text:
Thomas G. Appleman
Jeffrey L. LaBine
CARES Act: Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act (CESA) of 2020
On March 27, 2020, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law the $2.2 trillion "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act" (CARES Act) legislation aimed to provide economic relief from coronavirus effects on individuals, families, small businesses and severely impacted sectors of the U.S. economy.
The CESA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to make loans, loan guarantees, other investments and subsidies to provide liquidity for losses incurred as a result of coronavirus to air carriers (as defined under Title 49 of the United States Code), U.S. businesses, states and municipalities.
Available Funding under the CESA and Purposes:
A total of $500 billion has been allocated under the CESA:
$25 billion For loan and loan guarantees to passenger air carriers, eligible businesses certified to perform inspection, repair and maintenance services and ticket agents
$4 billion For loan and loan guarantees to cargo air carriers
$17 billion For loan and loan guarantees to businesses critical to maintaining national security
$454 billion Plus any amounts not used as described above, for loans, loan guarantees, and other investments for programs or facilities established by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for eligible businesses, States and municipalities
Which businesses and governmental entities are eligible for assistance under the CESA?
Air carriers (as defined under title 49 of the United States Code)
U.S. businesses that have not otherwise received adequate economic relief from loans and loan guarantees provided under the CARES Act
States (including the District of Columbia, US territories and possessions and Indian Tribes) and municipalities (political subdivisions or instrumentalities of a State)
Are there other eligibility requirements?
The Secretary will determine whether (a) the applicant is an eligible business for which credit is not reasonably available; (b) the loan obligations are prudently incurred by the applicant and (c) the loan is sufficiently incurred or made at a rate that reflects the risk of the loan or loan guarantee and is not less than an interest rate based on market conditions prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 to the extent practicable. These determinations are to be made in the Secretary's discretion.
For loan and loan guarantees available to passenger air carriers and eligible businesses providing support services to them, cargo air carriers and national security eligible businesses (eligible air carrier and national security businesses), the business must have incurred losses as a result of coronavirus (covered losses) jeopardizing continued operations of the business. The Secretary is to make these determinations.
The loan or loan guarantee agreement is required to include certifications to the effect that the eligible business is organized in the U.S. and has significant operations and a majority of its employees based in the U.S.
What are the terms and conditions of the loans, loan guarantees and other investments?
Forms, terms and conditions of loans and loan guarantees: The Secretary will determine the forms, terms and conditions of the loans and loan guarantees. The interest rate is to be not less than a rate determined by the Secretary based on the risk and current yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities. The duration of the loan or loan guarantee is to be as short as practicable but not longer than five years.
Limitations on buy-back of listed equity securities of the eligible borrower or parent company: The loan or loan guaranty agreement must provide that, for a period of 12-months after the loan or loan guaranty is no longer outstanding, the borrower and affiliates may not purchase any listed equity security of the eligible business or parent company except to the extent required under a contractual obligation in effect as of the enactment date of the CARES Act.
Limitations on the payment of dividends: The loan or loan guaranty agreement must provide that, for a period of 12-months after the loan or loan guaranty is no longer outstanding, that the eligible business may not pay dividends on or otherwise make capital distributions based upon common stock of the entity.
Maintenance of Employment Levels: The loan or loan guaranty agreement must provide that, until September 30, 2020, the eligible business will maintain its March 24, 2020 employment levels to the extent practicable and in any case not reduce them by more than 10%.
Additional requirements for loans and loan guarantees to eligible air carrier and national security businesses:
These additional requirements apply only in the case of loans and loan guarantees for eligible air carrier and national security businesses. The eligible air carrier and national security businesses must:
Provide warrants, equity interests or senior debt instruments designed for the reasonable participation, for the benefit of taxpayers, in equity appreciation or reasonable interest rates premiums
Limit compensation and termination payments to highly compensated officers and employees
The terms and conditions of any warrant, equity interest or senior debt instrument to be issued by an eligible business will be set by the Secretary and be designed to provide for reasonable participation equity appreciation (in the case of warrants or other equity interests) or a reasonable interest rate premium (in the case of a debt instrument).
The eligible air carrier and national security businesses must also agree in the loan or loan guarantee agreement to the following limitations on compensation and termination benefits to officers and employees during the period beginning on the execution date of the agreement and ending one year after the date the loan or loan guaranty is no longer outstanding (covered period):
Any officer or employee of the eligible business whose total compensation in the 2019 calendar year exceeded $425,000 (excluding any employee whose compensation is determined through a collective bargaining agreement entered into before March 1,2020) (highly compensated officer or employee) will not exceed such person's total 2019 compensation in any 12 consecutive months during the covered period
Any severance pay of other termination of employment benefits paid to any highly compensated officer or employee will not exceed twice the maximum total compensation received in 2019
Any officer or employee of the eligible business whose total compensation in the 2019 calendar year exceeded $3,000,000 will not exceed an amount equal to $3,000,000 and 50% of the excess over $3,000,000 of the total compensation received from the eligible borrower in calendar 2019 in any 12 consecutive months during the covered period
For these purposes, total compensation includes salary, bonuses, awards of stock and other financial benefits provided by the eligible business.
An eligible air carrier that received a loan or loan guaranty may also be required, as deemed necessary or advisable by the Secretary of Transportation, to maintain scheduled flights to any point serviced by the carrier before March 1, 2020 through March 1, 2022.
No forgiveness of obligations issued by eligible businesses, States or municipalities: The CESA prohibits any loan forgiveness of principal of any obligation issued by an eligible business, State or municipality under a loan program authorized by the CESA.
How can eligible businesses apply for loans and loan guarantees?
The Secretary is required to publish procedures for application and minimum requirements for making the loans and loan guarantees within 10 days after the enactment of the CARES Act.
Federal Reserve programs and facilities under the CESA:
Federal Reserve programs and facilities generally:
The CESA permits the Secretary to make loans, loan guarantees and other investments in programs or facilities established by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that make loans to eligible businesses, States and municipalities.
In the case of loans, loan guarantees or other investments as part of a Federal Reserve program or facility that provides direct loans to eligible business borrowers, the eligible business must agree to the listed equity security buy-back, dividends and compensation limitations described above. The Secretary is authorized to waive these requirements if determined to be necessary to protect the interests of the Federal Government.
A Federal Reserve program or facility receiving loans, loan guarantees or other investments under the CESA may only make loans or other advances to, or purchase obligations or other interests (excluding, for this determination, indexed securities or those based on a diversified pool) from, businesses that are organized in the U.S. and have significant operations and a majority of its employees based in the U.S.
All requirements under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, including those relating to loan collateralization, taxpayer protection and borrower solvency, apply to the Federal Reserve programs and facilities participating under the CESA.
Federal Reserve programs and facilities for mid-sized businesses:
The Secretary is to endeavor to seek implementation of Federal Reserve programs and facilities for financing to banks and other lenders to make direct loans to eligible businesses including, to the extent practicable, nonprofit organizations, with 500 – 10,000 employees.
The interest rate on direct loans under such a program, should it be implemented, would not be higher than 2% per annum and principal and interest would not be payable during the first six months of the loan or such longer period as the Secretary may determine. In addition, any eligible borrower would be required to certify that:
The loan request is necessary to support ongoing operations due to the uncertainty of economic conditions
The borrowed funds will be used to retain at least 90% of the borrower's workforce at full compensation and benefits until September 30, 2020
The recipient intends to restore not less than 90% of its February 1, 2020 workforce and restore all compensation and benefits within four months of the termination date of the January 31, 2020 COVID-19 public health emergency declaration by the Secretary of Health and Human Services
The recipient is domiciled in the U.S. with significant operations and employees in the U.S.
The recipient is not a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding
The recipient is organized in the U.S. and has significant operations and a majority of its employees based in the U.S.
The recipient will not pay common stock dividends or repurchase any listed equity security of the recipient or parent company while the direct loan is outstanding except as required under a contractual obligation in effect on the enactment date of the CARES Act
The recipient will not outsource or offshore jobs during the term of the loan and for two years after repayment of the loan
The recipient will not abrogate existing collective bargaining agreements for the term of the loan and for two years after repayment of the loan
The recipient will remain neutral in any union organizing effort during the term of the loan
Main street lending programs:
The Secretary may make loans, loan guarantees and other investments in "Main Street Lending Programs" or similar programs or facilities established by the Federal Reserve to support lending to small and mid-sized businesses on terms and conditions consistent with section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act.
Federal reserve programs and facilities for States and municipalities:
The CESA requires the Secretary to endeavor to implement a Federal Reserve program or facility that will provide liquidity to the financial system that supports lending to States and municipalities.
This is part of a series of our COVID-19 alerts providing clients with practical advice on measures they can take to navigate through these troubled times. Please contact the authors or your Miller Canfield attorney with further questions.
This information is based on the facts and guidance available at the time of publication, and may be subject to change.


By a majority of 6–1, the Court held that s 32(1) of the Charter, which requires that Victorian legislation be interpreted consistently with human rights, is an ordinary principle of statutory interpretation that does not empower the courts to radically re-interpret legislation or subvert parliament's intent. The Court affirmed that, consistent with the rule of law, the judiciary has an important role to play in upholding human rights. Far from being undemocratic, an independent judiciary which is empowered to interpret laws to protect rights and freedoms is a fundamental feature of our liberal democracy.
By a majority of 4–3, the High Court also held that the power conferred by parliament on the courts to make a declaration, notifying parliament where legislation may be incompatible with human rights, is valid. Declarations of Inconsistent Interpretation under the Charter play an important role in calling the attention of parliament and the people to laws that may be inconsistent with human rights. Such declarations do not affect the validity of legislation, but instead act as a trigger for parliament to consider whether a particular law should be amended to better protect the human rights of all Victorians.
The High Court's extensive consideration of the Charter arose in an appeal by Vera Momcilovic against her conviction for drug trafficking. The Court quashed her conviction and ordered a re-trial. It is important to note, however, that the conviction was not quashed because of the Charter. Instead, the High Court upheld the appeal on the basis that the Victorian courts in which she was convicted had misconstrued the operation of the Drugs Act.
Any suggestion that the Charter shifts power to judges and usurps parliamentary sovereignty can be laid to rest. There is also no longer any doubt, if ever there was, that the Charter is valid and constitutional.
The judgment is available at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2011/34.html.


TERRY WEDGE ANKLE BOOTS WITH LAMB FUR CUFF - Cecilia - Wishlist.
Tan canvas ankle boots with a lace-up front and a tonal lamb fur cuff. Brown leather detailing around the base, back and lace stays. Flat, tonal cotton laces. Natural leather welt with cream stitching. Natural crepe rubber wedge sole.


Once your business has committed to conducting a foreign currency transaction, you are exposed to exchange risk. There is a potential gain or loss that may occur as a result of currency rate fluctuations. For entrepreneurs who are involved in international trade, currency volatility has always been a concern. One example is the strengthening of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar in the last couple of years.
How can you protect and even improve your bottom line when faced with any kind of currency swing?
Do nothing. This may not be a bad choice if you receive foreign currency from your customers and your payments are also made in that same currency.
Use forward contracts to buy or sell funds, in other words hedging. It guarantees the future price of a currency. For example, you purchase a contract for the payment of goods to be acquired in the future thereby setting the future cost of funds. The fixed rate allows you to budget effectively without currency fluctuation eroding profit margins.
Monitor foreign exchange markets to execute orders when favourable opportunities arise. This requires a time commitment and experienced personnel.
Engage a foreign exchange broker. Their business is to be informed for their clients and trade foreign currencies on hopefully beneficial terms.
Diversify your supplier sources for import markets and customers for export markets to reduce your dependency on the U.S. dollar. It's easier said than done, but it should be one element of your long-term growth strategy. Other markets do exist in Europe, Asia and South America.
Increase your sales volume to protect your profit margin. When you operate in a low margin environment, the volume may generate the necessary cushion against unfavourable fluctuations in the exchange rate.
Become more efficient at everything you do. This should reduce your direct and indirect costs for better margins. It is another effective way to deal with exchange risk. Review your internal processes, be innovative and you should find processes to reduce spending while improving your level of customer service.
If you are not in the business of speculating on foreign exchange rates, you should consider refraining from actively managing currency risk as the exposure could jeopardize the financial health of your business. Be mindful of such a risk, and take concerted steps to lessen the currency impact.


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Верхньосаді́вська сільська́ ра́да — адміністративно-територіальна одиниця та орган місцевого самоврядування у складі Нахімовського району м. Севастополя. Адміністративний центр — село Верхньосадове.

Загальні відомості
 Територія ради: 4,282 км²
 Населення ради: 5 068 осіб (станом на 2001 рік)

Населені пункти
Сільській раді були підпорядковані населені пункти:
 с. Верхньосадове
 с. Дальнє
 с. Камишли
 с. Пироговка
 с. Поворотне
 с. Фронтове
 с. Фруктове

Склад ради
Рада складалася з 30 депутатів та голови.
 Голова ради: Хрячков Михайло Михайлович
 Секретар ради: Ігнатьєва Надія Дмитрівна

Керівний склад попередніх скликань

Примітка: таблиця складена за даними сайту Верховної Ради України

Депутати
За результатами місцевих виборів 2010 року депутатами ради стали:

За суб'єктами висування

За округами

Суб'єкти господарської діяльності
На території ради розташовані:
 державне підприємство «Садівник» (садівництво, виноградарство, тваринництво, первинне виноробство);
 відділення Ялтинського ботанічного саду (село Дальнє);
 відділення ЗАТ імені Софії Петровської (садівництво, виноградарство, виноробство) тощо.

Примітки та джерела

Нахімовський район
Сільські ради Севастополя

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Has Katrina Kaif refused to star opposite Chiranjeevi?
The upcoming untitled Tamil film is being directed by V.V. Vinayak and would be produced by Ram Charan under Konidela Productions banner.
Published: July 31, 2016 1:11 PM IST
By ANI Email
New Delhi, July 31 : If recent buzz is to believed, actor Katrina Kaif has refused a film opposite South star Chiranjeevi and reportedly Kajal Aggarwal has been finalised as the leading lady in upcoming Telugu film, which would be a remake of Tamil hit 'Kaththi'. (Read: Baar Baar Dekho new poster: Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif's sizzling chemistry too hot to handle!) Also Read - Spotted! Ranbir Kapoor at Mumbai Airport And Katrina Kaif Attends Dance Class
According to a report in Spotboye, Katrina was asked to star opposite the South superstar, but she politely declined the offer and it is said that her decision came as a shock to the entire South industry. Also Read - Sooryavanshi to Release on Holi 2021 in Theatres? Makers Hint at Bringing Akshay Kumar's Film Before Ranveer Singh's '83
The upcoming untitled Tamil film is being directed by V.V. Vinayak and would be produced by Ram Charan under Konidela Productions banner. Also Read - Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar Shares His Wedding Photo, Best Friend Katrina Kaif Wishes The Best
On a related note, the 'Fitoor actress' is currently busy with Nitya Mehra's upcoming film 'Baar Baar Dekho', which is slated to hit theatres on September 9.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest Entertainment News on India.com.
ChiranjeeviKajal AggarwalKatrina Kaif
Published Date: July 31, 2016 1:11 PM IST

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


2013-Present: Lecturer in Microbiology, NUI Galway.
2010-2013: University Fellow (Teaching and Research) in Microbiology, NUI Galway.
2007-2010: Postdoctoral Researcher in Microbiology, NUI Galway.
2001-2003: Computer Programmer, Unilog IT Services, Paris, France.
2000-2001: Research Microbiologist, Unilever Research, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.
2013: Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Practice, NUI Galway.
2007: PhD in Microbiology, NUI Galway.
2000: MSc in Biotechnology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
1999: MSc in Food Sciences and Bioprocess Engineering, ENSAIA, Nancy, France.
Systems biology for investigating microbial communities functioning and potential.
Proteomics and metaproteomics to investigate microbial behaviour.
Microbial adaptation to ecological niches.
Persistence of invasive species in the environment.
Trade-off between microbial stress resistance and growth.
(2015) Systems-based approaches to unravel multi-species microbial community functioning.


text:
Classic Oreo Cookies Are Now a Candy Bar
By Sarah Glover	• Published at 1:06 pm on November 15, 2016
Oreo, the chocolate cookie with white icing, is taking its classic taste to candy shelves.
The brand's first candy bar, a Milka Oreo Big Crunch Chocolate Bar, was released Monday and is available at some retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart, Kroger, ShopRite and Albertsons, according to a company statement.
It features a layer of crunchy Oreo cookies between two layers of rich vanilla creme, coated in European Milka chocolate candy, according to Oreo's website.
Stephen King Jan 16
Stephen King's Controversial Comments on Diversity Draw Varied Reaction
food Jan 15
Where You Can Score a Free Bagel on National Bagel Day
"Milka Oreo Chocolate Candy Bars are a natural progression for Oreo,especially with Mondelēz International's global leadership position in chocolate and Milka being the No. 1 chocolate candy in Europe," said spokesperson Samantha Greenwood.
"The combination of these two global powerhouse brands – both of which are known for their delicious taste – has led to a product line that is unique and truly differentiated in the U.S. chocolate candy category."
Milka Oreo Chocolate Candy Bar will debut in January 2017. It boasts vanilla cream studded with bits of chocolate Oreo cookies, then coated in Milka milk chocolate. Also, an Oreo Choco-Mix Snack Mix Bag will also be available next year.
Oreo's newest cookie is a candy bar https://t.co/qqjUAXNbp0
— CNBC (@CNBC) November 14, 2016


Navigating North Carolina's New STOP Act: How Can We Help?
The C.A.R.E. Coalition is working toward a healthy, vibrant Transylvania County, free of substance abuse and underage drinking. In light of North Carolina's new STOP Act that affects prescribing practices for opioids, we want to offer support and resources to local physicians.
The Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention Act of 2017, or STOP Act, is intended to reduce the supply of unused, misused and diverted opioids circulating in North Carolina, reduce "doctor shopping," and improve care by requiring prescribers to use tools and resources that help prevent inappropriate prescribing. North Carolina is one of 17 states that has passed similar laws, and the act was supported by the North Carolina Medical Board.
A requirement that PAs and NPs practicing at pain clinics consult with their supervising physicians prior to prescribing opioids. NOTE: The North Carolina Medical Board has not determined how it will define "consult". The most important thing is that a meaningful consultation about the patient and recommended treatment occurs and is documented in the medical record; the Board may ultimately leave it up to PAs, NPs, and their supervisors to determine exactly how consultations occur, consistent with its current approach towards physician supervision of PAs and NPs.
For more information, including a summary of the STOP Act and a list of FAQs, visit the North Carolina Medical Board website at https://www.ncmedboard.org.
For resources from the CDC intended for healthcare providers, including best practices and guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain, visit https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/providers.
To learn more about the U.S. Surgeon General's "Turn the Tide" initiative for providers to pledge to work toward ending the opioid crisis, visit https://turnthetiderx.org.
For continuing education on topics including treatment of chronic pain and opioid use disorder, visit the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) website at https://mahec.net/continuing-education.


Computer science is a fundamental part of our everyday lives, we interact with computer science all the time - whether we're using our cell phones, shopping online, driving, or just turning on a washing machine. Computer science is also enormously important for industry and economy, and is used for conducting and optimizing production in every field of industry.
Understanding different dimensions of computing is part of the necessary skill set for everyone today and in the near future. In the past 15 years we have been introduced to life changing technologies, from walkman to Smart phones, from word processors to voice recognition devces, online dictation software, tablets that can fly remote devices, camera's that edit and upload photos as we take them, watch live tv and play games on mobile devices, self drive cars and so much more.


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A hundred year war - Ngo Van Xuyet
In this two-part talk given in 2001 in Paris, Ngo Van Xuyet introduces his two books about Vietnam (Viêt-nam 1920-1945: révolution et contre-révolution sous la domination coloniale [1997] and Au pays de la Cloche fêlée: Tribulations d'un Cochinchinois à l'époque coloniale [2000]), starting with a critical chronology of the 1920s, and concluding with a first-person account of the period between 1930 and 1945, when Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh seized power after the Japanese surrender and immediately proceeded to exterminate the Vietnamese Trotskyists, while workers and peasants formed councils that were suppressed by the Stalinist government's military forces.
A Hundred Year War – Ngo Van Xuyet
Greetings, dear friends, and many thanks to Jean-Jacques Marie1 for having invited me to address this meeting. I will speak of the complicated and little-known period of Vietnamese history that preceded the so-called Indochina and Vietnam Wars.2
The two works on Vietnam that I have published were basically intended to recall the forgotten struggle of a generation of revolutionaries who fought against colonial imperialism, not only for national independence, but also for a radical transformation of all of society.
The first book, Việt Nam 1920-1945, révolution et contre-révolution sous la domination coloniale [Vietnam 1920-1945: Revolution and Counterrevolution under Colonial Rule (1997)], constitutes an attempt to chronicle the workers' and peasants' struggles against the regime, as well as to present the critical history of the Indochinese Communist Party and its metamorphosis into the Party-State that was responsible for the features of contemporary Vietnam, and finally, and most importantly, to recount the history of the Indochinese Communist Left Opposition, from its birth in 1930 to its reorganization as a section of the Fourth International in 1938, and the subsequent near-total extermination of its combatants between 1945 and 1950. The second book addresses, from the angle of a more direct eyewitness testimony, particular aspects of the struggle of this opposition. Before proceeding to the main theme, I would like to mention several facts. During the French colonial period, Indochina was composed of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The colonialists divided Vietnam into three regions: Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochin China in the south. Tonkin and Annam were protectorates and Cochin China was a colony. While the people of Tonkin and Annam—said to be under "French protection" administered by the Mandarins of the Court at Hue,3—were the subjects of a barbarous feudal regime (legal punishments included whipping, garroting, slow death….), the Cochin Chinese, who were called "French subjects", were under the direct administration of the French, subject to a modified form of the French Penal Code, which was no less arbitrary.
The French became aware of the problem of Indochina with the reconquest in 1945 and the first Indochina War, which ended at Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference in 1954, after 95 years of French colonial rule. Later, there was another wake-up call with the intervention of the United States in Vietnam. The broad outlines of this history are known, but what took place before 1945 is ordinarily not so well known.
Jules Ferry, the spokesman for the French bourgeoisie of the Third Republic, declared before the National Assembly in 1884: "It is the duty of the superior races to civilize the inferior races…."
Later, in elaborating on his declarations at the Assembly session of July 29, 1885, Jules Ferry wrote:
"Colonization is the offspring of industrial policy…. Exports comprise an essential factor of public prosperity, and the extent of the employment of capital, as well as the demand for labor, is measured in relation to the expansion of the foreign market."
The conquest of Indochina and its political subjugation therefore led to its conversion into a land for extracting profits, and to the country's transformation into a closed market for the products of French industry, to serve as a source of raw materials (coal, minerals, rubber, rice, cotton….), and for the exploitation of cheap labor power (semi-slavery in the mines, rubber plantations, factories….).
It can be said without any exaggeration that the colonial war actually began at the moment when the first French troops set foot in Indochina in 1859 (the conquest of Saigon). Once the colonial power was established in the country it conducted a permanent war against the peasant and working class population that was in a state of latent or open revolt; it was either dormant or insurrectionary. This rebel movement was at first organized under the leadership of lawyers, religious leaders, and secret societies. In the 1920s modern nationalist groups arose that subsequently assumed leadership over these movements.
In 1923, in Cochin China, Nguyen An Ninh4 published La Cloche Fêlée,5 a newspaper that denounced the irreverence of the colonial power. He encouraged young people to go to France in order to expand their horizons because, in his opinion, the oppression of Vietnam came from France, but so, too, did the spirit of liberation. In 1926, Saigon experienced its first spring of revolt. At a rally held by Nguyen An Ninh, the humble folk of Saigon attended a massive demonstration against the colonial power and demanded democratic freedoms. At the funeral procession of the old revolutionary Phan Chau Trinh, the population of the entire country assembled in a gigantic demonstration against its French masters. Heeding the call of Nguyen An Ninh, many young people emigrated to France. After their arrival in France, the French Communist Party sent a large number of them to Moscow for training as professional revolutionaries. Some of the other emigrants to France would not go to Moscow because they did not trust the USSR, which was already under the boot of Stalin in 1926, and they joined the Trotskyist Left Opposition in France. In 1923 the émigré Nguyen Ai Quoc6 (who would later assume the name Ho Chi Minh) was sent to Moscow by the French Communist Party, which he joined after the Tours Congress of 1920. In 1925, implementing directives from Moscow and the Third International, he founded the "Thanh Nien Cach Mang Dong Chi Hoi" (The Association of Young Revolutionary Comrades or Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League) in Canton, based on groups of rebels from Annam who had emigrated to China. After several months of training, these professional revolutionaries returned to Vietnam. Beginning in 1925-1926, the Thanh Nien rapidly spread from northern to southern Vietnam, mainly among the peasantry. In 1927, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was secretly founded in Hanoi (VNQDD, "Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang"), whose declared goal was to expel the French from Indochina and to establish a bourgeois-democratic republic. Its members preached the tactics of conspiracy, military coup and terrorism. In February 1930 the Vietnamese Nationalist Party supported the insurrection of the native troops at the Yen Bay garrison7 (in northern Vietnam). The insurrection was drowned in blood and the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was destroyed.
The proto-Bolshevik nationalist group, Thanh Nien, founded by Nguyen Ai Quoc (the future Ho Chi Minh) in Canton, was reorganized as the Indochinese Communist Party in February 1930.
Beginning on May 1, 1930, its militants organized marches of poor peasants to the colonial administrative offices to demand a reduction in taxes and a postponement of the date for paying them, since May 1st was the date tax payments were due. The movement was most active in Cochin China and Annam. The colonial authorities responded by opening fire on these peaceful demonstrations. The Party rapidly reoriented the movement based on economic demands towards an insurrection to overthrow colonial imperialism, seize power and establish a soviet regime. This corresponded with the policy known as the "third period" that was advocated by Moscow at that time. In northern Annam, peasant soviets were formed in Nghê Tinh between September 1930 and January 1931. In central Annam, guerrilla units attacked military bases. In the south, the nascent peasant revolt executed high level police officials. This peasant movement was defeated in a bloody wave of repression. Thousands of peasants were massacred, imprisoned, or sent to forced labor camps. The Communist Party was almost annihilated. After the defeat of the peasant movement, two communist left opposition groups were formed within the party, one in northern Annam and the other in Cochin China. They criticized the party's policy that was determined for the most part by professional revolutionaries "sent by Moscow", who never consulted the rank and file, which was only supposed to execute their orders. The opposition group in Cochin China thought that the Indochinese Communist Party, by dedicating most of its efforts to rural areas, had disregarded the urban proletariat of the industrial centers that was theoretically the only force capable of becoming the vanguard of the revolution, because, as young and as weak as it may have been, it had within its hands the nerve centers of the system of economic exploitation and colonial rule.8 This group was active among the coolies9 and the workers of Saigon and formed the underground organization, "Thang Muoi" (October), led by Ho Huu Tuong and Dao Hung Long. They published a theoretical journal of the same name (eight issues between August 1931 and March 1932). Ta Thu Thau, who had been expelled from France for having participated in a demonstration on the Champs-Élysées against the judicial executions of the insurrectionaries of Yen Bay, joined with other militants who were disoriented by the fiasco of the Communist Party of Indochina. This group published the insurrectionary bulletin, Cong San (Communism). In November 1931, these two groups combined to form the "Ta doi lap" (Left Opposition). They continued to publish Thang Muoi (October) as their theoretical organ and, under the imprint of "Ta doi lap tung thu" (Left Opposition Publishers), they distributed Vietnamese translations of the classics of Marxism (The Communist Manifesto, Bukharin's The ABC of Communism, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick Engels … about fifty titles in all). This was truly a colossal amount of work for such a small group that operated in strict secrecy. This movement was soon destroyed by colonial repression: the political police tracked down the "printers". In August 1932, 65 of the group's militants and sympathizers were put behind bars, about thirty of them in Saigon.
Now that I have sketched the historical background, you will forgive me if, for the purpose of providing exact testimony, I use the first person in may narrative, as I did in my memoire, Au pays de la Cloche Fêlée.10
I was fourteen years old when I left home to go to work in the city of Saigon at a French metal-working firm, and I began to pay closer attention to the activities of the revolutionary movements. In 1930, I began to go to the municipal library of Saigon after work to read Marx, signing the books out under a false name, of course. I tried to translate The Communist Manifesto into Vietnamese. A friend of mine from work was acquainted with a newspaper editor, who turned out to be Ho Huu Tuong, whom I have already mentioned, and I talked to him about my attempt to translate the Manifesto. He could see how eager I was for action and, initiating me into the ways of the underground organization, he introduced me to Dao Hung Long, whom I have also mentioned. I thus made contact with the Trotskyist Opposition group of Cochin China led by Ho Huu Tuong. At the metal-working firm where I worked I tried to discreetly organize most of the coolies and the two truck drivers in an association (since the words "cong hoi"—trade union—were impossible to use in the atmosphere of unbridled repression), whose aim was to not only provide mutual aid in case of unforeseen misfortunes, death and sickness, but also to sustain a climate of fraternity among slaves. There were about thirty of us who came to meetings, after taking certain precautions, once at a house of one of the members in the suburbs, another time in the house of another member in the city, under the pretext of celebrating a wedding anniversary, or simply going to a party, since meetings of more than 19 persons were forbidden without prior authorization. One morning when the factory opened, the coolies refused to enter their workshops, and remained on the street. It was the first spontaneous strike by the lowest-paid workers of the firm. They demanded a wage increase and denounced the beatings and abuse they suffered in the factory. The slave drivers did not give in right away, but in the next paycheck the lowest wages were slightly increased.
The Trotskyist oppositionist movement was broken up by the French political police in August 1932.
The conviction of 21 militants of the Trotskyist Left Opposition on May 1, 1933, followed by the conviction of 121 militants of the Communist Party on May 3, practically signaled the end of the underground movement. Most of the militants were imprisoned or deported to the forced labor camps.
1933: the most incredible moment in history, when a united front between Stalinists and Trotskyists was formed, at a time when, all over the world, Stalinists were calling for the political and physical elimination of Trotskyists, such as took place first in the Soviet Union, and then in Spain. This front was formed to run an electoral slate in the municipal elections in Saigon, in April 1933, and was inspired by Nguyen An Ninh.
It was his charisma and his influence that allowed the two communist tendencies (Stalinists and Trotskyists, who viewed him as their progenitor) to consent to the formation of a united front around the newspaper La Lutte (The Struggle) in 1933. Thus, the two tendencies agreed to disseminate Marxist ideas and to abstain from mutual criticism, for the purpose of waging a joint struggle against the colonial power within a legal framework. And so it was that from 1933 to 1937 they participated in a common cause, an event that stands out as a unique phenomenon in the history of the communist movement, but which can be easily understood, from a certain point of view, since, under the colonial regime, Indochina was a veritable prison and it was only natural that the prisoners should unite against their guards. On May 2, 1935, a mortal blow was delivered to the world of those who refused to submit to the imperialist order: Stalin signed the "Franco-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty" with Laval and officially sanctioned the growth of French military power. The French Communist Party submissively endeavored to extinguish all anti-militarist sentiment and to bolster the moral force of the imperial tricolor. The Indochinese Communist Party gradually came to support this policy, despite the inevitable internal resistance. La Lutte—the newspaper based on the collaboration of Stalinists and Trotskyists—remained silent concerning this turn of events. The new line imposed on the Indochinese Communist Party made radical critique an urgent necessity. The Trotskyists working under legal conditions were handcuffed by their agreement to abide by the united front with the Stalinists in the La Lutte group. This is why, in opposition to this surrender to Stalinist nationalism, along with Lu Sanh Hanh, a dissident who was formerly a member of the Communist Party, Ho Huu Tuong introduced me to another comrade who had just been released from prison, Trinh Van Lau, and we decided to form the League of Internationalist Communists for the Construction of the Fourth International. We feared that the victory of nationalism over colonial imperialism in Vietnam would only mean the rise to power of a native bourgeoisie and that the desperate condition of the exploited would remain unchanged.
At night, with a young typographer, I worked on our modest little improvised printing press. I learned the printing trade and we successfully published a theoretical pamphlet, Cach mang thuong truc (Permanent Revolution), which was disseminated in secret. Towards the end of 1935 our group published the polemical bulletin, Tien Dao (The Vanguard). This bulletin recapitulated the previous opposition critiques, while also adding that the communist parties must not allow themselves to be reduced to playing the role of auxiliaries of Russian diplomacy, and that if an imperialist war were to break out, it would be our duty to transform it into a civil war, and that the only way to defend the USSR is the revolutionary action of the proletariat. The first practical action of our group was to engage in support for striking horse-drawn carriage drivers. These cabdrivers had become very agitated over new proposed regulations whose purpose was to eliminate them for the benefit of the French Streetcar Company. On December 25, 1935, they staged a strike that was observed by almost all the cabdrivers. On the following day they attended a demonstration in the central market square of Saigon and they called upon the recently-elected Stalinist and Trotskyist municipal councilors to help them. The repression that was then unleashed was extremely violent. The political police raided the offices of the newspaper, La Lutte, and arrested all of its editors, as well as Ta Thu Thau, who was recently elected to the Municipal Council, for obstructing the freedom to work. On several occasions our press was shut down.
Then came June 1936. With the inauguration of the Popular Front government led by Leon Blum and supported by the Communist Party, the workers began to go on strike and to occupy the factories all over France. Had the long-awaited moment finally arrived—for us, too, for the colonial slaves? Our Internationalist League resolved to call upon our brothers and sisters to take that first step to escape from their hell.
At the very moment we went into action our core group fell into the hands of the political police, on Wednesday, June 10, 1936. Our arrests, however, could not prevent the distribution in Saigon, on the night of June 11, of our flyer calling for the formation of action committees and for the general strike. Encouraged by the French strike movement and factory occupations, the workers of Indochina rose up in revolt to demand from the employers the right to have Sundays off, the eight-hour day, and the right to form trade unions. Strikes broke out all over the country, the most important of which paralyzed the arsenal and the railroads. A derisory Labor Code was enacted, but neither the right to form trade unions nor the right to strike was recognized. The program of the French Popular Front included a provision for appointing a parliamentary commission of inquiry concerning the aspirations of the colonized peoples. Ta Thu Thau and La Lutte called for the formation of action committees and the selection of delegates to an Indochinese Congress conceived as the basic framework of an Indochinese popular front. The campaign for this Congress was launched and thousands upon thousands of flyers were distributed. Action committees spread like wildfire. In the region of Saigon-Cholon, committees were formed in the French Streetcar Company, the cigarette factory, the distilleries of Binh Tay, the oil storage depots at Nha Be, the railroads, the print shops, and among the cabdrivers. Popular enthusiasm surged like an indomitable tidal wave. The colonial administrators were terrified and notified Paris; on September 8, the Minister for Colonial Affairs, Moutet, prohibited "the meeting scheduled to be held in Saigon by a Congress of several thousand individuals, in order to prevent possible disturbances". A wave of arrests followed. Thus, Nguyen An Ninh, Ta Thu Thau and Nguyen Van Tao joined us at the Central Police Department. They were put behind bars, and the Indochinese Congress movement was decapitated. The Governor of Cochin China issued a decree ordering the dissolution of the action committees. At this time, we were joined in prison by the 17 peasants who comprised the action committee of Ben Luc. It was during this enforced get-together of Stalinists and Trotskyists in jail that we became aware of the Moscow Trials. More than ever before, the Trotskyist-Stalinist united front in La Lutte struck us as a real paradox. The Russian Trotskyists were being treated like venomous serpents in Moscow, they were being imprisoned, deported, massacred: how much longer would the Trotskyists of Indochina be able to avoid condemning Stalin and his local supporters?
While Ta Thu Thau and his circle continued to maintain a united core group within La Lutte, which barely held together in view of the circumstances, we were informed in March 1937 that, breaking with his enforced silence, our comrade who was still at large, Ho Huu Tuong, had once again begun to publish Le Militant, "organ of proletarian defense and Marxist combat", in the pages of which he had printed the text of Lenin's Testament, with its warnings against Stalin's brutality and deceitfulness.
One Sunday morning, while I was still in jail, I was very moved to meet Dao Hung Long, my old friend, who had dropped out of sight in 1932. He had been sentenced to one year of forced labor and sent to work on the road projects in Chau Doc. There, he persuaded the common criminals to refuse to do any heavy work, and then to go on a hunger strike. He told me that he was arrested at an important secret meeting organized by the Trotskyists on the night of May 29, 1937. For the first time, workers delegates from approximately forty factories and workshops in the Saigon-Cholon area (from the arsenal, the artillery works, the railroads, the streetcar company, forges, the Workshops and Construction Company of Indochina—FACI—the East Asian Post Office, the rubber industry, the water and electric power company, the Portail, Ardin and Union printing plants, the three big horse-drawn carriage depots of the city, the Indochina Distilleries, and the porters who carried the bags of rice at the Chinese mills, the Far East Mills, in Cholon….) met to form the Workers Trade Union Federation. Along with about sixty workers who were present, Dao Hung Long was arrested right in the middle of the meeting, in a violent raid by the political police. More than ever before, the Trotskyists had asserted their presence in the workers movement. The political police were therefore quite concerned. One of its reports mentioned that:
"The influence of the revolutionary agitators who are advocates of the Fourth International continues to gain ground in Cochin China, principally among the working class milieus of the Saigon-Cholon region. The working class element is more attracted to the Trotskyist party than it is to the Indochinese Communist Party."
In May 1937, at the orders of Moscow, Gitton, from the Colonial Bureau of the French Communist Party, ordered the Vietnamese Stalinists to break with the Trotskyists. The Stalinists resigned from the La Lutte group, and founded a new newspaper, L'Avant-garde, in which they characterized the Trotskyists, their erstwhile allies, as "the twin brothers of fascism". After I was released from my first stay in prison, in June 1937, along with Dao Hung Long, I published a pamphlet in Vietnamese denouncing the Moscow Trials, which was confiscated almost as soon as it came off the press. In 1938-1939, the Indochinese Communist Party rallied around the tricolor. It supported the policy of the colonial government for the defense of Indochina against the Japanese threat, going so far as to advocate the approval of special state credits and even the supplemental recruitment of regiments of native troops. The Communist Party entered into alliance with the constitutionalist bourgeoisie in the colonial elections of April 1939 and was defeated. The Trotskyist Fourth International candidates led by Ta Thu Thau, on the other hand, who opposed the new credits and of the recruitment of regiments of native troops, won three seats. (This victory must be understood in the context of the fact that the election was based on a system of suffrage constrained by educational and economic qualifications, thus favoring the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie, who were nonetheless opposed to the policy of national defense, which would imply an increase in taxes and tariffs.)
On May 20, 1939, in a telegram to the Minister of Colonial Affairs, Governor General Brévié praised the position of the Indochinese Stalinists:
"While the Stalinist communists understand, like Nguyen Van Tao, that the interests of the Annamese masses bring them closer to France, the Trotskyists, under the leadership of Ta Thu Thau, are not afraid to encourage the natives to revolt, so that they can take advantage of the opportunity to carry out a war for total liberation."
After the defeat of the Communist Party in the elections and the success of the Trotskyists, Ho Chi Minh, who was still in China, in Guilin, sent his comrades in Hanoi the order to "politically" eliminate the Trotskyists. (This order would eventually be carried out. His supporters massacred the Trotstkyists as soon as Ho Chi Minh took power in 1945.)
In September 1939, the second world butchery commenced. In Indochina, a generalized persecution ensued, and all political suspects, practically without exception, were sent to forced labor camps or to jail.
1939-1940: with the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the Indochinese Communist Party made a sudden change of course, once again declaring that French imperialism was the enemy: it no longer supported the colonial government against Japan (which occupied Indochina in 1940, allowing the French administration to continue to exist under its control until March 9, 1945). This is why, after the declaration of war between France and Germany, the Communist Party in Cochin China, which, although it was severely weakened, nonetheless retained a significant rural base, unleashed a peasant insurrection for the seizure of power in November 1940. This zigzag strategy of sudden policy reversals led to tragic consequences. The insurrection was drowned in blood. Thousands were murdered and imprisoned, and hundreds sentenced to death. The period between 1940 and 1945 was characterized by a complete absence of opposition to the French administration, under the boot of the Japanese occupation. All the subversives were in prisons or forced labor camps.
1941: In order to reconstitute the forces of the Indochinese Communist Party, which had been decimated by the French repression of 1939-1940, Nguyen Ai Quoc, now known as Ho Chi Minh, abandoned the communist label and created the Viet Minh (an abbreviation of "Viet Nam doc lap dong minh hoi"—Vietnam Independence League), whose immediate objective was, and I quote:
"To expel the French and Japanese fascists and to establish the complete independence of Vietnam, in alliance with the democracies fighting against fascism and aggression."
The class struggle and the agrarian revolution were excluded from the program of the Viet Minh, since it must not alienate the bourgeoisie and the rural landowners with whom it wanted to make an alliance.
The Viet Minh set about organizing an underground network in northern Tonkin, and in November 1941 it organized its first guerrilla group, the forerunner of the future "Liberation Army". The Viet Minh was actually a disguised version of the Indochinese Communist Party. In 1944 Ho Chi Minh requested aid from the famous American secret service, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which sent him weapons and advisors. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered. The Allies decided that Vietnam north of the 16th Parallel would be occupied by Chinese troops under Chiang Kai-Shek,11 and Vietnam south of the 16th Parallel would be occupied by British troops. Before the arrival of the occupation troops, taking advantage of the political vacuum, and in the face of the indifference of the defeated Japanese, Ho Chi Minh seized power in Hanoi, while his supporters seized power in the south. In September 1945, in Saigon, on the day after a major Stalinist show of force, we distributed a flyer at the central market square, signed by the League of Internationalist Communists, which called upon the people to take up arms, organize people's committees, form people's militias…. The people tried to obtain weapons. In Saigon, a large number of people's committees (reminiscent of the 1936 action committees) arose spontaneously as institutions of local government. The workers of the various districts of Saigon had already elected their committees in August. Embryonic forms of people's councils emerged everywhere; the formation of councils seemed to possess an irresistible dynamic. The League of Internationalist Communists did everything it could to coordinate this movement. In a working class neighborhood in Saigon it set up an office where the elected delegates of these councils could meet under the protection of armed workers. These delegates disseminated a declaration in which they proclaimed their independence from the Stalinist de facto government as well as their resolute condemnation of any infringement of the autonomy of the decisions of the workers and the peasants.12 The Stalinist government sent in the police and imprisoned all the delegates, after trying them in a so-called people's court. The British occupation forces re-armed the French, who promptly set about reconquering southern Vietnam. It was at this time that the Saigon insurrection broke out, on September 23, 1945. That night, the workers in the maintenance and repair workshops of the streetcar company decided, completely autonomously, to participate in the insurrection against the return of the French. In conformance with the internationalist spirit of the League, they unequivocally supported the League's appeals for the arming of the people, broke off relations with the Stalinist General Confederation of Labor—rechristened as the "Workers of the National Army"—and constituted a "workers militia" (a name that was inspired by the Spanish Civil War). We numbered sixty combatants, organized in groups of eleven, each of which was under the responsibility of a comrade we elected ourselves. The workers militia served in the center of the front line during the siege of Saigon, which had been occupied by British and French troops. It therefore participated in the combat against the colonial forces while trying at the same time to create a revolutionary organization that was not beholden to strategies imposed from above. All the armed forces that were opposed to the return of the French in the south—the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao religious sects, the various armed groups, including the Trotskyist groups that had fought the Anglo-French colonial troops—all of them were later destroyed, physically eliminated by the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh started with the assassination of Trotskyists and then proceeded to deal likewise with the leaders of the other organizations, in order to establish its unrivaled power in the leadership of the resistance. In northern Vietnam Ho Chi Minh had concluded several agreements with the Chinese occupation troops so that he could retain power until the arrival of the French expeditionary force which, once the Chinese had withdrawn, then set out to reconquer the country in December 1946. As was the case in the south, Ho Chi Minh was intent upon exterminating the Trotskyists from the very moment he took power and, after the withdrawal of the Chinese troops, he destroyed all the other national liberation movements.
At this point, I would like to recall a few of the little-known high points of this real class struggle within the struggle for independence.
When Ho Chi Minh seized power in northern Vietnam, in August 1945, the 30,000 coal miners of the Hon Gai-Cam Pha district, riding the wave of enthusiasm unleashed by the liberation, thought that they were free to take their fate into their own hands. They elected councils to administer the mines, and to manage the district's public services, its railroads, and its telegraph service, and applied the principle of equal wages for all in every category of manual and intellectual labor. They even waged a campaign against illiteracy by organizing courses among the miners. This is how life was organized in this workers Commune, without leaders, without police. But the movement remained isolated, and therefore terribly vulnerable; the troops of Ho Chi Minh's government were dispatched to besiege the mining district; its commander addressed the miners, invoking the need for national unity and, to induce them to surrender, he promised to allow them to preserve some aspects of their Commune. This promise quickly proved to be hollow: not only did he arrest all the elected workers delegates, but he immediately replaced the councils with a new hierarchy of Viet Minh cadres. And, soon enough, after three months of revolutionary autonomy, the military-police order of the Stalinist "Democratic Republic" reigned over the district.
I would also like to mention the autonomous movements of the peasants in the north. In Tonkin and northern Annam, the peasants, under the pressure of hunger, and remembering the Indochinese Communist Party's slogan of 1930, "The land to those who cultivate it", rejected the party's call for national unity in alliance with the rural landowners and acted through the popular committees to confiscate the property of the rich and to expropriate the land: they knew they could make it more productive and that the harvest would not be diverted into speculative ventures. Ho Chi Minh wasted no time in suppressing their initiatives. A circular issued in November 1945 to the provincial committees stipulated that "the rice paddies and the cultivated land will not be redistributed", and a decree on the "organization of the institutions of peoples power" proclaims the reestablishment of a pyramidal hierarchy like that of the Viet Minh. The Stalinist hierarchy brought its police power to bear on the situation and forced, manu militari, the return of expropriated land and property to the rural landowners.
In the south, in the Mekong region, the peasants also spontaneously seized the lands owned by their exploiters. Stalinist militants who attempted to stop them were almost lynched on the spot by the expropriators. A communiqué from the Commissariat of the Interior of the de facto Stalinist government was published in the newspapers: "Those who have encouraged the peasants to seize land will be mercilessly punished. The communist revolution that will resolve the agrarian problem has not yet taken place. Our government is a democratic and bourgeois government, although the communists hold power."
In this way the Viet Minh furnished itself with all the means to maintain absolute hegemony over power and over the conduct of the war. It was the eve of the thirty year war. Ho Chi Minh's party won that war, of course. But did the Vietnamese people gain anything but a new servitude?
As George Orwell wrote: "Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future".
When history is harnessed to the discourse of the victor, concealing and distorting all past struggles in a Manichaean schematic that dissolves all real choices, the present is imposed as ineluctable fate. This is why I want to evoke all these events with a view towards present and future struggles.
Ngo Van Xuyet
Transcript of a presentation delivered by Ngo Van Xuyet on October 20, 2001 at CERMTRI (Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur les Mouvements Trotskyste et Révolutionnaires Internationaux) in Paris.
First published in French in Les Cahiers du Mouvement Ouvrier, N° 16, CERMTRI, December 2001-January 2002, p. 65.
Spanish version: Centro de Estudios, Investigaciones y Publicaciones "Leon Trotsky", Buenos Aires - Argentina, based on the French text published in Les Cahiers du C.E.R.M.T.R.I., n° 100, March 2001. This Spanish translation was published in the magazine, Cuadernos del CEIP "Leon Trotsky", n° 3 (August 2002).
Online version: Centro de Estudios, Investigaciones y Publicaciones "Leon Trotsky", Buenos Aires - Argentina.
Translated in June 2015 from the Spanish translation obtained in August 2006 from the Marxists Internet Archive.
1. The Director of CERMTRI (The Leon Trotsky Center for Studies, Research and Publications).
2. The resistance movement against French colonialism that began in 1946 and ended in 1954 with the defeat of the French forces at Dien Bien Phu is known as the Indochina War. The resistance movement against American intervention that began in the 1960s and ended in 1975 is known as the Vietnam War.
3. Hue was the capital of the former Vietnamese State in the 19th century.
4. An independent nationalist leader and a representative of the extreme left of the independence movement. Nguyen An Ninh studied law in Paris, where he first joined the nationalist movement. He returned to Vietnam in 1923 and founded the nationalist newspaper, La Cloche Fêlée, which, among other things, published The Communist Manifesto in Vietnam for the first time; in the 1930s he played a leading role in the Indochinese Congress movement and in La Lutte.
5. "The Cracked Bell", a title that Nguyen An Ninh took from Baudelaire's poem of the same name (from The Flowers of Evil).
6. "Nguyen the Patriot", the name adopted by Ho before he finally became known as Ho Chi Minh ("the bringer of light").
7. The insurrection of Yen Bay began as a mutiny of the Annamese troops posted on the Chinese border, who massacred their officers and took control of the garrison for one night, but the other garrisons either failed to join the revolt or were rapidly defeated. The village of Co Am revolted a few days later, and was crushed by a merciless campaign of aerial bombardment. The harsh repression inflicted by the French authorities in the wake of the uprising put an end to the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (Nationalist Party) as a political force. The massacre of Yen Bay was a milestone in the formation of the political thought of the Vietnamese Trotskyists.
8. "The group rallied around the theses of the Left Opposition: the Moscow leadership has led everyone to disaster; it led to the crushing of the workers of Shanghai … [and then] to the putsch and massacre of the workers of Canton in December, and the putsch of Nghê Tinh was nothing but the continuation of those disasters." From the article by Ngo Van, "The Movement of the Fourth International in Indochina, 1930-1939".
9. The semi-proletarians of the rubber plantations.
10. "In the Country of the Cracked Bell". An English translation of this book—as well as other texts by Ngo Van—is available online (as of June 2015) at the Bureau of Public Secrets website, http://www.bopsecrets.org/vietnam/index.htm, under the title, In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary. In the Crossfire contains passages that are identical to some passages in the above text, indicating that Ngo Van may have included excerpts from his books in his presentation [translator's note].
11. Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-1975): military leader of the Kuomintang during the Chinese Revolution of 1925-1927, and a member of its right wing. Until April 1927, when he carried out a bloody massacre of the communists and trade unionists of Shanghai, the Stalinists considered him to be a great revolutionary. He ruled China until he was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.
12. This declaration is reproduced in full in Some Stages of the Revolution in Southern Vietnam, p. 85.
Alias Recluse
Jun 4 2015 01:24
League of Internationalist Communists for the Construction of the Fourth International
workers councils
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Hamndalsvägen 6, Nacka Following its 2012 renovation, Skepparholm was transformed into a rejuvenating spa facility. Otherwise enjoy your sojourn at the spa of day spa stockholm thai enskede your choice. During the summer months you can cool off poolside or take a yoga class on the roof. The wellness area on the top floor of Downtown Camper by Scandic on Brunkebergstorg has a swimming pool, sauna and a roofbar serving healthy drinks and snacks. Book an exclusive spa weekend or a casual daytrip out of the city, many city hotels offer spa deals to non-guests and are centrally located. 2019 TripAdvisor LLC Kaikki oikeudet pidätetän. Gaze out over the Old Town and Riddarfjärden as you slip into a year-round rooftop pool in the heart of the city. Elements, spa at the Clarion Hotel, stockholm offers guests the opportunity to find their Zen and unwind - the ultimate place for a relaxing spa weekend. The Nest, wellbeing oasis with views over the rooftops. Take a dip in the pool; book a spa -treatment before brunch at the in-house restaurant. Map, sparadiset, which translates as spa -paradise, aims to offer guests a little slice of heaven. The hotel offers the ultimate spa -experience complete with a heated rooftop pool, luxurious bathrobes and slippers. Spa atmosphere, and they have a lovely 45c sauna with). It is a fully-fledged spa with beautiful surroundings, Jacuzzis, amazing spa -treatments and relax-area. Editor About the guide the best spas in Stockholm Our guide to the best spas in Stockholm is updated continuously. Featuring activities such as mindfulness, organic treatments and classic alternatives. Offering a wide range of beautifying treatments such as body peeling and wraps, aromatherapy, thermal baths and scalp treatments to name a few - the perfect opportunity for a little splurge thailand flashback träffa tjejer på nätet and relaxation. Rörstrandsgatan 24, Vasastan Sturebadet This classic institution was inaugurated in 1885 and has since then offered its guests fitness and wellness facilities, complete with a beautiful mosaic tiled pool and murals.
The premises are stunning - although not inexpensive, its definitely worth the splurge. The in-house restaurant, Eko-bar serves organic produce and raw food Drottninggatan 88 ög, Norrmalm/City Grand Hotel's luxurious spa is an oasis of tranquillity and well-being, inspired by the spa 's proximity to the archipelago. You can also book one of their beneficial treatments or join a yoga class. Traditional Indian practices meet contemporary innovation, celebrating wellness and spirituality. The Nordic influences are apparent, spa -treatments are offered in a traditional Sami hut under the open sky with joik music in the background. The hotel's restaurants, serving organic Japanese food and raw food, enhances the experience. Escape the bustling city and treat yourself to a spa -break - what could be more relaxing than a deep tissue massage, body scrub, facial and other spa treatments?
day spa stockholm thai enskede Its a great place, you get a decent gym (not the best gym though a nice meditation room which i love very much. Feel free to email us at if you feel that we should add day spa stockholm thai enskede a spa in Stockholm to our guide. With its proximity to nature and the archipelago Yasuragi makes for the ultimate spa -weekend, with activities ranging from yoga to bootcamp and treatments, massage and swimming.


text:
Q: Android yuv_420_888 mp4 1080p output is graysale on some devices like S21 and green bars on S22 I am trying to make an mp4 video recoding, its not working on all android devices and I am getting grayscale recordings on S21 Android OS 12, S22 Green bars
Not sure where I went wrong, Following is all the possible code that could impact
What I am expecting is that it should work on all devices producing colored 1080p mp4 video and no green bars
ImageAnalysis Initilization
        val imageAnalysis = ImageAnalysis.Builder()
            // enable the following line if RGBA output is needed.
            // .setOutputImageFormat(ImageAnalysis.OUTPUT_IMAGE_FORMAT_RGBA_8888)
            .setOutputImageRotationEnabled(true)
            //.setTargetAspectRatio(quality.getAspectRatio(quality))
            .setTargetResolution(fhdResolution)
            .setBackpressureStrategy(ImageAnalysis.STRATEGY_BLOCK_PRODUCER)
            .build()

        imageAnalysis.setAnalyzer(executorService, ImageAnalysis.Analyzer { imageProxy ->

            // convert image to bytearray before closing
            val bytearray = ImageUtil.imageToNv21ByteArray(imageProxy)

            imageProxy.close()
            frameMetadata?.let {
                val metadata = it
                bytearray?.let {
                    trySend(
                        FrameWrapper(
                            it,
                            imageProxy.imageInfo,
                            imageProxy.width,
                            imageProxy.height,
                            state,
                            metadata
                        )
                    )
                }
            }
        })

imageToNv21ByteArray
    fun imageToNv21ByteArray(image: ImageProxy): ByteArray? {
        var data: ByteArray? = null
        if (image.format == ImageFormat.YUV_420_888) {

            data = yuv_420_888toNv21(image) // <=== this seems to be the best one

        } else {
            Timber.e("Unrecognized image format: %s", image.format)
        }
        return data
    }

yuv_420_888toNv21
private fun yuv_420_888toNv21(image: ImageProxy): ByteArray? {
        val yPlane = image.planes[0]
        val uPlane = image.planes[1]
        val vPlane = image.planes[2]
        val yBuffer = yPlane.buffer
        val uBuffer = uPlane.buffer
        val vBuffer = vPlane.buffer
        yBuffer.rewind()
        uBuffer.rewind()
        vBuffer.rewind()
        val ySize = yBuffer.remaining()
        var position = 0
        // TODO(b/115743986): Pull these bytes from a pool instead of allocating for every image.
        val nv21 = ByteArray(ySize + image.width * image.height / 2)

        // Add the full y buffer to the array. If rowStride > 1, some padding may be skipped.
        for (row in 0 until image.height) {
            yBuffer[nv21, position, image.width]
            position += image.width
            yBuffer.position(
                Math.min(ySize, yBuffer.position() - image.width + yPlane.rowStride)
            )
        }
        val chromaHeight = image.height / 2
        val chromaWidth = image.width / 2
        val vRowStride = vPlane.rowStride
        val uRowStride = uPlane.rowStride
        val vPixelStride = vPlane.pixelStride
        val uPixelStride = uPlane.pixelStride

        // Interleave the u and v frames, filling up the rest of the buffer. Use two line buffers to
        // perform faster bulk gets from the byte buffers.
        val vLineBuffer = ByteArray(vRowStride)
        val uLineBuffer = ByteArray(uRowStride)
        for (row in 0 until chromaHeight) {
            vBuffer[vLineBuffer, 0, Math.min(vRowStride, vBuffer.remaining())]
            uBuffer[uLineBuffer, 0, Math.min(uRowStride, uBuffer.remaining())]
            var vLineBufferPosition = 0
            var uLineBufferPosition = 0
            for (col in 0 until chromaWidth) {
                nv21[position++] = vLineBuffer[vLineBufferPosition]
                nv21[position++] = uLineBuffer[uLineBufferPosition]
                vLineBufferPosition += vPixelStride
                uLineBufferPosition += uPixelStride
            }
        }
        return nv21
    }

Mp4EncoderFrameFlowConsumer
class Mp4EncoderFrameFlowConsumer(var context: Context, callback: (videoStartTime: Long) -> Unit) : OpsisModule {
    var recording = false
    var pendingStart = false
    var encoder: VideoEncoder? = null
    var job: Job? = null
    var videoStartTime: Long? = null
    var callback:((videoStartTime: Long) -> Unit) = callback

    override fun start() {
        thread(start = true) {
            val frameFlow: FrameFlow = FlowManager.getFlow(FlowManager.FlowType.frame) as FrameFlow
            runBlocking {
                job = CoroutineScope(Job()).launch {
                    frameFlow.frameFlow().collect {
                        if (pendingStart) {
                            val wrapper = it
                            pendingStart = false
                            encoder?.let {
                                it.startEncoding(wrapper.width, wrapper.height)
                            }
                        }

                        if (recording) {
                            if (videoStartTime == null) {
                                videoStartTime = it.frameMetadata.timestamp
                                callback(videoStartTime!!)
                            }
                            addFrame(it)
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        Timber.d("Done encoder consumer")
    }

    override fun startRecording() {
        recording = true;
        Timber.d("Start Recording")

        encoder = VideoEncoder()
        pendingStart = true

    }

    override fun stopRecording(startFrame:Long, dir:File, callback: (result: File) -> Unit) {
        if (recording) {
            recording = false
            encoder?.let {
                try {
                    it.stopEncoding() { file ->
                        // copy file to directory
                        val newfile = File(dir.absolutePath + "/breeze_video.mp4")
                        if (file.exists()) {
                            file.copyTo(newfile)
                            file.delete()
                        }
                        callback(newfile)
                    }
                } catch (e: Exception) {
                    e.printStackTrace()
                }
            }
        }
    }

    override fun stop() {
        Timber.d("STOPPING ENCODER CONSUMER")
        job?.let {
            it.cancel()
        }
    }

    suspend fun addFrame(wrapper: FrameWrapper) {
        //   Timber.d("RECORD META ${wrapper.frameMetadata.timestamp} FRAME ${wrapper.info.timestamp}")
        encoder?.let {
            it.addFrame(wrapper.image)
        }
    }
}

VideoEncoder
class VideoEncoder() {
    var mOutputFile: File? = null
    private var mediaCodec: MediaCodec? = null
    private var mediaMuxer: MediaMuxer? = null
    private var mGenerateIndex = 0
    private var mTrackIndex = 0
    private var mNoMoreFrames = false
    private var mAbort = false
    private val _encodingFlow = MutableSharedFlow<ByteArray>(
        extraBufferCapacity = 20,
        onBufferOverflow = BufferOverflow.DROP_OLDEST
    )

    init {
        mOutputFile = File(Util.getFilePath("opsis_video", ".mp4"))

        thread(start = true) {
            runBlocking {
                CoroutineScope(Job()).launch {
                    _encodingFlow.collect {
                        mediaCodec?.let { codec ->
                            mediaMuxer?.let { muxer ->
                                try {
                                    val TIMEOUT_USEC: Long = 500000
                                    val inputBufIndex = codec.dequeueInputBuffer(TIMEOUT_USEC)
                                    val ptsUsec =
                                        computePresentationTime(mGenerateIndex.toLong(), FRAME_RATE)
                                    if (inputBufIndex >= 0) {
                                        val inputBuffer: ByteBuffer? =
                                            codec.getInputBuffer(inputBufIndex)
                                        inputBuffer?.let { buffer ->
                                            buffer.clear()
                                            buffer.put(it)
                                            try {
                                                codec.queueInputBuffer(inputBufIndex, 0, it.size, ptsUsec, 0)
                                            } catch (e: Exception) {
                                                e.printStackTrace()
                                            }
                                            mGenerateIndex++
                                        }
                                    }
                                    val mBufferInfo = MediaCodec.BufferInfo()
                                    val encoderStatus =
                                        codec.dequeueOutputBuffer(mBufferInfo, TIMEOUT_USEC)
                                    if (encoderStatus == MediaCodec.INFO_TRY_AGAIN_LATER) {
                                        // no output available yet
                                        Timber.e("No output from encoder available")
                                    } else if (encoderStatus == MediaCodec.INFO_OUTPUT_FORMAT_CHANGED) {
                                        // not expected for an encoder
                                        val newFormat = codec.outputFormat
                                        mTrackIndex = muxer.addTrack(newFormat)
                                        muxer.start()
                                    } else if (encoderStatus < 0) {
                                        Timber.e("unexpected result from encoder.dequeueOutputBuffer: $encoderStatus")
                                    } else if (mBufferInfo.size != 0) {
                                        val encodedData: ByteBuffer? =
                                            codec.getOutputBuffer(encoderStatus)
                                        if (encodedData == null) {
                                            Timber.e("encoderOutputBuffer $encoderStatus was null")
                                        } else {
                                            encodedData.position(mBufferInfo.offset)
                                            encodedData.limit(mBufferInfo.offset + mBufferInfo.size)
                                            muxer.writeSampleData(
                                                mTrackIndex,
                                                encodedData,
                                                mBufferInfo
                                            )
                                            codec.releaseOutputBuffer(encoderStatus, false)
                                        }
                                    }
                                } catch (e: Exception) {
                                    e.printStackTrace()
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    fun encodingFlow(): Flow<ByteArray> {
        return _encodingFlow
    }

    val isEncodingStarted: Boolean
        get() = mediaCodec != null && mediaMuxer != null && !mNoMoreFrames && !mAbort

    fun startEncoding(width: Int, height: Int) {
        mWidth = width
        mHeight = height
        val outputFile = mOutputFile!!
        val outputFileString: String
        outputFileString = try {
            outputFile.getCanonicalPath()
        } catch (e: IOException) {
            Timber.e("Unable to get path for $outputFile")
            return
        }
        val codecInfo = selectCodec(MIME_TYPE)
        if (codecInfo == null) {
            Timber.e("Unable to find an appropriate codec for " + MIME_TYPE)
            return
        }
        Timber.d("found codec: " + codecInfo.name)

        mediaCodec = try {
            MediaCodec.createByCodecName(codecInfo.name)
        } catch (e: IOException) {
            Timber.e("Unable to create MediaCodec " + e.message)
            return
        }
        val mediaFormat = MediaFormat.createVideoFormat(MIME_TYPE, mWidth, mHeight)
        mediaFormat.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_BIT_RATE, BIT_RATE)
        mediaFormat.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_FRAME_RATE, FRAME_RATE)
        mediaFormat.setInteger(
            MediaFormat.KEY_COLOR_FORMAT,
            CodecCapabilities.COLOR_FormatYUV420Flexible
        )
        mediaFormat.setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_I_FRAME_INTERVAL, I_FRAME_INTERVAL)
        mediaCodec?.let { codec ->
            codec.configure(mediaFormat, null, null, MediaCodec.CONFIGURE_FLAG_ENCODE)
            codec.start()
            mediaMuxer = try {
                MediaMuxer(outputFileString, MediaMuxer.OutputFormat.MUXER_OUTPUT_MPEG_4)
            } catch (e: IOException) {
                Timber.e("MediaMuxer creation failed. " + e.message)
                return
            }
            Timber.d("Initialization complete. Starting encoder...")
        }
    }

    suspend fun addFrame(frame: ByteArray) {
        _encodingFlow.emit(frame)
    }

    fun stopEncoding(callback: (result: File) -> Unit) {
        release()
        callback(mOutputFile!!)
    }

    private fun release() {
        mediaCodec?.let {
            try {
                it.stop()
                it.release()
            } catch (e: Exception) {
                e.printStackTrace()
            }
            mediaCodec = null
        }
        mediaMuxer?.let {
            try {
                it.stop()
                it.release()
            } catch (e: Exception) {
                e.printStackTrace()
            }
            mediaMuxer = null
        }
    }

    // from google:
    // https://android.googlesource.com/platform/cts/+/jb-mr2-release/tests/tests/media/src/android/media/cts/EncodeDecodeTest.java#1128
    private fun computePresentationTime(frameIndex: Long, framerate: Int): Long {
        return 132 + frameIndex * 1000000 / framerate
    }

    companion object {
        private const val MIME_TYPE = "video/avc" // H.264 Advanced Video Coding
        private var mWidth = 0
        private var mHeight = 0
        private const val BIT_RATE = 16000000
        private const val FRAME_RATE = 30 // Frames per second
        private const val I_FRAME_INTERVAL = 1
        private fun selectCodec(mimeType: String): MediaCodecInfo? {
            val numCodecs = MediaCodecList.getCodecCount()
            for (i in 0 until numCodecs) {
                val codecInfo = MediaCodecList.getCodecInfoAt(i)
                if (!codecInfo.isEncoder) {
                    continue
                }
                val types = codecInfo.supportedTypes
                for (j in types.indices) {
                    if (types[j].equals(mimeType, ignoreCase = true)) {
                        return codecInfo
                    }
                }
            }
            return null
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tourism, Travel & HospitalityResponsible & Sustainable Tourism
Responsible & Sustainable Tourism News Zambia
Botswana bans the use of foreign currency
Registration open for International Tourism Film Festival-Africa 2019
Mercer Survey: Cape Town, Joburg ranked least expensive cities in Africa
Emirates commits to reducing single-use plastic
Meetings Africa 2020 exhibitor registration now open
To protect us all, babies travelling overseas may need the measles shot at 6 months instead of 12
Nicholas Wood, Alexis Pillsbury and Jean Li-Kim-Moy
Africa hotel growth expected to remain positive despite economic uncertainty
WTM Africa launches inaugural travel and tourism awards
Visa-free travel to SA extends to 7 more countries
WTM Africa growth bodes well for 2020's travel, tourism trade markets
Radisson Blu forms three-way partnership to enhance sustainable forest management in Zambia
7 Jun 2019 | Save | Email | Print | PDF
Radisson Blu Hotel has partnered with Lusaka, SOS Children's Village and Plant a Million Zambia to better the community and environment in Zambia. The announcement was made on World Environment Day, 5 June 2019 in Lusaka and was supported by the Minister of Sport, Youth and Child Development Moses Mawere, Mister of Justice Given Lubinda, Mayor of Lusaka Miles Sampa, high commissioners, ambassadors, board members of SOS Children's Villages and Plant a Million Zambia.
Image Supplied.
The Radisson Hotel Group has, for many years, been dedicated to the group's responsible business initiatives from water saving, decreasing its carbon footprint to being active in the communities where the hotels are located.
To better the community and environment as a partnership, the three organisations will focus on three key pillars:
1. Education,
2. Economy and
3. Environment.
"This partnership is the next step in enhancing the training and understanding of the children and youths at the SOS Children's Village in the field of sustainable and ecological management of trees. Radisson Blu Lusaka is proud to sponsor Plant a Million Zambia so that they can create a Tree Nursery at the SOS Children's Village in Lusaka," said Johan Klang, Radisson Blu Hotel Lusaka general manager.
Adern Nkandela, manager of SOS Children's Village said that within this partnership the partners are giving children the opportunity to learn, educate and empower themselves and their families to be part of the change we all want to see in the world.
Mawere shared how the project will address government matters pertaining to deforestation, climate change, promotion of child education in environmental care, and improvement of the social and economic situation of society. "The Government of the Republic of Zambia remains committed to participating in this initiative because through such an initiative we can address climate change, deforestation and fight economic poverty through the use of planting trees."
Mawere further emphasised that during the launch of Plant a Million Zambia his Excellency the President Edgar Lungu addressed the concern for environmental degradation and the need to educate the citizens of Zambia, in this he explained that this should be included in schools around the country and teach them to appreciate the importance of trees our environment.
In conclusion, Mawere said: "The vision of this partnership is to create a tree-based economy in line with our 7th National Development plan whose aim is to diversify the economy away from copper.
"I am aware that this initiative will contribute to improving food security and income levels through the selling of products such as fruits, juice and oils. This will not only combat the climate challenge but will also ultimately contribute to the food security of the country."


Jenny Hawkins, PhD, is an assistant professor of economics. Her courses include Economic Analysis of Business Strategy, Law and Economics, Principles of Microeconomics, Economic Analysis of Labor Markets, and The Economy in the American Century SAGES Senior Capstone. Hawkins received her doctorate degree from the University of Arizona. She began her appointment at the Weatherhead School of Management in 2014.
Hawkins, J., Saini, V. (2016).
Returns to Indian Art during 2000-2013 (vol. 42, issue Spring 2016, pp. 302-310). Eastern Economic Journal.
Book Review: Predatory Pricing in Antitrust Law and Economics: A Historical Perspective Eastern Economic Journal.
Returns on Indian Art during 2000-2013 Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI) Working Paper Series.
Hawkins, J., Lazatti, N. (2011).
Gelbach, J. B., Hawkins, J. (2011).
Learning Fellows 2.0 Fellowship, UCITE. (2019).


text:
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Next:INFANTRY: Taking A deep Look
Murphy's Law: Golden Lies Too Good To Ignore
April 5, 2009: The mass media were embarrassed recently when someone did the math and revealed that the hot headline "90 Percent of Illegal Guns In Mexico Come From The U.S." turned out to be false. However, the real story was not that the actual number was 17 percent. Nor was it that the "90 percent" number came from someone (accidentally or purposely) who misread the data (90 percent of the guns identified as of U.S. manufacture were, using their serial numbers, indeed traced back to the U.S., and not some other country they had legally been exported to.) The real story was that there were so many sources of illegal weapons in Mexico, with the U.S. being one of the more difficult places to get weapons from. It's much easier to get a load of weapons in via ship, in a container labeled as something else. Port officials in Mexico are easier to bribe, than U.S. or Mexican border guards. South America is a magnet for international gun runners, many of them now swing by Mexico regularly, to take orders and make deliveries.
The mass media is under enormous pressure to report startling and "competitive," news. Dramatic headlines have, for over a century, been the key to success in the media business. While most reporters believe their job is simply to report what happens, as accurately as they can, editors know better. Accurate reporting loses out to sensationalistic reporting every time. Thus we like to say that, at least when it comes to long term accuracy, no pundit survives contact with a historian.
Editors also rely on the fact that most consumers of mass media news do not revisit old stories to see how accurate they were. Historians, however, do that all the time. The war in Iraq was a good recent example of good headlines beating out the facts. In early 2003, it was obvious to anyone who had any knowledge of military, and Iraqi, history, that the invasion of Iraq would be over quickly. It was also no secret, to historians, that the Sunni Arab minority that had been running the country for centuries, would not give up easily. The troops you don't hear much about (civil affairs and Special Forces) knew what they had to do to deal with the Sunni Arab attempts to regain power. Even though the Sunni Arab terror campaign was largely suicidal to their cause, those with knowledge of the region, knew that self-destructive behavior is all-too-common in the region.
You could see the headline hunting at work in how the mass media covered the initial invasion. All you heard were predictions of hard fighting, heavy casualties and stalemate. More accurate predictions weren't rocket science. All you had to do was note that the Iraqis had a dismal track record against professional armies and would not be able to stand up to a well trained and equipped force. And this should not be a new development for anyone who carefully covered the 1991 Gulf War. Back then the favorite media fright phrase was the million man, battle hardened Iraqi desert army. But it was a matter of public record that the Iraqis had, at most, about 700,000 troops. The Iraqis had just recently fought an eight year war with Iran, and most Iraqi veterans of that desperate fight were battle scarred, not battle hardened. This was widely reported at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, but quickly forgotten by most reporters. Lastly, the Iraqis had not fought that war in the desert, but in marshlands and mountains. You only needed a map to confirm that. Thus the phrase, "million man, battle hardened Iraqi desert army", was an excellent example of scary, but misleading, reporting. Three misleading bits of information in one sound bite. And that example was but one of many. But since few people took a close look at that misleading phrase, or much of the other misleading reporting, everyone was ready to accept a new blizzard of sensationalism just thirteen years later.
The rapid collapse of Sunni Arab resistance in the 2004 battle of Fallujah should not have been a surprise to most people, but it was. American troops have already fought several urban battles in Iraq and the results have always been one-sided. The reasons why, including the fact that successful urban warfare tactics were first developed by American troops during World War II, were out there. But pointing that out did not create a career enhancing headline.
That said, there is some good news. All that Internet access has forced the mass media to get a little less sensationalistic, and to pay attention to what the many people who are actually at the scene, are reporting on the web. Of course, all that new information is sometimes simply used as the basis for another sensationalistic, and misleading headline grabber story. There is some progress, but not a lot of change. News is, after all, a very competitive business.
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PHILIPPINES: Showdown On Jolo
INFANTRY: Taking A deep Look
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