Bush and Blair deserve worse
The two editorials in your June 9 edition on page 9 could have easily been combined into one. The first focuses on the US and Britain's altering of reports on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction to appease public support for their campaign to topple Hussein and reveal to the world what Blix and his crew have failed to dig up over the past 12 years. The other focuses on the death toll in Iraq due to the economic sanctions put in place during the early 1990s.
The sanctions were installed against Iraq following the Gulf War to pressure them to come up with and destroy chemical, biological and nuclear arsenals. Throughout the 1990s, UN crews have ventured into Iraq in search of such arms and have come up with nothing. But due to US pressure on the UN to maintain sanctions based on undeniable "evidence" to the contrary, 1.5 million Iraqis have died. Since the US failure to topple Saddam throughout the 90s, the US has fabricated reports in hope that the sanctions would erode Iraq from within.
The US' 13-year campaign against Iraq has provided enough evidence to show how deceptive the US really is and its apathy toward innocent people. The "Weapons of Mass Deception" can be combined with "Words of Mass Deception" with a 13-year price tag of 1.5 million people.
Ironically, the day after these articles were printed, a report on the front page of the June 12 edition, "US revives war-crimes row with EU," offers another link between these articles. The EU is trying to stop the UN Security Council from renewing the US exemption from prosecution of war crimes. Quite convenient considering all the lies that have surfaced on US and Britain's fabrication of documents. My question is, if they are innocent, what are they afraid of?
Sadly both Blair and Bush will walk away from this unscathed. Their empire will continue to grow in the wake of an ever expanding shadow of lies looming over the never ending desert of bodies. And in the history books they will be praised for their actions thus forever weaving their web of deception, even from the grave.
Chris Piggins
Tainan
Coverage merits a visit
I felt compelled to send this e-mail after reading about the WHO's decision not to rescind its travel warning for Taiwan in today's edition of your paper on the Internet. I think it's unfair, based on your reporting. I have been reading your paper over the last couple of months as I wanted the "local" view on the epidemic.
I have found your reporters' articles and your editorials very informative and apparently without the normal media hype! I have, of course, followed the stories in other media but your coverage seems to be the most factual.
Your coverage has convinced me to continue with my planned first trip to your country at the end of this month, on my way to Europe. I will be stopping over for a few days in each direction as a result!
Reni Barnes
Australia
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
RSS