The Foreigner in Formosa

Li Ao, Mayor Of Taipei?

We've got a whole SYSTEM set up to prevent people like you from becoming mayor!

Undeterred by Grandpa Simpson's words of wisdom, Independent Legislator Li "The Fumigator" Ao is, indeed, running for mayor, so the Taiwan News asked him for an interview.  Some highlights:

"[If elected mayor, I will] use Taipei as a political base for combatting the central government...I will leave the [infrastructure and economic development] jobs to my deputies...and focus my energy on fighting the central government."

Now, depending how you look at it, that means he'll be either a hands-off...or a hands-on kind of mayor.  Just what'll his primary weapon be for this intended fight of his?

"Seventy-three percent of the city's revenue goes to the central government.  As mayor, I will order the tax department to stop the practice."

Uh-huh.  I'd be remiss if I forgot to mention a couple of particularly well thought-out policies that Taipei-ers could expect from a Li mayorship:

"[I plan] to re-zone the parking lot next to the Presidential Office and build a 10-story funeral parlor on it where people mourn their dead family and friends while [Buddhist] monks and nuns chant sutra."

[...]

"I also support direct air links between China and [Taiwan]...I may cut [the] water and electricity supply to the [Central Government] agencies that oppose direct air links."

I SWEAR I'm not making this stuff up.  There's more, though.  Here, he (sort of) answers how he would make Taipei a more English-friendly city:

"I don't like America, Japan and other foreign countries.  As mayor, I will not allow the city's police to protect the [de facto American embassy].  Also, I will ask them not to protect President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu."

But there's ONE question on everybody's mind that unfortunately the Taiwan News DIDN'T ask.  Namely, just how long are we all going to have to wait before the cops haul Li's crazy, publicity-seeking ass off to jail for illegal possession of an electric stun baton, illegal possession of teargas, assault with an electric stun baton, and criminal discharge of teargas within a crowded room?

iiiit'll be a while.

State Department Supports Stephen Young

You’re takin’ this very personal.  Tom, this is business, and this man is takin’ it very, very personal.
- Sonny Corleone

For the last three weeks, the KMT and its allies have been trying to make an issue out of American diplomat Stephen Young’s utterances in an effort to divert attention away from their blocking of the special arms budget.  When Young said it was impolite for People First Party chairman James Soong to heckle Taiwan’s president during National Day, the PFP and some members of the KMT began making noises about deportation.  Their calls to have Young declared persona non grata intensified when he delivered a speech in which he stressed the urgency for Taiwan to pass a "robust arms package" by the end of the fall legislative session.  Young’s statements, they objected, amounted to interference in Taiwan’s internal political affairs.

(The China Post printed four hysteric anti-Young / anti-American letters between October 28th and the 30th.  They can be reviewed here.)

The sniping at Young hasn't been limited to threats of expulsion, however.  Just forget that the KMT blocked the special arms bill 68 times over the last two years – that’s irrelevant.  Because suddenly, it's all YOUNG'S fault that the KMT's blocking weapons for Taiwan:

Kuomintang lawmakers [claimed] the warnings Stephen Young…issued would "adversely affect" the progress of the necessary deliberation.

"Now that the ultimatum has been given, we cannot afford to adopt the bill at once," said Tseng Yung-chuan, the Kuomintang legislative caucus whip. If it does, he added, the Kuomintang will be called "a chicken."

What a terrific way to rationalize delay and to try to smear Young in front of his superiors, all at the same time.  We’d really like to move on this, America - really we would - but that guy you sent over sure is making it tough for us to get the job done.  Maybe you’re not aware of this, but here in Taiwan, it’s considered an INTOLERABLE loss of face to take the garbage out after your wife asks you to.

(Especially if she's already asked you 68 times in a row.)

Monday’s papers also reported the KMT employing a bit of poll-a-ganda in a transparent effort to make Young look bad:

"Young's remarks have made the passage of the bill uncertain. It's inappropriate to let it through at this moment, as a media survey had found that 65 percent of the public disapproves of Young," [said Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the KMT policy department.] *

My, my, they really ARE trying to make this thing personal.  Problem for them is, Young's bosses have got his back:

Asked at the daily department press briefing on Friday whether Young still has US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's confidence, spokesman Sean McCormack said that "he's doing a good job" and the department has no plans to recall him from his Taipei post.

The State Department also issued a statement after the press briefing, in which a department official said Young's comments "reflect the United States' long time encouragement of an increase in Taiwan's overall defense spending and for funding a strategy that reinforces stability in the Taiwan Strait."

"Director Young's remarks are fully consistent with long-held US positions and are based on our assessment of Taiwan's defense needs," it said.

It’s not personal, Sonny.  It’s strictly business. I wouldn’t call this merely a defense of Stephen Young; I’d call it a warning.  Should Young be expelled, Washington won’t view it as the "legitimate" comeuppance of an impolitic diplomat - an act confined in importance to a single individual.  Instead, it'll be seen as the rejection of an official who is faithfully and accurately representing American positions - an act of open contempt for American interests.

But hey, the KMT claims Young has a 65% disapproval rating with the Taiwanese public.  So go ahead and knock yourselves out, guys.

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* The KMT has played this little game with President Chen's approval ratings as well, announcing on previous occasions that Chen's low numbers provided them with sufficient reason not to bring the special arms bill to a vote.

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UPDATE:  The KMT on Monday decided to tell America to shut up and sit down:

...the legislature's [KMT-dominated] Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee passed a resolution asking the US Department of State to create measures restraining its diplomats'  remarks in Taiwan, saying that Young's statement had violated diplomatic courtesy and could be interpreted as interference with Taiwan's internal affairs.

(Yes I know, the KMT didn't literally tell America to keep silent; they instead told Stephen Young to hold his tongue.  But Young only delivered a message that the American government WANTED delivered.  So in a very real way, telling Young to shut up is tantamount to telling the American government to do so as well.)

What's remarkable here is that it was only five months ago that the KMT was high-fiving America for punishing President Chen for abolishing the National Unification Council, and one month ago that it BEGGED America to ask Chen to resign during the heat of the redshirt protests.

KMT outrage over American "interference" is nothing if not selective.

The Taipei Times elaborated on the measure:

The resolution said that it was designed to prevent US diplomats from hurting the feelings of the people of Taiwan and harming Taiwan's democracy.

It was passed to prevent the feelings of the Taiwanese from being hurt?  Somebody ought to tell the KMT that ever since they started pal-ling around with the Communist Party of China, they've even begun SOUNDING alike.

UPDATE (Nov 5/06):  From Johnny Neihu's Saturday column, a State Department official is questioned by an anti-Young Taiwanese reporter:

Question: Based on the strong reaction from Taiwan's opposition, under such circumstances, Mr. Stephen Young is -- seems to be a liability rather than an asset. So do you have any -- under such [sic] current situation, do you have any plan to recall him or anything else?

Mr. McCormack: No.

Question: Does he [sic] still have confidence in him?

Mr. McCormack: He's doing a good job.

You've heard of push polling, right? This is typical Taiwanese "push reporting" -- or asking leading questions -- in which a reporter turns a personal opinion ("seems to be") into a statement of fact ("under such current situation"). Most responses can then be twisted to make the reporter's opinion look like fact in the write-up, though Sean McCormack in this case very professionally chose not to play the game.

If you watch the video on the State Department Web site, you can sense the contempt McCormack feels toward his interrogator. And my spy in Washington tells me there was some embarrassment among the other reporters.

He's doing a good job.  Not quite the answer the reporter was fishing for.

UPDATE (Nov 10/06):  A Monday column in the Taipei Times had this point to make:

If one looks at the current arms deal as a simple business transaction, how is it unreasonable for a seller to offer the buyer a last chance to make the purchase after he or she has gone back on promises and dragged out the negotiations?

How could this be construed as "political interference?" Opposition politicians could always come out and say clearly that they don't want to buy the US' weapons and be done with it.

Barring any future statements by Mr. Young, this story has pretty much played itself out.  The KMT has turned its attention back to their attempts to recall President Chen, and campaigning against an American diplomat represents a distraction from that effort.

UPDATE (NOV 11/06):  From Thursday's Taiwan News:

KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang, a member of the defense committee, said his party reached a consensus two months ago to back the purchase of the aircraft.  [the 12 P3C Orion anti-submarine planes offered in the special arms package].

So they reached consensus to support part of the package two months ago, but it took Stephen Young's arm twisting to finally get them moving.  Even the KMT is now admitting that they've been playing political games with this for a while.

What Does The KMT Want Taiwan To Be Armed With? Spitballs?

No, no - BANANAS.  They wouldn't want anyone to think they're STOOPID, would they?

(Photo from the Taipei Times.)

That's a skeletal Uncle Sam clutching a PAC II (Patriot) missile.  Which is pretty scary, if you happen to be a red who doesn't want any of Beijing's 800 to miss their targets.

Communist capitulationists (banana farmers, my foot) marched to the de facto American embassy in Taipei on Friday, offering this bit of choice defense budget advice for their country's leaders:

"Don't buy weapons, buy bananas!*  [Stephen] Young, get out of Taiwan!**"

With stategic vision like that, how did the KMT EVER manage to lose a civil war?

(Hat tip to The View from Taiwan for pointing out that Peking Duck was there, and later blogged about his run-in with the mob.)

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* Taiwan is currently facing a banana glut.

**  Stephen Young is America's top diplomat in Taiwan.

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UPDATE:  The papers all said that there were "scores" of protesters, which is pretty small considering Taiwan's population of 23 million.  As a Where's Waldo-esque exercise, compare Friday's protesters to the ones in this picture:

(Photo from the March 15/06 ed of the Taiwan News.  Sorry, no link available.)

Same skull mask and gloves, same missiles, same guy in the yellow hard hat.  How much would anyone like to bet that the "banana farmer" of Friday's protest was the "credit card slave" of seven months ago?

Going 'Postal' Over Name Changes

I confess to being fairly neutral on the issue of "Taiwanizing" names of state-owned enterprises here, so I was somewhat bemused to read the China Post's vehement opposition last Sunday:

It seems as if the government of President Chen Shui-bian will never cease to change names and symbols perceived to connect Taiwan with the Chinese nation.

According to reports made public over the past few days, the Cabinet has begun preparations to change the names of several major corporations and institutions that are majority-owned by the state.

These reports say that China Airlines, an international carrier that has operated for some 47 years, will have to change its name to "Taiwan Airlines" or perhaps "Formosa Airlines."

...[in doing so] , a major brand name that has been carefully built up for nearly half a century would be dismantled virtually overnight to satisfy the political correctness of the current lame-duck administration.

I don't want to be mean here, but you might want to google "China Airlines"+"safety record" to give you some idea about how "carefully" the brand name was built up over the last fifty years.  Maybe renaming the company is an act of mercy which might help distance it from its formerly dismal reputation in this arena.

(I say "formerly" for a reason.  The paper neglects to inform its readers that it was under the Chen administration that China Airlines began to improve upon passenger safety.)

Taiwan's China Post mentions a few other name-change candidates as well:

There is also the matter of Chunghwa Telecom, whose name sounds innocuous enough in English, but which translates as "China Telecom".

[...]

There is also...China Steel, as well as Chunghwa Post, the national postal service whose name in Chinese literally means "Chinese Postal Administration."

The paper breezily dismisses the argument that the name changes will avoid confusion, claiming, "these institutions have been working fine for many decades."  And for companies that serve local consumers, that's probably true - for now.  No one walks into the local post office and thinks that it's owned by the Communist Party of China.  On the other hand, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou has promised to allow Chinese firms to operate in Taiwan if he's elected president in 2008, and if that happens, then local consumers might very well wish to have some way to distinguish between Taiwanese companies that bear the "China" moniker and their Chinese equivalents.

The case is even stronger for companies which serve foreign customers.  Surely, not many foreigners can be expected to know that China Airlines is Taiwanese, while Air China is Chinese.    There's a good business reason why Pepsi is Pepsi, and not "Cola-Coca". 

It's called product differentiation.

The claim that such changes remove Taiwan from the Chinese fatherland becomes surreal when one considers that the Taiwanese government has also suggested dropping the Republic of China calendar in favor of the Christian calendar.  As a fellow blogger previously observed, how would Taiwan's adoption of the calendar that Communist China itself uses move Taiwan any further from China?

(I wrote more on this in a post back in February.  Scroll down to the March 1st update.)

The China Post objects to these name changes on cost grounds, and I'm not in any position to argue with any of its figures at this time.  I do however, doubt that "Formosa Airlines" will have to renegotiate quite as many air service agreements as the Post asserts it will, and I also doubt that the China Post was quite so worried about cost when it was time to change Japanese-era names to Chinese ones.

I understand full well why the KMT said "hang the cost" and renamed things in Taiwan 50 years ago.  They were Chinese nationalists, and they they did it because it appealed to their base.  And President Chen?  Well, he's a Taiwanese nationalist.  It shouldn't be surprising that he, too, is trying to appeal to HIS base.

Any talk of a "Cultural Revolution" is absurd.  The China Post is free to argue against these changes, and none of its owners or writers will EVER be sent to a re-education camp.  Moreover, redress is merely A SINGLE democratic election away.  If the KMT objects strongly enough to President Chen's policies, it can always reverse them.

IF it wins the presidency, that is.

The paper closes by bitterly suggesting that President Chen should "direct his subordinates to stop wasting time and money changing names and symbols, and start thinking about how to properly govern the country instead."  Here, the Post utterly confuses Chen's priorities.  Chen DID try to "properly govern" the country, only to witness the KMT block most of his legislation.  Having dammed the political water from flowing in productive directions, did the KMT really not anticipate it overflowing the banks and running in non-productive directions instead?

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UPDATE:  Written Wednesday, this post was left unpublished until I could check it for grammar and sentence flow.  By Friday, the China Post revealed a name change it DOES support:

Thus, to facilitate its rule of Taiwan if it regains power with Ma [Ying-jeou] assuming the [Taiwanese] presidency in 2008, the KMT should lose no time...[in addressing] the issue of "indigenous consciousness"...[It should consider] changing the KMT of China into the KMT of Taiwan, or at least eliminating the word "China" since, in the present political climate, such a name may mislead people into believing it is a party of the People's Republic of China (PRC), or an organization closely related to the PRC, thus incurring the charge of national betrayal.  [Emphasis added]

Sounds like a Cultural Revolution in the making here.  Why, the KMT got along just fine for the last 100 years with its present name!  And what of the STAGGERING costs of ordering new letterhead and namecards...

China's Use Of Soft Power

Ran into this at Commentary Magazine.  Can't help but think that China's going to feel some major backlash - 20 or 30 years from now.

Soong Takes Leave Of Absence: Keeps Power, Sheds Responsibility

In the Oct 22nd update of a previous post, I wondered how capitulationist People First Party Chairman James Soong could pretend that he doesn't represent the PFP in his dealings with American representatives.  A few days ago, I received my answer from a few acid comments in Taiwan's China Post:

To justify Soong's claim as an independent, he asked for and of course was given by himself a "leave of absence" from his job as chairman of the People First Party.

Soong's on a "leave of absence", so he doesn't represent the party.  Well, I GUESS that makes sense.  Still, it's funny how it looks like he's still calling the shots over at the PFP:

The People First Party remains adamantly opposed to the [special] arms deal for one more reason now.  Soong and his lawmakers want an open apology from [American representative] Stephen Young for the spontaneous comment he made on National Day*...Soong has made it clear that there would be no compromise on the arms purchase without Young's apology.

Now THERE'S an enticing offer.  Apologize to Soong so that he'll compromise on the arms package.  You know - the one he's blocked 58 times previously from going to a vote.

The China Post's wrong.  The PFP doesn't have another reason to oppose the special arms bill.  It just has another excuse.

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* For Mr. Young's comments and the reason they were given, see my post, KMT Gripes About America.

The KMT's Offer To Communist China

Janus-like, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou looks to future Chinese negotiations, and promises if elected president, he'll negotiate a deal whereby Taiwan won't declare independence if China agrees not to attack it.

Then, with his other face, he tells Taiwanese voters that Taiwan is ALREADY independent.

Wouldn't China view future statements like this as violations of this hypothetical agreement?  Guess that'll be for China to judge after Ma's elected.

But more importantly, it's something for Taiwanese to decide BEFORE he's elected.

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UPDATE:  A good Taipei Times editorial on the subject can be found here.

Parliamentary Maneuver Of The Week

Dr. Marvin Monroe:  You LIKE attention, don't you Li Ao?

Legislator Li:  Do I EVER!  Ha-haaa!

Dr. Monroe:  Well, we ALL do.  The PROBLEM is, you don't care whether you get GOOD attention, for say, proposing beneficial new laws in the Taiwanese legislature...or BAD attention, for say, opening a can of tear gas inside a crowded committee room while warding off fellow politicians with an electric stun baton.

(Image of Independent Lawmaker (and Taipei mayoral candidate) Li Ao from Wednesday's Taipei Times.  Yes, that's a V for Vendetta-style Guy Fawkes mask affixed to the front of his gas mask.)

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CAVEAT:  Currently, the public only has Mr. Li's word to go on that his gas bomb actually contained what he said it contained.  There's some corroboration in the fact that some committee members left the room coughing and tearing up, but it's somewhat odd that there are no reports of any vomiting.

Blog Housekeeping

To cut down on bandwidth, I've split "Islamofascism" into the following categories:

Islamofascism - Europe

Islamofascism - Indonesia

Islamofascism - Middle East

Islamofascism - Miscellaneous

Islamofascism - Pope Benedict XVI's Speech

Islamofascism - The Battle of Khartoon

Japanese Ravens

Figure out novel ways to crack walnuts.  Cue Also Sprach Zarathustra.

KMT Gripes About America

You'd think the KMT would be happy.  Earlier this year, their chairman was welcomed with open arms in D.C., while their chief rival was generously offered the opportunity to rub shoulders with American movers and shakers.

In Alaska.

A few years prior to that, something similar happened.  The KMT was bitterly opposed to President Chen's plan for a national referendum, and the Bush administration came out against it.  Chen was forced to alter the referendum's wording, while the KMT gloated at this public loss of face.

But that was then.  Recently they've been asking, "What have you done for me, lately?"

Could the chief [U.S.] representative in Taiwan be named a persona non grata by lawmakers who were mostly U.S.-trained and known for their pro-U.S. stance?

Last Wednesday, the day after the famous National Day "disgrace", some two dozen "pan-blue" (KMT plus PFP) lawmakers actually talked about it.

Foreigners educated in America don't necessarily become pro-American, but let's let that slide.  The disgrace in sneer quotes the China Post refers to is when the KMT and its allies disrupted Taiwan's National Day ceremonies by interrupting the president's speech and engaging in fist fights with the president's party.

If that happened on July 4th in America, would it be a disgrace?  Or merely a "disgrace"?

What irritated the KMT was what the representative said afterwards.  When asked to comment by the local media, Stephen Young said, "They should watch their manners...Go ask James Soong - why?"

(James Soong, chairman of the pro-communist People First Party, heckled the President's speech and disrupted an official procession by marching with them while shouting anti-Chen slogans.)

Stephen Young's candor on this matter wasn't the only thing that upset the KMT.  In addition, they strongly disapprove of his efforts to lobby them into buying the weapons package President Bush approved back in 2001.  The weapons package that the KMT has blocked 58 times over the last two years.*

I imagine Mr. Young has been candid with them about THAT issue, as well.  Candid enough to tell them that their obstructionist record is starting to make America question their commitment to their own nation's  security.

The China Post reveals the real reason for the KMT's obstinacy:

There [was] "[a] sea change in KMT/PFP thinking" after historic visits to Beijing by KMT chairman Lien Chan and PFP chairman James Soong in 2005.  The blue camp's support for a security relationship with [America]...seems in doubt now.

Perhaps it would be a good thing if the KMT did expel Mr. Young.  It might serve as a powerful wake-up call to Washington that the KMT is truly America's ally no longer.

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* The China Post dishonestly tries to divert some of the blame for the delay onto President Chen, claiming that he didn't offer the weapons package to the legislature for two years because of its cost.

The reality is that it took 18 months after Bush's offer for the package to be approved and given a price tag by the American military bureaucracy.  It was utterly impossible for Chen to offer the package to the legislature during that time.

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UPDATE:  Another bone in the KMT's craw:

The blue camp has been angry with the U.S. for breaking a promise of not recognizing President Chen's 2004 re-election before a recount.

Who made this promise?  The President?  The V.P.?  Some low-level flunky in the State Department?  How could such a promise be issued at all, when it was unclear at the time that there would even BE a recount?

I have no recollection of this promise being mentioned in any of the local media, and I followed the coverage here pretty closely.  What I DO remember is the China Post calling on America not to congratulate Chen until after a recount, but that's quite different from the promise having actually been made.  Perhaps the Post confuses its desires with reality:

If wishes were horses,
Beggars would ride;
If wishes were fishes,
We'd all have some fried.

The China Post then concludes with a complaint somewhat lacking in specificity:

Taiwan's mentor-and-protector is also criticized for failing to stop the Chen administration from degenerating in all aspects, turning Taiwan into a big mess.

Yep, this whole "self-determination" thing really isn't working out.  Could you Yanks do us a favor and dispatch the Delta Force next time madman Chen renames an airport or something?

Thanks a bunch.

UPDATE (Oct 22/06):  James Soong's still pouting:

...Soong said he had turned down a request from American Institute in Taiwan [AIT] officials for a meeting with him next week.

"There is no need [for the AIT officials] to see me. Right now I am not the PFP's representative," Soong said, without elaborating on why AIT officials wished to see him.

Yes, yes, I know, Soong's running as an independent for mayor of Taipei.  But the CHAIRMAN of the PFP pretends that he doesn't REPRESENT the PFP?

Riiight.

He explains his refusal this way:

"It's not the right time to review the arms bill when millions of people are staging a sit-in [against the president]. Furthermore, AIT officials talked nonsense on Double Ten day," Soong said.

Soong's not so shy about talking a little nonsense of his own.  I was at the Taipei Train Station on Friday.  Those "millions of people"?  They're down to a few hundred, at most.

Bizarre Japanese Inventions

This site says they're useless, but that's really unfair.  Those eyedropper funnels just MIGHT work.

;-)

(Hat tip to The Corner.)

Is This For Real?

Headline from The Australian:  "China may back coup against Kim [Jong-il]."  Hat tip to The Corner.

Make of it what you will.

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UPDATE (Oct 19/06):  More on this from Strategy Page.

UPDATE (Oct 22/06):  I don't buy all of the blogger's conclusions, but this is certainly an interesting post on the subject.  (Hat tip to AsiaPundit.)

UPDATE (Oct 26/06):  Satire from The Onion on the subject.  (Hat tip to AsiaPundit.)

Direct Democracy

Yesterday's editorial from the Taiwan News had a couple of lines I thought were very well-put:

Washington's anxiety about cross-strait tension comes largely from the perception that Beijing will make a "dangerous, objectionable, and foolish response" to Taiwan's continued affirmation of its sovereignty and independence.

Since the Beijing regime is even less predictable than democratic Taiwan it has been easier for Washington to attempt to constrain Taipei first or even treat the Taiwan leader as a "trouble-maker" than to address the structural problems [ie: CHINA] that cause these tensions.

There was another line that got me to thinking, though:

...the DPP administration [is making] efforts to deepen Taiwan's democracy and enhance the effectiveness of democratic governance through constitutional reforms and the introduction of methods of direct democracy, which are common features of democratic societies around the world.  [Emphasis added]

I wonder if recent events surrounding Shih Ming-teh's redshirts haven't made DPP politicians a bit more wary of direct democracy.  I certainly wouldn't blame them if they were.

KMT Winded From Recall Effort

Back in June, the KMT was champing at the bit to call non-confidence votes aimed at bringing down cabinet after cabinet.  I said this at the time:

Maybe [the KMT] can get away with toppling one cabinet, maybe even two.  But voters aren't stupid, and the KMT can't keep doing that with impunity for the next two years.

As it turns out, even THAT appraisal of the KMT's public approval was optimistic.  Not even ONE cabinet has been toppled, and already voter disenchantment has already set in.  The KMT can read its internal polling, and is calling it quits...for now:

KMT spokesman Huang Yu-cheng added that following tumults brought by anti-corruption activities aimed at ousting the scandal-ridden President Chen Shui-bian and the vote on a motion to recall Chen in the Legislature, people need a breather.

...[the] KMT will let people rest and build up their strength for a while, Huang said.

Ignoring the loaded language, it's instructive to remember that something similar happened back in June.  The KMT failed in getting the president recalled; their chairman lost public approval, and the KMT backed off.  Now, they've declared another moratorium, since their chairman's dropping in the polls in the wake of the redshirts' disruption of Taiwan's National Day.

Count on history repeating itself.  They'll be back.

Poor Osama's Mother

He never calls, he never writes...

Satire from The Onion.

"They Are Shooting Them Like Dogs"

Saw the CNN footage of PLA soldiers gunning down Tibetan refugees a few hours ago.  Sunday's China Post also covered it.

They also carried a report a few days earlier:

A [Communist Chinese] official told Xinhua news agency that a small squad of soldiers found nearly 70 people attempting to illegally cross the border from Tibet into Nepal on Sept. 30 and "persuaded them to go back to their home."

"But the stowaways refused and attacked the soldiers," the state news agency said, without stating whether they were ethnic Tibetans.

"Under the circumstances, the frontier soldiers were forced to defend themselves and injured two stowaways," the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

Busted.  The refugees were trudging through the snow single-file, not being transported as "stowaways" on a truck.  Furthermore, we don't see any hostile action coming from the Tibetans; instead, we see PLA soldiers firing on them from a ridge.

But then, one doesn't really need to see the footage to know that the Chinese story was bogus from the get-go.

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UPDATE:  More here, including links to the video.  (Hat tip to AsiaPundit.)

Multilateral Or Unilateral Talks With North Korea?

Jonah Goldberg says it doesn't matter either way:

Lawyers say hard cases make for bad law...

Proof that North Korea is a hard case can be found in the fact that the Democrats and Republicans have switched sides. Ordinarily multilateralist Democrats are now unalloyed champions of unilateralism, in the form of face-to-face negotiations with North Korea, while President Bush — that infamous go-it-alone “cowboy” — has embraced international teamwork. Both approaches are flawed for a simple reason: North Korea wants a nuclear weapon because it wants a nuclear weapon.

The Jimmy Carter vision holds that North Korea’s nukes are coupons to be redeemed for groceries. But the North Koreans pocketed U.S. concessions after face-to-face talks in 1994 and continued pursuing nukes because ... they wanted nukes. Bush’s strategy has been, first, to declare that advances in North Korea’s nuclear program are “unacceptable” and then do nothing, and second, to insist that the U.S. can’t accomplish anything because our “partners” won’t cooperate.

The North Korea dilemma — much like the threat of Islamic fanaticism – is Aesopian. The frog in Aesop’s fable did not wish to be stung by the scorpion. The scorpion’s position? Wishing’s got nothing to do with it. Americans tend to think — and Europeans consider it gospel — that all differences can be negotiated. The truth is that only negotiable problems can be negotiated. Just ask Hamas if everything can be bargained for around a table. Their one non-negotiable principle is that Israel must cease to exist. Beyond that, they’re open to all sorts of creative proposals.  [Emphasis added]

Darth Vader's Less Illustrious Brother, Chad

Meet Chad Vader - Supermarket Dayshift Manager:

Chad Vader, Episode 1

Chad Vader, Episode 2

Chad Vader, Episode 3

Chad Vader, Episode 4

Other Chad Vader stuff:

Chad Vader Music Video

Chad Vader Mailbag

Non-Chad Parodies:

The Emperor Takes an Important Phone Call

Star Wars (Phantom of the Opera Version)

The Three Stooges Celebrate Double Ten Day

Hey Moe, it's Taiwan's boitday!  We forgot to get 'em somethin'.  Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

I'll give YOU somethin', you knucklehead...

(Finger in eye)

(Photo from University of Kansas-Lawrence.)

Quit clownin' around, Einsteen, and tell the nice people about the boitday.

Why, sointenee!

The Taiwan News informs us of some of the goings-on:

Apparently aggravated by the seating arrangement, Kuomintang [KMT] Legislator Lee Ching-hua stood up during President Chen Shui-bian's address and repeatedly shouted slogans, demanding that Chen step down.

Provoked by Lee's efforts to embarrass the president, Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] Legislator Lin Kuo-ching took a swing at Lee and a brief scuffle erupted...

Watched some of the Taiwanese TV coverage yesterday, and saw a few men in suits trying to avoid police by ducking in and out of an official parade.  Since I don't understand Mandarin, I had no idea until the next day about what happened:

...a group of [pro-Communist] People First Party lawmakers, led by [PFP Chairman James] Soong, disrupted the honor guard procession in front of the Presidential Office, marching along with the guards, shouting anti-Chen slogans and holding anti-Chen banners.

The incident turned into a cat-and-mouse game when the security guards were forced to chase Soong and his followers...who weaved in and out [of] procession and completely ignored the security guards' instructions to move away.

Some DPP legislators, angered by the PFP's obvious attempts to humiliate the president, ran up to the opposition lawmakers and began to throw punches at them.

The Taipei Times reported a few cases of KMT violence as well:

[There were] scuffles in which [DPP] Legislator Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲) and Sanlih TV staff were "beaten," as well as the egging of DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching's (林國慶) car.

Not sure I understand the sneer quotes around the word "beaten".  They were either beaten, or they weren't.  If instead, they were physically harassed, then the writer ought to say so.

Anyway.  Following the ceremonies, anti-[President] Chen protesters gave visiting dignitaries a memorable taste of Taiwanese hospitality:

Meanwhile, protesters had gathered around the fringes of the ceremony zone, and tried to block the four lanes of Zhonghua Road to prevent Chen Shui-bian's motorcade from leaving.

Unable to tell which car the president was in, the crowd rushed onto the road from the sidewalks whenever an official-looking black car appeared.

Several of the entrapped vehicles were carrying top government officials and foreign diplomatic guests. Protesters encircled the vehicles, smacking and kicking at the cars while shouting: "A-bian step down!"  [Emphasis added.  A-bian is President Chen's nickname - The Foreigner]

With the number of anti-Chen redshirts present, it could have been much, much worse.  Whether you believe the redshirts' own attendance numbers (1.5 million), the China Post's figures (300,000) or police statistics (120,000), the protesters vastly outnumbered the 5,000-man police presence.  If the redshirts had actually followed through on their mooted plans to push through police barricades, things could have gotten really ugly.

(Wednesday's China Post finally took a look at the color of the redshirts' uniforms, noting, "They wore red shirts the way Benito Mussolini's Blackshirts wore their black shirts."  Funny, but just a few days ago, the paper was comparing them to the Freedom Riders - the American civil rights protesters from the 1960s.  Which probably means someone at the China Post is a bit touchy that the redshirts' leader, Shih Ming-teh, recently took a few potshots at KMT Chairman Ma-Ying-jeou's own corruption record*.)

The Taipei Times noted that at the end of the day, all the theatrics failed to put Taiwan on the international media map - CNN was far more interested in North Korea's nuclear test and in paramilitary death squad activity in Iraq.  Meanwhile, a Taiwan News editorial pointed out that independence parties will henceforth be loath to participate in National Day ceremonies (which they don't have an emotional attachment to, anyway) now that the KMT has demonstrated its willingness to disrupt one of its holiest days for political purposes.  I'll go a step further than that, though.  I think Taiwanese independence parties will nevermore be much inhibited from disrupting Double Ten Day themselves, if they calculate it being in their interests to do so.

I cannot end without mentioning this irresistible detail:

A middle-aged woman caused a stir when, prior to the start of the ceremony, she threatened to immolate herself by igniting a bottle of liquid in the restricted area. Police carried the woman away, and the bottle was found to contain only water.

She tried to set herself on fire using H₂O as an accelerant?

Now ain't that just like a woman.

(Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo!)

(Image from Beckett.com.)

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* Postscript:  A more probable reason for the China Post's pique: The View from Taiwan observes that Shih Ming-teh dissed [Taipei mayor and KMT Chairman] Ma Ying-jeou big-time "by not even bothering to apply for a permit to hold a demonstration," as well as by "constantly changing [the protest march] direction and completely fouling up the city's traffic."

Shih made the KMT's Golden Boy look ineffectual and weak, and so media adulation must be put on hold for a spell.  For now, try to remember: Shih Ming-teh is Il Duce.

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UPDATE:  The View from Taiwan has a good round-up of what other bloggers had to say about the festivities.

UPDATE (Oct 16/06):  A Friday China Post headline: Controversy over control of anti-Chen mob.  From anti-corruption protesters to mob.  Further evidence the China Post is royally ticked with Shih Ming-teh, despite Saturday's denial.

Words To Live By

Be in love with tipsy feeling.

 

(Bar ad from the Oct 6th edition of The Taipei Times.)

Looking A Gift Horse In The Mouth

Don't people have better things to do than complain about a five-day weekend*? OK, fine, the announcement was handled poorly, given only seven days in advance.  But everyone should know that this is Taiwan, and sometimes surprise announcements like that are made here.

But we've already bought our train tickets, critics of the government whined.  Now we have to make A PHONE CALL to reschedule.  Imagine that.  In addition, some students who were scheduled to take a National English exam next Saturday will now have to endure the terrible ordeal of taking it on the Sunday instead.  I can just imagine the wailing and the gnashing of teeth:

"My English test was postponed by an ENTIRE day!  Of all the fates on heaven and earth, why did this one have to befall ME?"

Let's be honest: students aren't going to complain about something like this.  Kwitcherbitchin, already.  You got a five-day weekend out of the deal, so lighten up.

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* The date of the Moon Festival is determined by the occurrence of the full moon according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.  This year, it fell on a Friday (Oct 6th), so that made for an automatic 3-day weekend.  But Taiwan's National Day, which always falls on October 10th, was only two days later.  So the government said, let's give folks Monday off too, to make it a continuous 5-day holiday.

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UPDATE (Oct 16/06):  23 million people living in Taiwan, and the China Post can't find ANY who are pleased that they had a five-day weekend last week?  Not a one?

More unhappy campers here.

Chiang Kai-shek: Embezzler

Heh, heh.

...DPP lawmakers also accused Chiang Kai-shek of embezzling state funds, and provided some examples.

"On Jun 13, 1961, Chiang Kai-shek used NT$4,560 ($100 US)from state funds to buy milk powder imported from abroad.  On June 14, 1963, he used NT$1,676 ($50 US) to buy medicines, picles and cigarettes, among other items.  On Sept. 14, 1973, NT$18,265 ($550 US) was used by Chiang for his grandson Chiang Hsiao-yung's wedding photos," [legislator] Kuan [Bi-ling] said.

Does this mean Shih Ming-teh's "anti-corruption" red shirts will start demanding the removal of the generalissimo's statue from public places in Taiwan?

Not bloody likely.

Can We Really Be Sure They Were Compliments?

President Chen recently visited Taiwan's Military Police Academy, and was warmly received.  Maybe too warmly, it seems:

...we were surprised and shocked to see footage of the cadets being led in bizarre cheers for President Chen, including calling the president a "handsome boy" and "my chocolate".

The China Post denounces this as toadyism and a breach of the military's political neutrality.  As far as I'm concerned though, being called "handsome boy" and "my chocolate" by a group of armed men in uniform sounds a lot more creepy than flattering, any day.

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UPDATE (Oct 12/06):  In the impartial style that it calls it's own, the China Post reports how these cheers were later repeated during Taiwan's National Day:

[When Chen Shui-bian appeared at the ceremonies,] opposition leaders [taunted him with] the toadying mumbo jumbo of Military Police Academy cadets: "President, President, you're my chocolate!"

I can't help but think that the officers of the Academy deliberately ordered the initial chants because they knew how ridiculous they were, and they knew the mockery the president would subsequently be subjected to.

They Just...Vanished

Today's Taiwan News had a piece about the giant Buddha statutes the Taliban dynamited a few years ago in Afghanistan.  This line caught my eye:

Long before Genghis Khan wiped out Bamiyan's population in 1222...Buddhists and Muslims coexisted until the Buddhists vanished around the year 1000.

Whaddya mean, they just "vanished"?  Poof!  Taken up to Nirvana during Buddhist Rapture now, were they?  Teleported onto a Vogon constructor fleet?  Sent back to earth's past via the atavachron?

No thanks to the article, but I think I've got a pretty good idea about what happened to them.  A pity though, that we have to read between the lines because writers are being intimidated out of using plain English.

*~@):~{>

Little League Not Winning? It's The President's Fault!

Been hearing a lot of local aquaintances talking about Wang Chien-ming, a Taiwanese who pitches for the New York Yankees.  Not a big baseball fan myself, but I guess it takes everyone's minds off the current anti-[President] Chen rallies.

(Wang Chien-ming photo from AG's Blog.)

Well...it doesn't take EVERYONE'S mind off the anti-Chen movement.  For the China Post, Wang's success is nothing more than a cudgel to beat President Chen over the head with:

All of a sudden, Wang [Chien-ming] has become a national hero...He has put Taiwan on the map, just as our little leaguers did three decades ago when they won LL World Series year after year.  Wang Chien-ming is from the crop of Taiwan's Little League baseball, like many others now playing in America's Major Leagues.

But the cultivation of that crop in the 70s and 80s was done by dedicated government officials and diligent people, who worked single-mindedly for national development.  Had they been corrupt or lazy, the crop would not have yielded such a fine crop as Wang Chien-ming.

Like Wang, many of Taiwan's proud products that have made this island rich and famous are the legacies of that older era, an era that is vilified by the current administration as authoritarian and corrupt.  What is ironic is that six years after the "son of Taiwan" siezed power and ruled this island as its imperial president, the people are taking to the streets to heave him out of office.

Whoa, hold on there, chumly.  The second paragraph quoted here is clearly implying that the government of a country with a great crop of international athletes is possessing of some great moral virtue.  The former Soviet Union gives the lie to that.

Second, it seems like a pretty big leap to suggest that Taiwan's KMT government couldn't possibly have been corrupt because Taiwan's Little League happened to have been victorious a few years in succession.  Non sequitur, I believe that's called.*

Third, let us all remember that Wang Chien-ming is a miracle of nature, one of the few men alive capable (given enough training) of throwing a baseball at 95 miles per hour.  And let us especially not forget that Wang got to where he is today through years of sweat, individual effort and practice.  It's obscene for anyone to claim Wang Chien-ming's success belongs to the KMT Party-State and not Wang Chien-ming.

Actually, I think there's an irony here the editorial misses completely.  What's the China Post's most common lament about Taiwanese society today?  That it's losing it's Confucian heritage.  And yet, what could be less Confucian than the KMT of the 70s and 80s encouraging kids to play baseball rather than study for school? 

I suspect that the advent of Taiwanese democracy changed all of that.  People were now FREE to indulge their own Confucian impulses, and preferred to send their children to cram schools rather than baseball camps.  Gone were the days of the government twisting parents' arms to let the kids play ball instead of cracking the books.  It was actually the ADVANCEMENT of Taiwan's Confucianism which led to the subsequent DIMINISHMENT of its Little League prowess.

That's my theory, anyway.  Blow holes in it, if you like.

One of the implications of this is that the China Post's pessimistic conclusion is correct:  without authoritarian KMT government, Taiwan won't have "new crops of young people like Wang Chien-ming."  So do I, along with the China Post, think "Taiwan won't have a future"?

Hardly.  And the reason can be boiled down to one simple word: EXAMPLE.  Taiwanese parents at one time might have been reluctant to allow their children to spend time in Little League because they couldn't see any future profit in it.  Today however, they have men such as Wang Chien-ming to provide them with examples of people who have succeeded - spectacularly so - in professional athletics.  The example of their success will provide the incentive for "the new crop."   What's more, I think they'll also provide examples for Taiwanese who want to explore other non-traditional occupational fields as well.  Which will only be to Taiwan's benefit, because there's a thousand paths to success in this old world of ours, and not all of them involve book larnin'.

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* It does bring to mind an apropos joke from p 174-175 of Keith B. Richburg's Out of America:

An Asian and an African become friends while they are both attending graduate school in the West.  Years later, they each rise to become the finance minister of their respective countries.  One day, the African ventures to Asia to visit his old friend, and is startled by the Asian's palatial home, the three Mercedes-Benzes in the circular drive, the swimming pool, the servants.

"My God!" the African exclaims.  "We were just poor students before!  How on earth can you now afford all this?"

And the Asian takes his African friend to the window and points to a sparkling new elevated highway in the distance.  "You see that toll road?" says the Asian, and then he proudly taps himself on the chest.  "Ten percent."  And the African nods approvingly.

A few years later, the Asian ventures to Africa, to return the visit to his old friend.  He finds the African living in a massive estate sprawling over several acres.  There's a fleet of a dozen Mercedes-Benzes in the driveway, an indoor pool and tennis courts, an army of uniformed chaffeurs and servants.  "My God!" says the Asian.  "How on earth do you afford all this?"

This time the African takes his Asian friend to the window and points.  "You see that highway?" he asks.  But the Asian sees nothing, just an open field with a few cows grazing.

"I don't see any highway," the Asian says, straining his eyes.

At this, the African smiles, taps himself on the chest, and boasts, "One hundred percent!"

I repeat this not because I think corruption is harmless, but because it illustrates the point that a certain level of corruption is indeed compatible with economic growth.  Or the success of a Little League baseball team.

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UPDATE:  This line cannot pass uncommented upon:

What is ironic is that six years after the "son of Taiwan" siezed power and ruled this island as its imperial president, the people are taking to the streets to heave him out of office.

Like it or not (and the China Post surely doesn't), Chen received pluralties in not one, but TWO democratic elections.  That's not "siezing power".

Furthermore, by definition, an imperial president is one who gets his way without any check or balance.  One can hardly be called an "imperial president" when most of your legislation has been tied up for six years by the opposition.  Chen's more impotent than imperial.

Finally, it's no more true to say that "the people" are taking to the streets to remove Chen from office than it is to say that "the people" are taking to the streets to defend him.  SOME do the former, OTHERS the latter.  If "the people" truly wanted Chen removed, then Chen's OWN PARTY would have voted for his recall back in June under voter pressure.

UPDATE (Oct 10/06):  Michael Turton from The View from Taiwan ascribes Taiwan's 70s and 80s Little League victories to neither diligence nor incorruptiblity, but instead, to rampant cheating.  If that's true, then Taiwan's Little League record since that time is actually a testament to a growing sense of fair play within the country.  The China Post often complains that Taiwan's morality and ethics have declined since "the good old days"; this provides at least one case to indicate that the opposite may, in fact, have happened.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Peace, Love And Understanding...

Taiwan's anti-[President] Chen protesters sure do speak a lot in military terms, which is a bit odd for a movement that bills itself as being about "peace and love".  On National Day (Oct 10), they're going to "lay siege" to the Presidential Office Building.  To do that, they need "siege vehicles".  And and top of that, they're now drawing up plans for an "attack":

...the campaign is considering four different plans of "attack," including asking protesters to conduct a sit-in around the Presidential Office, confronting the police near the cordoned-off area, pushing through [police] barricades or simply pretending to push through the barricades in a symbolic gesture.

They're thinking about pushing through police barricades?  And what, pray tell, is the plan after that?  Sing "Kumbaya" while they confront the police and storm the Presidential Building?

Symbolic gestures like that are the ones which end up getting people hurt.

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UPDATE (Oct 12/06):  Correction:  The motto of the redshirts is actually, "Love, Peace and Non-Violence."  Whoops.

300

Some of Frank Miller's stuff is great, but some of it leaves me pretty cold.  I liked 300, and await the movie with cautious optimism.

Jonah Goldberg sez, "Frank Miller + Sparta = Victor Davis Hanson on crack."  Which sums it up pretty well.

Georgia On My Mind

A small democracy lives next to an authoritarian goliath.  Between the two are strong economic ties.  One day, the small democracy arrests four spies sent from its neighbor.  Goliath responds with massive economic retaliation, suspending "air, road, maritime, rail and postal links".

Georgia's present:

[Russian] authorities closed a popular casino and raided a hotel and a couple of restaurants run by Georgians, saying they could be closed over legal violations.

...40 Georgian restaurants and shops in downtown Moscow alone [will also] be raided in the next few days.

Taiwan's future.

U.S. Suspends F-16 C/D Sales To Taiwan

The story made the front page of both the Taipei Times and the Taiwan News on Tuesday, while the China Post buried it on page 19.  The Bush Administration's message to Taiwan:  You want to play political games with your security?  Include us out.

To be honest, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.  What did Taiwan's KMT party leaders think they could do - block the 2001 special arms bill ANOTHER 58 times over the NEXT two years, and get away with it, scot-free?  Bush took the flak from China for offering weapons that the KMT itself requested in the late '90s, and the KMT said thank you by wittingly or unwittingly colluding with Communist China to keep the island undefended. 

So now, the KMT is receiving a little thank you in return - Texas-style.

I DO have a few minor criticisms about the way this was handled.  First, top U.S. officials should have publicly spoken about Washington's growing impatience, which would have given the lie to the KMT's local spin that their intransigence was actually earning America's respect.  Second, the KMT chairman, Ma Ying-jeou, should have been given the cold shoulder during his visit to America back in March of this year.  That would have been a clear sign of Washington's displeasure with the KMT's antics.  Perhaps harsh words WERE spoken to him in private; but politically speaking, those conversations were irrelevant.  Ma was able to return to Taiwan and portray the red-carpet treatment he received as whole-hearted American support for his party's capitulationist policies.

Finally, I think the timing of this is also a mistake.  Right now, all eyes in Taiwan are distracted by the Depose [President] Chen circus, which will soften the impact of this move.  Picture such a bombshell being dropped a month before the Taiwanese legislative elections - that would have been BEAUTIFUL.

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UPDATE (Oct 6/06):   The View from Taiwan is a bit more indignant over this than I am.  As for myself, I've been expecting some kind of American response to the KMT's stonewalling for a long time now.  But I certainly agree with these sentiments:

If the US really wants Taiwan to purchase those weapons, it needs to lean on the Blues, and hard. It needs to stop coddling KMT visitors. It needs to get credible people over here who will warn the KMT that US patience is exhausted, and that the US will switch its support to the Greens if the KMT does not start serving the interests of Taiwan, and it needs to keep doing that until the message gets through. It is incredible at this late date, with the Blues blocking the arms purchase after promising it would go through, fomenting unrest in Taiwan's streets, paralyzing the government, and cooperating with China, that any American policymaker could consider them a viable partner for future long-term cooperation.

As I said earlier, the timing for this was pretty bad.  There hasn't been so much as a single editorial here in the English papers about the issue, because everyone's preoccupied with anti-Chen protesters.  If you want to send a message to someone, you have to make sure they're at home to pick up the the phone.

UPDATE (Oct 31/06):  America ratchets up the pressure, cancelling an annual meeting between the American and Taiwanese military:

[A Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense spokesman] told the Taipei Times by telephone that an annual meeting in which officials from the ministry's Armaments Bureau travel to the US for exchanges with the US military had been suspended.

A ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Liberty Times, (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper), that the ministry had tried to salvage the situation, but was told that the decision had been made by a high-ranking official in the White House.

Hope the Taiwanese people get the message soon, because the KMT obviously isn't.

UPDATE (Nov 14/06):  Looks like there's still some movement on the F-16 C/Ds.

The Graves Of My Ancestors

Taiwan's China Post puts forth the notion that Taiwanese traveling to China to find ancestral graves and meet distant relatives constitutes proof that Taiwan is an indivisible part of China:

...President Chen's own relatives have taken ancestry research experts to his ancestral hometown in mainland China in an effort to seek out the roots of Chen's family heritage.

If DPP leaders really want to stress our separateness from the Chinese mainland, we suggest they cease all contacts with relatives on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

For that matter, our leaders should truly put their money where their mouth is by changing their surnames and "starting" their own "new" family traditions.

Why not rap Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton for visiting THEIR European relatives, too?  Poor fools never realized how deeply their little family reunions were undercutting the argument for American sovereignty!

(Not to mention that Washington fellow.  If he'd REALLY been committed to American independence, wouldn't he have changed his name to cut all ties to the mother country?)

I know that the China Post bills itself as "bridging the gap between East and West," but this is definitely one argument that's not likely to impress too many of its Western readers.  Give it a try sometime.  Next time you talk to the folks back home, inform them that the bones of your ancestors are interred in the Old Country, and for that reason, you owe your allegiance to the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Let me know how that works out for you.

Osama bin Overeatin'

I read a few years ago that the Guantanamo prisoners were putting on weight.  Little did I know:

Only in America would you find authorities trying to cope with terrorist detainees by over-feeding them.  [We were offered a sample prisoner's] lunch including...spiced meat patty, egg salad, tuna, yogurt, fresh dates, freshly baked bread, juice, and a down-home Middle Eastern dessert, which left us licking from our fingers the [baklava's] honey and nuts...All told, they are offered a menu that provides 4,200 calories per day — more than the 3,800 allotted for a U.S. combat soldier in Iraq.

[...]

We were told that one detainee, who apparently cleans his plate — or his styrofoam meal box — weighs 410 pounds...At risk of triggering a human-rights campaign for Guantanamo Lite, I have to wonder if there’s method to this menu. There’s something very disturbing about coddling terrorists, but in some ways this helps cut them down to size: Yep, it’s Al Qaeda… with a weight problem.

Red Shirts And Mittens

Cleaning up a stack of old papers here, and I stumbled across this little Reuters story in the Sep 12th edition of the China Post:

Hundreds of Latvians knitting 4,500 pairs of woolen mittens as gifts for the November NATO summit have been told to avoid a folk symbol said to ward off evil since it looks like a Nazi swastika.

[...]

The Thunder Cross [or Fire Cross]...quite commonly features on such mittens and other folk items in Latvian shops.

Good call.  While the Thunder Cross may have positive connotations for people living in Latvia, the swastika's got some pretty negative ones for the rest of Europe.

Anyone who lives in Taiwan probably sees where I'm going with this.  How is it that the Latvians managed to prevent a major diplomatic snafu with their decision not to hand out swastika mitts, but the anti-Chen crowd in Taiwan weren't smart enough to figure out that people might just have a FEW doubts about their intentions if they adopted red as their "party" color?

I mean, this isn't nuclear physics here.  If you're part of a European military organization, it's a BAD idea to wear swastikas on your clothing.  'Cause if you do, no one's going to buy your story that it's really just your "lucky Latvian Thunder Cross".

By the same token, if you live in a country like Taiwan, which owes its very EXISTENCE to the struggle against communism, getting your followers to wear red while demonstrating against a democratically-elected president is bound to raise a few eyebrows.  If you innocently claim the color simply represents "people's anger against the president", some folks are going to be a bit sceptical.

I don't want to be the guy who sees a red under every bed, but...c'mon.  You live 100 miles from COMMUNIST CHINA, and you chose RED as your rallying color?

At best, their sartorial choice shows exceptionally poor judgement.  And that's the kindest thing I can possibly say about it.