An Abundance of Lawless Lawmen
“If the Taliban were still here, that rapist would have already been executed by now. It would have been a lesson for all,” she says. “If there is no law, and the government does not listen to people’s complaints, then it is better to go back to the Taliban era. At least then we had justice.”
- An Afghan woman, reported by TIME
One should hope that we have not yet forgotten our campaign for the hearts and minds of the Middle East. And although I hate to simply add to the pile-on of criticism for what is occurring in the military campaign there, overall, what we have seen is a resounding failure.
Afghanistan’s version of the the “Sahwa” or Awakening movements in Iraq, where the indigenous people fight alongside the U.S. against insurgents and terrorists, is the alliance between NATO forces and Afghanistan’s warlords. Unfortunately, instead of respected tribal heads (or, at least, leaders who can pass as that), we have lawless tyrants who were part of the very reason the Taliban gained support from regular Afghans—at least, before the religious movement imposed its own brand of tyranny once in power. (more…)
Posted on December 10th, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
Too Many “Should Haves”
It should have been easy to check (and find out) that Bristol was pregnant. It should have also been easy to notice that Palin was in the midst of a controversy in her home state of Alaska, which has the potential to develop into a huge scandal.
Finally, the McCain campaign should been alarmed that although Palin delivered a rousing speech to the Republican base, it was one that was ridiculously easy to tear apart and fedd to moderates who would promptly flee from the party in its wake—at least, if Obama cared to do so.
In a campaign now run extremely professionally by veteran campaign staff, and characterized by meticulous planning, it was more or less impossible that the McCain campaign didn’t know about all of these problems beforehand. This is especially true, even for Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention, given that Palin’s speech was almost completely pre-written, without excessive veering from the teleprompter.
Only one conclusion seems to make sense. She was meant to be attacked. (more…)
Posted on September 17th, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
A Curiously Sudden Resurgence
The media has recently been abuzz, in the aftermath of the Georgian invasion by Russia, about how Russia is now resurgent and (suddenly) one of the great challenges ahead for the next president.
As if, of course, Russia was not before this. While the next president does have to deal with Russia—a great-power, at the very least—this certainly isn’t a new occurrence. The only difference is the level of brashness that Russia is now willing to display in international relations. We, or rather, many pundits and the media, thought that Russia was weak and cowed just because it was hesitant to cross the America’s path. After all, not only was it reluctant to be defiant towards the U.S., it offered its wholehearted support on various diplomatic issues and in America’s “War on Terror.”
Despite all of the buzz now, though, the only significant factor that has changed between then and now is how much military and diplomatic power the United States has to deploy. What changed was that the United States invaded Iraq. (more…)
Posted on September 1st, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
The Shrill Voice of False Western Hope
The Olympics have ended, but that doesn’t mean that the hopes and dreams that came with it have. At least, not the hopes and dreams that the “West,” or at least the western media had for China.
Yes, the Olympics have ended but that doesn’t mean that the population has suddenly “awakened” or is now “agitated” or any other of the popular descriptions that the press is using to say why it must be “inevitable” that democracy must sweep across China, or at the very least, the Communist Party would have to make concessions—after all, if memory serves, isn’t that what they used to say about China even before the Olympics?
The fact of the matter is that the Chinese population, upon the end of the Olympics, now feels a sense of pride and confidence that they did not have before. Beyond that, they feel proud of their achievements and what they showed the world during the Olympics—compare that to before when even the population was scared that upon China’s grand entrance into the world stage would be marked more by embarrassing laughter instead of crowning awe.
No, it’s not likely right now that the Chinese are very angry or “agitated” against their Communist “masters.” (more…)
Posted on August 27th, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
The “Wisdom” of the Protesters
This is a repost of an article I originally posted in the notes section of Facebook.
One of the reasons I’m usually quite disdainful and hostile towards most grassroots protesters is they have a nasty tendency to make whatever they are trying to protest against worse rather than better. Movements with a leader and an overarching strategy, like those led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, that’s one thing. The recent Beijing protests are an example of another.
I’ve seen an outpouring of utter ignorance by ideologues who have no idea what they are doing or what they are talking about. Take the head of Darfur Now! who wrote an opinion piece for CNN—she was wondering why there wasn’t a global “raising of voices” against China for all of its sins. Though she sounded somewhat dismissive of the Chinese people themselves (in a patronizing, dare I say, racist way?) I still think she was mainly referring to the Chinese people themselves. Ironically, in the same article, she was praising the attempt of protesters to storm a little disabled Chinese girl in a wheelchair and douse the Olympic torch she was carrying at the time.
Perhaps I might suggest that this particular event might be part of why there isn’t more outrage in China? (more…)
Posted on July 1st, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
Why She Lost
Hillary lost because she was trying to have a victory celebration instead of a campaign.
It wasn’t because of media bias. It wasn’t because of antifeminism. And indeed, it was not, at least not entirely, Obama’s oratory skill and personality. No, Hillary lost because she went into the campaign like a victory celebration and not a battle. Now, instead of being swept into the presidency with a grand flourish, she has endured accusations of playing the spoiler and now has been forced to accept the reality that her bid for the presidency is over. She had underestimated the fight she had ahead and paid the price.
Then again however, her initial actions were understandable given the situation she faced at the time. She’s been waiting for so long for this type of political fulfillment. Now that the day’s finally here, why not celebrate a little? Why not reward those who had been with her all those long years that, through her and her supporters’ blood, sweat, and tears, had finally culminated to this—the presidency? (more…)
Posted on June 30th, 2008
Filed under: Politics by James Wang
