Suggested Answers to the Third Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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It is respectfully suggested that you make a list of your own questions that are provoked by “Why Taiwan Matters" – since all of us are unique and your questions are worth discussing also!!!


Question 1

Does Kerry Brown continue to make mistakes – some unimportant but comical while others are egregious???

Answer 1

Unfortunately!!!

Question 2

For example, does he tell us (pp. 156-157) that before being elected U.S. President, Bill Clinton was a U. S. Senator – rather than the Governor of Arkansas???

Answer 2

Yes.

Question 3

And on pp. 138-139, does Kerry Brown try to convince us that during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. blockaded Cuba until the USSR withdrew its nuclear missiles???

Answer 3

Yes.

Question 4

Has Kerry Brown never heard of Nikita Khrushchev??? And more specifically, Khrushchev’s cable traffic that became public during Glasnost???

Answer 4

Apparently not!!!

Question 5

Didn’t Khrushchev’s cable traffic disclose –

• Immediately after American spy satellites discovered the Russian missiles in Cuba, Fidel Castro cabled Nikita Khrushchev to say, in effect: “In the course of human events, it is sometimes necessary for a people to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the ‘greater good,’ as a result of which I am willing to sacrifice myself and the Cuban people by firing all of the nuclear missiles in Cuba at the U.S., following which it should be an easy matter for the Soviet Union to ‘mop up’.”

• Castro’s cable immediately provoked Khrushchev to cable his underlings, both in Cuba and Russia, to say, in effect: “Who is this madman??? And who gave him control (de facto if not de jure) over MY MISSILES??? And get MY MISSILES the hell out of Cuba ASAP!!!”!!!

Answer 5

Yes and Yes.

Question 6

A few questions about the Cuban Missile Crisis before proceeding –

• Didn't supreme-negotiator Khrushchev get President Kennedy to remove American missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removal of Russian missiles from Cuba -- which missiles the post-Glasnost-available Russian cable traffic showed that Khrushchev would have removed anyway.

• Though was there no shame in this for President Kennedy because, after all, he thought he was dealing with a real crisis.

Answer 6

Yes and Yes.

Question 7

Does this emphasize the importance of our questioning all along -- When an author is so sloppy, isn’t it necessary to substantiate any and all of her/his allegations upon which you wish to rely???

Answer 7

What do you think??? Let's discuss!!!

Question 8

BTW, why wasn’t his publisher, St. Martin’s Press, able to provide Kerry Brown with an editor who knows history, even if Kerry Brown doesn’t???

Answer 8

God only knows!!!

It would appear that St. Martin’s “editing” is confined to applying “spell checker”!!!

Question 9

If not a historian, is Kerry Brown at least a decent military strategist as evidenced by his last two chapters???

Answer 9

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 10

Was Kerry Brown’s “Why Taiwan Matters” published 1/28/2025 which is nearly two years after the 4/14/2023 publication of “Protecting the Porcupine: Why Taiwan Matters” by two U.S. Air Force Officers who at the time were --

• A Harvard U. Weatherhead Scholar and a Colonel in the United States Air Force whose research interests included the Chinese Communist Party instruments of National Power; political, economic, and social infrastructure; information; and physical geography and time.

• A Research Fellow at the Harvard U. Kennedy School of Government’s International Security Program in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force whose research project concerned re-thinking US Defense readiness.

[Please see their “Protecting the Porcupine: Why Taiwan Matters” in our Reference Materials Section at viewtopic.php?f=850&t=2639&sid=0394a32d ... 6e8e2c2ac7.]

Answer 10

Yes and Yes.

Question 11

Among other recommendations, do U.S. Air Force Colonels Kenneth Fann and Charles Bursi recommend that the U.S. begin to sell certain specific weapons to Taiwan???

Answer 11

Yes.

Question 12

So did Kerry Brown’s assertions at least parallel the insights of U.S. Air Force experts???

Answer 12

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 13

Did the U.S. Air Force experts recommend equipping Taiwan with nuclear weapons???

Answer 13

No.

Question 14

Haven’t we opined that Taiwan’s salvation depends on – “Realpolitik - Has Taiwan Been Prudent Enough To Buy/Develop Sufficient Nuclear Weapons To Deter China?”???

Answer 14

Yes.

Question 15

HOWEVER, in light of the U.S. Government’s official position on preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons, would the U.S. Air Force experts have been prevented from including in their recommendation of specific weapons that the U.S. should begin selling to Taiwan – nuclear weapons???

Answer 15

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 16

BTW, in our questioning whether Taiwan has been prudent enough to buy/develop sufficient nuclear weapons to deter China, could we be labelled “terrorists”???

Answer 16

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 17

For anyone bothered by this, is there any solace in the famous saying – “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”???

Answer 17

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 18

And if China is deterred, what about Christ’s famous Beatitude from His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9) – “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."???

Answer 18

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 19

So in light of The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s announcement at the White House 3/2/2025 to effectively re-locate to Arizona (discussed in the Second Short Quiz), aren’t the citizens of Taiwan and their Government “out in the cold” or “on their own” or "twisting in the wind" or however else you might like to describe the situation???

Answer 19

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 20

As a non-partisan public-policy study/action group, have we done everything in our power to help the Taiwanese???

Answer 20

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 21

If we have, can we at least wish them luck???

Answer 21

Absolutely!!!

Question 22

After all, might the PRC consider millions of PRC casualties in nuclear attacks worth the price of capturing Taiwan???

Answer 22

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 23

After all, like Hitler’s “Minister of Propaganda” (his official title 1933-1945), Joseph Goebbels, who controlled every word in the German media, do you think for a moment that Xi Jinping doesn't do the same in the PRC???

Answer 23

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 24

And as an astute student of political history, would Xi Jinping think there is any need to inform the Chinese people of any nuclear explosions???

Answer 24

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 25

For example, couldn’t Xi simply have the media report in the area of any nuclear explosion BUT NOT ACROSS THE COUNTRY that there had been an unfortunate leak in the gas main???

Answer 25

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 26

Also, doesn’t China historically consider that “life is cheap”??? For example, when it entered the Korean War without weapons, by sending hordes of their untrained “troops” on the attack -- screaming their heads off but weaponless -- on the assumption that providing zillions of targets for U.N. machine guns might result in one of the "targets" getting through???

Answer 26

Yes, ghastly as that may seem!!!

Question 27

Does anyone want to predict the future of Taiwan??? [We won’t hold you to it!!!]

Answer 27

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!