[Wolfstar]

President Bush stands with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the Office of the Government Cabinet Room Friday. Vietnam's government structure is common throughout much of the world: a president who fills the ceremonial head of state role and a prime minister who holds the real executive power. The man in this photo with GWB is the real power in Vietnam.

[Wolfstar]

As a counterpoint to the glitter surrounding the APEC summit, I thought I'd post this reminder that Vietnam is a communist country. It is struggling to follow the current red Chinese model of economic liberation with government and social restriction. It is a model that not only can and will in China, but it is one that the Chinese have practiced in one form or another throughout their two millennia history. Whether or not it will work elsewhere remains to be seen.

Cattle graze on the outskirts of Hanoi. (In this pic, Hanoi looks much like San Francisco of about a century ago, before the 1906 earthquake.)

[Eric Blair 2084]

Caption (or thought bubble) over their heads...

"Gosh, this job is tough. Obesity crisis in my country, fast food, pro life...uuuhhh" George Bush

"Oh yeah, I'm wearing bamboo underwear, my citizens are starving, and they would beat a PETA wacko over the head with an anvil to get a Whopper with Cheese."