Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Late Howard Zinn (RIP and sorely missed) and Links


  • 10 China myths and possible rebuttals from Derek Scissors of the Heritage Foundation
  • EVA's co-worker Chang Hung-lin 張宏林 critiques Taiwan's recycling policies - turns out the need to meet contract terms comes before delivering appropriate solutions at an appropriate scale.
  •  Preventative measures or cynical land grab? Taiwan aborigines protest post-Morakot relocation policies.
  • 9th Round of Tibet-Beijing talks: don't hold your breath.
  • Taiwan's national sovereignty and dignity won't be affected by ECFA - easy to say when you don't regard Taiwan as having an sovereignty in the first place.  Foreign observers need to get smart on this point soon - they need to understand that the KMT Ma administration does not recognise that Taiwan has any sovereignty, only the ROC.
  • Ma won't suffer the indignity of being summoned by the Control Yuan over his leadership of Taipei City and his decisions to extend the Muzha MRT line and build the defunct Maokong Gondola. No, instead, Ma will summon the Control Yuan.  Not for him the symbolic humiliation that should only be the burden of upstarts and revolutionaries like Former President Chen. 
  • Foreign experts inveigle Taiwanese into believing that signing ECFA will lead to FTAs with other countries.
  • Journeyman Pictures interviewed President Chen in 2005 - two things of note: One the movie makers consistently refer to Taiwan as 'Chinese' (e.g. they flew out of Chinese airspace) though they do also state that the majority of Taiwanese support their de facto independence.  Another is the appearance of Su Chi to represent the KMT side: "Half of Taiwan see Chen as the President and the other half see him as a crook" and "Chen staged the shooting".  Its an interesting if belittling (to Taiwan and Chen) analysis and noteworthy also for the Taiwanese couple who moaned that China is so big and Taiwanese should focus on economy and not other issues.  That mindset got Ma Ying-jeou elected, something many Taiwanese are now starting to sorely regret.
at 2:38 AM