ent letters to the governments of Laos and Thailand urging that the project be shelved. Laos said in February that the Xayaburi would be the "first environmentally friendly hydroelectric project on the Mekong" and that will "not have any significant impact on the Mekong mainstream." "We are excited about this project," the statement said.
Vietnam's official media, in a rare disagreement with its communist neighbor, has blasted the dam, while scientists and environmental groups have called for its construction to be delayed for 10 years until more research is conducted. "It seems that countries of the lower Mekong still haven't learned lessons from the impact of the Chinese dams," Pianporn said. "Xayaburi is so important because it could set off the destruction of the lower Mekong."
Since 2007, there have been proposals to put up 11 mainstream dams in Cambodia and Laos. The Mekong River Commission, set up by the four Southeast Asian neighbors in 1995 to manage the river, has expressed serious reservations about Xayaburi. A study by the group recommended a 10-year moratorium on all mainstream dams, a stand supported by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a Southeast Asian trip earlier this year. The commission cited feared damage to migrations of between 23 and 100 fish species, among a host of other environmental problems.
Another MRC document showed nobody spoke in favor of the dam during public consultations this year in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, while many officials, academics and residents cited problems or lack of information about the project. No consultation was held in Laos. "If this project goes ahead it would be unimaginably irresponsible," said Ame Trandem of Rivers International. Somkiat Khuengchiangsa, who has spent his life along the river and heads The Mekong-Lanna Natural Resources and Culture Conservation Network, said governments are more interested in the economics of the project than its effect on residents. "Rivers are not the property of nations or groups of people. They belong to all mankind," he said.
Bob Dylan set for first-ever Vietnam show
By Ian Timberlake, AFP 8 April 2011
Legendary American musician Bob Dylan, whose songs became anthems of the 1960s anti-Vietnam War era, blows into Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for his first-ever concert in the communist nation. While the symbolism is stark for members of the West's ageing "counter-culture" generation, many in youthful Vietnam have never heard of the man who wrote "Blowin' in the Wind" and other songs of protest and struggle. "I don't know who he is," said Tran Trung Duc, 21, a Hanoi IT student.
Dylan's music helped to shape a Western generation that was in conflict with authority. But about half of Vietnam's population is under the age of 30 with no memory of the years of war with the United States. "They don't have any political connection with the era in which Bob Dylan became famous," sa
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