Tag: Islamic extremism

Macron is right, but it is too little too late

Millions of oppressed fled Syria. Most were fleeing death and misery. Many though were embedded with extremism, a brand of Islam bereft of tolerance, hence “believe like me or die”. Once the doors were thrown open in the EU, many European members were forced to yield, and in many forms of Islam there is no leeway for getting along with “freedom of speech”. Thus, like in Communist China, or Cuba, or Venezuela, or North Korea, or Russia, or a variety of dictatorships in Africa, or in Asian Islam, like in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, or for the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, PLO, Iran, and others, free exchange of ideas is anathema to them, and even the slightest disagreement with their dogma inspires horror and murder, as we saw recently in Paris and Nice. Macron’s response is justified, but it is too little too late, and he was weak for too long in recognizing the inevitable influence the influx would have on European sensibilities and customs. The seeds of this destruction are now already planted in Europe, and every country that opened its doors to this particular endless immigration has introduced social conflict that is in many respects incompatible with the traditional freedoms inherent in Western culture. The result unfortunately has repeated itself in London, in Paris, and throughout the EU. It is not going away.

We see some of this in Ilan Omar, her intolerance and ideology, her palpable hatred of America, and Jews in particular. We see it also in a host of others who fled somewhere to bring this intolerance to our shores, in some cases itching for a fight. There is no place for it in our culture. There are hundreds of millions who can and do get along in the world. But for the rest it is like throwing a match into a barrel of oil.

There are those ready to appease the intolerance of those of Omar’s ilk, yield to their demands of “believe like me or die”, and the current thread of appeasement which runs through the Left’s eagerness to embrace those who despise our freedom and our nation leaves me in fear of our future, with the likes of Tlaib, Omar, Ellison and others manipulating our open system to their advantage, and injecting insidious dogma into those they influence (like the rabid Antisemitism and hatred of Israel spreading like wildfire in the BLM/Antifa movement and the Democratic Party).

We should use Macron’s initial fecklessness as an example of what not to do, and a cautionary tale to impel us to adopt the vigilance we need to keep the incompatible hatred and violence from infecting our nation. We welcome legal immigrants and refugees to our shores, but they are welcome only if they abide by our long, long history and traditions of freedom, tolerance and acceptance, and “believe like me or die” is not acceptable dogma in our collective American DNA. It most certainly is not.

The New Antisemitic Democratic Party – It is the Hypocrisy Party now.

Well, a dozen Democratic Party congresspeople in the US (including two Jews), have decided to try to censure Israel, never having done so to Hamas for murdering Jews, because Israel refused to allow a visit by Oman and Tlaib, two supporters of Palestinians and BDS. They are two of the most vitriolic, brazen and unrepentant Antisemites in the US Congress, issuing daily criticism of Jews and Israel with the same old centuries old tropes which preceded the Holocaust, have never died down in Europe, and are daily fare in Iran, the West Bank and Gaza. Oman and Tlaib set up Israel with a fake trip designed to attack Israel, support BDS (which is against Israeli law) and rather than meet with any Israeli government representatives for a dialogue, was designed to visit only Palestinians. Consequently, they were barred by Israel.

Barring these Antisemitic reprobates was more than fully justified. Their vitriol and hatred of Israel knows no measures, their constant diatribes against Israel have betrayed their rabid racism against Jews, and they have no place in Congress. They should have been censured themselves, and strongly. Where are the investigations into their antisemitic activities? Their contacts with known terrorist organizations?

What’s worse, their positions have been adopted by some of the Democratic Party candidates for President who have vowed to cut off all aid and military support of our primary ally in the Middle East, Israel, and have sworn to support the terrorists running the Palestinian government.

Could the Democratic Party be any more bizarre and disturbed than it is?  A blatantly Antisemitic political party which complains about “white supremacy” and constantly accuses the President of being a racist? Is there any greater hypocrisy? What is wrong with this party? The further to the left it has drifted, driven there by President Obama, the more fascist it has begun to look, and now we are seeing signs of the racism and hatred of Jews which has characterized many previous fascist movements.

It is essential these congresspeople get a grip on themselves and realize what idiocy they are speaking. They are adamantly supporting two Holocaust deniers who have been barred from entering Israel for violating Israeli law  barring anyone who support BDS from entering Israel. If the Democratic Party wants to get elected, it should be seriously worried about being seen as supporting Iran, Hamas, the PLO, China, Venezuela and other US enemies, as well as some of the other hateful positions put forth by AOC and her “squad” of racists.

Bloomberg’s latest anti-Israel editorial is not only surprising, it is inane – Bloomberg says Israel is 100% responsible for the plight of Palestinians, not Hamas, not the PLO, not Abbas

Don’t look for the words Hamas, PLO or Abbas in the latest anti-Israel editorial offered by Bloomberg in the August 21, 2018 edition of the Taipei Times on P.9 entitled “The Palestinians cannot keep living under Israeli apartheid” penned by Hussein Ibish.

How is it possible to write a 3 page article about the “Palestinians'” misery and not mention the word “Hamas” or the term “PLO” or the name “Abbas”, lingering President of the PLO since 2005 (is there an election in sight)? The “Palestinians” are under the heel of those organizations and that man, not Israel. Israel affords more rights to its Arab citizens than most other Arab countries afford their own citizens. Tens of billions of dollars of aid to the Palestinians are wasted each year on terrorism, bombs, tunnels, brainwashing and corruption, and not to schools, hospitals, education and the betterment of the “Palestinian” people. Hamas and the PLO are dedicated to keeping the “Palestinian” people poor and wretched so that someone can write an article like this. In Bloomberg no less. What a travesty.

Golda Meir, President of Israel said 60 years ago “Peace? We will have no peace with the Arabs until they love their children more than they hate us.” Until they educate their children to be better and stop teaching them to hate Jews, the ultimate racism and Antisemitism in the world, there will be no solution. Israel’s motto is Never Again and it means Never. Ever. Surrounding nations should look to Israel as an example of how to have a successful democratic country in the midst of a sea of tyranny. Israel took a desert and turned it into an oasis. The Palestinians took an oasis and turned it into a desert, and now weep for living in a desert – like a child who murdered his parents and throws himself on the mercy of the Court as an orphan, seeking sympathy. The path to peace runs through Gaza and the PLO, not through Jerusalem. There is no negotiating peace with people who do not want peace, only genocide against the Jews once more. Israel, like Taiwan, is a unique nation, in Israel’s case fighting alone against a sea of racism, and in the case of Taiwan, against international greed and addiction for Chinese lucre. Great people and great ideas persist in the midst of adversity. Israel and Taiwan will prevail.

The fact Mr. Ibish’s article argues for Israel to be prevented from being a Jewish state (among a surrounding and nearby 24 nations which are Islamic states or Arab states where Jews are not welcome) is telling. This is another stab at destroying Israel, with immigration if necessary. The problem of the “Palestinians” is not Israel, it is Hamas and the PLO, both corrupt, both happiest when the people are the most pathetic, their “governments” are oppressive, there are no human rights, no women’s rights, no freedom, no due process (due process in Gaza means summary execution at the pleasure and fiat of Hamas leadership) and no accountability (and oddly no mention of either of them in this 3 page article). Abbas was “elected” in 2005 and he is still in power after 13 years and the people have not benefited one single bit in all that time. When the PLO and Hamas are thrown out of governing the people, there will be hope for a future. As long as the world, the U.N. especially, and anyone who wishes to destroy the notion of a Jewish state continue to support the “Palestinians” as cannon fodder, there will be no peace. Israel is a tiny Jewish state in its historical homeland of more than 3,000 years, the one place in the world Jews can be safe. That will never change again. Never. Ever.

NATO has blatantly given the green light to Iran to attack Israel – the NATO chief says alliance won’t protect Israel if Iran attacks, never mind maintaining even the illusion of a semblance of spine or morality – with friends like the EU, who needs enemies?

NATO has given the green light to Iran to attack Israel. It should come as no surprise that when put on the spot, the EU will follow its standard military response – Run away. Is it possible? Can humans be that completely feckless and pathetic? Perhaps it is time for the US to leave NATO and see how the EU likes facing Russia and China, ISIS, Al Qaeda, North Korea and all of the other enemies of democracy themselves. They can do “deals” because that is all they know, how to appease. The EU learned absolutely nothing from Hitler and Chamberlain. I’m tired of spending so many American lives, and billions and billions of dollars saving those lilly-livered appeasing jackasses over and over and over again. Why should we help them at all if this is their policy? Let them figure out how to get by protecting themselves from evil by spending a handful of Euros on defense.

Fuck the EU. It is 1939 all over again, and Europe is at war against the Jews. Despicable, pathetic, moronic, hypocritical, disgusting and so weak. By saying they will not help Israel, Europe is saying they are helping Iran…Iran!!  The enemy to everything democratic and peaceful. There is NO NEUTRAL here. Could anyone be more chickenhearted? What is wrong with the EU? NATO? NATO? Without the US, NATO is a gun club, a picnic group, a coffee clutch. Good luck. Oh, by the way. If Russia decides to waltz into Paris or Berlin or Rome or Madrid we’re busy defending Israel, sorry. Oh. Did I send a signal to Russia that they have a clear path to roll over you guys? Good luck. I give you three days and then you can genuflect to Tzar Putin, as opposed to kneeling before the Emperor Xi or the Ayatollah. Seems you make your bed, you sleep in it.

Palestinians – a society based on self-inflicted misery on women and children in order to seek destruction of Israel

The coverage in US major media of the US Embassy opened in Jerusalem yesterday has been minimal or non-existent, while coverage of the latest “protests in Gaza” designed to attract attention away from the momentous occasion of the founding of Israel and opening the Embassy has been huge. Of course. Europe and the left wing in the US has appeasement sickness again, believing the Palestinians must be appeased in order to secure peace. Like Chamberlain with Hitler. And President Obama with everyone. This is misguided strategy and diplomacy. Moving the Embassy took guts, and has taken a significant obstacle to peace off the table. There are hopefully more to follow opening a path to a solution.

Palestinians, instead of bettering themselves and their society, have spent 50 years sacrificing their women and children to kill Jews and Israel. What can be said of a society that is represented only by the misery they have brought upon themselves to eschew peace and try to get sympathy for the destruction of their neighbors? Israel built its nation with plows, hard work, education, technology and innovation, turning a desert into an oasis. The Palestinians took many many billions of dollars of aid, and perfected bomb-assembly and tunnel digging, little else. Until a giant mirror is erected for these self-immolated people to see their totalitarian leaders are feckless and horrid, misguided and cruel they will wander in this misery forever. Palestinians would be better served learning from Israel’s successes than casting stones, and learning to live together with their neighbors instead of crushing a people who have no intention of ever being crushed again.

Newsflash: Bad people are brutal, and people die in wars.

Sigh. Newsflash: people die in wars.

Eradicating an enemy who kills without conscience can be costly, but is absolutely necessary.  Regarding an article out of AP today about deaths in Mosul during the raging battle with ISIS there in March, 2017 (Taipei Times Dec. 21, 2017 p. 1 “More than 9,000 dead in battle to oust ISIS from Mosul”), it is clear that the number of civilian casualties are directly proportional to the absence of morals or ethics or care or concern for human life by the adversary, because our systems provide for adherence to those norms, but theirs do not, and in fact they use brutality as a weapon against us. However, when the adversary is bereft of conscience, it all goes out the window and you are in the fight of your life. Period.

President Obama micromanaged conflicts and we made almost no progress against ISIS. The supposed “progress” made during his administration was miniscule, chaotic, disjointed, betrayal, and incompetent (e.g. stepping aside (Obama’s chief policy) and turning the fight over to Russia, who by the way, WAS FIGHTING FOR THE OTHER SIDE – DUH!). When facing an adversary like ISIS (and Assad, the flavor of the month of Arab strongman with no compunction about murdering hundreds of thousands of his own people), who uses people as human shields, you simply cannot allow them to control the battle in this way. It is sadly like removing a cancer, which often involves death of good cells as well. People who are placed thus are already dead, because hesitation will embolden them to kill ever more, take more, be more cruel and brutal (as ISIS proved), as opposed to obliterating them finally so they can kill no more.

This is war. During WWII tens of millions died at the hands of the Nazis and Japanese (often brutally and bereft of human conscience), and finally the US ended the Pacific war with awful weapons, saving millions of lives and costing hundreds of thousands. I offer no apology for this. Those attacks ended the war within a week.

ISIS needed to be crushed, and attacking them with pebbles from 1,000 yards on alternate Sundays when the moon was in decline was an idiotic approach, and prolonged the war to destroy ISIS for years while hundreds of thousands died and millions were displaced. The refugee crisis today in the world is directly related to the absence of any conviction to win the battle on the ground because the Commander in Chief was a wimp and tied the hands and legs of his warriors.

We cannot control the depths of depravity that some adversaries sink to except to destroy them. If you are unwilling to do that to save families and children and the future, stand aside. Others will step into the fray and accomplish the task, in our case, with far more discretion than in previous conflicts in history. There are bean counters who will whine and weep. So be it. Stand aside.

Appeasement gets nowhere and accomplishes absolutely nothing. We need to stop appeasing evil. This means China especially, and Russia, Iran, terrorists, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, PLA, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and many others. Kumbaya diplomacy accomplished nothing the past ten years. It is time for a new paradigm which does not involve hand-wringing, whining, caving in and running away. Stand aside.

I wrote about this yesterday here regarding the world’s appeasement of the Palestinians who have only grown more intransigent and belligerent with every European appeaser’s vote of betrayal of the US and Israel.

Stand aside. Get out of the way.

Letter to Europe Upon Betrayal of the US and Israel – What the Hell is Wrong with You?

Dear Europe,

I will use polite language. What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned absolutely nothing in the last 100 years? What does it take for you to actually learn from a disaster? Have you learned absolutely NOTHING about the failure of appeasement as a strategy?

I hearken back to a notable statesman from your past who was one of the few Europeans who actually understood the danger and refused to yield. When Hitler rose up, Europe quivered and quaked, moaned, whined and appeased, appeased, appeased. And 50 million died, including 6 million Jews exterminated. Appeasement, appeasement, appeasement. It is the ONLY policy in Europe that keeps coming back despite the historical fact that no evil regime backs down because of appeasement – ever.

Consequently, Chamberlain appeased, and begged, Hitler built a monster war machine, France submitted to Vichy, the rest of Europe yielded, and tens of milions died. Consequently, only Winston Churchill’s backbone drove the war effort against the German machine. Appeasement merely encouraged Hitler and threw gasoline on the fire. Have you learned NOTHING??

More recently, kneeling beside President Obama, the spineless American President, you basically invited Iran to become a nuclear nation, and helped the UN join Obama in his betrayal of the American legislature and appeasement of Iran, which included billions of dollars, which has financed its hegemony and terrorist efforts throughout the Middle East.

You joined the idiotic Agreed Framework with North Korea in 1994, agreed to by another master of appeasement, Bill Clinton, even though the agreement was breached while the ink was drying. And now North Korea has nuclear weapons and missiles because you constantly did nothing, because you are incapable of acting. Have you learned NOTHING??

Now, instead of actually joining forces with the US in Syria (France’s debacle, among many in that region of the world) and wiping out Assad and ISIS, Europe twiddled its thumbs, whined and moaned about the conflict, and now basically by appeasing Assad, Russia, Iran and who knows who else, the many millions of displaced refugees have changed the very nature of Europe (and not from a good standpoint) and within a few decades, the Europe we know will have changed completely. Have you learned NOTHING??? NOTHING???

Now, when the American President had the “temerity” to actually speak the truth about Jerusalem, that it was (and has been since 1,000 B.C.) the capital of Israel, Europe wrung its hands, wept, moaned, tutted, shook its head, and actually betrayed the United States and Israel in the United Nations Security Council by appeasing the Palestinians. French President Macron actually used the word “appeasement” in his response to the American President’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Europe collectively moaned that this changed U.S. policy. Of course it did not. The policy was stated in the law from 25 years ago that mandated the U.S. Embassy be moved to Jerusalem. All of the intervening Presidents appeased the Palestinians. And the result??? Peace? No. Discussions? No. Movement by the Palestinians? No. Cessation of terrorism? No. Improvement in the lives of Palestinians? No. Education ? No. Jobs? No. Infrastructure? No. Bombs? Yes. Rank, genocidal Antisemitism? Yes.

When I taught negotiation skills in Asia for over ten years, I always mentioned the difference between American and European negotiation strategies. American negotiators negotiate to prevail. European negotiators negotiate to please (otherwise called “appeasement”). This is nowhere more apparent than in the 100 years of appeasement of evil that Europe has engaged in over and over and over and over and over. Having no stomach for conflict, Europe is an easy mark for butchers like Hitler.

The Palestinians only understand one thing – an ultimatum, something they never ever ever ever get from the UN, from Europe, and from spineless American presidents, such as Carter, Clinton, Obama. Yielding to the Palestinians has NEVER yielded any progress in peace. It has only emboldened the Palestinians to commit more murder and mayhem in Israel, to teach their children in school to hate Jews and that all of the Jews in the world must be destroyed. Sadly (and sickly) these feelings are not alien to Europe, which has practiced Antisemitism for the last 1,000 years, or more.

Europe, all of it, and in particular France and England, betrayed the United States and Israel yesterday in the Security Council (did they think Obama was still President, and Oppeasement was the order of the day?) Have you learned NOTHING???? NOTHING at all????

Europe has been appeasing China and its so-called fake One-China Policy, which is actually China’s excuse to try to destroy democracy on its doorstep, and Europe appeases China, and turns the other way, and ignores Taiwan. Does appeasement help? No, it only gives greedy European capitals Kommunist Kash.  And Europe condemns Israel, when Europe itself is corrupt and bereft of ethics. Europe is such an easy mark. What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned NOTHING???

The Palestinians want genocide against Israel and Jews everywhere. Is Europe insane?? Does it pretend that looking the other way will make it go away? or that it will lead to a resolution, peace? What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned abolutely NOTHING??????

Let me put it to you straight. Israel will prevail. When Jews say “Never again” they mean NEVER AGAIN. Appeasement is ridiculous, nearly wiped out the Jewish race, and resulted in tens of millions of deaths. Europe has been appeasing over and over and over and over for 100 years. What the Hell is wrong with you??? Have you learned NOTHING????

We will do this with you or without you. The way things are going, you will be gone in a few decades, as you appease yourselves out of existence. Have you learned NOTHING? What the Hell is wrong with you??

Fondly,

The Truth Today is Very Popular – How About some Diplomatic Truth? Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel, and Taiwan is not Part of China, and is Independent and Democratic!

For 50 years, the international community, including the impotent United Nations, has pretended the historical connection of 3,000 years between Jerusalem and Israel dating back to King David did not exist. The diplomatic convenience of appeasement, an act of allowing a lie to be treated as the truth, did nothing for peace.

For 50 years, the international community, including the impotent United Nations, has pretended that the historical separation since 1895 between China and Taiwan did not exist, and has been willing to pretend Taiwan is part of China, for “diplomatic purposes” (read this as “greed”). The diplomatic convenience of appeasement, an act allowing a lie to be treated as the truth, did nothing for peace, and has allowed China to grow in belligerence and hegemony, threatening the world with totalitarianism, “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

Previous international policy on the Palestinians has failed miserably. In 1995, Congress passed the Embassy Act directing the US embassy be moved to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. President Clinton failed to sign the law, and it went into effect without his signature, his having failed to return it to Congress during the permitted time. However, Clinton, Bush and Obama all suspended the law for the past 25 years. Now, President Trump has actually complied with the law, saying out loud what has been true for 3,000 years.

Let the Palestinians and the rest of the world face the truth, the fact that Jerusalem and Israel are inextricably connected as they have been since King David declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel around 1,000 B.C. Appeasement has no chance of success, and hopefully the days of appeasing the Palestinians is over. Threatening violence in the middle-east because of this decision is nonsense. It is already burning in chaos with internecine conflict between Shia and Sunni, and many other peoples and sects clamoring for influence, territory and wealth for greedy leaders. Israel has nothing to do with this never-ending conflagration. All Israel ever did was turn a desert into an oasis, something the Palestinians should take note of, if they could put down their AK-47s, suicide belts and bombs, and Jew-hating long enough.

Let the world start acknowledging the truth that the Emperor Xi is naked, that he has no new clothes, that this is the truth, and that Taiwan is a free, independent, democratic nation of peace.

I hope today is the first day of the rest of our lives accepting the truth in diplomacy instead of decades of diplomatic lies and appeasement of evil. Let’s hope the American President’s fulfillment of his promise to the people of Israel is the beginning of “telling it like it is” and starting to get things done in solving the world’s worst conflicts. After the past 8 years of Obama’s polite appeasement and giving evil a pass in the name of false “peace”, it took less than 11 months and a little New York chutzpah to move America in the right direction. I hope it is just the beginning, and that China is next on the list to get a wake up call to something called “the truth”.

Opposition to Legislation Against Israel on the Spurious Grounds of Violating Palestinian Children’s Human Rights – Pro-Palestinian Groups using Palestinian Kids as “Human Shields”

This is an email I just sent to Betty McCollum, Congresswoman for the 4th District in Minnesota after learning of her sponsorship of a bill entitled Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act.  It seems the BDS lobby is now using Palestinian kids as human shields to try to hide the malice in the Palestinian campaign to end Israel and Jews. It is embarrassing there are actually people in Congress who have bought this ruse.

1. I am appalled at your bill regarding Israel.

2. A child aged 8 walks into a department store in downtown St. Paul wearing a suicide bomb vest. What should you do? After the child is tackled to the ground by an heroic officer, and apprehended before the vest can be detonated, what to do with the child? Catch and release? Release to parents (who armed the child in the first place, or failed to stop Uncle X from teaching the child to kill)? Detain the child pending further investigation? How about if the story is about thousands of child/teen bombers over a longer time period?

3. Instead of focusing on a tiny nation fighting against a billion adversaries all religiously committed to exterminating them and all Jews worldwide, how about focusing on the brainwashing in Palestinian schools? How about preventing a child from taking part in terrorism by halting aid to a regime that indoctrinates its children with the notion that suicide bombing Jews is the highest achievement they can attain, and that all Jews must be killed? This is the basic curriculum in Palestinian schools. Not be a doctor. Not be a lawyer. Not be an artist. Not be a scientist. Be a terrorist, be a Jew killer.

4. There are hundreds of millions of children suffering around the world, many many many many of them suffering at the hands of Islamic societies using them as child soldiers or as child brides or as slaves. And yet, you focus on Israel, the only true democracy in the region, a nation of around 8 million people, not on the 1.5 billion in Arab nations surrounding it eager to kill every Jew alive. Imagine, if only the region were focused on actually educating their children instead of indoctrinating them to murder? Golda Meir said “Peace? There will be no peace until the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” She said that 60 years ago. It is still completely true today. By the way. The doctrine for Israel is “Never again.” I wonder. Have you ever visited Dachau? Auschwitz? Buchenwald? If you haven’t been to a concentration camp, you cannot viscerally understand what Israel is dealing with.

5. Palestinians always have had the opportunity for normalcy. But having been chosen by the Arab world as cannon fodder, they have decided to torture their people to try to destroy Israel. Congratulations for buying into the lie that Israel is persecuting Palestinians. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been given to the Palestinians and used there to pay terrorists’ families when they have murdered Jewish children, or to build bombs, or tunnels, not build schools, hospitals or commercial enterprises. Israel created an oasis out of a desert. The Palestinians have turned an oasis into a desert. Go figure.

6. My fervent hope is that this legislation dies an ignominious death in some Committee somewhere. However, given the recent insanity gripping my Democratic Party, I am not sure of the support. Imagine having to turn to Republicans for common sense. What a strange and twisted thing liberalism has become. You were among a group who sponsored the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2017 – are  you really going to conflate the Holocaust with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s battle for survival against all adversaries determined to kill all Jews? Perhaps you believe that Hamas is a charitable organization?

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – Taiwan’s Democracy, the U.S. Pledge, and the Chinese Communist Party’s Constant Nightmare – “Freedom”

Regarding the editorial in the Sunday Taipei Times (“The Liberty Times Editorial: Opportunities and independence”, Jul 16, 2017 – Page 6), and speaking of the U.S. position on Taiwan’s independence, the paper notes “Therefore, arms sales to Taiwan, but failure to support its independence is a curious mix-and-match of action and rhetoric.”

Actually, if one thinks about it, this is not so curious. Failing to support independence out loud is not opposing it, even if those words come out of some official’s mouth at some point, because at its root, opposition to independence is not the policy of the U.S., it is merely a tool aimed at defusing a flash point with an arch enemy with nuclear weapons.

However….there is a time to every purpose, and war between the U.S. and China is the potential result of a declaration of independence by Taiwan unless it is the right time, so it is a matter of great importance that the time be right.

What does that mean? It is not so easy to define the right time, or pinpoint. It does depend on the steady progress of Taiwan towards being de facto recognized around the world out loud as a democratic nation on its own, and it could also depend on the resolve of the people of Taiwan. Few believe Taiwanese are willing to take up arms and fight Chinese soldiers in the streets of Taiwan. They say, this is 2017, who does such things, or would want to?

In history, including recent history, there have been very few declarations of independence not accompanied by bloodshed – no country’s overseer will so easily give up its captive.

The U.S. fought a long and very bloody Revolutionary War 241 years ago propelling the U.S. into history and George Washington into the Presidency. In the course of the 8 years of war against England, over 30,000 civilians lost their lives, and there were over 200,000 military casualties. The result was “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The bloodshed and resulting democracy has served as a beacon of freedom for billions in the centuries following. Are Taiwanese willing to shed their blood for this?

I think in civil society today, we do everything we can to avoid such conflict, though evil revels in blood and gore, as Tiananmen Square, the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap and so many other horrific events in Communist China have shown. It also revels in intimidation.

The result? The “One-China policy” that acknowledges that this is what Communist China says, and that the U.S. has its own idea about that. And the purpose of the ambiguity is to allow the U.S. to stand behind Taiwan, firmly, and between Taiwan and Communist China, firmly, and protect Taiwan with the full power and beauty of the U.S. Constitution and the principles of freedom and democracy now inherent in Taiwan’s system of government, and wait for the right time to help bring Taiwan into the family of recognized democratic nations, which it truly already de facto is.

All of the machinations dealing with Taiwan’s de facto independence are designed to avoid a war between two nuclear powers, especially with a North Korean powder-keg sitting just a few clicks away. We have seen how Communist China deals with resistance historically, by its brutality in Tibet and Hong Kong. The U.S. did not stand behind Tibet and wag its finger, having just completed the Korean War a few years earlier. Genocide through eugenics has ensued in Tibet. The U.K. does not have the muscle to stand behind Hong Kong even though Communist China recently stated that the 50-year agreement between the UK and Communist China no longer applies – in other words, England has no power to enforce it, so too bad, Hong Kong’s One Country-Two Systems system is now One Country-One System.

But the U.S., recognizing the tremendously important role that Taiwan plays in ensuring Asia’s democratic existence, and the beauty and grace in having its democracy flourish, and having the same freedoms as exist in the U.S. in Taiwan for its 23 million people, does stand behind Taiwan and wag its finger at Beijing and say “don’t even think of it, buddy”. It has not yet become “Make my day, punk,” but it is implicit in the military presence in China’s neighborhood, and projection of the U.S. military might around the world.

Despite the bellicosity of PLA (People’s Liberation Army) generals, China’s military is no match for the battle-hardened U.S. military might, and for all those nay-sayers in the U.S. who complain about its defense budget, it is like the defense budget for the entire free world (because as we know well, Europe is not going to mount a military that can fulfill that role) and that gives the U.S. power to keep democracy vital and dominant, protecting the freedoms of the people of the U.S., and its friends, despite the efforts of the world’s worst totalitarian regimes, from Communist China to Russia, to Iran to North Korea to Venezuela to Cuba to  those in the Middle East.

Were the U.S. to back off Taiwan, I don’t want to think of the consequences. Our law provides support for Taiwan, laws which always pass with overwhelming support in Congress. Presidents follow diplomatic niceties, but the U.S. Congress does not have to follow suit. Few in the U.S. speak glowingly of a unified Communist China and Taiwan. An overwhelming majority acknowledge that Taiwan is already a democratic nation whose own Constitution provides in Article One it is a nation with a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

That is the basic foundation of Taiwan today. And it is the basic foundation of Charter 08, offered in 2008 by Liu Xiaobo and his co-writers as the foundation for a future China. Imagine that. Taiwan is the example of what the people of Communist China can look forward to. No wonder the Chinese Communist Party is so damn afraid of tiny Taiwan. And no wonder the Chinese Communist Party is so damn afraid of India, a great U.S. ally and a democratic nation of more than one billion people – demonstrating that the Chinese Communist Party’s argument that China is too big for democracy is nonsense.

To answer the question inherent in the editorial, the democracy and independence dance is not only a dance between Communist China and Taiwan, truly of necessity for Taiwan’s benefit and survival. If it were, it would be a very short and painful dance. It is a very complicated dance and the dance floor is quite crowded, and Communist China is by far not the dancer with the biggest footprint and most destructive kick, and while the U.S. is dancing far from home, Communist China knows that doesn’t mean a thing after over 100 years of projecting power for good across the oceans and seas to stand behind freedom against oppression whenever and wherever it is found.

Also, while the dance is going, and it is going, Taiwan is evolving, and as the pro-Communist China KMT is in steep decline, Taiwan is edging closer and closer to fully realizing the power of those words above…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Assimilate that, Chairman Xi and your Chinese Communist Party, anachronisms of despair from the 20th Century, and hollow wraiths in the shadow of Taiwan’s massively free and beautiful society.