40 years on since the last US combat boots pulled out of Vietnam.
Today, Starbucks lady returns, luring passer-by amidst the town square. Senator Kerry is getting his confirmation while a 40-year-old Vietnamese couldn’t tell an American from a Russian.
Vietnam is just a name, like Iraq will be 4 decades from now.
Vietnam today has Vespas (Italy), Mercedes (Germany), Honda (Japan), Kia (Korea), Haier (China) and La Vache qui Rit (France).
I enjoy reading translated literature from all over the world (sometimes direct translation without going through English).
40 years on.
The cyclos used to be common. Now they are relics of the past, confined to tourist districts only. Machine is replacing muscles.
Then we buy gym memberships to exercise those sedentary muscles.
Talking about machine. News have been trickled in from BRIC nations: clubs from Russia and Brazil were burning (smoke machines for real, not just for special effects). The flip side of prosperity. Just like crime rates have been down in NYC (people went online instead of walking the streets. 60% search inquiries were porn).
Home alone with hormones.
It’s easy to look at a poverty-stricken nation and make moral judgment (while a convict in developed nations would wear suits-and-tie sitting on the defense side of the bench, trying to deceive the jury just as he had done with thousands before).
40 years of regress and progress (Watergate to Bill Gates).
Good-hearted folks can’t help but see poor ROI the US have spent on arms.
Russia at least refused to play Russian roulette, so instead of pushing ICBM‘s, its leader went private, pushing Pizza (Hut).
We are evolving into a post-hardware era: software and soft power.
Those with thought leadership and social influence rule. And not for long.
Think not of the pyramid model. Instead, it is a kaleidoscope which keeps changing (the good side of this is if we can reinvent ourselves, we can reappear multiple times, like associates in Cirque du Soleil).
I am glad to see Starbucks here. I heard it is also opened in Forbidden City.
If Friedman is right (two nations are least likely to be at war when both have a McDonald) then perhaps Vietnam and China can avert another conflict, over coffee. American quintessential Starbucks coffee.
Thang Nguyen 555 