Vietnamese government lose the online plot

I've long been a subscriber to the excellent Intellasia news service. Today I received a message that the web driven news service is under attack from the Vietnamese authorities. Intellasia Director Peter Leech, whom I have met on a number of occasions, writes a reply to an article in An Ninh Thu Do,

"Despite the fact that Intellasia has over the years promoted Vietnam as a safe and good destination for foreign investors, balanced news reporting that gives all sides to any story is banned. Intellasia has always endeavoured to present a fair picture of what is happening in Vietnam during the good and lean times over the years. But now that the country has joined the WTO, things have suddenly reverted ominously."

You've got to wonder what the Vietnamese government's agenda is at the moment what with their pathetic attempt to amend the press law and censor blogging and now this latest moronic attack against probably the best English language resource for investors and news junkies interested in Vietnam. A phrase, including the words 'shooting' and 'foot', comes to mind... Read the full article. And for those interested - and it looks as though a Vietnamese translation might be needed Ethan - here is an excellent guide to how to blog anonymously.

UPDATE: through the email ether... "Interesting [Peter] used same reference to large feet and projectiles when we spoke this evening. Guess you're not planning a visit anytime soon neither ?"

Technorati Tags: Vietnam, censorship, intellasia

Comments

[EthanZ]

Graham, the guide is available under Creative Commons attribution - if anyone wants to translate it into Vietnamese, they're more than welcome. And I'm looking for someone who might fund that translation - it's one of our priority languages right now...

[Graham]

OK - let me see if I can help.

[Binh]

Human rights my ass. Western businesses don't give a rat's ass about human rights, that's why the majority of their toys and clothes and gadgets are made in China. If the labor is cheap, those businesses won't hesitate to invest in VN with the implicit understanding that the Vietnamese government will crack down on anyone who tries to undermine the authority of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. If white people in the West are really that serious about human rights and democracy, stop buying the fucking merchandises made in countries with a lower standard 'democracy'.
White people loves to talk about democracy and shit but when it's time to act, they always check their pockets to see how much bringing democracy to the world is gonna cost them. After all, they do want that new sexy high-def flatscreen TV and the sexy high-def DVD to go with it.

[Lien]

Think I can give you a hand, so can you tell me more about that, how much copy need to be translate, how much time we have and what that's about. Email me at the above address.