nothing will change, just let it be.
 
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So you’ve finally learn something and stopped defending your Malaysia, good! The fact that you were still trying to defend your country and down play NGOs in your previous few posts shows that you are not even fully informed about your country.

And I am never angry on PDF. I just like to tell things straight and give you some advices. You are probably like Lux, another ethnic Chinese from ASEAN who is fustrated in real life and so come on PDF as a way to deal with your life problem. Lux deals with it by writing controversial and political rants, while you deal with yours by trying to make friends with the PRC members and trying to fit into their pack to find some comfort. So you are trying to identify yourself with the PRC members and trying too hard to fit in with them by imitating whatever they said, including those things about CIA-backed NGO activities. But as a Malaysian citizen, you should be the last one to make fun about US NGOs infiltrating into other countries when it is your own country that has been infiltrated by the likes of NDI, NED while this is not the case for VN. So you are trying hard to imitate other people to find acceptance without knowing the implications of what you’ve said.

You are what people call a “brown noser” or a “do boy”. You can be pro-China or pro-Chinese, it doesn’t matter, my advice to you is to do it by standing with your own feet, not by being a brown noser or a do boy. That’s what differentiate you from Lux, the guy Lux is pro-Han (I’d say a han-supremecist) and often say negative things about Viet Nam but I still respect him because he stands his ground and doesn’t care what anybody else thinks. You on the other hand..:victory:

As for the flags, use some logic please...I always tell people I’m Vietnamese so your comment doesn’t even make any sense.
Lol i always enjoy reading your comments. You are always critical. Lol
 
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Sorry for the inconvenience, a little bit off topic

@Yorozuya
i found a nice speech of the 14th Dalai Lama online, i think u might get interested, also the site got many good article about Buddhism


The Reality of War
Of course, war and the large military establishments are the greatest sources of violence in the world. Whether their purpose is defensive or offensive, these vast powerful organizations exist solely to kill human beings. We should think carefully about the reality of war. Most of us have been conditioned to regard military combat as exciting and glamorous – an opportunity for men to prove their competence and courage. Since armies are legal, we feel that war is acceptable; in general, nobody feels that war is criminal or that accepting it is criminal attitude. In fact, we have been brainwashed. War is neither glamorous nor attractive. It is monstrous. Its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering.

War is like a fire in the human community, one whose fuel is living beings. I find this analogy especially appropriate and useful. Modern warfare waged primarily with different forms of fire, but we are so conditioned to see it as thrilling that we talk about this or that marvelous weapon as a remarkable piece of technology without remembering that, if it is actually used, it will burn living people. War also strongly resembles a fire in the way it spreads. If one area gets weak, the commanding officer sends in reinforcements. This is throwing live people onto a fire. But because we have been brainwashed to think this way, we do not consider the suffering of individual soldiers. No soldiers want to be wounded or die. None of his loved ones wants any harm to come to him. If one soldier is killed, or maimed for life, at least another five or ten people – his relatives and friends – suffer as well. We should all be horrified by the extent of this tragedy, but we are too confused.

Frankly as a child, I too was attracted to the military. Their uniform looked so smart and beautiful. But that is exactly how the seduction begins. Children starts playing games that will one day lead them in trouble. There are plenty of exciting games to play and costumes to wear other than those based on the killing of human beings. Again, if we as adults were not so fascinated by war, we would clearly see that to allow our children to become habituated to war games is extremely unfortunate. Some former soldiers have told me that when they shot their first person they felt uncomfortable but as they continued to kill it began to feel quite normal. In time, we can get used to anything.

It is not only during times of war that military establishments are destructive. By their very design, they were the single greatest violators of human rights, and it is the soldiers themselves who suffer most consistently from their abuse. After the officer in charge have given beautiful explanations about the importance of the army, its discipline and the need to conquer the enemy, the rights of the great mass of soldiers are most entirely taken away. They are then compelled to forfeit their individual will, and, in the end, to sacrifice their lives. Moreover, once an army has become a powerful force, there is every risk that it will destroy the happiness of its own country.

There are people with destructive intentions in every society, and the temptation to gain command over an organisation capable of fulfilling their desires can become overwhelming. But no matter how malevolent or evil are the many murderous dictators who can currently oppress their nations and cause international problems, it is obvious that they cannot harm others or destroy countless human lives if they don’t have a military organisation accepted and condoned by society. As long as there are powerful armies there will always be danger of dictatorship. If we really believe dictatorship to be a despicable and destructive form of government, then we must recognize that the existence of a powerful military establishment is one of its main causes.

Militarism is also very expensive. Pursuing peace through military strength places a tremendously wasteful burden on society. Governments spend vast sums on increasingly intricate weapons when, in fact, nobody really wants to use them. Not only money but also valuable energy and human intelligence are squandered, while all that increases is fear.

I want to make it clear, however, that although I am deeply opposed to war, I am not advocating appeasement. It is often necessary to take a strong stand to counter unjust aggression. For instance, it is plain to all of us that the Second World War was entirely justified. It “saved civilization” from the tyranny of Nazi Germany, as Winston Churchill so aptly put it. In my view, the Korean War was also just, since it gave South Korea the chance of gradually developing democracy. But we can only judge whether or not a conflict was vindicated on moral grounds with hindsight. For example, we can now see that during the Cold War, the principle of nuclear deterrence had a certain value. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to assess all such matters with any degree of accuracy. War is violence and violence is unpredictable. Therefore, it is better to avoid it if possible, and never to presume that we know beforehand whether the outcome of a particular war will be beneficial or not.

For instance, in the case of the Cold War, though deterrence may have helped promote stability, it did not create genuine peace. The last forty years in Europe have seen merely the absence of war, which has not been real peace but a facsimile founded fear. At best, building arms to maintain peace serves only as a temporary measure. As long as adversaries do not trust each other, any number of factors can upset the balance of power. Lasting peace can assure secured only on the basis of genuine trust.

The end.

Translation of the article


  1. Nhưng chiến tranh là gì? Bản chất của chiến tranh là gì? Nguyên nhân sâu xa nào gây nên các cuộc chiến? Có phải chiến tranh là cơ hội để nam giới chứng tỏ bản lĩnh và lòng dũng cảm của họ hay không?

    Hôm nay chúng ta cùng tìm hiểu điều đó thông qua bài Sự thật về chiến tranh và cùng nhau, chúng ta nguyện cầu hoà bình cho thế giới này, các bạn nhé.

    Cầu cho thế giới hoà bình.

    Thu Hương

Sự thật về chiến tranh
Hiển nhiên, chiến tranh và các tổ chức quân đội lớn là nguồn bạo lực khổng lồ nhất trên thế giới. Dù mục đích của họ là bảo vệ hay tấn công, các tổ chức với sức mạnh vĩ đại này tồn tại chỉ để giết người. Chúng ta cần phải suy nghĩ cẩn thận về thực tế chiến tranh. Hầu hết chúng ta đều bị điều kiện hóa để nhìn nhận chiến tranh quân sự như một cuộc chiến đầy phấn kích và lôi cuốn – một cơ hội cho nam giới chứng tỏ bản lĩnh và lòng dũng cảm của họ. Vì quân đội là hợp pháp, chúng ta cảm thấy chiến tranh có thể chấp nhận được; nhìn chung, chẳng có ai cảm thấy chiến tranh là một tội ác hay chấp nhận chiến tranh là một thái độ tội ác. Thực tế, chúng ta đã bị tẩy não. Chiến tranh chẳng những không rực rỡ mà cũng chẳng hấp dẫn. Chiến tranh là tàn ác. Bản chất thật sự của chiến tranh là bản chất của thảm kịch và đau khổ.

Chiến tranh hệt như ngọn lửa trong xã hội loài người, mà nhiên liệu của nó là những sinh vật. Tôi thấy sự so sánh này đặc biệt phù hợp và hữu ích. Chiến tranh hiện đại tiến hành chủ yếu với các dạng khác nhau của lửa, nhưng chúng ta đã bị điều kiện hóa để thấy chiến tranh ly kỳ đến nỗi chúng ta nói về vũ khí tuyệt vời này hay vũ khí tuyệt vời kia như là một khí cụ công nghệ đáng kể mà không nhớ rằng, nếu nó thực sự được sử dụng, nó sẽ thiêu rụi những người còn sống.

Chiến tranh cũng mãnh liệt hệt như ngọn lửa theo cách nó lây lan. Nếu một khu vực bị yếu, sĩ quan chỉ huy sẽ gửi quân tiếp viện. Đấy là ném những con người còn sống vào lửa. Nhưng bởi chúng ta đã bị tẩy não để suy nghĩ theo hướng này, chúng ta không quan tâm tới nỗi đau khổ của từng cá nhân người lính. Chẳng có người lính nào muốn bị thương hay bị chết. Chẳng có ai trong số người thân yêu của anh lính ấy mong bất kỳ nguy hại nào xảy ra với anh ấy. Nếu một người lính bị giết, hay bị thương tật suốt đời, thì ít nhất năm hay mười người – người thân và bạn bè của anh ấy – cũng đau khổ. Tất cả chúng ta đều phải khiếp sợ mức độ thảm kịch này, nhưng chúng ta lại quá hoang mang.

Thành thật mà nói khi là một cậu bé, tôi cũng bị hút vào quân lính. Đồng phục của họ trông rất lịch sự và đẹp đẽ. Nhưng đó chính xác là cách sự cám dỗ bắt đầu. Trẻ con bắt đầu chơi những trò chơi mà một ngày nào đó sẽ dẫn chúng vào đau khổ. Có rất nhiều trò lý thú để chơi và rất nhiều trang phục để mặc khác hơn so với những thứ dựa vào giết người. Vả lại, nếu người lớn chúng ta không quá bị mê hoặc bởi chiến tranh, chúng ta có thể sẽ rõ ràng thấy rằng việc cho phép con cái của chúng ta hình thành thói quen với những trò chơi chiến tranh là cực kỳ bất hạnh. Một số cựu chiến binh đã nói với tôi rằng khi họ bắn người đầu tiên, họ cảm thấy không thoải mái nhưng khi họ tiếp tục giết người thì bắt đầu cảm thấy hoàn toàn bình thường. Theo thời gian, chúng ta có thể quen với bất cứ điều gì.

Không chỉ trong thời gian chiến tranh các tổ chức quân đội mới có hành động huỷ diệt. Bằng mục đích riêng, họ duy nhất là những người xâm phạm quyền làm người lớn nhất, và chính bản thân những người lính thường trực hứng chịu các lạm dụng của họ. Ngay sau khi người sĩ quan đứng đầu đưa ra lời giải thích tốt đẹp về tầm quan trọng của quân đội, kỷ luật quân đội và nhu cầu chiến thắng quân thù, quyền lợi của cả đoàn quân khổng lồ hoàn toàn bị tước đoạt. Quân lính khi đó bị buộc bỏ hết ý chí cá nhân, và cuối cùng, hy sinh chính cuộc sống của họ. Hơn nữa, một khi quân đội trở thành một lực lượng hùng mạnh, có rủi ro cao là quân đội sẽ phá hủy hạnh phúc của chính đất nước họ.

Những người có ý đồ huỷ diệt trong mỗi xã hội, và sức cám dỗ được nắm quyền chỉ huy một tổ chức có khả năng thỏa mãn các thèm muốn đó có thể trở nên cực mạnh. Nhưng, những kẻ độc tài giết người vô số có khả năng áp bức quốc gia của họ và gây ra các vấn đề quốc tế, dù họ xấu xa và độc ác thế nào, rõ ràng là họ không thể làm hại người khác hoặc giết vô số người, nếu họ không có một tổ chức quân sự được xã hội chấp nhận và dung dưỡng. Ngày nào có quân đội hùng mạnh thì ngày đó luôn có nguy cơ của chế độ độc tài. Nếu chúng ta thực sự tin rằng chế độ độc tài là một hình thức chính phủ hèn hạ và huỷ diệt, thì chúng ta cũng phải thừa nhận rằng sự hiện diện của một quân đội hùng mạnh là một trong những nguyên nhân chính của điều này.

Chủ nghĩa quân phiệt cũng rất tốn kém. Theo đuổi hòa bình thông qua sức mạnh quân sự đặt một gánh nặng hoang phí khủng khiếp cho xã hội. Chính phủ đã chi tiêu những khoản tiền kếch xù vào những vũ khí ngày càng phức tạp, mà trên thực tế, chẳng có ai thực sự muốn sử dụng chúng. Không chỉ tiền bạc mà năng lượng quý giá và trí thông minh của con người cũng bị lãng phí, trong chỉ có một cái được tăng thêm là sợ hãi.

Tuy nhiên, tôi muốn nói rõ rằng, mặc dù tôi phản đối sâu sắc chiến tranh, nhưng tôi không ủng hộ sự nhân nhượng vô nguyên tắc. Thường là phải có một lập trường mạnh mẽ chống lại cuộc xâm lược bất công. Ví dụ, thật rõ ràng với tất cả chúng ta là Chiến tranh thế giới thứ hai hoàn toàn có lý do chính đáng. Nó ” bảo vệ nền văn minh” khỏi sự bạo ngược của Đức Quốc xã, như Thủ tướng Winston Churchill đã nói rất chính xác. Theo quan điểm của tôi, chiến tranh Triều Tiên cũng chính đáng, vì nó cho Hàn Quốc cơ hội từng bước phát triển chế độ dân chủ. Nhưng chúng ta chỉ có thể đánh giá một cuộc xung đột đã được đặt trên căn bản đạo đức hay không sau khi mọi chuyện đã xong rồi. Ví dụ, bây giờ chúng ta có thể thấy trong thời Chiến tranh Lạnh, nguyên tắc ngăn chặn hạt nhân đã có một giá trị nào đó. Tuy nhiên, thật quá khó khăn để đánh giá tất cả vấn đề này với bất kỳ mức độ chính xác nào.

Chiến tranh là bạo lực và bạo lực thì không thể nào nói trước được. Do đó, cách tốt nhất là tránh chiến tranh nếu có thể, và không bao giờ cho rằng chúng ta biết trước liệu tác động một cuộc chiến cụ thể sẽ có lợi hay không.

Ví dụ, trong trường hợp Chiến tranh Lạnh, dù việc ngăn chặn hạt nhân có thể giúp thúc đẩy tính ổn định, nhưng nó không tạo ra hoà bình thật. Bốn mươi năm cuối cùng ở châu Âu chỉ cho thấy sự vắng mặt của chiến tranh, nhưng đó không phải là hòa bình thực sự, mà là sự sợ hãi đặt nền tảng trên một bản sao của hòa bình. Ở mức tốt nhất, thì xây dựng vũ khí để phục vụ hòa bình cũng chỉ là một biện pháp tạm thời. Chỉ cần các đối thủ không tin tưởng lẫn nhau, bất kỳ yếu tố nào cũng có thể phá vỡ sự cân bằng quyền lực. Cuối cùng thì hòa bình có thể được đảm bảo vững chắc chỉ trên cơ sở lòng tin thật sự.

Hết.

Source: Sự thật về chiến tranh | Đọt Chuối Non

Good post about Bhutan Buddhist warrior:
The Buddhist Warriors
by Tshering Tashi, Kuensel Online, Dec 15, 2010
Timphu, Bhutan — “You are first a Buddhist and then a soldier,” Yangbi Lopen, a senior monk, reminded the Bhutanese army nine days before the two-day conflict.

bhtan-army.jpg
On December 6, more than 1,000 soldiers gathered in the army ground in Gelephu to listen to him. He said that Buddhism supports peace, encourages harmony and discourages killing.

On 15 December 2003 Bhutan launched Operation flush out to dislodge Indian militants camped within the country. Billed as a low intensity conflict (LIC), it lasted only two days.

For eight years (1995-2003), three groups of Indian militants had illegally set up 30 camps at vantage points in the foothills. For six years (1997-2003), the government tried to resolve the conflict peacefully through dialogue. In 2003, one last attempt was made. The 81st session of the National Assembly, in its first ever-closed door session, instructed the government to make this last attempt, which failed. Left with no option, the fourth Druk Gyalpo led the army of 6,736 soldiers to flush out the militants.

“Just like you’re a son or a parent, a sibling and a friend, members of the opposing forces are also someone to somebody. How can you kill them? ” The monk reminded us of the need to be compassionate, when dealing with opposing forces.

To support the Bhutan army, 627 volunteered as militia. One unit consisting of 120 soldiers was stationed in the foothills. On December 15, in Japhu four, an outpost located few 100 m from the Indian border, we saw a group of Indian men and women walking through the rice fields towards us.

We stopped them and, after a thorough search, detained 11 of them. Two were self-styled lieutenants, with portfolios of treasurer and quartermaster, of one of the militant groups.

Earlier, the fourth Druk Gyalpo had issued strict instructions to treat all prisoners like we would treat any Bhutanese. We offered them water to drink and allowed them to use the bathroom.

The two shared stories of their hardships in the forests and talked about how they missed home and expressed their longing to see their families. They were like any one of us, seeking the ordinary joys of fellowship and love. Just like us, they too prayed for their parent’s health and children’s happiness.

The quartermaster said he loved the kewa datshi (potato-cheese curry) and enjoyed the hot milk tea, and was grateful when we bought them bottles of soft drinks. Few days, later, as if to reciprocate our kindness, the treasurer confessed to have hidden some weapons in the area, which we found.

Nine days after the conflict, in Gelephu, on December 27, the fourth Druk Gyalpo invited the army officers for dinner. “There is no reason for you to rejoice although the conflict is over.” His Majesty said victory was swift and the results good by army standards, and cautioned that there is no pride in war; and when a country is in a conflict situation, it is not a good indication, as it is always in the best interest of the country to resolve conflicts peacefully. Before dinner His Majesty said, “Bhutan must never rely on the might of the army to fight wars. Bhutan is sandwiched between the two most populous nations in the world. Geography does not allow us to entertain the idea of securing our sovereignty through military might.”

Today, one of the few visible traces of the conflict can be seen in the monasteries. Some of the captured weapons are hung on the walls of the temples. It seems to violate the spiritual sanctity of the place.

Bhutanese understand the weapons were distributed to monasteries in gratitude to the protecting deities, who are believed to be the nation’s protectors. They are attributed for the success of the guerilla warfare. In the past, many of the protecting deities subdued violent forces, made them understand the value of peace, and made them the protectors. The basis of the two-day conflict could originate from this long tradition, on which much stress is laid upon making opposing forces your life-long friends.

At the end of 2003, Bhutan expressed its sentiments in prayers and butter lamps. Now we know that peace does not come from passive waiting. We also learnt that it is better to fight to win the trust of opposing forces, rather then rely on firepower to win battles.
 
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1. You keep living in your fantasy land, and please tell me which country doesn't have NGOs. :crazy:
2. Han supremacy (or Chinese supremacy)? :china: WTF? Do you mean China is a facist country like the thread you opened previously? :chilli:
3. You don't worry about my daily life, as I able to travel around the globe and lived in Western Countries for more than a decade. I knew what kind of game they (politician) are trying to play. Unfortunately, most of the Asian are dumb enough to keep worship them. Simple mind? can't secure their own interest? :coffee:

Case closed.

So you’ve finally learn something and stopped defending your Malaysia, good! The fact that you were still trying to defend your country and down play NGOs in your previous few posts shows that you are not even fully informed about your country.
 
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