Sunday Roundup: Taiwan, Russia, Yemen, Vatican

Generally speaking it appears that the rulers of the West are finding the road they’ve taken to be a bumpy one. The case regarding the Taiwan elections is particularly confusing. I won’t try to predict anything or explain much—except that the supposed defeat for China that is being reported by the MSM is almost certainly a simplistic view.

What happened? Basically, the fiercely pro-independence party (the DPP) won the presidency. However, in a three way race, the DPP only won 40% of the vote—not even a resounding plurality. The more or less “one China” party (the KMT) took 33%, and the rest went to a party (the TPP) whose geopolitical views are opaque to me. When I say this was less than a resounding plurality, here’s what I mean:

This marked the first time since the 2000 election that the winning candidate obtained less than 50% of the vote, and the first time that a party won more than two consecutive presidential elections since direct elections were introduced in 1996.

In other words, the DPP took a steep dive in the popular vote in the presidential election, but the KMT totally failed to take advantage.

In the legislative elections the results were no less inconclusive. On the one hand, the KMT—in sharp contrast to its lackluster showing in the presidential election—gained 14 seats, while the DPP lost 10 seats. But that only gave the KMT a one seat margin over the DPP, 52-51, while the TPP took 8 seats. I claim no particular knowledge of Taiwanese politics, but this looks very much like a deadlock—giving neither China nor the US any clear signals. China remains clear on the key point:

DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics

Taiwan is an integral part of our country and will not become a separate state; it will reunify with China

Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi.

9:27 AM · Jan 14, 2024

Meanwhile the US remains embroiled in a losing war against Russia and, not content with that and its warlike rhetoric directed at China, has embarked on a regional Middle East war that looks like an overall no-win proposition, at best. How the United States could possibly conduct a three front War on the World only a Neocon could explain. In particular, if the US continues its campaign against the Houthis the drawdown of air defense missiles could turn out to be game changing if matters ever came to a conflict regarding Taiwan (U.S. IS PAINTING ITSELF INTO A CORNER IN THE RED SEA). The Houthi leadership sums the situation up quite well:

Thank God our enemies are stupid.

This is the third day of airstrikes against Yemen. The Houthis continue their campaign against commercial shipping, not missing a beat.

Speaking of Russia, the Russian economy is now said to be the largest in Europe, surpassing Germany. This is measured in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rather than the misleading GDP. Sanctions appear to have done Russia a favor, just as Putin said. Sanctions have led Russia to expand and diversify their economy beyond the traditional money making energy sector.

Lastly, an update to a previous post regarding the chaos in the Vatican:

Africa Parts Ways: Collective Rejection of Fiducia Supplicans by all Catholic Churches in Africa (Full Document)

 In December, soon after Fiducia Supplicans was published, Cardinal Ambongo of Kinshasa, president of the collective Symposium of Bishops' Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), asked for contributions from the African churches for a collective response.,

The document was published today, and completely rejects the possibility of blessings of same-sex unions (couples, etc, it doesn't matter).

The document is available below (click for larger images):

The Vatican is Globalist occupied territory. This united stand by the leaders of the rapidly growing African churches is, in my view, a part of the growing pushback against the Globalist agenda more generally. It directly challenges the post Christian agenda of the West.