Blame the missionaries
I am writing in response to William Stimson's letter published on Feb. 10, page 8, entitled "US neglecting its duties."
For someone to assert that world renowned filmmaker of the fantastic, John Carpenter, had made some kind of anti-American manifesto in his wonderful science fiction/black comedy, Escape from New York, is grasping at straws. I question if Stimson actually paid attention to the film, given the fact he conveniently neglected to present the actual context of events in the film.
When he mentions that an airplane escorting the American president was "commandeered by a suicide-bent terrorist pilot" it is clear he was not paying attention to the film, taking into account the fact that the plane had been hijacked and that the plane was neither piloted by, nor deliberately crashed by any of the terrorists. Stimson later goes on to say that Hollywood "grinded out a cheap film with an unlikely scenario centered on the World Trade Center."
First of all, the film was an independent production from 1981. It was produced by Avco-Embassy; hardly a "Hollywood" studio. In addition, no plane whatsoever crashes into the World Trade Center. Its role in the film's events is utterly minimal as its roof serves as a landing pad for the film's anti-hero (Kurt Russell) to land upon. The building had already become derelict. There was no damage done to the World Trade Center in the film, and the fact that such attention was paid to a total of five minutes of the film's 90 minutes makes it obvious that Stimson's observations cannot be trusted.
To condemn the film as some potential terrorist-training device is an insult to the nearly 3,000 souls who perished on Sept. 11. To imply, based on a single film, that Americans have been slowly cutting their own throat with the popular culture they export is utterly laughable.
I hold suspect anyone who looks to cable television to find negative exportation of a country's culture when all he has to do is take a walk down to his nearby hyper-mart and see that the real American culture being forced down the throats of innocent countries lies in the guise of "missionaries" who harass innocent local families trying to finish their shopping.
Religion was the ruse for the Sept. 11 attacks, as it is for the clean-cut, black-tied westerners who pester shoppers and bait them with promises of free English lessons if they sit through a sermon. Stimson should probably see that it is not Hollywood movies the locals have issues with, but foreigners exploiting them with their religious indoctrination, thus demanding that they change their way of life based on an outsider's terms. How one can get this from Escape from New York is beyond me.
Darryl L. Unger
Hsinchu, Taiwan
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
The annual summit of East Asia and other events around the ASEAN summit in October and November every year have become the most important gathering of leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. This year, as Laos is the chair of ASEAN, it was privileged to host all of the ministerial and summit meetings associated with ASEAN. Besides the main summit, this included the high-profile East Asia Summit, ASEAN summits with its dialogue partners and the ASEAN Plus Three Summit with China, Japan and South Korea. The events and what happens around them have changed over the past 15 years from a US-supported, ASEAN-led
Lately, China has been inviting Taiwanese influencers to travel to China’s Xinjiang region to make films, weaving a “beautiful Xinjiang” narrative as an antidote to the international community’s criticisms by creating a Potemkin village where nothing is awry. Such manipulations appear harmless — even compelling enough for people to go there — but peeling back the shiny veneer reveals something more insidious, something that is hard to ignore. These films are not only meant to promote tourism, but also harbor a deeper level of political intentions. Xinjiang — a region of China continuously listed in global human rights reports —
As it has striven toward superiority in most measures of the Asian military balance, China is now ready to challenge the undersea balance of power, long dominated by the United States, a decisive advantage crucial to its ability to deter blockade and invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). America expended enormous treasure to develop the technology, logistics, training, and personnel to emerge victorious in the Cold War undersea struggle against the former Soviet Union, and to remain superior today; the US is not used to considering the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
RSS