But seriously, I do think Japan would make a good state.

You'll be surprise how many Taiwanese thinks like me, since that only 39% of the votes went to the independent party. The Nationalist would have won, but due to some stupid conflicts within the party, Nationalist end up with 2 canadates competiting with each other. Still, Nationalist got about 60.5% of the votes.

I'm pretty sure when other countries when deal with such "minority election", they would call for another election, since that it's pretty clear that the winner doesn't really represent the people. But us the Taiwanese are stupid enough to let it go.

And you'll be surprised to learn where the independenlist got their winning votes from; they got their votes from the southern part of the island, where the people are....how should we say...not very well educated.

I'm not saying that we embrassed the idea of a communist rule, or a military invation, but most of us sure are proud to be "Chinese" (without the blood-shed).

And not to be offensive or anything, we are freaking tired of American aircraft carriers in our territoral sea, geez, couldn't you guys butt out for once and let Chinese people solve their own differences?

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Okey, okey, here's my question:

For instance, Iraq. What is our goal? Simply ousting a leader is insufficient, as the next one could be just as bad if not worse. If our goal is to extend to the Iraqi people some of the rights that we in the West see as universal, then it seems clear that the sanctions against Iraq need to be reexamined. Not because they are a bad idea, but because they simply don't appear to be working.

Orion: Good Point.

I saw this editorial in the Toronto Star today. What think you, huh? Please note that I do not neccessarily agree with any opinions stated in this editorial piece.

April 22, 2000
Ease Iraq sanctions

Saddam Hussein would rather see his 22 million people suffer than bow to international law. His contempt for Canada's offer this week of $1 million to help re-equip hospitals and schools shows monstrous indifference to their welfare. Iraq's misery will end only when he no longer is in power.

Yet Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien's government remains determined, and rightly so, to do what it can for ordinary Iraqis despite Saddam.

Ottawa will deliver its help directly through the Red Cross and UNICEF.

This sterile confrontation illustrates how difficult a time the United Nations Security Council can have, restraining regimes that threaten the peace by using sanctions, rather than making war on them. Sanctions have been used 14 times, mostly in the past decade, with mixed success.

While the Security Council continues, as it should, to enforce strict military sanctions on Saddam's regime, its economic embargo has been relaxed to the point where Iraq is exporting more oil than it did before the Gulf War a decade ago, and can use two-thirds of the revenue to buy food and medicine.

Sanctions will be lifted entirely, of course, if Saddam lets U.N. weapons inspectors return to Baghdad to certify that he no longer has nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and missiles.

But Canada should argue the case for further relaxing even the current, less stringent sanctions, whatever he does. Iraq should be free to import the equipment it needs to spur oil production. More aid should be delivered. And the U.N. should ease its requirement that much of the oil revenues be earmarked for war reparations.

These measures could put billions worth of food, medicine and other help, into the peoples' hands, without unduly aiding the regime.

Rethinking the Iraq sanctions is part of a broader, and welcome, effort to make sanctions generally ``more effective and more humane,'' as Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy put it in a Security Council debate this week.

Sanctions need to be better-targeted, to hammer criminal regimes but spare people. They should be more flexible, and closely monitored to ensure that they are effective and not having unintended consequences. They should be used with incentives like security assurances, aid, trade, debt relief, and above all, generous humanitarian relief.

Sanctions committees should operate more transparently. And the Security Council should consider putting ``sunset clauses'' on sanctions, so that the council would revisit them if they fail to deliver the desired results, rather than let ineffective measures continue indefinitely as is the case now.

``Smarter'' sanctions might have hurt Saddam's regime more and caused less suffering to his oppressed people.

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"My Name is Elmer Fudd, Millionaire. I own a Mansion and a Yacht."
Psychiatrist: "Again."

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi