tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post2035908542215324235..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Last Month Crazies, Relevant Organs EditionMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-80688943087725938392014-11-19T04:39:14.847+08:002014-11-19T04:39:14.847+08:00Either Ko bought/sold organ, or Gutmann made up hi...Either Ko bought/sold organ, or Gutmann made up his "smoking gun" story. Which is it? Funny you had nothing to say about this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-23267628209338671662014-11-09T19:50:54.409+08:002014-11-09T19:50:54.409+08:00@Readin
Yes but Taiwan is nothing like say, Israe...@Readin<br /><br />Yes but Taiwan is nothing like say, Israel. You are talking about a people with an insular, "Hello Kitty" culture and next to no experience of handling firearms in a context of strict competency. <br /><br />To emphasize the point, I will tell you a true story: many years ago I was asked to teach some classes to an army officers training school and one of the things I will never forget was observing the trainees receiving rifles from the armoury staff and marching straight off <i>without properly checking the weapon</i>. I kept my mouth shut at the time, but I was outraged: one of the first things I was taught was that you never, ever receive your rifle from somebody else without conducting thorough checks on the weapon and then dismantling it for cleaning there and then on the spot. I spent more time disassembling, cleaning and reassembling my SA80 than I did actually firing it and there is a bloody good reason for that.Mike Faganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08745281285031316740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-36493970610890207582014-11-09T12:44:54.911+08:002014-11-09T12:44:54.911+08:00If America sells planes to Taiwan, how long will i...If America sells planes to Taiwan, how long will it be before China has a chance to inspect and reverse engineer?<br /><br />How many retired ROC generals have gone to China? How pro-China is the current elected president?<br /><br />Perhaps rather than selling Taiwan technologically advanced weapons we should be selling them boatloads of small arms and giving them lessons we learned about IEDs during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so Taiwan will be able to defend herself if she really wants to without turning over our latest and greatest inventions to China.Readinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-90024967530413389662014-11-08T21:37:32.069+08:002014-11-08T21:37:32.069+08:00BTW, here is what the article said:
Tung Chen-yua...BTW, here is what the article said:<br /><br /><i>Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Development Studies and director of the university’s Center for Prediction Markets, said that while he could not pinpoint the kind of political factors that might be lurking behind the incident without further evidence, <b>“since the Web site has been in commercial operation for at least four years, we cannot help but suspect it had to do with the year-end nine-in-one elections.”</b></i><br /><br />So yes, according to these people, the police raid was aimed at suppressing them, or so they broadly hinted.<br /><br />Michael<br />Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-50365018304957355392014-11-08T21:35:10.918+08:002014-11-08T21:35:10.918+08:00don't really let their political preferences s...<b>don't really let their political preferences slip into their lectures</b><br /><br />...we all know what their preferences are. Whether or not they let them slip into their lectures is immaterial to which side in the great game they support. This is the world that so many profs at that university have struggled to build, Michal. Let them eat its shit for a while. <br /><br /><b>Mind you, they are the same people who work on that survey on identity and unification we all use.</b><br /><br />You use.<br /><br />MichaelMichael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-45026702381237203992014-11-08T21:11:29.933+08:002014-11-08T21:11:29.933+08:00Michael, I think you are a bit off the mark re NCC...Michael, I think you are a bit off the mark re NCCU and xFuture. Election prediction is only small fraction of what xF does and I really really doubt this investigation has anything to do with that, piece you link to talks about something else. I had chance to get to know few experts from Election Studies Centre (they cooperate with xF on the election prediction) and I can say they are professionals in the first place, unlike other teachers, don't really let their political preferences slip into their lectures. Mind you, they are the same people who work on that survey on identity and unification we all use.<br /><br />Michal<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-14979698842186730112014-11-08T20:46:08.036+08:002014-11-08T20:46:08.036+08:00NCCU is no more staunchly pro-KMT than any other p...<b>NCCU is no more staunchly pro-KMT than any other public university in Taiwan.</b><br /><br />My comment stands. Perhaps you should review some history here, Nathan. <br /><br />MichaelMichael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-39896954702680895662014-11-08T20:30:37.627+08:002014-11-08T20:30:37.627+08:00NCCU is no more staunchly pro-KMT than any other p...NCCU is no more staunchly pro-KMT than any other public university in Taiwan. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-88123174132322748542014-11-08T11:53:55.187+08:002014-11-08T11:53:55.187+08:00That article about the "scary wargame" a...That article about the "scary wargame" appears to rest on what is surely the invalid assumption that any air campaign over Taiwan would be fought using only F-22s. The 5th and 7th Airforces alone are made up of mostly F-16s and F-15 eagles, due to be replaced by the F-35s eventually. Are there even any F-22s forward deployed to the Pacific? <br /><br />Even so, the idea of a "missile truck' is germane to the problem of numerical disadvantage, assuming whatever targeting system is used can be made to work well. The development of advanced UAVs, if they can be made to work well, is obviously preferable to selling fighters to Taiwan in at least one aspect - fewer Taiwanese pilots get to die. After all, the job of the soldier is not to die for his country, but to make the other bastard die for his.Mike Faganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08745281285031316740noreply@blogger.com