One of the most reputation-ruining sights Taiwan can offer is a gangster funeral. Attended by hundreds of black-shirted young men and senior politicians from both ideological camps, these events prove that democratic accountability and social standards don't mean the same thing to all people.

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By Doug Bandow
The despotic regime in Myanmar has again proved itself to be among the most odious governments on earth. What to do?

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By Huang Chih-huei 黃智慧
As a child, I used to look forward to the "glorious" month of October. However, as I grew up, I came to realize that the Double Ten National Day, Taiwan Retrocession Day and the birthday of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) were all in fact depressing holidays for a colonized people.

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Parts of Japan are trying to undo the damage of gratuitous development,but will this simply amplify the problem?
BY NORIMITSU ONISHI
Aquarter of a century ago, engineers straightened out stretches of the Kushiro River, which had meandered some 160km under Hokkaido's big sky in northern Japan, flowing through green hill country and rural towns, winding through the nation's largest wetland and this port city's downtown before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.

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By Thomas Palley
There is an old saying that goes, "If you have only a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Nowhere is this clearer than in discussions of the US trade deficit and global financial imbalances, given the tendency of economists to reduce most economic problems to questions of savings.

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By David Pendery
I am writing in response to the letter from Craig Dodge (Letters, Nov. 6, page 8).

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By Roger C.S. Lin
Alfred Tsai offered a good summary of Taiwan's situation (Letters, Nov. 6, page 8) when he said: "Both the pan-blue and pan-green camps are misleading people when they declare that Taiwan is part of China or that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign nation."

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