Most of this story is about plans, and hopes and dreams. But the actual news is interesting, especially for the men who fought in and around that terrain in the Vietnam War. Click through for the entire piece.

A seemingly obscure agreement on traffic rights between Vietnam, Laos and Thailand now allows trucks to transit the three countries without having to unload cargo at border crossings for trans-shipment.

This will cut costs and time for regional trade, funding agencies say, and is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the region’s trade.

The formal opening of the East-West Corridor is part of a regional plan to break down barriers at borders across mainland South-East Asia, and later, beyond.

Overland transport time between Vietnam and Thailand has been shortened by the agreement for commercial trucks from Thailand and Vietnam to be able to enter each others’ territory for the first time to deliver and pick up goods.

Ceremonies were held last week at the two major border gates along the East-West Economic Corridor: between Lao Bao in Vietnam and Dansavanh in Laos, and between Savannakhet in Laos and Mukdahan in Thailand.

BBC

The humanitarian catastrophe in the eastern Congo seems to be reaching a climax, one of the many over the last fifty years.

The Congolese Army has fled from a rebel advance. The UN is using what forces it has, including helicopter gunships, to slow the rebels, Tutsis. North Kivu province, which borders Rawanda, has been the site of ethnic fighting for at least five years as a result of the genocidal acts that took place in Rawanda. The rebel factions are primarily made up of forces from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

A blogger from the region reports:

It’s total chaos in Goma. I am being told, through various phone calls and text messages, that the army have now laid down their weapons at Kibumba, 12 miles north of Goma, and are fleeing the rebels. In other words they have totally given up.

Some of the soldiers are running/driving/zooming on motorbikes through town towards the west, Sake, and they are going past my house.

The governor of North Kivu has apparently also left town.

Now there is only the UN peacekeeping forces stopping Nkunda’s rebels from taking Goma.

There is lots and lots of speculation right now – and panic. I will keep you posted.

Current News:

• Fighting in Congo Approaches Goma
• Red Cross Intends to Boost Medical Teams in Goma
• Humanitarian Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

I just completed an interview with a United States Army officer who was in Goma earlier in the year. I am trying to confirm what I heard him say. If I heard him correctly, it will be a shocker.

In Turkey, the military is the protector of the secular state. Since the Islamists have taken control of the government, there have been rumors of a coup by the military to restore secularism. From AP via the Houston Chronicle, here is a story about recent arrests of alleged plotters.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted party has been locked in a power struggle with secular groups supported by the military and other state institutions, including the judiciary.

Secularists see themselves as the defenders of the modern secular ideology espoused by Turkish national founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and oppose groups they say want to impose Islam on society.

Earlier in the week, the Constitutional Court heard allegations against the ruling party of anti-secular activity. The prosecutor wants the party disbanded, and Erdogan and 70 other party members banned from joining a political party for five years.

The prosecutor cited the government’s attempt to permit Islamic-style head scarves at universities — which the Constitutional Court last month ruled unconstitutional.

India is another country made up of a variety of peoples welded together by a European colonial power. Despite the major PR blitz of the last decade, it, too, threatens to fall apart. Here’s a story about one of the many cracks.

BBC

More than 15 years ago, Tombi studied advertising in Delhi. These days, he is putting his communication skills to a different use in the remote Indian state of Manipur.

At a hidden destination deep within waterlogged paddy fields and lush palm trees, Tombi (not his real name) meets me as I disembark from a small canoe. He is flanked by around 20 militants in camouflage uniforms bearing AK47s and other heavy arms, including a rocket propelled gun.

Tombi is now the publicity officer for a rebel group called the United National Liberation Front, aka the UNLF.

It’s one of more than 20 separatist outfits engaged in bloody conflict with the Indian army.

Manipur lies in India’s north-east, in an isolated area that borders Burma. The region is connected to mainland India by a narrow 22km (13.6 mile) strip of land known colloquially as the “chicken’s neck”, which passes along the border with China, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

The entire region is a melting pot of hundreds of tribes and ethnicities.

It is also racked by insurgency.

Continuing my series of stories about eunuchs in India, I find this:

BBC

Tax authorities in one Indian state are attempting to persuade debtors to paying their bills – by serenading them with a delegation of singing eunuchs.

Eunuchs are feared and reviled in many parts of India, where some believe they have supernatural powers. Often unable to gain regular employment, the eunuchs have become successful at persuading people to part with their cash.

The eunuchs will get a commission of 4% of any taxes collected.

In Bihar’s capital, Patna, officials felt deploying the eunuchs was the only way to prompt people to pay up.

“We are collecting taxes for the municipal corporation, collecting money from those who have not paid their taxes for years,” said Saira, one of the eunuchs on the streets of Patna. “Tax payment is necessary. When the corporation won’t have any money how will they look after the people?”

Accompanied by police officers, the eunuchs approached shopkeepers and large defaulters on their first foray into tax collection.

“Pay the tax, pay the Patna Municipal Corporation tax,” the eunuchs sang as they approached Ram Sagar Singh, who owed 100,000 rupees (£1,180), the AFP news agency reported. Mortified by the commotion, Mr Singh reportedly agreed to pay up within a week.

The eunuchs collected about 400,000 rupees on their first day of work, authorities said, sharing 16,000 rupees (£188) amongst themselves.

Bharat Sharma, a revenue officer, told the Associated Press agency he was pleased with the eunuchs’ work. “We are confident that their reputation and persuasive skills will come in handy,” he said.