Word: vietnamization
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...agency's officers in Vietnam who understood hostile interrogations were long retired. In the post-Cold War era spying had become a relatively genteel occupation - the best intelligence was obtained through persuasion rather than coercion. New CIA recruits were even counseled against using blackmail because the information it produced couldn't be relied upon. So it shouldn't come a surprise when we hear self-confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month. The CIA interrogator, who was once my colleague, knew nothing about the cumulative effect of the practice, or if there...
...Lebanese life as well. With the cooperation of both Hizballah and the United States, the Lebanese have begun modernizing an armed forces so weak and poorly-equipped that when it tried to put down a jihadist uprising in 2007, it had to hand roll bombs off of vintage Vietnam-era helicopters. In the past, such a weak Lebanese army was in the best interest of all the major regional players - from Iran and Syria to Israel and the U.S. - who used the country as a battlefield to settle their own scores. But there is an emerging consensus on all sides...
...pressure on Vietnam to proceed as planned is enormous, says Carl A. Thayer, a Vietnam expert who teaches at the University of New South Wales' Australian Defense Force Academy. Vietnam needs to trade with China, the world's third-largest economy, to survive. Thayer acknowledges that no Chinese company operates independently of the government. "If you go up far enough you will find a military or a security connection," he says. "But Chinese occupation? I don't believe that...
...Some of the problems are of Vietnam's own making, observes Thayer. The country has become increasingly dependent on foreign direct investment to buoy its economy. Last year, overseas investors sunk a record $11.5 billion into Vietnam. China last year had 73 investment projects worth $334 million in the country. But in the wake of the global recession, foreign direct investment plummeted 70% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same time period last year...
...Hanoi has been calling for increased investment, and is even more desperate for external cash infusions now that its economy has flatlined. Vietnam has also racked up a massive trade deficit with China. As more Chinese companies venture across the border and sink millions into new investment projects, Hanoi can't dictate all the terms. Nor can they just close the spigot. "The Vietnamese have to be careful of what they wish for," says Thayer...