Who is right?

Bellamy: The Magpies want me to fail

Bellamy believes Newcastle are bitter that he has ended up at Liverpool following his acrimonious exit from the Magpies to Blackburn.
Bellamy was called a "little upstart" by Newcastle coach Terry McDermott after the pair clashed following Liverpool's 2-0 win over the Magpies.
"There was always going to be something from Newcastle but it doesn't bother me. Not at all," said striker Bellamy.
"I was half expecting something because my being at Liverpool is hurting them."
He added: "This is the club I have always wanted to play for and maybe there are people who are not too happy about that.
"I'm sure there are people there (at Newcastle) who don't want me to succeed here, because it reminds them every time.
"It was a ridiculously cheap fee I went to Blackburn for, it's not nice for me to be remembered for that.
"What was it, about £3.75m? That hurts. I know that but that is the game we play."
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez had defended Bellamy after McDermott's outburst.
McDermott said: "Everywhere he has been he has been in bother and it is starting again at Liverpool."
But Benitez responded: "Never mind Craig's history, his conduct since joining us has been perfect for me."
McDermott sparked the row when he revealed how Bellamy interrupted a conversation with referee Mark Halsey after the final whistle.
He said: "I was talking to the referee. It had nothing to do with anyone else and I take exception to little upstarts like him.
"I do not like it when people like to think they are bigger than clubs. When he was at Newcastle, he thought he was a big cheese.
"There was no need for it at all and he was 100 per cent out of order."
But Benitez launched a passionate defence of the Welsh international he signed from Blackburn in a £6m summer deal.
He said: "You have to analyse what he does on the pitch, and all I saw on Wednesday was a player closing down defenders in the last minute to protect our lead.
"Off the pitch, I promise you he is really focused on doing his best for us. I spoke to him about his background before he signed for us, and I could tell he sensed this might be his last opportunity at a big club.
"He wants to make the most of it and that shines through in every training session.
"Craig has a good relationship with his team-mates too. He has no problems with anyone and has settled in really well.
"He is desperate to do well for Liverpool and you cannot say anything about him. Maybe there are issues with Newcastle from his time there, but it was nothing serious."

Iwan Roberts defends put-upon Bellamy

Former Wales striker Iwan Roberts says Alan Shearer was wrong to warn Newcastle United that it would be a mistake to re-sign Craig Bellamy.
Wales and Liverpool striker Bellamy has been linked with a move back to St James' Park despite leaving the Magpies two years ago after a turbulent time.
"It's a bit of a shock that he (Shearer) has come out in the papers and hammered Craig," Roberts said.
"When Craig was in the Newcastle side they were a much, much better team."
Roberts played with Bellamy, 27, both at club level with Norwich City and with the Welsh national side.
He recognises Bellamy's fiery temperament, which led to bust-ups with then Newcastle boss Graeme Souness, coach Terry McDermott and also an alleged criticism of Newcastle and England legend Shearer.
"They (Shearer and Bellamy) have had their differences in the past, incidents have happened," Roberts told BBC Sport Wales.
"Obviously Shearer still feels very bitter about that, but it's not like him to criticise somebody in public.
"It is a hammering to come out with a statement like that, that he had to go out and get drunk when he heard Newcastle could be coming back in for Craig."
New Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is still seeking to strengthen his squad and is not scared of taking on players who have had disciplinary problems at other clubs.
The former Bolton boss paid £5.8m for Joey Barton last week despite a list of misdemeanours at Manchester City.
Bellamy has his own list of troubles, the latest an alleged fracas with Liverpool team-mate John Arne Riise in February at a training camp.

Shearer unleashes Bellamy attack

Alan Shearer has warned Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce not to bring Craig Bellamy back to his former club.
Allardyce has been linked with a move for Liverpool's 27-year-old striker, who left St James' Park two years ago.
Bellamy had bust-ups with then boss Graeme Souness and also allegedly criticised Newcastle legend Shearer.
Shearer said: "Has no-one learned their lesson about signing him? If only Rafa Benitez had rung me I would have told him exactly what he was like."
Shearer added: "I was having a few days away in France with my former Newcastle team-mates Gary Speed and Steve Harper and the wives and I picked up the newspaper. I was having a fantastic day.
"But when I read Bellamy for Newcastle I thought I would definitely have to have another drink. I had several. I hope there's nothing in it."
Bellamy also had a tunnel bust-up with Newcastle coach Terry McDermott after Liverpool's 2-0 win at Anfield last season.
Shearer said: "It would be interesting, especially with Terry McDermott still at the club. There was a scuffle at Anfield when Craig and Terry were coming down the tunnel."

Thierry Henry's final salute to the Gunners

Thierry Henry is confident Arsenal still have a bright future despite his impending move to Barcelona.
The 29-year-old France striker, who has been with the Gunners since 1999, is on the brink of completing a £16m switch to the Nou Camp.
Henry told Arsenal's website: "I don't believe what everybody is saying about the club collapsing, having a lack of players and everyone leaving.
"The team here is growing and there is some amazing talent."
Henry pointed to the emergence of young midfielder Cesc Fabregas since Patrick Vieira left for Juventus in 2005 as proof that Arsene Wenger's side can cope without him.
This is solely my decision, no-one has forced me to do anything, Henry said.
"I do think this is the right time for Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner, who is coming back from Birmingham, to shine," Henry added.
"Hopefully they will do it. As soon as you know they can do it, they will forget about me, that's the way it is.
"When Patrick left everyone was devastated, including me and then after that a little guy came around called Cesc Fabregas and, although I didn't agree with it, everyone started saying 'who needs Patrick Vieira'?
"Cesc is a world-class player, Robin van Persie is a world-class player, hopefully Adebayor will become a world-class player, Tomas Rosicky is a world-class player, Jens Lehmann is a world-class player, Kolo Toure and William Gallas are world-class players. You can go through the whole squad like that.
"I will now become an Arsenal fan and will be looking at every result. I am sure the team will be successful."
Henry also gave a personal tribute to Gunners fans for their support during his eight years at the club.
"I would like say to you that you have been tremendous for me and I really do appreciate it," he explained.
"I am shaking as I say this. I will always remember you and I will have you in my head and my heart.
"I wanted to reassure you that I always gave 100% here. I hope you appreciate what I did here because I appreciate what you did for me.
"I grew as a man and became a better football player - I will always take that with me no matter what happens.
"Arsenal will be in my blood as well as my heart. I will always, always, always remember you guys. I said I was going to be a Gunner for life and I did not lie because when you are a Gunner you will always be a Gunner.
"The club is in my heart and will remain in my heart forever."

Vietnam forges ahead with US ties

Vietnam forges ahead with US ties
By Giang Nguyen BBC, Vietnamese service

Nguyen Minh Triet has made history this week as the first Vietnamese president to visit the United States since the war ended in 1975.
The trip marks a high point in the increasingly cordial relationships between the former enemies.
It also has huge implications for Vietnam at home and abroad.
But the president will be hoping that US concerns over human rights in his country do not overshadow his visit.
Things have changes since Mr Triet was a Viet Cong fighter in the jungle - on this trip, he will be received at the White House.
His efforts to promote trade and attract more US investment in Vietnam have proved popular in American business circles, but there is a lot riding on the visit back in Vietnam.
Capitalist reforms
A renowned reformist and business-friendly pragmatist, Mr Triet, 64, and his supporters have spent years building up their political credentials by following a policy of economic liberalisation while holding on to their communist principles.
If they had one, their motto would probably be something like, "the bigger the market, the better" - not just for the party, but also for government officials and their families.
Wealth is no longer a badge of shame in Communist Vietnam, and last year the government passed legislation allowing its members to be have unlimited involvement in private business, thus dismissing a major piece of socialist dogma.
The downside is that corruption is rampant, and the richest people in Vietnam are often those who are able to use their privileged access to information to manipulate the property market and export quotas, and who acquire millions of dollars-worth of shares in newly privatised enterprises.
This week, a former Vietnamese deputy trade minister, Mai Van Dau, was given a 12-year sentence for bribery relating to US textile quotas.
His son, 35 year-old Mai Thanh Hai, will serve a five-year sentence for using his father's influence to extort $35,000 from garment companies, and for using a fake university diploma to secure his ministry post.
Domestic support
A successful visit to the US will further strengthen Mr Triet's vision of a strong, authoritative Vietnam supported by Washington and international financial institutions.
Experts such as J Peter Pham of the James Madison University in Virginia also believe the US has a unique opportunity to make Vietnam a valuable ally in possible future attempts by Washington to control Chinese expansion.
We want the US government to engage more with Hanoi to give them more chance to relax political freedoms Thai Van Tran Californian State Assembly
The visit to the White House will certainly help Mr Triet weaken the so-called Northern Faction, which is keen on a closer relationship with China and resistant of efforts to reform the party apparatus.
The group is reportedly run from behind the Vietnamese political scene by retired leaders such as Do Muoi and Le Duc Anh.
It is represented by the party's Secretary General Nong Duc Manh, who made a friendly visit to Cuba early this month.
Mr Triet clearly hopes that a strong partnership with the US will guarantee political stability for Hanoi in the years to come, and give international legitimacy to the ruling Communist Party.
Such legitimacy could, however, be used as cover when harassing political dissidents.
Human rights concerns
Mr Triet knows that making friends in the US is not easy, and that international criticism of Vietnam's human rights situation will complicate the talks.
The Vietnamese-American community has already staged demonstrations against the visit, and recently US President George Bush has been more outspoken than ever about developing democracy in the world.
He went as far as mentioning Vietnam in a speech at the recent G8 summit in Germany, criticising the state authorities for rolling back earlier "freedom".
In an unusual move designed to address public concerns, Mr Bush invited four American-based Vietnamese human rights activists to the White House in May.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Dick Cheney received letter from Vietnamese dissident Hoang Minh Chinh in Hanoi as recently as 14 June.
Recently, Hanoi was pressured by Washington into releasing Nguyen Vu Binh, a dissident journalist, and Le Quoc Quan, a lawyer who had campaigned for political pluralism.
Pragmatic approach
But there has been a marked change in the mood of the exiled Vietnamese.
Many now believe forging business links with Vietnam is a priority.
Trinh Trung, a businessman in Virginia, told the BBC's Vietnamese service: "Yes, they can talk about human rights and religious freedom every year, but we keep doing business with Vietnam. Freedom is about people's free choice after all."
Others, like Thai Van Tran, a Vietnamese-born member of the Californian State Assembly, want to promote trade with Hanoi but also want to keep democracy and human rights high on the agenda.
"We want the US government to engage more with Hanoi to give them more chance to relax political freedom," he said.
But some war veterans in Vietnam are concerned about Hanoi's attempts at a rapprochement.
Thanh Thao, a former Viet Cong and poet renowned for his democratic views, warned the leadership not to make friends with Washington too fast and at all costs.
"We need a roadmap. We the Vietnamese are always in a rush to make friends," he said.
Talking on an overseas Vietnamese website to fellow writers, Thanh Thao said he wanted the Vietnamese to build a truly "free society" before engaging into a new relationship with the US.
Desire for change
While the Bush administration knows that it cannot ignore the voices of the two-million strong Vietnamese-American community in their dealings with Vietnam, it would be wrong to assume that Mr Bush and his successor will seek to change Vietnamese politics overnight.
Vietnam will remain a mono-party system in the years to come, but a closer relationship with the US will inevitably mean more American influence in the Vietnamese policy-making process.
And this is exactly what some of the reformists in Hanoi want.
Nguyen Dinh Luong, Vietnam's former chief negotiator at the WTO, said Vietnam needed to "increase Americanism" in its economy.
In other words, he said, Vietnam can only make the best out of US investments with a deep structural reform and a professional civil servants corps.
Despite the differing views on human rights, democracy and religious freedoms, there has never been so much support for developing mutual trade and a US engagement with Vietnam.

Bush hails growth in ties with Vietnam

Published: June 22 2007 23:23

Last updated: June 22 2007 23:23
US President George W. Bush on Friday hailed the rapid growth in economic ties between the US and Vietnam but warned that the broader bilateral relationship risked being soured by Hanoi’s recent clampdown on pro-democracy activists.
Mr Bush delivered the message during a meeting with Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet at the White House, as part of the first visit to the US by a Vietnamese head of state since the Vietnam war.
The US is Vietnam’s biggest trading partner, with two-way trade up 23 per cent last year from the year before to nearly $10bn (€7.5bn, £5bn). The former enemies this week signed a trade and investment pact intended to further deepen the relationship.
But Mr Triet’s six-day visit has been overshadowed by protests about the recent arrests and sentencing of several Vietnamese dissidents.
“I explained to the president we want to have good relations with Vietnam. And we’ve got good economic relations,” said Mr Bush. “I also made it very clear that in order for relations to grow deeper, it’s important for our friends to have a strong commitment to human rights and freedom and democracy.”
Mr Triet promised to increase dialogue with the US about human rights but said the issue should not be allowed to “afflict our overall larger interests”.
Other items on the agenda included US support for the fight against Aids in south-east Asia and co-operation in the search for the remains of US soldiers missing in Vietnam.
A few hundred Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activists gathered outside the White House shouting slogans as the leaders met.
Human rights groups have described Hanoi’s crackdown on dissidents as the most severe for years, reflecting efforts by the communist regime to prevent economic growth from weakening its grip over political life.
A national legislative election in May was touted by Vietnam as evidence of growing public participation in the political process. But most of the candidates were Communist party members.
“Vietnam has now taken its place on the world economic stage but its human rights record lags far behind,” said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
Mr Triet has sought to keep the focus of his visit on trade and investment, visiting the New York Stock Exchange and US Chamber of Commerce before the White House.
More than 100 Vietnamese business leaders have accompanied him to the US, taking advantage of opportunities created by entry into the World Trade Organisation in January.
Karan Bhatia, the deputy US trade representative, described the trade and investment framework deal signed this week as an “important step forward” in economic ties. The pact is widely viewed as a first step towards a possible bilateral free-trade deal. Although head of state, Mr Triet holds less political power than the prime minister and secretary-general of the Communist party. Phan Van Khai, the then prime minister, visited the White House in 2005 to mark the 10th anniversary of normalised ties.

By Andrew Ward in Washington