An American perspective at the western frontier of liberal democracy, framed and focused through the lens of life in Taiwan. #NeoIdealist#TaiwanIsACountry
Hard to overstate how poorly Westerners understand Taiwan's situation. Decades of CCP propaganda have worked wonders. Large majority think of TW as being similar to HK, a "quasi Chinese" territory somehow linked officially to the PRC. This remains our primary narrative weakness.
JUST IN: In a series of photos released by @MoNDefense, a fighter jet pilot’s military patch drew some amusement as it showed a Taiwanese black bear holding a national flag and punching Winnie the Pooh — a character some drew comparisons to Xi Jinping. 1/
Great interview with @anneapplebaum. @BillKristol: "If the largest land war in Europe since 1945 ends in a victory—for an unbelievably brutal aggressor who seeks to destroy a neighboring nation—I don't know if people fully understand what that would mean."
podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6L…
Just heard someone point out that what frightens China most about Taiwan is not that it's a thriving democracy but that it successfully transformed from tyrannical one party dictatorship to a democracy without having a civil war. That idea is the single greatest threat to CCP.
Just to be clear: most of us on the ground in Taiwan are not "advocating for Taiwan independence" — TW sovereignty is not in doubt.
We're advocating for the Western world to undo CCP world building.
We're merely asking folks to deal in reality.
Taiwan is already independent.
Every statement about Taiwan to the West should start with some reminder of this idea: "Well, you have to understand that Taiwan has been an independent democracy for decades..." OR "Look, before we get to that, it must be understood that TW is already independent." Repetition!!!
"...the Left seems quite dismissive of Taiwan. Well-established writers on Medium seem to support a Chinese takeover of the island. I find this perplexing given that Taiwan is the Asian country that most represents the values of the Left." 👀👀👇👇
This is an exceptionally good episode of a consistently very good show @amanpour. The historical context for the politics surrounding gun violence provided by historian @HC_Richardson is especially worth your time.
podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6L…
TAIWAN 👏 INDEPENDENCE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 STATUS 👏 QUO
TAIWAN 👏 INDEPENDENCE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 STATUS 👏 QUO
TAIWAN 👏 INDEPENDENCE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 STATUS 👏 QUO
TAIWAN 👏 INDEPENDENCE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 STATUS 👏 QUO
TAIWAN 👏 INDEPENDENCE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 STATUS 👏 QUO
Taiwan survey: Forever keeping current status quo (27.6%) first time higher than for Taiwan independence (25.2%)
31.9% keep the status quo for now and 8.5% wants unification.
udn.com/vote2024/story…
