Breaking the cycle of violence
My fellow Americans, tomorrow is Memorial Day, when we remember those in the military who died. We especially remember the more than 4,000 Americans who died in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. We also remember the more than 100,000 Iraqis who died in that war.
We think of the US troops fighting the Islamic State. We know that there are US troops on the ground fighting the group because last week they killed a top Islamic State leader in an operation conducted in Syria deep inside its territory. This week the Islamic State captured the city of Ramadi and later Palmyra. It is getting closer to Baghdad.
We remember that the Islamic State exists because we destroyed the Iraqi government. The group filled the resulting power vacuum.
We remember that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was in power because we supported him in the 1980s before we fought him in the 1990s.
We remember the US troops who are still in Afghanistan four years after former Taliban leader Osama bin Laden’s death.
We remember that we supported Bin Laden when he was fighting the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
This week, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes spoke with counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, who was an adviser to four US presidents.
Hayes said that the US creates its enemies and then fights them. Clarke agreed.
Then Hayes asked how the cycle could be broken. Clarke said that he did not know.
Here is how: Get out of Afghanistan and the Middle East now. The fight in Afghanistan is between groups there and has been going on for centuries before we arrived. The fight against the Islamic State is part of a fight involving Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs and Iran. It is not our fight.
Andres Chang
Taipei
Ma’s failure over China
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is proud of the state of cross-strait relations (Editorial, May 21, page 8).
The truth is that Ma’s policy toward China has been a complete failure in many aspects and he should feel ashamed instead. His hope of winning a Nobel Peace Prize is gone.
Ma has sacrificed the dignity and sovereignty of Taiwan for superficial peace. This can be easily done by any ordinary person including those who are illiterate; it does not require a politician with a doctorate from Harvard University.
In promoting the so-called “1992 consensus” — which is essentially a “China consensus” — Ma has hidden the identity of the Republic of China and downgrades Taiwan to “Chinese Taipei” and “Taiwan Province, China.”
Taiwan has been changed from a sovereign country to “a part of China.” Ma has ruled out Taiwan’s application for UN membership. In presidential campaigns, Ma made a promise of no negotiations with China unless it dismantled missiles aimed at the nation. While China was upgrading and increasing the number of its missiles, the Ma administration negotiated and executed several agreements with China behind closed doors.
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was touted as a means “to cause prosperity again”; which said in Hoklo — also known as Taiwanese — sounds like the acronym. Instead, carcinogens are emitted from plants producing petrochemicals for exports to China. Every Taiwanese, young and old, bears NT$1.44 million (US$47,149) in national debt, compared to US$56,000 for every US citizen, while the average salary is at a 15-year low.
Last year, some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators tried to pass a service pact with China in 30 seconds. This action triggered the world-famous Sunflower movement in March and April last year and the unprecedented election losses for the KMT in November’s nine-in-one elections.
Today, the results still scare KMT leaders, who are afraid to run for president.
China unilaterally drew a flight route, M503, along the midline of the Taiwan Strait and created a Chinese National Security Law that included Taiwan.
This is the “peace” achieved by Ma.
According to Ma, Beijing “fears” student protests if it were to establish representative offices in Taiwan. Ma should apologize to Beijing over his China policy. Ma also said that the offices would not amount to “foreign relations.” For this, Ma should apologize to Taiwanese for the loss of nationhood and step down. He is the only president who wants to push his people — who are in fact his masters — from democracy into the deep valley of communism. He should be examined by psychologists.
Taiwan used to claim the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and several isles in the South China Sea. Ma has let China claim these and it is now reclaiming land around them for military use. The US-China dispute is heating up in the area. Ma should apologize to the US, Japan and countries in the region.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
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