Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's Caligula

Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's Caligula
Bevin Chu
July 08, 2006

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
-- Karl Marx (1818-1883)

History as Tragedy


Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, aka Caligula

The Praetorian Guard was formed by the emperor Augustus to help prevent assassins from reaching the emperor and murdering him as Brutus and his companions had murdered Julius Caesar. It was called by that name in imitation of the Praetoria Cohors, or select troop, which attended the person of the praetor or general of the Roman army.

Caligula paid the Praetorian Guard one thousand sesterces each, probably for the purpose of maintaining their loyalty.

Instead of protecting the emperor from assassination [however], many times the Praetorian Guard were the very ones to murder an emperor.

Caligula became so dangerous and unstable he was murdered by a detachment of the Praetorian Guard. Caligula was assassinated because he had made a mockery of the military and alienated the leaders of the Guard. [emphasis added]

The Praetorian Guard has become a byword for any military force which is used to prop up a ruthless regime.

Source: Global Security, Praetorian Guard
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/praetorian.htm


Caligula (12 AD - 41 AD)

History as Farce


"President" Chen Shui-bian, reviewing his Honor Guard

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday confirmed that Chu Chao-kang, an army honor guard who posted a message in an Internet chatroom suggesting that he wanted to do harm to the president, was detained by military prosecutors.

The MND said that military prosecutors decided to detain Chu on July 4 because his behavior violated Article 14-1 of the Military Criminal Code -- a violation punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Chu wrote in his message that when President Chen Shui-bian welcomed Nauru President Ludwig Scotty with an honor guard on March 7, "I almost could not resist the urge to poke my M-1 rifle into the president's head." [emphasis added]

The military also relieved Chu of his honor guard duties immediately after being made aware of the message he posted on the Internet.

Source: TaipeiTimes
Taiwan Quick Take: MND detained honor guard
Saturday, July 08, 2006


Chen Shui-bian's patently phony Wag the Dog "assassination attempt" of 2004. Will next time be for real?


"President" Chen Shui-bian, donning a Kevlar vest


Taiwan's Caligula (1950 AD - 20?? AD)

Comment: Let's not mince words.

Self-styled "Son of Taiwan" Chen Shui-bian and self-styled "Father of Taiwan" Lee Teng-hui are guilty of high treason, a capital crime which by itself would warrant their summary execution.

But even beyond that, the pair, both "father" and "son," are almost certainly guilty of premeditated murder.

Chen Shui-bian almost certainly ordered the murder of Pan Blue oriented Tainan resident Chen Yi-hsiung, the designated fall guy for Chen's 319 Wag the Dog "assassination attempt," staged by A-Bian's inner circle.

Lee Teng-hui almost certainly ordered the murder of ROC Navy Captain Ying Ching-feng, who was about to blow the whistle on the conspirators in the Lafayette Frigate procurement scandal.

Given the egregious crimes that Chen has committed against the nation as a whole, and individual citizens in particular, Chu Chao-kang would have been well justified, morally and ethically speaking, had he in fact thrust his bayonet straight into Chen Shui-bian's head.


ROC Army Honor Guard Chu Chao-kang with his mother

The elimination of a dictator is an act of righteousness. Whether Chu ought to have thrust his bayonet into Chen Shui-bian's head is not a moral issue, but a practical issue.

The question is not so much whether Chu or anyone else would have been justified in doing what he contemplated doing. The question is what would have been the most effective way to do it and get away with it.

As Plato observed: “Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy."

On today's Taiwan, dictatorship has naturally arisen out of democracy.

As Victor Hugo observed: “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right”

On today's Taiwan, dictatorship is a fact, therefore revolution is a right.

Some individuals may be wondering, "How could someone who was a member of the Honor Guard even think of doing something like that?"

These individuals are not thinking clearly. If these individuals were thinking clearly, they would realize it's precisely because Chu was a member of the Honor Guard, that he thought of doing something like that.

As someone who took the matter of honor seriously, Chu was quite reasonably and understandably outraged by Chen Shui-bian's dishonorable, not to mention treasonous behavior.

The fact that Chu has been arrested and faces a possible seven year sentence, merely for expressing his feelings on the Internet, is merely one more irony on top of all the cruel ironies that the long-suffering Chinese people on Taiwan have had to endure for the past 18 years.