Vietnam

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'Bile Farmers' Turn Bears' Lives Into Misery

Keepers extract bile from their gall bladders to sell

(Newser) - The moon bear is a threatened species in Vietnam and other South Asia nations, and a gruesome trend is making matters worse. Moon bear "farmers" keep thousands of the bears caged, then crudely extract bile from their gall bladders with a syringe to sell for reputed benefits in Chinese...

Obama, Beware: Afghanistan Is 'Another Vietnam'
Obama, Beware: Afghanistan Is 'Another Vietnam'
george mcgovern

Obama, Beware: Afghanistan Is 'Another Vietnam'

Domestic issues must trump unwinnable war: Dem elder statesman

(Newser) - When George McGovern hears about President Obama's plans for Afghanistan, he reluctantly reaches an unavoidable conclusion. "I can only think: another Vietnam," the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee writes in the Washington Post . "I hope I am incorrect, but history tells me otherwise." After 9 years at...

To End Afghan War, Reinstitute the Draft

People didn't oppose the Vietnam war, they opposed going to fight in it

(Newser) - There’s one surefire way to end the war in Afghanistan: bring back the draft. After all, that's what worked in the '60s, writes cartoonist Jeff Danziger, who was drafted and served in Vietnam. The protests over that war ripped the country apart, grinding the war effort to a halt....

Cleland Memoir Recalls Horrors of Vietnam, Karl Rove

Cleland describes how he survived grenades and Republican attack ads

(Newser) - Max Cleland may be a living symbol of dedication to country—the former Georgia senator lost both legs and an arm to a grenade in Vietnam—but that didn't stop Karl Rove's political machine from ending his political career with attacks on his patriotism. "There are plenty of reasons...

Typhoon Kills 32 in Vietnam
 Typhoon Kills 32 in Vietnam 
UPDATED

Typhoon Kills 32 in Vietnam

Military clears villagers from flood-prone areas as Ketsana grows stronger

(Newser) - Typhoon Ketsana slammed central Vietnam today, flooding towns and villages and killing at least 32 people. Roughly 170,000 people were evacuated before the storm hit. State-run TV called it the worst storm the country had seen in more than three decades. Meanwhile, the death toll in the Philippines climbed...

Iconic Vietnam War Survivor a Symbol of Hope

Kim Phuc now gives hope to burn victims

(Newser) - When Kim Phuc was only 9, she unintentionally played a part in ending the Vietnam War. Nick Ut of the AP photographed Phuc running naked from a napalm attack in which she was horribly burned. She wasn't expected to survive, but survive she did, with the help of Ut, who...

Is Obama's Afghanistan Turning Into LBJ's Vietnam?

Both presidents tried to push big home agendas during war

(Newser) - As the war in Afghanistan rages alongside President Obama’s sweeping domestic battles, he’s keenly aware of the dangers of becoming a modern-day LBJ, an insider tells the New York Times. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program at home was dogged by the Vietnam war, a historian says; Obama...

Rot in Hell, Mr. McNamara
 Rot in Hell, Mr. McNamara 
Non-Appreciation

Rot in Hell, Mr. McNamara

(Newser) - At long last, Robert Strange McNamara has “shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of hell,” writes journalist and author Joseph Galloway, who couldn’t be more pleased. “McNamara was the original bean-counter—a man who knew the cost of everything but...

Vietnam Architect Robert McNamara Dead at 93

Kennedy appointee held post during Vietnam war

(Newser) - Robert S. McNamara, who presided over the escalation of the Vietnam War as Defense secretary under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, died at his home this morning after a period of failing health, his wife told the AP. He was 93. Known as a policymaker with a fixation for statistical analysis,...

Chili Sauce Conquers American Palate

(Newser) - From celebrity chefs to Applebees to Wal-Mart, America is in love with the Asian chili-and-garlic condiment sriracha—only it’s not that Asian, the New York Times reports. “I wanted something that I could sell to more than just the Vietnamese,” said David Tran, creator of the top-selling...

MGM Mirage Doubles Down on Global Market

Vegas brand expands to Asia, Middle East despite industry woes

(Newser) - With the hospitality business gasping for air and its own core business in trouble, MGM Mirage is going global in hopes of building its brand well beyond Las Vegas. Having sealed eight deals with hotel developers and in talks with 10 more, the company will introduce the Bellagio and MGM ...

You Can Dance If You Want to ... Just Not in Vietnam

Ban mulled to curb drugs, prostitution

(Newser) - Vietnam is considering a measure aimed at eliminating drugs and prostitution that might seem strange to Westerners: banning dancing. The edict would only apply to karaoke bars, reports GlobalPost, and it has a surprising amount of support from people who agree that dancing in such venues is usually a cover...

World's Largest Cave Found
 World's Largest Cave Found 

World's Largest Cave Found

(Newser) - A British expedition team has discovered what they believe to be the world’s largest cave deep within the Vietnamese jungle, the Telegraph reports. At 650 feet high and nearly 500 feet wide, Hang Son Doong—or Mountain River Cave—is twice the size of current record holder Deer Cave...

Coffee Shortage Percolating
 Coffee Shortage Percolating 

Coffee Shortage Percolating

Brazil likely to produce fewer beans next year

(Newser) - A smaller coffee crop in Brazil could lead to a worldwide shortage in 2009-2010, Bloomberg reports. And the news is already affecting prices: Arabica beans, the kind used by Starbucks, jumped yesterday after a Brazilian official warned of a 22% drop in output. Other countries can't make up for "...

Obama Should Beware 'Best and Brightest'
Obama Should Beware 'Best and Brightest'
OPINION

Obama Should Beware 'Best and Brightest'

A la JFK's Cabinet, too often masks poor judgment, inexperience

(Newser) - Barack Obama has won praise for appointing “the best and the brightest” to his Cabinet during a time of war and economic hardship. But all the back-patting sounds a little too familiar, Frank Rich writes in the New York Times. “The stewards of the Vietnam fiasco had pedigrees...

New Releases Show How Vietnam Weighed on Nixon

Defense secretary urges against plan that would become 'Christmas bombing'

(Newser) - Newly declassified documents and tapes from the Nixon era show how conflicted the administration was over public dissatisfaction with the war in Vietnam, the AP reports. One October 1969 memo from Defense Secretary Melvin Laird advises the president against adopting a proposal for a massive assault on North Vietnam, noting...

Kerry Replaces Biden on Foreign Relations Committee

Nuclear nonproliferation among agenda items as Mass. Dem takes over from Biden

(Newser) - John Kerry will be the next chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Boston Globe reports, replacing Joe Biden when he assumes the vice presidency in January. Kerry plans to use his new post to ramp up anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to curb the spread of...

McCain Had a '60s Radical Friend of His Own
McCain Had a '60s Radical Friend of His Own
OPINION

McCain Had a '60s Radical Friend of His Own

Made friends with ex-Vietnam protestor

(Newser) - John McCain has been busily exploiting and distorting Barack Obama’s passing relationship with '60s radical Bill Ayers, but McCain himself had a much closer relationship with another '60s radical, David Ifshin, writes Joe Klein of Time. Ifshin was an anti-Vietnam radical whom many people accused of treason after he...

Guard: We Didn't Torture McCain

Prison staff saw to prisoner's health, he says

(Newser) - John McCain’s claims that he was tortured while imprisoned in Vietnam are false, says the head guard at the prison where he was held. “On the contrary, we saved his life, curing him with extremely valuable medicines that at times were not available to our own wounded,”...

For McCain, Winning Is War's Only Honorable End
For McCain, Winning Is War's Only Honorable End
GLOSSIES

For McCain, Winning Is War's Only Honorable End

US must defend honor, even preemptively; Iraq offers chance to make up for Vietnam

(Newser) - John McCain’s views on war and defending the US were shaped by his Navy father and by his own time in Vietnam, Jeffrey Goldberg writes in the Atlantic, with victory as the only honorable outcome. His father believed public sentiment led to defeat in Vietnam even as a winning...

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