It doesn't take much in most societies for people to rely on stereotypes to judge other cultures or peoples. This is especially the case in societies that are relatively homogeneous -- as is the case with Taiwan, which, no matter how one categorizes its ethnic groups, is largely Han.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Chen Hurng-yu 陳鴻瑜
In recent years, China's spin doctors have hatched a peculiar watchword in reference to Taiwan: "troublemaker." How Taiwan, a country so oppressed in the international community, has earned the moniker "troublemaker," especially from the hegemonic Chinese, is a question whose answer ironically reveals more about China's troublemaking than anything else.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Cao Changqing 曹長青
Both during his visit to the US and in his meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he wished that the Republic of China would stop "being a troublemaker," as if democratic Taiwan created the Taiwan Strait crisis. It is incredible to hear a potential presidential candidate so casually belittle the country he is so eager to rule.

[ FULL STORY ]

The eruption of the Indian and Chinese economics could shift the balance of power sharply in favor of capital in the rich world
By Andrew Glyn
A piece of conventional wisdom about the world dear to economists is that the share of national income going to workers stays pretty stable. Karl Marx disagreed; he argued that labor-saving capital investment would limit demand for labor, while also bankrupting small-scale producers, in agriculture for example. They would swell the labor supply, creating a permanent "reserve army of labor" that would prevent real wages growing as fast as labor productivity. Workers would thus spend an increasing proportion of working time producing profits for capitalists -- a falling share for labor or a rising rate of exploitation, in Marx's terminology.

[ FULL STORY ]

The front-page headline of Wednesday's edition of the French daily Le Parisien could not have been clearer or more humiliating for the French prime minister: "What use is Villepin?"

[ FULL STORY ]

By John Sutherland
In 1961, Phyllis Chesler agreed to marry her college sweetheart, a young, Westernized Muslim man who had come to study in the US. At his request, they married and lived in his home country, Afghanistan.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Ray Womack
I am forwarding a copy of a letter I have recently sent to the US secretary of state:

[ FULL STORY ]

By Cecilia Ma
The UN plans to use only simplified Chinese characters on its Web sites and documents starting in 2008. Since many countries see China as a potential superpower, the decision is understandable. But traditional Chinese characters are symbols of the Chinese arts and culture and should be respected by the world, regardless of whether the UN uses them or not.

[ FULL STORY ]