>>Um... can't see how it relates to me, except the grammar thingy. Though, usage of "Vietnam" as a temporal adverb used to be quite common. We quite commonly say "during Sloba" - so I probably would not even notice anything wrong in that sentence.
>
>The one that gets me is political reporting: "People are obviously enraged by this but so far Downing Street is keeping quiet" or "... Washington offered no explanation"

In both cases you can safely assume they went door to door to get the opinion of the whole street or city.

"G'day... are you Washington? Good. Did you offer any explanation recently?"