What happened in August 2014: news and events updates relating to Vietnamese at home and in the diaspora.
Events
• The Archaeological Institute of America’s Art & Architecture of Vietnam & Cambodia (land tour) starts in November 2014.
Viet Kieu in the news
• Van-Anh Vanessa Vo receives a $40,000 grant that she will use to compose a musical tribute to the “boat people.”
• Hieu Van Le, a former Vietnam refugee, will be installed as governor of South Australia.
News about Viet Nam
• Vietnam wants and needs U.S. support to fight against China’s aggression.
• This is one of the many many ways China subverts and destroys Vietnam.
• Vietnam’s pet industry is growing as dogs and cats are becoming status symbols.
• Many Vietnamese women who marry foreign men fall cannot escape their failed marriages.
• Taiwanese contractors request bringing in 10,000 workers from China pose a security threat to Vietnam.
Other News
• Half century after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: “an event that didn’t happen led to a resolution that served . . . the script of a major tragedy.”
• “The way that China operates as we’ve seen is say one thing and do another.”
• Vietnam’s bad debt continues to hold back the country’s economy.
Special thanks to Viet Thanh Nguyen for providing many of the news items.
Peace!
RP