Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Fidel, Che, 9/11 and a call for radicalism

MikeinTaipei

As the saying goes, you don’t choose books; books choose you. Rather than keep reading a book by National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起), which I intend to review for the Taipei Times, or distract myself with Murakami Haruki’s Wind-up Bird Chronicle, I spent my day off reading Simon Reid-Henry’s fascinating dual biography Fidel & Che: A Revolutionary Friendship, while enjoying Café Odeon’s fine selection of Belgian beers and perfect background music.

A guilty verdict to scorn

Taipei Times

Prior to the onslaught of Typhoon Morakot, one name in the Cabinet stood above all others as a ripe candidate for removal in any reshuffle: Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰).

Wang, who has presided over and contributed to a punishing loss of confidence in the impartiality of the nation’s judicial system, survived this week’s reshuffle after lying low for some months. Her case was helped by not having a major role to play in the government’s diabolical response to the typhoon.

Former President Chen Shui-bian’s Plea of Not Guilty Outside the Court

Chen Shui-bian’s Office

Abstract

On September 11, 2009, the Court of Judge Tsai Shou-hsun will give its verdict in the case of Taiwan versus Chen Shui-bian as regards charges of corruption, money-laundering, and misuse of state funds.

When that verdict is given, the media and the public will be presented with simply that, a resulting verdict; they will not see the reasons, methods and machinations, proper or improper, by which the prosecutors and judge worked to achieve that end, nor will they see the defendant’s side of the story.

Unintentional sobriety

Taipei Times

Since he came to office in May last year, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pro-China policies have become so transparent that a US-based satirical magazine was prompted to compare cross-strait relations to courtship, with Ma “wooing China.”

It would be unfair, however, to look down at the magazine for making a political analogy so absurd as to belittle Taiwan, for in his words and deeds over the past year-and-a-half, Ma has encouraged this very image, especially for those looking in from the outside.

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