15 January—What’s an erection? Hint: There was one a couple of days ago in the Lepublic of China (also known as Nationalist China, Taiwan, and the LOC or ROC). The big erection on Taiwan was when the people chose a new plesident.

Inappropriate paronomasia aside, it was a very important election because the presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, no friend of the People’s Republic of China (also known as Red China, Mainland China, and the PRC) won it, giving the party a third term, despite intense pressure from the PRC to elect a candidate more willing to kowtow to the communist bastards on the mainland, like the rest of the world does. Including the United States, of course.

Joe Biden, for instance, reassured his pals in Beijing on Saturday that the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan. The Department of State puts it less succinctly: “As a leading democracy and a technological powerhouse, Taiwan is a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific. Though the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, we have a robust unofficial relationship. The United States and Taiwan share similar values, deep commercial and economic links, and strong people-to-people ties, which form the bedrock of our friendship and serve as the impetus for expanding U.S. engagement with Taiwan.”

Yeah, right. Typical oxymoronic bullshit not unique to the U.S.A. No diplomatic relations but a robust unofficial relationship indeed. You can read about it in the 5 October 2021 disquisition.

So one of the dozen nations that had an official relationship with the ROC—until yesterday—is Nauru, in the Micronesian Central Pacific. Once known as Pleasant Island, it’s the world’s third smallest state (after the Vatican and Monaco), at 8.1 square miles, with a population of about 10,000. All you want to know about Nauru is that in 1980 it was considered among the world’s wealthiest nations per capita; by 2017 it was one of the five poorest countries in the world in all respects. Stupidity, greed, and corruption helped.

Nauru’s phenomenal but short-lived wealth came from intensive phosphate mining. Phosphates came from petrified guano. Guano came from all the birds that used Pleasant Island as a bathroom through the eons.

Right after the ROC election, Nauru announced it was breaking ties and selling out to the PRC. Why not? Red Chinese money talks. And just about everybody else has done it . . .