Latest news with #SouthVietnamese
Arab Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Arab Times
Will prosperity come with peace?
During the presidency of John F. Kennedy, the United States, fearing the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, deployed military advisors to support South Vietnam, a Western ally, against North Vietnam, which was aligned with the communist regimes of China and the Soviet Union. The situation escalated following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964, when American ships were attacked in what many later considered a premeditated act. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor, was granted extensive military authority to confront North Vietnam. By 1969, U.S. troop numbers in Vietnam had increased to over half a million. However, faced with mounting human and financial losses, as well as increasing domestic and international opposition to the war, the United States was ultimately forced to withdraw. U.S. forces eventually withdrew, transferring defense responsibilities to the South Vietnamese government. Peace negotiations between North Vietnam and the United States began in Paris and lasted several years, ultimately culminating in a humiliating and unprecedented American withdrawal. Decades later, a similar scene would unfold in Afghanistan. The Vietnamese capital, Saigon, eventually fell to communist forces from the North. The toll on the United States was staggering. Over 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives in the last four years of the war, and the financial costs were immense. Upon their return, many veterans struggled with severe psychological trauma, and American society became deeply divided. Public opposition to the war intensified, triggering widespread social unrest. The war's failure also marked the end of President Johnson's political career. The Vietnamese had previously resisted invasions by France, then Japan, then France again, followed by the United States, and finally China. Despite the loss of five million of its citizens, Vietnam remained steadfast. During the final phase of the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, the United States lost over 58,000 soldiers, with more than 150,000 wounded. On the Vietnamese side, two million civilians and one million soldiers were killed. The war also witnessed widespread use of landmines, radioactive materials, and chemical agents whose harmful effects lingered for decades. According to a Harvard University study, the war resulted in ten million refugees, one million widows, 880,000 orphaned children, 362,000 children without one parent, and three million unemployed individuals. By the end of the war, inflation in Vietnam had skyrocketed to 900 percent. In the aftermath, Washington imposed a boycott on Vietnam and refused to deal with its communist government. However, the two countries began a slow process of normalization in the mid-1990s. The United States covers an area of approximately 10 million square kilometers, while Vietnam covers just 331,000 square kilometers. It was only half that size at the time it, being one of the poorest nations, went to war with America, which was the most powerful and wealthy nation in history. The struggles of Vietnam, South Africa, Algeria, and even Afghanistan stand as powerful examples of resilience in the face of overwhelming force. Similarly, the Palestinian resistance, in all its forms, offers valuable lessons that deserve careful study. Total surrender to Israel, as some advocates suggest, would bring consequences far more severe than many can imagine. Several Arab countries have normalized relations with Israel in hopes of achieving peace, cooperation, and prosperity. Yet, after more than two decades, these nations have seen little in the way of tangible benefits.
Eater
7 days ago
- Business
- Eater
Mission Pizza Spot Shuggie's Ditches the Trash Pie and That Bright Yellow Room
is the regional editor for Eater's Northern California/Pacific Northwest sites, writing about restaurant and bar trends, upcoming openings, and pop-ups for the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Denver. Shuggie's Trash Pie + Natural Wine will soon ditch its pizzas and change up its food offerings. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that owners Kayla Abe and David Murphy will temporarily close their popular restaurant on Saturday, August 16. During the closure time, the restaurant will undergo a light makeover, which includes reworking Abe's murals, painting the front room orange — a change from its current yellow — and adding a large fountain into the mix. But the biggest change will be to the menu. The restaurant launched in 2022 with a mission of sustainability, using pizza as a vehicle to use up irregular or surplus produce. Now, three years later, the Chronicle writes that the pizza 'started to feel limiting' to Abe and Murphy, and with the temporary closure, they're pulling most of the pies off the menu (the exception is a 'pizza-like' cacio e pepe 'pillow'). The restaurant will still maintain its sustainability mission, but with dishes like a 'schnitzel-esque bone-in boar chop' and 'steak frites three ways,' that will utilize beef heart or sweetbreads. The restaurant is expected to reopen in late August. More Asian grocery stores to open in the Bay Following the successful opening of Jagalchi in Daly City this past March, more specialty Asian grocery stores are set to debut this year. KRON reports that Filipino supermarket Seafood City opens its Daly City location on Thursday, July 31, at 1420 Southgate Avenue. The news outlet also reports that Japanese supermarket Osaka Marketplace will open a store at the Edgewater Place Shopping Center in Foster City this November, with a Pleasant Hill location also in the works. Muddy Waters Coffee House is being sold Valencia Street mainstay Muddy Waters may soon have a new owner. Mission Local reports that Hisham and Elham Massarweh, the owners behind the coffee shop, are in the process of selling the business to a familiar Mission face: Bissap Baobab owner Marcos Senghor and his business partner. Senghor confirmed the news to the outlet and said that the sale is still being worked out, but could be completed as early as August. Senghor said he hopes to bring beer and wine to the cafe, along with live entertainment and longer hours. Hết Sấy pops up in Oakland Oaklanders will get a chance to experience South Vietnamese food favorite Hết Sấy closer to home this weekend. Mahjong den 13 Orphans will host Hết Sấy at its downtown Oakland location on July 25 and 26; an Instagram post hyping the takeover promises individual menus for both the Baba's House restaurant on the ground floor and the speakeasy above. For the main restaurant, diners can expect items like banh mi with braised pork belly or bánh tằm bì, 'pintailed noodles' with shredded pork or mushrooms. RSVPs are required to get into the speakeasy and to view the exclusive Hết Sấy menu for the mahjong lounge. Eater SF All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Boston Globe
19-06-2025
- Boston Globe
The unwitting poster child of the Vietnam War has forsaken bitterness for grace
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Her name is Phan Thị Kim Phúc. Advertisement When I recently found myself in the Toronto area, where Kim Phúc has lived for more than 30 years, I reached out to her. We first spoke by phone for two hours. Having been used as a propaganda figure by the Vietnamese government for years after the war, she sought asylum in Canada in 1992. In that call, she spoke with clarity about June 8, 1972, when the South Vietnamese Air Force — and not, as was and is still wrongly believed, the US Air Force — dropped napalm on her village. Advertisement Kim Phúc was 9 years old. She remembers the blast and seeing the fire and watching civilians and Vietnamese soldiers burn to death. 'I lost my future. I lost my freedom. I lost my dream. I lost my hope,' she says of that day. Even now, after years of treatment, she is still in pain. Kim Phúc did not see who took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of her, but she believes Nick Út captured the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of her, despite She has identified the South Vietnamese squadron that dropped the napalm on her village, and she has spoken with living witnesses. Surviving veterans have given her a detailed timeline of the events that precipitated the bombing, for which they were ordered to clear sections of Tây Ninh province, notorious for housing Communist guerrilla fighters. They told her of their lasting shame over hitting civilians and fellow South Vietnamese soldiers as they fled a Cao Đài temple where Kim Phúc and others had been seeking refuge. But after all this time, one mystery remains. For 53 years, members of the unit have refused to reveal the name of the pilot who dropped the bomb. 'Why do you need his name?' they would say, reminding Kim Phúc that knowing it 'won't change anything.' They assured her: He feels guilty. He's in America. He became a vegetarian to atone for his sins. Advertisement While Kim Phúc respects the pilot's privacy, her greatest wish is to find him or his descendants. 'I do want to know who the pilot is — not because I'm angry,' she told me. 'I want to tell him: I survived. I forgave a long time ago. I don't hate you. I would give him a hug. He changed my life without knowing it.' She seeks neither justice nor publicity. Just a private meeting. Kim Phúc says she longs for one final opportunity for closure and, perhaps, to offer peace to someone — be it the pilot or a family member of his — who might still carry guilt. How and when did she find such equanimity? I needed to know. The morning after we spoke by phone, I joined Kim Phúc for her weekly Sunday service at Faithway Baptist Church in Ajax, an Ontario town about 45 minutes outside Toronto. Despite having been raised in the Cao Đài faith, which combines Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, among other spiritual beliefs and practices, Kim Phúc says she finally found the solace she craved when she discovered a copy of the New Testament in Saigon's central library. Against her family's wishes, she converted to Christianity. (Years later, her parents followed her.) So there I was in mid-May, sitting in the pews beside the now 62-year-old Kim Phúc and her 91-year-old mother, Nữ, who put on headphones as her son-in-law, Kim Phúc's husband, Toàn, translated the pastor's English sermon into Vietnamese. That morning's message touched on the themes of forgiveness and restoration. Advertisement 'War makes everyone a victim,' Kim Phúc told me many times. 'Even the ones we think are strong.' Her life embodies this truth. After resettling in Canada, she channeled her suffering into purpose as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and through Kim Foundation International, the nonprofit she founded in 1997 to support international projects that offer medical, living, and educational assistance to young victims of trauma. 'When I see children in war today, I feel their pain like it's mine,' she told me. 'I want to use my voice to help protect them — because I remember what it's like to be them.' When we discuss our home village — a place I've only visited and Kim Phúc's family was forced to leave as the Vietnam War raged — our connection grows. My father has told me that my uncle, Tân Thúc Hưng, a first lieutenant in the local defense forces, ate regularly at Kim Phúc's family's food stall. Over lunch after service, I asked her mother if she remembered him. 'Ông Hưng? Of course,' she said. 'He was practically family. I remember the last time I saw him. He died the next day.' That was in 1971. The details surrounding his death have never been clear to my family. We know it happened at a cantina or pool hall on the town's main street, where his duty in psychological operations was to win the hearts and minds of the people. As the story goes, the Viet Cong sent a child into the venue with a grenade disguised as something else. The explosion maimed or killed everyone present. I immediately wanted to call my dad to tell him: 'Someone else in this world remembers your beloved brother. She might have fed him his last meal.' Advertisement Meeting with Kim Phúc and her parents drove home to me the impossible choices of war: those of the South Vietnamese pilot following orders to stop Viet Cong atrocities; those of my uncle trying to protect his community; Kim Phúc's family's decision to feed even those who might kill them. Everyone was trying to survive forces beyond their control. Such fragmented memories, passed down through the generations, teach us that history lives in people — in food stalls, shared meals, and the quiet act of remembering someone loved and lost. The hard reality is that 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War, children still flee bombs across the world. We scroll past images of their suffering, numbed by the endless stream. Kim Phúc's story cuts through that numbness because she lived to tell what comes after the photograph: the choice between bitterness and grace. Now a mother and grandmother who still bears the scars of the napalm attack, she has refused to let trauma define her. While the world remembers her as the ultimate poster child of war, it's her will to forgive rather than seek vengeance that I will remember her for. She is so much more than the girl who ran from napalm and became the unwitting subject of a famous photo. Phan Thị Kim Phúc survived terror and chose inner peace.
TimesLIVE
08-06-2025
- TimesLIVE
Was it science, or performance art?
After the horrors of the Holocaust and World War 2, the field of social psychology was dominated by a need to understand what made ordinary people become monsters and allow themselves to be hypnotised by the murderous directives of maniacal psychopathic leaders. In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram, a Yale University professor influenced by the revelations of the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichman, conducted a controversial experiment to show how far those taking orders would go in service of the directives of their superiors. Subjects assigned the role of teachers to invisible students were ordered to administer increasingly dangerous levels of electric shocks and, despite some qualms, nearly all did as they were told. Milgram's work was later used to explain the horrific events of the Mai Lai massacre, which took place during the Vietnam War in 1968, and saw US soldiers massacre unarmed women and children in a South Vietnamese village...
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First Post
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
History Today: How the haunting image of ‘Napalm Girl' was taken during Vietnam War
On June 8, 1972, the photograph of a naked, frightened child running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War was taken. The girl in the image, later recognised globally as the 'Napalm Girl', was Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The photo went on to become one of the most iconic anti-war images of the 20th century. Also on this day in 1948, Air India operated its first international flight, connecting Mumbai to London read more The child at the centre of the image, later known worldwide as the 'Napalm Girl,' is Phan Thi Kim Phuc. AFP/File Photo On June 8, 1972, a powerful photograph was taken that later became one of the most well-known anti-war images of the 20th century. The image, officially named 'The Terror of War,' is better remembered by the nickname 'Napalm Girl,' referring to the nine-year-old girl at the centre, seen running naked and severely burned. Also on this day in 1949, George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' was released. Its character 'Big Brother,' a symbol of constant surveillance and strict government control, became a lasting reference in political conversations around the world. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Further, Air India launched its first international flight on this day in 1948. The journey was from Mumbai to London. If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers' ongoing series, History Today, is your one-stop destination to explore key events. Let's take a look at these events: 'Napalm Girl' photo was clicked A haunting photograph of children running from a napalm strike became one of the most powerful images not only of the Vietnam War, but of the entire 20th century. It was on this day in 1972 that the picture of a terrified, naked child fleeing a napalm attack during the war was taken. The photograph, shot on June 8 near the village of Trang Bang, showed the horror and chaos of a conflict that, by some estimates, killed over a million civilians. The child at the centre of the image, later known worldwide as the ' Napalm Girl ,' is Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Now 59, she lives in Canada and has served as a Unesco Goodwill Ambassador since 1994, advocating for children impacted by war. On the day the image was captured, South Vietnamese troops were trying to retake Trang Bang from communist forces. After days of clashes, the South Vietnamese air force sent Skyraider planes to bomb what they believed were enemy targets. But civilians, including Kim Phuc and her family, were still inside a nearby Buddhist temple. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD When napalm bombs were dropped, panic spread. Kim Phuc, her clothes burning, tore them off and ran towards Route 1. Associated Press (AP) Photographer Nick Ut and other journalists were already waiting near the village, expecting fresh fighting. The photo quickly became a powerful reminder of the war's toll on civilians and helped spark global protests against the conflict. George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' was released On this day in 1949, George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' was published as a powerful warning about the dangers of totalitarian rule. The novel left a strong mark on readers with its bleak view of a future where citizens are watched constantly, and free thought is crushed by state control. Concepts like Big Brother and the Thought Police are now widely used to describe threats to privacy and personal freedom. 'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.' George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty Four was published #onthisday in 1949, but did you know it was nearly titled The Last Man in Europe? — Penguin Books UK (@PenguinUKBooks) June 8, 2019 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Orwell wrote the book after reflecting on the rise of both Nazism and Stalinism. The story paints a grim picture of a society where thinking differently leads to torture, constant surveillance is the norm, and government propaganda overrides truth. It brought Orwell lasting fame, with its portrayal of a world where language is manipulated and dissent is punished, serving as a lasting reminder of the dangers of unchecked power. When Air India's first international flight took off On this day in 1948, Air India launched its first international flight from Mumbai (then Bombay) to London, with stops in Cairo and Geneva. The flight departed on June 8 and reached London on June 10, carrying 35 passengers. Among them were JRD Tata and Nawab Amir Ali Khan of Jamnagar. Air India's first international flight from Mumbai. Image: Air India The journey was flown by Captain KR Guzdar in a 40-seater Lockheed Martin L-749 Constellation aircraft. The plane was named Malabar Princess. Though Air India already had domestic flying experience, international operations required extra planning. Special staff were appointed, new teams were hired, and offices were opened in Cairo, Geneva, and London to support the route. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This Day, That Year 632: Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam and the Muslim community, died in Medina. 1867: Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary. 1936: The Indian State Broadcasting Service was officially renamed All India Radio. 2002: Serena Williams won her first French Open title by defeating her sister Venus Williams in the final. 2009: The United Nations observed World Oceans Day for the first time.
