Congressman opposes opening Vietnamese consulate

U.S. Rep. Al Green joined leaders of Houston's Vietnamese community in opposing plans to open a Vietnamese consulate here, citing concerns about the country's human rights record.

[Sonny]

Its a huge mistake

I hate them but let them come in and attack later

Idiots !

The war is over

[Crazy Ox9thong]

Sonny wrote:

Its a huge mistake
I hate them but let them come in and attack later
Idiots !
The war is over

how many TX rep.? 1 of many then who care ??

[vcGOhome]

whaaa hahahhhahaha

commie basturds

should watch charles wilson's war movie
commie basturds!

[vcCONmam]

to commie basturds

First amendment rules
While you commie basturds are cruelled

[vcCONmam]

we americans
DO NOT want to live right next to commie basturds, or thugs or goons or criminals.

we will treat you commies basturds as how you treated others!

[vcCONmam]

commie basturds are gitting together to scheme
Xinhua: 4th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam summit takes place in Hanoi
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/A...
14 more Myanmar activists sentenced to jail
3 days ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)— Courts in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced 14 members of the opposition National League for Democracy party to lengthy prison terms Friday, bringing to more than 50 the number of pro-democracy activists jailed his week.
The United Nations, Western nations and human rights groups expressed concern after sentences of 65 years each were given to 14 activists Tuesday. They included members of the 88 Generation Students group who played prominent roles ahead of mass pro-democracy protests that were violently crushed last year.
"It's no secret that Burma's military rulers show no respect for law, but these last few weeks show a more concentrated crackdown on dissent clearly aimed at intimidating the population," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at the New York-based group Human Rights Watch. Myanmar is also known by its former name Burma.
"These peaceful activists should not be on trial in the first place, let alone thrown in prison for years after unfair trials," Pearson said in a statement.
At least 14 National League for Democracy members were given prison sentences ranging from 2 1/2 years to 16 years in different courts Friday, said party spokesman Nyan Win said.
More than 50 people, including 30 NLD party members, were given long sentences on various charges this week, he said. Many were arrested in connection to protests against economic hardship and monk-led pro-democracy demonstrations in August and September 2007.
Nine Buddhist monks were given six to eight year jail terms this week, Nyan Win said.
The army used force last December to quash the demonstrations. According to U.N. estimates, at least 31 people were killed and thousands of protesters detained. Many fled the country or went underground.
The human rights group Amnesty International and other organizations say Myanmar's generals now hold more than 2,100 political prisoners, compared with nearly 1,200 in June 2007 before the pro-democracy demonstrations.
The prisoners include Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League of Democracy, who has spent years under house arrest.
Also condemned this week were a prominent blogger, who received more than 20 years in jail for Internet activities, and a poet sentenced to two years for concealing the text of an anti-government slogan in one of his works.

[C wilson]

nice try VC commie basturds!
we will treat you VC commies basturds as how you treated others!

[texan]

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/inf...

Vietnam: MEPs want progress on human rights before cooperation accord is signed
External relations - 22-10-2008 - 13:05
In a resolution on EU-Vietnam relations, Parliament calls for Vietnam to be pressed to observe human rights and various key freedoms before a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU is finalised.

According to the resolution, which was adopted by 479 votes to 21 with 4 abstentions, freedom of assembly and of the press as well as internet access are severely restricted in Vietnam, while religious groups and ethnic minorities - such as Catholics, Buddhists and the Montagnard and Khmer minorities - suffer discrimination and persecution.

Better implementation of human rights under existing accord needed

Looking, firstly, to the current EU-Vietnam cooperation agreement, Parliament stresses that "the human rights dialogue between the European Union and Vietnam must lead to tangible improvements in Vietnam" and "asks the Council and the Commission to reassess cooperation policy with Vietnam, bearing in mind Article 1 of the 1995 Cooperation Agreement, which states that cooperation is based on respect for democratic principles and fundamental rights". It calls on the Commission "to establish clear benchmarks for the evaluation of the current development projects in Vietnam in order to ensure their compliance with the human rights and democracy clause".

New agreement not to be finalised until rights violations stop

Secondly, MEPs urge the Commission and the Council, in the current negotiations for a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, "to raise with the Vietnamese side the need to stop the current systematic violation of democracy and human rights before the finalisation of the agreement".

In particular, Parliament, which has a consultative role in the conclusion of the new agreement, wants Vietnam to be asked:

- to cooperate actively with UN human rights mechanisms, by inviting the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance to visit Vietnam;

- to release all people imprisoned or detained for the peaceful expression of political or religious beliefs;

- to allow independent religious organisations to freely conduct religious activities without government interference;

- to repeal provisions in Vietnamese law that criminalise dissent and certain religious activities on the basis of imprecisely defined ‘national security’ crimes;

- to end the Vietnamese Government’s censorship and control over the domestic media.

[texan]

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1224225122....

Document Actions EU calls Vietnam reporter's jailing an 'attack' on free speech
17 October 2008, 09:47 CET
(HANOI)- The European Union in a statement Friday labelled communist Vietnam's jailing this week of an anti-corruption journalist "an attack on the freedom of expression."

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union said it regretted the rulings against Nguyen Viet Chien, who was sentenced to two years' prison, and fellow reporter Nguyen Van Hai, who received a non-custodial term.

"These sentences are an attack on the freedom of expression as recognised in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Vietnam, and to which the European Union recalls its commitment," said the statement, received by AFP in Hanoi.

The United States, Sweden and two media rights groups earlier protested the rulings Wednesday against the reporters and their two police sources for helping expose a major graft scandal in a transport ministry unit.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International also demanded that Chien "be immediately and unconditionally released" and stressed that it "considers him a prisoner of conscience."

Amnesty said the 2005-2006 corruption scandal -- in which officials of the so-called PMU 18 division embezzled and squandered aid funds -- "was initially dealt with by unprecedented openness" in the media and legislature.

The guilty verdicts, however, "are indicators of just how much the Vietnamese authorities have retreated from that initial openness, turning the Vietnamese media back to a government mouthpiece," said the group.

[dumaHCM]

Why VCs are beasts to Viets but chickens to chincoms?
http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/ThaiHa...