Contrary to his image as a humble and gentle politician, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has made some unbelievably absurd comments since the presidential election. Could they be related to the pan-blue's election failure? After all, Ma served as the campaign chief for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance. How else could these remarks be explained?

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By Yan Jiann-fa 顏建發
Recently, topics related to the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) "new cultural discourse" have caused much controversy. At a time when the post-election political situation is not completely stable and the year-end legislative elections are approaching, such topics seem to be quite sensitive and have been excessively linked to the legislative election.

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By Hsu Chia-ching 徐佳青
As the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) recently started its preparations for the legislative elections, a strong call for a leadership reshuffle emerged from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP).

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Sharon offered the Palestinians little, but it was too much for the settlers
By Max Hastings
God has been misappropriated for many purposes in many lands over the centuries, but seldom for such a bad cause as that of the Jewish settlers of occupied Gaza and the West Bank.

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The Russian president's political consolidation represents the retreat of liberal democracy, but his electoral failure would only usher in more gloom
By Lilia Shevtsova
A joke doing the rounds in Moscow goes like this: The Americans didn't know who their president was two months after their presidential election, but we Russians knew who was going to occupy the Kremlin two years before ours.

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As the challenges facing China's leaders range from an outmoded political system to economic reform, millions of new jobs are critical to maintain stability
By Thomas Friedman
Here's what I learned in Tokyo: If you're the leader of Japan, America, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines or the EU and you're not going to bed each night saying the following prayer for China, then you're not paying attention:

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By Judy Wu
If Taiwan had truly developed from a dictatorial regime into a mature democracy, the opposition would have accepted its defeat in the recent presidential election gracefully for the good of the country. Thus society would have continued to run smoothly after the election. In a democracy, the losing side concedes defeat and congratulates the winner in a spirit of sportsmanship -- no matter how close the vote. Instead, we descended into chaos.

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