***

TruongSa is a good place to stay away from chicken flu ... perhaps :)

(FWD)

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=04SOC070205

Soldiers on guard on Truong Sa Islands. — VNS Photo Hoai Nam

Truong Sa soldiers ring in new year

(07-02-2005)

Soldiers on guard on Truong Sa Islands. — VNS Photo Hoai Nam All Vietnamese people are looking forward to the coming Tet, but this year it came earlier for the soldiers stationed in the Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands. Viet Nam News correspondent Hoai Nam has just returned from the islands, where he discovered how they prepare for the celebration on the archipelago.

It was Nguyen Van Ha’s happiest Sunday in six months as the HQ996 brought a pile of letters to his base on Da Dong B island in the Truong Sa Islands (Spratlys).

More than six months after Ha, 32, left his home in northern Hai Duong Province’s Kinh Mon district for this desolate island, he received a letter from his wife saying he had become a father.

This was only one of the messages delivered by the ship to soldiers spending their first Tet (Lunar New Year) away from home on the vast archipelago.

On such a small, barren landscape, many of the soldiers had trouble sleeping for weeks after they heard the ship was on its way to their island. Although the boat also brought food and gifts, the letters and newspapers, some of which were up to six-months old, were the soldiers’ most prized possessions.

"I felt very nervous because I hadn’t received any information from my family for six months. I was wondering if my wife would give birth to a son or a daughter," Ha said.

Soldiers depart fromthe military port in Cam Ranh town, Khanh Hoa Province, to take goods to the Truong Sa Islands for Tet (lunar new year) holidays. — VNA/VNS Photo Ba Hung Meanwhile Ha’s wife, Nguyen Thi Hop, a junior secondary school teacher, and her mother-in-law willerjong a Tet at home.

"My mother and I will just prepare for a simple Tet because my husband is away. I wish he could be at home on Tet with our daughter," Hop said. "I understand how the life of a soldier’s wife is, but I think that love can conquer all."

The HQ996 had more than one stop. On its 20-day journey, the boat had to deliver goods to seven of the 21 islands, while two other boats covered the rest of the islands.

The first stop on the route was Big Truong Sa Island, about 255 nautical miles off the coast of Cam Ranh. There the boat delivered the main materials for the traditional chung cake (square, green cake made of sticky rice, pork, beans and pepper). The soldiers will have the chance to make traditional dishes on Tet, with other goods such as bamboo sprouts, vermicelli, wood-ears, candy, tea and cakes being aeineed.

"As usual, the chung cake is the first thing to make whenever we get supplied with food from the man land," said head chef Hoang Tu, 35. "Both new and old soldiers on the island enjoy the preparation for traditional dishes during Tet."

Soldiers depart fromthe military port in Cam Ranh town, Khanh Hoa Province, to take goods to the Truong Sa Islands for Tet (lunar new year) holidays. — VNA/VNS Photo Ba Hung

Home sweet home

Hanoian Nguyen Cong Minh, 23, a radar operator on the Big Truong Sa island said he missed home in his first month on the island, but added that military training and his sense of mission have made him more braver.

Minh, the only child in his family, will taste his second Tet in a row on the island.

"I just felt sad as the clock was running to midnight on the eve of the new year," he said. "But now I have acquainted myself with life far from home because I have devoted my life to serving in the Army."

While homesickness is a major problem for the soldiers living on this archipelago, it is certainly not the only one.

This is why the Army goes through so much effort and cost to bring not only food, but some special goods from home to the soldiers.

"Although we face many difficulties in taking fresh food to the islands, we try to provide the best conditions for soldiers living there because they live far from home with difficulties caused by the rough sea and the ferocious salty winds that lash across the islands year round," said the deputy in chief of the Navy Command Zone D, colonel Nguyen Van Lien.

Message of love

As the boats made the rounds before Tet, they picked up some soldiers to take them back. As he witnessed one of his comrades going home, sergeant Nguyen Van Son, an anti-aircraft gunner at Thuyen Chai islet vowed to be strong.

"I know my family needs me so much at home to celebrate Tet, but I am on commission on the islet for one more holiday," said Son, 23, from northern Thai Binh Province.

"All of us really want to be at home with family on Tet, but each soldier must do their best to keep a provide peaceful Tet for the people on the main land." — VNS

Soldiers depart fromthe military port in Cam Ranh town, Khanh Hoa Province, to take goods to the Truong Sa Islands for Tet (lunar new year) holidays. — VNA/VNS Photo Ba Hung

-- ...Fair news for VC & VNCH... (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005

Answers

(FWD)

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/07/42070ef4b 728a

JEN HORVATH/DN The Malone Community Center, 2032 U St., was the site of the annual Vietnamese New Year's party Saturday afternoon. The celebration, hosted by the Lincoln Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association, included music, Vietnamese dishes and games such as Lotto, Bau and ball throwing. The festivities offered many engaging opportunities to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year.

Tet Festival celebrates new year, culture

By AMI NAGAHAMA / Daily Nebraskan

February 07, 2005

Most Americans wouldn’t call a Feb. 4 new year’s celebration “early.”

But some Vietnamese celebrated their new year nearly a week in advance.

On Friday, the Lincoln Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association hosted its annual Tet Festival at the Malone Community Center, 2032 U St.

New Year’s Day on the lunar calendar – “Tet,” as it is called in Vietnam – falls on Feb. 9 this year.

“(In Vietnam,) Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays,” said Thinh Duong, the director of the event.

Duong, a senior international business major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said those in attendance enjoyed playing games and devouring Vietnamese dishes.

“Volunteers from the community cooked the dishes,” said HuongHo, a treasurer at Linh Quang Buddhist Temple, 216 West F St.

The temple sponsored the event as a fund-raiser, Ho said.

In addition to ethnic foods, workers sold Vietnamese calendars, traditional cards and Buddhist books.

Duong sang a song in Vietnamese while visitors played Bingo, one of the many games available at the celebration.

“There are a lot of children,” he said. “We need games for them.”

Duong said the goal of the event, besides raising money for the temple, is to train young people to be true Buddhists who can contribute to society as both Buddhists and Vietnamese.

“(The event) was to preserve and promote the Vietnamese culture and heritage,” Duong said, “and to enrich the cultural diversity in the greater Lincoln area.”

-- Cheers :) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.

(FWD)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/211001_tet07.html?source=rss

Paul Joseph Brown / P-I Felix, front left, and Danielle Tran, right, rehearse with other students yesterday before a demonstration of Vo, a Vietnamese martial art, at the Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion. Members of the Vietnamese community gathered for Tet, the celebration of the new year; 2005 is the year of the rooster. Monday, February 7, 2005

Tet fest aims to inspire young

By JESSICA BLANCHARD SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

It has been nearly 30 years, but for Thu-van Nguyen, the memories of fleeing Saigon are still fresh.

She was 20 years old then, a member of a family fortunate enough to have the diplomatic ties necessary to be evacuated from Vietnam. But actually escaping the country in April 1975 was much more difficult. The atmosphere in the city was chaotic, as thousands tried to flee from approaching communist troops. The airport was shut down; the U.S. Embassy was closed and guarded by gun-toting military police.

Nguyen and her family were finally able to escape with the help of a U.S. Navy officer who smuggled them out on his patrol boat under cover of darkness.

Now, nearly three decades after she immigrated to the United States and settled in the Northwest, Nguyen is trying to teach her American- born children about the rich culture she left behind.

"It's important to teach our kids where they're from," she said. "But it's so far away -- so you have to bring a little bit of Vietnam here."

So for the past nine years, Nguyen has taken her two sons to Tet in Seattle, a two-day festival at the Seattle Center celebrating the lunar new year, considered by Vietnamese to be the year's most important holiday.

She and her family were among more than 10,000 people who attended this weekend's event, which combined traditional Vietnamese Tet activities such as lion dances and setting off firecrackers with more typically Western pursuits such as a spelling bee and knowledge bowl for youngsters.

This year's theme, "Vietnamese Legends and Folklores," was chosen "to inspire the younger generations to learn more about Vietnamese history," said Andy Mo NguyenTet in Seattle executive director .

The theme was reflected in the weekend's dance and martial-arts performances, as well as in an exhibit of silk paintings and performances of traditional Vietnamese opera, a type of theater with themes often derived from the country's mythology.

For members of the older generation, the weekend festival was a chance to reminisce about and re-create some of the Tet traditions they grew up with.

And for members of the younger set, many of whom were born in the United States or immigrated here at a young age and who have no solid memories of Vietnam, the festival offered a chance to learn more about their heritage.

There was a special emphasis on hands-on children's activities, such as making Cay Mai, the symbolic flower of the new year, by twining plastic yellow blossoms around real twigs. Other activities included making zodiac buttons or creating red envelopes in which their parents could later place "lucky money."

Thu-van Nguyen, who has helped coordinate the children's activities since the festival was first held nine years ago, said such hands-on activities help children learn more about the country many of them have never visited.

Kevin Dang brought his two daughters, 8-year-old Pauli and 5-year-old Kristi, to the Tet festival for exactly that reason. Dang emigrated to the United States 25 years ago from Vietnam and said he and his wife have largely assimilated to U.S. life. But while he wants his daughters to grow up enjoying American culture, he still wants them to understand and appreciate their Vietnamese roots.

"This way, at least I can let them connect with the culture. I think they should know our heritage."

-- Vietnamese Refugees do a good work :) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2005/02/05/HOG21B4EO01.DTL

Sun Feb 6, 5:27 PM ET

Firecrackers explode during the traditional 'Lion Dance,' opening up the Vietnamese Tet New Year Festival in downtown Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005. The Tet New Year officially starts on Wednesday, which is the same date as the Chinese New Year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Friday night, in thousands of families celebrating Chinese New Year and Tet, the Kitchen Gods were dispatched to deliver a message to the Sky God. Joss paper marked with wishes for good health, longevity and prosperity was burned, the smoke carrying the messages to heaven.

All year, the Kitchen Gods, from their place at the hearth of the home, have observed the families who do their best to ensure a good report -- that the family has done well, that there was goodness, respect and no ill will.

Now is the delicate time before the onset of the New Year on Wednesday, when the Kitchen Gods will return and a cycle of renewal begins.

Signs of the New Year are everywhere. In produce sections of grocery stores, tangerines and oranges are displayed with leaves attached. The pomelos, full and round as suns, practically give off their own light.

Sometimes known as the Chinese grapefruit, the pomelo, topped with a tangerine or orange will soon appear at household thresholds as offerings, I learned, to the door god. It was their brightness that used to catch my eye at this time of year as I rode the bus through one of Oakland's Asian neighborhoods.

At the Smiling South feng shui store at 13th and Harrison in Oakland there was extra bustle last week. A new shipment of rosewood altars took up space outside, and inside, shelves were packed to the edges with joss money, clothing and poems, banners with wishes for prosperity, health and more prosperity hung low from the ceiling, and on the counters, so you don't forget, red envelopes to hold money -- lai see -- for new year's gifts. The almanac for the year of the rooster, listing auspicious days, less-auspicious days and not-so- auspicious days, was there for the asking. Simon Tsoi, who emigrated from Hong Kong 28 years ago, explained their use. "There's some fortune telling, three or four types of dream interpretations and some papers that can be burned to get rid of evil spirits."

Written in Chinese, he gave a Westerner the key to interpreting the main illustration: of a Chinese "cowboy" alongside a cow. The fatness of the cow, the quality of the cowboy's clothes, his age and the weather are clues to what kind of year it will be.

It doesn't help to get the almanac later rather than sooner: You need to know which direction to walk when/if you leave your house on New Year's day to bring prosperity.

But two weeks before the holiday the image for a key figure for the New Year was nowhere to be found: already sold out.

While the Kitchen God is on hiatus in the sky, on Earth a flurry of cleaning takes place at homes and businesses.

For some it's the standard vacuuming and dusting, but, if possible, the windows and walls get washed, neglected corners behind refrigerators and stoves and furniture get cleaned out and closets organized. What's old and not useful is discarded, what can be saved is repaired.

But the star of the ritual is the broom, which, when used, represents sweeping out any residue of bad luck from the old year, to prepare for the new.

No cleaning, especially sweeping, will be done on New Year's Day when the Kitchen God takes his place by the stove again. No washing, for fear of washing luck away. Cooking for the New Year's feast is completed the day before and knives put away so luck won't be cut but instead will flow.

If you don't have a tangerine tree by now, it won't be easy to get one. Last week, Ed Jew, proprietor of the Canton Flower Shop on Waverly Street in San Francisco's Chinatown, was already filling standing orders to annual customers.

His shop, the oldest florist in Chinatown, founded by his grandfather in 1927, was stocked to its front window with potted tangerine trees laden with bright orange fruit, bright leaves and decorated with red money envelopes. "The Chinese culture likes red, gold and green. These colors symbolize growth and good fortune," he said.

A quasi Christmas tree, Jew said, making quotes with his fingers, the potted tangerine tree gets decorated with red ribbons and tied with red envelopes with money inside.

Married and father to a 7-year-old girl, Jew looked wistful as he described the times when he was single and received the red envelopes. Now it's his turn to give to his daughter, elders and other unmarried family members. "(The season) is really more about giving," he said, face lighting as he again alluded to Christmas.

Vietnamese-American Monica Nguyen, 4, wears Vietnamese dress as she competes in the beauty and talent contest at the Vietnamese Tet New Year Festival in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005. The Tet New Years officially starts on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005, which is the same date as the Chinese New Year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

----------

Today, a two-day flower fair begins in San Francisco's Chinatown. Timed to open by Wednesday, the bloom of the flowers represents spring and renewal. "Red gladiolas, red carnations, we'll sell a lot of those. Azaleas, pink and red, Narcissus and daffodils, red tulips," are appealing because of their color or because they are bulbs and therefore represent potential, he said.

Besides the flower and tree sales, Jew will also prepare the two- strand ribbons in formal calligraphy that serve as invitations to the large family dinners. Hosting and attending the clan dinners of often 11 courses, seems to ensure a prosperous start for the restaurants.

At her favorite place, the Bo Wah Trading Co., Luanda Wesley, an elementary school teacher, will buy joss paper and couplets, poems written in gold on red paper or scrolls and placed on either side of the front door. Able to read and speak only a little Chinese, she probes proprietors for just the right graceful touch in wishing for all-round prosperity, good health in all ways and longevity. "I just feel compelled to do it even though I don't know all the reasons," she said.

When she went to buy the joss paper for her ancestors, a Bo Wah clerk gave her detailed instructions. "You get a brass pot of red and gold and you take it outside,'' she said. "You get a red candle and light it and pray and then you light the joss and put it in the brass pot to burn. And you let the candle burn until it goes out.''

Her mother, Lucinda Yuen Wesley, takes a light approach to the holiday. "I'm not really into it and go by all the rules, you know, Day One, do this, and Day Two, do that." Every family seems to have some variation, she said. "I do (the big dinner and family gathering) one of two ways. I either 'open' the year or 'close' it, depending on the day it falls on." Besides care of the house, and cooking the dinner, some personal care is taken.

To avoid washing and cutting on New Year's Day, people get haircuts earlier. On New Year's Eve, they bathe in water boiled with the pomelo leaves, according to Tsui, who is director of technical services at the Lawrence Hall of Science and chairperson of the San Francisco Chinese Folk Dancing Association. Considered a purifier, the leaves are also used in shadowed areas of the house or where someone lay sick in bed.

It is believed that what you do on New Year's is what comes for the rest of the year. People try to take off from work, so the year won't bring constant toil; yelling, cursing, chastising children, unkind words and gossip are avoided, so the year won't bring disharmony and tears.

The visits reconfirm family ties and by extension community ties, but the new year begins with a reverence for the ancestors.

"The ancestors have their own table with plates, bowls and chopsticks by the altar," said Von Nguyen, whose family celebrates Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. "We light incense, burn paper money for them to spend in the afterlife."

But what's most important, said Nguyen, a videographer for Plugged-In and an MFA candidate at S.F. State, is the example the ritual sets. Quoting what she learned from her father, Tri Nguyen, she said, "The elders set up the altar to show their respect for the people who went before them . . . and they thank their elders for their blessing and then when the parents get older, the kids understand that they give money to their parents."

Although some people will go to Taoist or Buddhist temples on New Year's Day to pray, for Christians of Asian descent, this holiday is a little complicated.

The New Year falls on Ash Wednesday, a day of solemnity and abstinence that begins with receiving the ashes at a morning Mass and fasting for the day. Vatican II allows Catholics of different countries to observe their cultural holidays. According to Rev. Daniel E. McCoutter, C.S.P., and pastor of the Holy Family Chinese Mission, Asian Catholics can receive a special dispensation to observe the ritual another day.

"They may not even want to receive ashes that day because the words we say 'Remember man, you are dust and to dust you will return' " are antithetical to the New Year practices, where death and mourning are not brought up, McCoutter said. Similarly, the solemn clothing appropriate for Mass goes against the New Year sense where the colors of mourning -- black or white -- are avoided.

And just as new clothes in joss paper are burned as offerings to the ancestors so they will be well turned out in the afterlife, new clothes, from the skin out if possible, are proper wear on New Year's Day.

I missed my own New Year because I was sick. Here's another opportunity for me. I can't read the almanac to tell me which way I should walk when I leave for work on Wednesday, but I bought a new pair of shoes -- red -- and hope that wearing them will help set me on an auspicious path for the Chinese year 4703, the year of the rooster.

Sun Feb 6, 5:26 PM ET

Calvin Nguyen, right, and Anthony Dang, left, raise the U.S. flag and the Vietnamese yellow-and-red flag, celebrated by many Vietnamese- Americans, to help open up the Vietnamese Tet New Year Festival in downtown Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005. The Tet New Year officially starts on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005, which is the same date as the Chinese New Year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

-- Happy New Year of Chicken Flu :) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.

(FWD)

From NguyenHue SAIGON

-- Tuna's pic, thanks :)) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.

(FWD)

Why it's not very crowded ?????

-- Because AK-47, perhaps :)))) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.

Năm Mới Ất Dậu 2005 Triển v�ng Dân Chủ hoá VN

Trung Cộng Là Mối �e D�a Ti�m Tàng . Trong cuốn bạch thư v� chiến lược quốc phòng, lần đầu tiên Nhật Bản g�i đích danh Trung Cộng là mối đe d�a ti�m tàng. Ngày 10-12-2004 chính phủ của Thủ Tướng Junichiro Koizumi đã thông qua các biện pháp cải cách sâu rộng chính sách quốc phòng Nhật Bản. Theo đó từ nay Tokyo sẽ sát cánh với Washington trên các hồ sơ quân sự và trang bị, cũng như đương đầu với Trung Cộng, mà Nhật Bản g�i là mối de d�a cho an ninh nước Nhật và hòa bình khu vực. Cụ thể, Nhật đã ra một quyết định lịch sử là b� việc cấm chế tạo vũ khí, để hợp tác với Mỹ, sản xuất vũ khí hiện đại nhất: "Lá chắn chống phi đạn". �ặt vấn đ� là phải quan sát chặt chẽ các hoạt động của quân đội Bắc Hàn và Trung Cộng. Lưu ý các nhà chiến lược hoạch định chính sách quốc phòng Nhật, v� việc củng cố khả năng hạch nhân, h�a tiễn tầm xa, và lực lượng không quân, hải quân, cũng như mở rộng các hoạt động trên biển của Trung Cộng. Vì kể từ đầu năm 2004 đến nay, hải phận Nhật Bản đã bị tầu Trung Cộng xâm phạm trên 30 lần. Xem vậy, không những Nhật Bản đang bị đặt vào thế phải thay đổi Hiến Pháp, tái tổ chức quân lực, sản xuất khí giới, hợp tác v� kỹ thuật cao với Mỹ để trang bị hệ thống phòng thủ chiến lược, mà còn có thể phải trở thành cư�ng quốc quân sự tại � Châu, nếu đồng minh chiến lược Hoa Kỳ gật đầụ Hoa Kỳ gật đầu là cái chắc, vì với tư thế Siêu Cư�ng duy nhất trên thế giới, giữ thế quân sự răn đe, và hiện n�n kinh tế Trung Quốc đang dính cứng với Hoa Kỳ, thì việc đối đầu trực diện v� quân sự với Trung Cộng là đi�u chẳng đặng đừng. Nay có Nhật Bản chịu đứng ra làm đối tr�ng với Trung Cộng v� quân sự tại vùng � Châu, chưa hoàn toàn ổn định này, để Mỹ đứng lùi v� phía sau Nhật Bản, đồng th�i ở trên cơ Trung Cộng, nắm thế đi�u giải thì chiến lược phòng thủ, "ngăn bành trướng" sẽ giảm bớt rủi ro xẩy ra thế chiến, hơn là Mỹ phải trực diện làm đối thủ với bất cứ thế lực nào, ngoài việc "chống khủng bố". Hiện nay Trung Cộng một mặt dồn m�i nỗ lực hiện đại hóa quân đội, tăng cư�ng hải quân, không quân, mở rộng hoạt động trên biển, và phát triển h�a tiễn loại mới, cũng như v� kỹ thuật nguyên tử. Mặt khác hợp tác quân sự với Pháp và Nga, tổ chức những cuộc tập trận chung, còn muốn đặt liên hệ quốc phòng với Ấn �ộ. Riêng Pháp thì thực sự muốn dựa vào Trung Cộng để phá tư thế Siêu Cư�ng duy nhất của Mỹ, nhằm thực hiện chủ trương "Thế Giới �a Cực", nhưng với Pháp thì "lực bất tòng tâm". Còn Nga, tiếng là cư�ng quốc nguyên tử, nhưng các kho võ khí đó, đã bị khóa lại và chìa khóa an toàn đựơc Mỹ kiểm soát. Nhất là vừa đây, phe thân Nga đã bị thất bại tại Ukrainẹ Tổng thống Nga, Putin phải nhượng bộ Mỹ và EU, để cho nhân vật dân chủ thân Tây Phương, Viktor Yushchenko thắng cử Tổng Thống Ukraine, trong một cuộc bầu cử đầy sóng gió, thì đủ thấy Mỹ là một thế mạnh đứng sau lưng Ngạ Vậy thì việc hợp tác quân sự giữa Nga và Trung Cộng vẫn còn nằm trong tầm nhìn của Mỹ. Hơn nữa, kinh nghiệm Liên Xô cũng đã dậy cho ngư�i Nga bài h�c: "Trung Cộng là nước khó chơi". Vì hai nước đ�u có bản chất đế quốc, đã từng va chạm nhau từ xa xưa, mà vùng dầu lửa Tây Bá Lợi � đang làm cho Trung Cộng thèm khát. Từ mấy năm nay, Ấn �ộ đã trở thành nước đồng minh với Mỹ v� nhi�u mặt, quan hệ quân sự mỗi lúc mỗi khắng khít, nhất là Mỹ đã và đang là thế lực đi�u giải giữa hai nước cực thù Ấn �ộ và Paskistan, để hai nước nguyên tử này sống hòa bình với nhaụ Bởi vậy, việc Trung Cộng hợp tác quân sự với Ấn �ộ, cũng chẳng thể tạo ra một Liên Minh Quân Sự đối tr�ng với Mỹ, như th�i Liên Xô trước kiạ Trong khi đó thì chính Mỹ cũng đang tăng cương liên hệ v� quân sự với Trung Cộng, tuy không ký hiệp ước an ninh chung, như với Nhật, với Úc, hoặc một vài nước �ông Nam �, là Thái Lan, Phi Luật Tân, được Mỹ nhìn nhận là NATO ngoài Âu Châu, nhưng Trung Cộng hiện nay cũng không hoàn toàn bị đặt vào thế đối đầu với Mỹ. Xem vậy, vấn đ� hợp tác quân sự đa phương trên bình diện quốc tế hiện nay của các quốc gia, đ�u nằm trong thế phòng thủ, để tránh sự xung đột, không còn mang tính chất chiến tranh lạnh nữạ Như vậy, khi Nhật Bản nhận lãnh vai trò trực diện đương đầu với nguy cơ ti�m tàng của Trung Cộng, thì tư thế Siêu Cư�ng Quân Sự không địch thủ của Hoa Kỳ, được xây dựng và củng cố trên toàn diện thế giới đang vượt lên thấy rõ. Mới đây 22-12-2004, Thứ Trưởng Ngoại Giao Hoa Kỳ, Richard Armitage tuyên bố trong một cuộc ph�ng vấn truy�n hình, khi đựơc h�i là Hoa Kỳ có bảo vệ �ài Loan, nếu bị Hoa Lục tấn công hay không? Ông Armittage nói: "Chúng tôi có ràng buộc bởi luật Taiwan Relations Act để giữ đủ quân ở Thái Bình Dương, có khả năng ngăn ngừa tấn công, nhưng chúng tôi không buộc phải bảo vệ (�ài Loan). Câu h�i đó cần đặt ra cho Quốc Hội Mỹ, nơi phải tuyên chiến khi thấy cần". Taiwan Relations Act không buộc Mỹ phải đưa lính vào �ài Loan, nhưng Mỹ bị ràng buộc phải cung cấp vũ khí tự vệ cho �ài Loan. L�i giải thích luật như thế trái ngược hẳn với những câu tuyên bố của các vị Tổng Thổng Mỹ từ trước tới nay là: Hoa Kỳ nhìn nhận một nước Trung Hoa duy nhất, nhưng không chấp nhận thống nhất bằng võ lực. Phải chăng, đây là một tín hiệu báo cho Tổng Thống Trần Thụy Biển và dân chúng �ài Loan biết là Mỹ không chấp nhận �ài Loan �ộc Lâp? Vì luật Taiwan Relations Act chỉ là ân huệ của Mỹ đơn phương dành cho đảo �ài Loan đang bị Hoa Lục đe d�a, chứ không phải là một Hiệp Ước ký giữa hai nước độc lập. Cũng bật mí cho Hànội hiểu rằng: Mỹ và Trung Cộng đang có những cuộc trao đổi giữa vấn đ� �ài Loan và việc Trung Cộng rút tay kh�i Việt Nam, Lào, và Miến �iện. Trung Cộng phải nhìn nhận Khối ASEAN Dân Chủ để trở thành đối tác kinh tế với Trung Quốc. Chính vì vậy mà Mỹ đã khởi sự bang giao với Lào, buộc Miến Diện phải dân chủ hóa, và ra hạn 90 ngày, để Cộng Sản Việt Nam phải cụ thể cải thiện tình trạng Tự Do Tôn Giá� Tran Khai

-- nguoicaonien (xuanhutraidat@yahoo.com), February 07, 2005.

Link for 2PIX of Tet / NguyenHue SAIGON :)))

-- Cheers :) (ChuyenTriHOINACH@aol.com), February 07, 2005.