胡宗南爭議 雙方談不攏: 「毛」書英文版去年六月在英上市，書中提及胡宗南的部分不過幾段文字，卻因張戎指他「可能是紅色代理人」，引發胡後人與歷史學者的強烈質疑。張戎被質疑「缺乏足夠證據」，因此決定在中文版提出更多證據，胡宗南所占篇幅增為八頁，反倒惹來更大風波。An interesting element in this jousting is that the local view maintains that the reader must be protected from authors with incorrect information. This would seem intuitively appropriate, but the view back home is in fact that the reader fends for himself. Free speech ensures that any nonsense, libelous or otherwise, can be printed. I.e. the onus is on the reader to employ discretion. The Chinese perspective remains steeped in decadent tradition whereby academics have a default contempt for the hoi-polloi which must be protected from itself. I.e. Paternalism in action. Lefties at home would approve heartily while denying that protecting the common man from himself encourages dependence and bovine stupidity in Joe Sixpack (thus compounding the original problem).

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Daggers drawn over a dot on the map: Talking to Christian leaders at a prayer breakfast, he charged that "some people" were "claiming territorial rights to former colonies that were once acquired through a war of aggression".

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Comics stoke Japan-Korea tension: While some of these statements may contain elements of truth, the authors also make more spurious claims. In one chapter, the book says Japanese colonization resulted in improved economic conditions for Koreans. It also says the Korean government invited the Japanese to colonize their country, so that Koreans might become enlightened by their more Westernized and modern Japanese neighbors. Biff- Japanese colonization to the best of my knowledge did indeed improve the country. Amongst other things, the Japanese occupation terminated the indigenous caste system plus traditional slavery which held above 5% of the population in cradle to grave bondage. As to Koreans inviting the Japanese in, I have no comment. But don't be quick to judge. Stranger things have happened.

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畫在紙上的「強國夢」——朔天運河 : 「朔天運河」也稱南水北調大西線計劃，這個計劃的基礎是「整個西藏高原就是一座天然的大水庫」。實際上，西藏的絕大部分地區屬半乾旱——少水帶和半濕潤過渡帶，只有藏南九萬多平方公里是中國和世界的最豐水帶。但是這片土地在麥克馬洪線以南，在印度實際控制下。根據解決中印邊界問題的原則，「朔天運河」計劃只是一個永遠不能實現的「強國夢」。古人云：一著不慎，全局皆輸。

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Indonesia: Playboy and hardcore violence - The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35). Religious leaders condemned the publication as immoral, despite its total lack of pictures of naked women.

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English villages and hype: First, the villages are not real. The buildings are simulations of banks, post offices, airline offices and the like, and the interactions are simulations: The "residents" of the English village in Korea are actually English teachers trained to play different roles, such as policemen (an ad for English teachers for the Seoul English village mentions that the teachers will also be trained to act as doctors).