Do As We Say, Not As We Do I was checking my LinkedIn feed and noticed a Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) post about its new partnership with Columbia University. The phrase that jumped off the screen was Understand the Past, which I happen to take seriously. Thinking about the ill-fated appointment of self-confessed war criminal … Continue reading Business as Usual at Fulbright University Vietnam
bob kerrey
“Nothing is Impossible” Finds It Impossible to Tell the Truth About Vietnam
Here's my latest for CounterPunch. Thanks to Rutgers University Press for the review copy. Better late than never. Here are some excerpts, including the two paragraphs followed by a section entitled The Measure of the Man. Enjoy (or not)! Just before the Lunar New Year, I finally received my review copy of Nothing is Impossible: America’s … Continue reading “Nothing is Impossible” Finds It Impossible to Tell the Truth About Vietnam
Former US Ambassador to Viet Nam Chooses Expediency Over Integrity Time and Again
Here's my latest for CounterPunch. Think of it as a follow-up to this August 2021 essay. Happy reading! Shalom (שלום), MAA
Dishonor by Association: A Red, White, and Blue Object Lesson
Those who choose to side with the victims and tormented over the victimizers and the tormentors are often the target of scorching criticism from those who accept and support the system as is, be they people of power, or the uncaring legion of the like-minded. This essay is about a former US ambassador to Viet … Continue reading Dishonor by Association: A Red, White, and Blue Object Lesson
“Beijing’s Expanding Shadow: Choices for Vietnam”
Screenshot of the webinar On Saturday, 10 October, Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) organized a webinar entitled Beijing's Expanding Shadow: Choices for Vietnam in which Murray Hiebert, one of whose titles is Senior Associate (Non-resident), Southeast Asia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), spouted the prevailing anti-China party line and hawked his new book … Continue reading “Beijing’s Expanding Shadow: Choices for Vietnam”
Coming to Terms with the Past by Honoring Historical Truth: The Case of Fulbright University Vietnam
Here's my latest essay about Fulbright University Vietnam. Below is an excerpt from the conclusion to whet your appetite (or not). Education is one way to heal the past, assuming it is objective, comprehensive, and truthful. FUV has yet to live up to its billing as a university with a mission grounded in the liberal … Continue reading Coming to Terms with the Past by Honoring Historical Truth: The Case of Fulbright University Vietnam
Expanding the Fulbright Legacy in Vietnam (?)
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so. -Mark Twain (1835-1910) This was the title of a 2018 article written by Mary Beth Marklein (MBM) for Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning (Volume 50, 2018 - Issue 1, pp. 63-70). The online … Continue reading Expanding the Fulbright Legacy in Vietnam (?)
Fulbright University Vietnam & Moral Leadership?
Given events of the past few years, these are two phrases that mix like oil and water. Think textbook cognitive dissonance. Or a feeble attempt at rehabilitation in the eyes of the public, an audacious means of gaining the moral high ground from the morass of historical tone deafness and gross insensitivity. My first reaction … Continue reading Fulbright University Vietnam & Moral Leadership?
The Importance of Speaking Up About “Things That Matter”
After telling an acquaintance who is well-known in Viet Nam circles that I intended to write about the rhetorical bombshells that Thomas Vallely dropped in an early 2018 interview about Bob Kerrey and Fulbright University Vietnam, he warned me about possible backlash. In case you're just tuning in, Vallely is Senior Adviser for Mainland Southeast Asia … Continue reading The Importance of Speaking Up About “Things That Matter”
“PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Harvard University’s professor”
When I saw this headline, I was curious to see who the Harvard professor was. It was none other than Thomas Vallely, who is not a professor but an administrator with neither an academic appointment nor a Ph.D. More importantly, this is the same Thomas Vallely (TV) who made a series of cruel and insensitive … Continue reading “PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Harvard University’s professor”
An International Educator in Viet Nam 
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