Radio Free Taiwan

This was taken from the “World Briefs” section of the Taipei Times. Link is here.

Israel
Soccer watcher suspended
The commander of an Israeli army squad has been suspended after his patrol took over a Palestinian home and confined the family to a spare room so the soldiers could watch Liverpool’s victory in the Champions League final. A Palestinian youth, Anan al-Zrayer, told Israeli television that he was stopped in the West Bank town of Hebron by soldiers who asked if his family had satellite television. After he confirmed that it did, he said the soldiers barged into the house, forced the family out of the living room and settled down to watch Wednesday’s final between Liverpool and AC Milan. “I gave them the remote control and they carried out a search. We were kicked into another room,” said Zrayer.

I didn’t know Palestinians were allowed to have satellite TV !

…and on the same page was this fascinating story:

United Kingdom
Billboard goes on display
A month after it ignited controversy, a large advertising billboard that questions the existence of Santa Claus went on display yesterday. Artist Darren Cullen scrapped plans to display the work four weeks ago after media interest prompted Maiden Outdoor, which owns the billboard, to refuse to show it. Critics say the piece — which carries the slogans “Stop Lying To Your Children About Santa Claus” and “Santa Gives More To Rich Kids Than Poor Kids” — is an attempt to ruin the magic of Christmas. But Cullen insists it is his way of highlighting the dangers of consumerism.

Actually, I think this is a pretty deep question. When I was very young (about 5 I believe), I came to question the existence of Santa for precisely the same reason. I thought it was obvious that Santa was nicer to rich kids. It wasn’t from comparing the gifts my classmtes got, but rather from noticing pictures and TV ads featuring starving children in Africa. It was obvious that Santa never visited them or he would have given them modest houses last Christmas. As a child, I assumed Santa would have to have a sense of proportional justice coexisting with his immense generosity.

Small children’s ethical reasoning is highly attuned, and most adults forget this. Nothing matters more to kids than fairness. Lying to them is unfair. It is quite reasonable to say that waving the great lie of Santa Claus in kids faces serves an insidious socialization function. What do they think when they realize their own parents have been lying to them for all these years? We assume they see “the fun in it” and forgive us with no hard feelings, but that is where we probably assume too much about children’s social development.

…and on the SAME page:

Canada
Aid given to Palestine
Prime Minister Paul Martin announced US$9.7 million in aid for Palestinians following a meeting Friday with leader Mahmud Abbas that aimed to re-energize the Middle East peace process. The money will be used for judicial reform, border management, to build houses for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and to help Palestinian women in Lebanon pursue university education. Canada will also deploy 50 observers for the upcoming Palestinian Legislative Council elections.

Gotta love the things minority governments will get done!

Link to the story here.

James Soong used pig trough politics to build a solid support base when he was premier. Then he split from the KMT to form his own party, the People First Party or PFP. He became Lien Chan’s enemy for splitting the conservative vote and bringing Chen Shui-bian to power.

In the last election, Soong ran for vice-president on the same ticket with Lien, who seems to have come around to the idea of ruining the KMT completely. Soong was the main energy behind claims that the election was fixed and that Chen had arranged to have himself grazed by a bullet. I think Soong is a self-serving opportunist who is trying to replace Lien as the biggest face conservative politician in Taiwan. (Read my letter to the Editor about it,
here.)If the KMT gets much worse, he may succeed. But so far, things look a bit worse for him. The KMT seems to be drawing voters away from the PFP. Perhaps people suspect the gangsters that have been getting political lately are connected to Soong.
Heres a link to an update on the current political situation along with some key background.

CNA , TAIPEI, Saturday, May 14, 2005 — After jumping five notches to the world’s 12th spot last year from 2003’s 17th, Taiwan’s global competitiveness moved up again this year to 11th place among the 60 major countries surveyed, according to the most recent World Competitiveness Yearbook issued Thursday by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
…
In Asia, Taiwan ranks only behind Hong Kong and Singapore, leading all other Asian counterparts, including Japan (21st), Thailand (27th), Malaysia (28th), South Korea (29th), China (31st) and India (39th), according to the officials.

China, Spain and Malaysia registered falls from last year’s places.

China’s fall was particularly unexpected as its economic growth has remained “red hot,” CEPD officials said.

Here’s the link.

More evidence that Taiwan is doing fine under the leadership of “independence forces” who are continually accused of economic mismanagement and not opening the doors to China investment fast enough. It’s scary how easily the people here will believe their country to be floundering economically. If a typical middle class family can’t buy US$500 of luxury goods per month, they say there is something wrong.

Here is a cool link to a video showing off Taiwan’s culture, with an overdubbed message stating that it is foolish to keep Taiwan out of the WHO and WHA. So true. I’m going to send this link to lots of people.

Click here to watch the video.