Re: Thanks & misc

[Tuan V Nguyen <t.nguyen@garvan.unsw.edu.au>]

Hi anh Huy and folks,

>Well, the Frogs have always hated the Brits (you call them the Toms, don't
>you, anh Tuan?) for thrashing them in almost all wars. But it's true,
>Britain's economy is smaller than Italy's or California's :-(. 

	We call them Pommy!

	The Poms are very pround of themselves. They do not 
like to take Australian citizenship, although they want to 
live in the country. They are famous for racism here too. 
When you talk about the pomps, they are almost synonymous 
to racists. I, personally, do not have any problem with the 
Pomps, but I do not like nor forget Thatcher's behaviour 
toward VN in the 80s.


>On Thatcher: 
>
>She often made a big speech on standing up against `thugs'. Yeah, John Pilger
>did a doccumentary and wrote some articles which `showed' that the SAS
>taught the KR some explosive techniques. Whitehall neither denied nor
>confirmed this. The anti-Pilger people claimed he is incompetent. Thatcher
>is rightwing, but I think she is principled, decent by normal standards,
>you get what you see, and I don't think she is racialist. 

        Pilger is a controversial figure. He likes to 
tackle big issues, not small ones and this often lands him 
into trouble. Personally, I do not think he is incompetent. 
The fact that he got a prestigious award for journalist of 
the year (or something like that) speaks loudly about his 
talent. I think he is a left-winger, but I do admire him 
for standing up to big guys and "the establishment". He is 
also sympathetic toward VN.


>Tony Blair
>is ostensibly leftwing, but he is insincere, unprincipled, opportunistic,
>hypocritical. You know, my dad works in an office in Islington library,
>Blair and his wife use the library, when they come to the library
>they greet the white members of staff but not the non-white ones.
>They only ever speak to the non-white members of staff when they ask for 
>something. Well, Blair is a good salesman, but it makes me sad that a 
>salesman might have the honour of winning power from the Conservatives.

        Oh! this is interesting to me. Here, in Australia, 
everyone seems to think that he is a man who is capable of 
leading Britain into the 21st century. Well, racial 
prejudice is present in both sides of politics. In 
Australia, John Howard is on the Conservative side and is 
still calling England his mother (exaggerated a little 
bit!) has a history of against Asian immigration and 
Vietnam. On the other hand, among Labour fellows, who are 
supposed to be friend of the minority, also aligned with 
extremist groups to attack Asian people. So, I am not that 
surprised about Blair's attitude toward Asian people.

>I have always voted Labour. 

	Good on you!


	Tuan

Ps.     Ho^m nay no'i nhie^`u qua'. DDa^y la` the last message nhe .