In Washington, the talk is all about Iraq as Viet Nam, right down to the aging hippies and over the hill Hollywood stars reliving their glory days of rebellion.
The irony is that none of the aging protesters have bothered to check on what’s actually going on in Viet Nam these days.
But here in Asia, the news is that Viet Nam, after facing a major famine in the 1990’s, did a turn around from communism and copied China’s capitalistic economic policies. The result is one of the fastest expanding economies in the world, with double digit growth and increasing prosperity for it’s people. For example, in 1990, 51% of it’s people earned less than a dollar a day; the number now is 8%.
And one of the reasons for this economic miracle ironically is the return of the Viet Kieu, the Vietnamese who fled the communists thirty years ago.
For example, Intel has invested in Viet Nam, and most recently has announced plans to build a $300 million (US) assembly and test facility to produce chips and computer parts.
Such investment in the IT industry has been helped by an influx of business savvy, English speaking IT professionals from California who went back to Viet Nam to set up business. This, with the help of young graduates from local Viet Namese IT savvy high school and university graduates, has made some predict Viet Nam will be the new Taiwan for IT.
The lessons of the Asian tigers continues to be lost on anti globalists and other "progressive" Western idealists, and should be a wakeup call to who are trying to rescue Africa using charity and direct government aid.
The irony is that China’s investments and loans to Africa might, by stimulating local businesses, in the long run produce a similar business oriented improvement of the daily lives of ordinary people than all the charities so beloved of the West.
The irony of all of this is not lost to this leftist leaning ex missionary.
(cross posted to Bloggernewsnet)
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