Taiwan findings support PH Coast Guard account: documents | ABS-CBN News -
Taipei-based journalist J. Michael Cole, who reports on military issues in Northeast Asia and in the Taiwan Strait, believes that Taiwan’s hardline stance can be blamed on local politicians’ pressure on the unpopular President Ma Ying-jeou.
“In order to appease various domestic constituencies — including some outspoken members of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party — that were calling for a more muscular response to the incident, Ma ordered naval exercises near the waters where the Kuang Ta Hsing had come under fire,” Cole said in an article published Tuesday by The Diplomat, an international current-affairs magazine in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cole, a former intelligence officer at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said Taipei should have accepted the Philippine apology and efforts to resolve the issue.
“Taipei allowed itself to be carried away by the domestic indignation,” he said. “Given Ma’s low popularity ratings, he would understandably seek to ride the wave of nationalism that, almost spontaneously, had taken over the whole of Taiwan.”
Cole said Taiwan’s mishandling of the crisis is the result of “local legislators’ political ambitions in fishermen’s constituencies, as well as by opposition parties’ efforts to criticize Ma no matter what he does, especially at a time when he is vulnerable.”
“A lack of worldliness, of understanding Taiwan’s position within the international community, and of how its actions will be interpreted abroad, better explain what happened,” he added.
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Amanda Palmer: The Art of Asking -
A very inspirational outgoing talk by Amanda Palmer at TED this year! Simply Awesome lady.
“Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.
Alt-rock icon Amanda Fucking Palmer believes we shouldn’t fight the fact that digital content is freely shareable — and suggests that artists can and should be directly supported by fans”
via TED
Wingardium Leviosa
Location: Sabang, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines
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Pinoy Tumblr.: These are some 2013 Elections stories that you should be reading -
“The best way to dismantle Political Dynasties is to dismantle them at the Local Level, as we should say: Nip it in the Bud.” —- I agree!
Because we are too absorbed with the Senatorial Race that we ignore the local politics of the areas. So how some Political Dynasties fared in this elections?
In Olongapo City, the Gordons lost. I remember that Senatorial Candidate Dick Gordon is anti-Political…
Shahidul Alam, Bangladeshi photographer, writer and founder of Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, said of the photo: “This image, while deeply disturbing, is also hauntingly beautiful. An embrace in death, its tenderness rises above the rubble to touch us where we are most vulnerable. By making it personal, it refuses to let go. This is a photograph that will torment us in our dreams. Quietly it tells us. Never again.”
Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/08/a-final-embrace-the-most-haunting-photograph-from-bangladesh/#ixzz2TLLAEI6l
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By the rivers of…
Location: Rodriguez, Rizal
Mt. Mayon Shrugged
Mayon erupts; 5 die By Aaron B. Recuenco Published: May 8, 2013Manila, Philippines — At least…
With more than 36,000km of coastline, the Philippines ranks 4th — following Canada, Indonesia and Russia. No wonder our coastal territories are dotted with beautiful lighthouses that date back centuries ago. Visiting some of the more popular light towers…
Are you there, God?
Please stick to the rivers
and the lakes that you’re used to.Thus goes the song popularized by TLC.
Yes, the admonition in the song has a different meaning, but in the context of my current passion, it is a sound advice — my failure to heed it left me…
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Game of the Iron Throne
It’s one of those days when the ‘bore’ bug had me in its nasty fangs.
So, who’ll sit in the Iron…
