When fights and controversies over whether to "dump" or "save" certain candidates and whether to divide votes begin to take over the news headlines, everyone knows that the legislative election campaign has entered the final stretch. The candidates are going all out to get elected, even if that means sacrificing their comrades from the same parties. In times like this one cannot help but wonder "with friends like these, who need enemies?"

[ FULL STORY ]

By the Liberty Times editorial
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) recently indicated that if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is given a stable legislative majority on Dec. 11, he will definitely complete drafting and passage of a new constitution, as well as end the "forced implementation of the Chinese Constitution in Taiwan," among other absurd phenomena.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Enrique Dussel Peters
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has just returned home from his first trip to Latin America, where he sought new long-term markets and resources for his country's booming economy. These new ties offer Latin America and the Caribbean both a new market and an example of how a dynamic economy can reduce poverty.

[ FULL STORY ]

Turn round the question asked of black people and you may get the point
By Gary Younge
Sometimes it takes so long to figure out what's wrong with a question that you never quite get to the answer. At the forum on being British and Muslim organized by the Guardian last week, participants argued that some of the questions and issues being raised would never be put to white Christians, for example. These included: "do you have a duty to vote and/or participate in British political life?"; "do you have a responsibility to inform on political or religious groups who use violence to achieve political ends?"; and "do you want integration into British society or parallel lives? Why?"

[ FULL STORY ]

By William Safire
"A narrative is the key to everything," said Stanley Greenberg, a pollster for US Sen. John Kerry, looking back at the election. He explained to reporters that the Republicans had "a narrative that motivated their voters."

[ FULL STORY ]

By Joel Linton
I have finally begun to be able to sympathize with the Chinese exiles who came to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) after World War II. They lost a dearly-held dream of a new, great, and modern national China. The communists robbed them of their dream and so they had to face a life of exile in Taiwan. No longer could they be called Chinese nationals, nor were they Taiwanese: they were stuck on the outside.

[ FULL STORY ]