Pure Blood and Political Football: Korea has a hypocritical ``gold standard’’ about pure blood. Mixed-race people are looked on as somehow inferior _ even to the point of disgust. What shouldn’t be forgotten is that Korea has been conquered and overrun many times during its history. Invaders have come from east and west. Like the proverbial melting pot of America that inevitable mixing of blood could well be an underlying strength in this mongrel country.
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Raising Little Nationalists: ...in a year or two, today’s 1st graders will be taught to be proud that Koreans are racially ``pure.’’ Hands up, children, if this reminds you of a World War. If this is what they are taught in school, it’s no wonder people who were born after the Japanese occupation of Korea are more anti-Japanese than the people who actually experienced it. Have you ever wondered why Korea is the only country on the Chinese fringe without a thriving Chinese business community? They were suppressed and no one thought twice about it.
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Why the West will attack Iran: (Biff- An old Spengler column from January) By far the biggest loser in an Iranian confrontation with the West will be China, the fastest-growing among the world's large economies, but also the least efficient in energy use. Higher oil prices will harm China's economy more than any other, and Beijing's reluctance to back Western efforts to encircle Iran are understandable in this context. It is unclear how China will proceed if the rest of the international community confronts Iran; in the great scheme of things it really does not matter. ...We have begun the third act of the tragedy that started on September 11, 2001, and I see no way to prevent it from proceeding.
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GI Crimes Myth: ...the examples of bastard GI Crimes Koreans have been able to tell me about have ALWAYS turned out to be examples that prove the exact opposite of what they desperately want to believe -- like the 1993 horrible Markle Murder Case. Markle still sits in a Korean prison to this day (Dec. 2005). The murder was brutal, but the GI was convicted, and in a Korean civilian criminal court, (something a Korean soldier criminal never faces, because they are always tried by the Korean military court system). Biff- but isn't this always the case with whining nationalists (most of whom viscerally fear those possessing a knowledge of history and are thus usually the first to run to the barricades to oppose both free speech and democracy). Like the Opium War with the professional, and even amateur, Chinese nationalist. "Opium was forced upon us!" Except that opium has been part of Chinese pharmacopia since the 4th century AD. "Opium was a Western poison used to destroy China!" Except that not only was opium already in use in China, but opium was also a popular and legal over the counter medicine used in Britain at that time as well. Not to mention that China did not exist in the 19th century. It's a complete misnomer. A convenient one for nationalists though. China died in 1644 when it was swallowed up by Manchuria and only reemerged under Yuan Shi-kai after which it disappeared until Mao rechristened the territory New China (Xin Hua). But of course with nationalists pursuit of power by hook or by crook is the motivation. Truth is literally unimportant. If one issue can't be bent to use, then another, any other, fair or foul, true or false, will do.
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Get Out! Just Not Now...: The average, not so anti-American Korean believes US soldiers rape hundreds of Korean women and even kill a dozen or so every year. I was told this my first month inKorea and when I asked others over the years, 80%+ told me "that's about right." ...A common poster [featuring bin Laden] carried at anti-US rallies in late 2001 thru 2002. Some adults were shocked to find that Korean children viewed Bin Laden as a hero, because they had learned so consistently from the news, schools, pop culture, (and their parents) that (South) Korea's biggest "enemy" is the US. ... If you look back to each time the US has talked of withdrawing troops, the Koreans say, "Not now. It is too dangerous now. After X, then we will discuss it."It was the same in 1993. It was the same in 1977. It was the same in 1971.The Koreans won't add that - in the meantime - they want to continue to hate you too. Biff- I'm all for a free press. Very much so. But caveat emptor. The press, consisting primarily of young fools with more interest in padding a resume than pursuing the truth, is at times a worse enemy to the public interest than politicians: politicians being a crew as transparently dishonest as the serially dishonest electorate that puts it in office. ...Patriotism, nationalism, racialism, hatred of minorities, xenophobia - all means to an end. Interesting from an anthro point of view how many different paradigms have evolved to unify people for the purpose of achieving strength through numbers. ...Give people something they need once, they're grateful. Give it to them repeatedly, they're resentful for needing you. Later hateful. As Mark Twain put it: the difference between a man and a dog is that if you feed a dog, it won't bite you. Such a simple rule of thumb. But heeded by so few...
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KMT legislators and Ma Ying-jeou: It’s always been a criticism of Ma that he’s all style, and no substance - and he hasn’t (yet) done much to refute that as KMT Chairman. ‘The ghost of chairmen past’. Ex-KMT Chairman (serial loser, and king of all things negative and bitter) Lien Chan is still a very influental figure in the KMT. He is not a fan of Ma (he even flouted party rules to show that he voted for Wang in the KMT election), and has always been keen on the ‘block everything’ approach to opposition politics
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三百農民 不如一個兵: 眾所周知，中國農業人口至少還有七億五千萬；中共軍隊人數則至多為二百五十萬。農業人口是軍隊人數的三百倍。然而，面向七億五千萬人的農村支出，和二百五十萬人的軍費開銷，幾乎相差無幾！即三百個農民，不如一個兵！況且，外界一致判斷，中共軍費開銷的實際數字遠遠大於其公佈的數字。可見，「放在首位」的，決不是中南海口口聲聲的「三農問題」，而是他們念茲在茲的軍事開銷。養肥一支軍隊，以確保政權的安穩。
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愚弄西藏何時了？: 今年是個「逢六」年，在中國近百年歷史上，逢六的大日子很多，從一九○六年西太后宣布立憲一百周年開始，到一九七六年四人幫倒台三十周年，據說大陸的媒體，已經在策劃專題，準備大做文章。但是，忽然一盆冷水潑下來﹕中宣部指示，逢六活動一律不准搞。原來政府有苦衷，逢六活動中有一個要命的日子﹕「文化大革命」開始四十周年。盡人皆知，文革是中共歷史上的奇恥大辱，自己殺自己，幾乎殺到亡黨的地步，搞得全國昏天黑地，共產黨幾十年的神話全部破產。盡管老鄧己將文革定為「浩劫」，但遺留的問題太多，是非渾沌，一筆糊塗賬，當局以圖不了了之，就怕打開缺口，不可收拾。
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台灣會走向“奴役之路”嗎？: 台灣在新政府上台的三個多月，除了社會福利這種冷的社會主義被高度需求外，對于股市、匯市和房市等市場的干預更甚以往，而在產業政策方面也有強化的跡象。再看台面上的人物，主張社會福利和凱因斯學派者居多，以及已有“民粹”的輿論評語和一味往舉債方向思考等等現象觀之，台灣步向海耶克五十多年前所言的“到奴役之路”不是很有可能的嗎？國人，特別是有發言份量及掌權者，是有必要好好地、虛心地向《到奴役之路》取經啊！ Biff- the Taipei government continues to destroy nightmarkets under the guise of rationalizing operations. This, in practice, results in ramming bureaucratic standards down businesspeople's throats which makes for higher costs of operations, reduced diversity (in the two markets I've seen the government walk in, literally half of the businesses closed), and customers whining in private and throwing up their hands when the coast is clear. People forget, or don't realize, that politicians have a constant need to invent excuses for showboating, otherwise they don't get reelected. The problem, here as in Canada, isn't the politicians, but the monkeys who put them in office: the benighted electorate.
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At What Cost Israel-China Ties?: Nearly a dozen U.S. official reports accused Israel of various improprieties, and most of them pertained to its dealings with China.[19] Perhaps the most devastating of these was the report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, (popularly known as the Cox Report after House Policy Committee chairman Christopher Cox [Republican, Calif.]). The declassified portion explicitly identified Israel as one of the suppliers of high-tech weapons to China and charged that Israel "has provided both weapons and technology to the PRC [Peoples' Republic of China], most notably to assist the PRC in developing its F-10 fighter and airborne early warning aircraft."[20]
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