For once I agree with Binoy.

Taipei Nancy should have stuck to her US Congressional Parliamentary job and not made the Taiwan trip that the weakening Biden, the US State, Defense Departments and CIA advised her not to take.

China warned it would take strong action and it has. In addition to the usual air incursions China now promises to hold regular ballistic missile splashdown in places surrounding Taiwanes and warship drills that all amount to a regular partial blockade of Taiwan.

Problem is US intel is advising many airline flights and ships transiting to/from Taiwan are now facing higher commercial insurance premiums making it uneconomic to enter the Taiwan area.

Thanks to Pelosi's do-gooding gesture, a befuddled Biden is beside himself and can't talk properly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_66bBIC20g&t=26

Trump is still odds on to win the 2024 Presidential Election http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/politics/us-politics/us-presidential-election-2024-5479667

What is is about the US political system that is unable to throw up half decent, non-extremist, Presidents in their 50s, who still have a brain?!

Taipei Nancy (at 82 past retirement age?) should have stuck to her US Congressional Parliamentary job and not made the Taiwan trip that the weakening Biden, the US State, Defense Departments and CIA advised her not to take.

China warned it would take strong action and it has. In addition to the usual air incursions China now promises to hold regular ballistic missile splashdowns in places surrounding Taiwan and warship drills that all amount to a regular partial blockade of Taiwan.

US intel is advising many airline flights and ships transiting to/from Taiwan are now facing higher commercial insurance premiums making it uneconomical to enter the Taiwan area.

Thanks to Pelosi's do-gooding gesture, a befuddled Biden is beside himself and can't talk properly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_66bBIC20g&t=26

Trump is still odds on to win the 2024 Presidential Election http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/politics/us-politics/us-presidential-election-2024-5479667

What is it about the US political system that makes it unable to throw up half decent, non-extremist, Presidents in their 50s, who are Not a few fries short of a Happy Meal?!

As for the Archduke and 1914. He was shot by a browning pistol? Correction. The browning pistol did only what the finger on the trigger demanded. And he was killed by a 30 cal. bullet. Otherwise the ("decision making pistol") would have played no independent part!
Alan B,
When I first read that I thought something wasn't as I remembered. Having been to school in central Europe I have the feeling we were taught Ferdinand was stabbed with a file.
I'll need to check up with my old school friends from the old country.

Pelosi's retirement home should be a terrarium where she can be milked on a regular basis for her venom !

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Dear Binoy (the author),

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ttbn wrote :

« People living in the Free World have the right to visit any country that welcomes them »
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I agree with that, and in the case of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, I should like to add the following comments :

1. As speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi does not represent the US government. She represents the American people.
In a democracy, it is the people who decide the rules to which they accept to submit themselves and therefore have a vested interest in those rules being implemented as equitably as possible. Nancy Pelosi presides over the larger of the two chambers of lawmakers of the country that constitute Congress.

She addressed the elected representatives of Taiwan’s parliament and indicated that she wants to increase parliamentary exchanges with Taiwan.

Her objective in visiting the country was clearly to confirm the continued support of the American people for Taiwan’s democracy.

Though Taiwan is a de facto separate self-governing entity, it is not a de jure independent state. It was ceded back to mainland China by Japan after WW II.

Pelosi was not advocating the secession of Taiwan from the PRC.

1. It's a pity Xi Jinping did not take the opportunity of inviting Nancy Pelosi to include a visit to the People's Republic of China during her whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia.

It would be more productive if Xi Jinping and Nancy Pelosi were to sit down and calmly talk things over. I'm sure each has good reason for his and her position. The only way forward is for each to make an effort to understand the other and try to find common ground. I’m sure each has the best interests of his/her people at heart. Both peoples want peace, not war. Both owe it to their people.

In the meantime, mainland China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is capitalising on the incident to fine-tune its strategy of attack and invasion of Taiwan in case some major event prompts their political leaders to decide to do so.

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I can't help thinking that by welcoming Pelosi, the leadership of Taiwan has proven it has succumbed to the not so free world's propaganda.