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Vietnam probably wants to have the President position filled in before Putin's visit.
Lee Hsien Yang (LHL's brother) been ordered to pay S$200,000 to Law/Justice Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan for defaming them over their rental of state properties in Ridout Road.
The judge said that LHY acted with malice when he made the Ridout Road an issue.
Bloomberg mentions that Kyiv failed to get more support in SEA aside from the Philippines/Singapore/Timor-Leste.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar, research professor at the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency, said that they need to do more by telling those countries sitting at the fence that they're aren't hypocritical, especially considering what's happening in the Middle East.
Isn't Thailand with the above three as well? Aren't they some sort of NATO-adjacent country?
For Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, NATO support for Ukraine is tainted by their support for Israel.
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are on friendly term with Russia due to Cold War history.
Myanmar is shunned by everyone except Russia and China (and even China is holding its nose here).
Continue writing our story of peace.Well Thailand's been leaning China (and to some extent Russia) since most of the world didn't like the coup that happened in the 2010s.
And the current Thai PM wanted lots of Russian tourists to spend their moolah there. Same goes with Indonesia (to an extent).
Thought this didn't stop Thais and Indonesians from joining the ILDU alongside Filipinos and Malaysians (? IIRC).
Speaking of the Thais...
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Thailand-s-Move-Forward-Party-lays-out-defense-against-dissolution
Looks like there's an effort to get rid of the MFP.
Putin and the VCP leaders are expected to publicly talk about arms trade, energy, and investment. More sensitive topics are likely to be discussed behind locked doors.
VCP considers hosting visits from Biden, Xi, and Putin to be the proof of its balancing act.
Continue writing our story of peace.Vietnam is simply trying not to be the hot zone of a Cold War for the second time in a row (it spent the entire first Cold War being at war with someone, even three former allies), and thus tries to be on the good side of as many countries as possible.
Edited by RAlexa21th on Jun 17th 2024 at 9:44:13 AM
Continue writing our story of peace.Malaysia/Thailand want to join BRICS. KL made it no secret that this was done due to frustration over unfair international economic/financial architecture like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Unlike Putin's visit to North Korea, his visit to Vietnam did not yield any groundbreaking treaties.
Putin kept the visit as uncontroversial as possible, and his anti-West rhetoric was fairly muted, mostly focusing on Soviet-era ties.
Putin signed a few energy deals, but arms deals were constrained. Vietnam remains uncertain of Russia's reliability as an arms exporter.
To Putin, the visit is a showcase that Russia is not isolated despite sanctions. To Vietnam, it is a showcase of their "bamboo diplomacy" and the ability to be on good terms with major powers despite international conflicts.
The top brass still has favorable opinion on Putin, seeing him as a counterbalance to Western hehemony. Vietnam-Russia relations is stronger than the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years, who were neglecting Vietnam.
Continue writing our story of peace.While the U.S. official says that this visit is unrelated to Putin, I do have a suspicion that they would be very interested to see if Vietnam made some under-the-table arms deals. There had been rumors that Vietnam wants to purchase some new Russian fighter jets.
Continue writing our story of peace.Three women in Singapore are being charged for violating the Public Order Act for organising an assembly or procession without a permit on Feb 2 along the perimeter of the Istana. Singapore Police says no way for any processions that has Israel-Palestine in it as a topic.
They were identified as Annamalai Kokila Parvathi, 35, Siti Amirah Mohamed Asrori, 29, and Mossammad Sobikun Nahar, 25. They're offered bail for S$5,000.
CNA: Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has died at 80.
I wonder how powerful is the position for the General Secretary there? The man is quite dedicated to his work behind the scenes.
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@ eagleoftheninth
No word on whether Salt Bae has been invited to the inauguration.
This guy
? What does he have to do with Vietnamese politics?
Edited by HallowHawk on May 18th 2024 at 9:56:53 AM