Total Defence is meaningless when not knowing what to defend

SINGAPORE: In Singapore, Total Defence Day is commemorated on Feb 15 – the day that Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942. Besides being a date of historical significance, Total Defence Day reminds Singaporeans of our collective responsibility to defend our sovereignty and way of life.

Against the current backdrop of a weakening international rules-based order, Singapore’s territorial integrity cannot be taken for granted. Middle powers and small states should invest in their collective resilience – which has been a fundamental cornerstone of Total Defence for more than 40 years....

Besides hardware and infrastructure, a country’s resilience depends greatly on its people’s readiness....Collective resilience also includes looking out for one another in times of crisis and disruption....Singapore has shown a willingness to take legal action against potential malign actors, signalling that coordinated foreign interference in Singapore’s domestic politics will not be tolerated. CNA

What is Total Defence? What are we defending, and defending who, defending against who? The words, Total Defence, are coming out from the mouth of many people, quite freely, like a medicine for the good of all. When Singapore was taken by the Brits, no one was calling for defence of the island. When the Japanese invaded Singapore, no one was calling for the defence of Singapore. In the first instance, Singapore was not a country. The concept of nation state was alien to the inhabitants of the islands. In the second instance, Singapore was a colony of the British Empire. The inhabitants were not citizens. Singapore belong to the Brits. It was meaningless for the inhabitants to be defending the island for the Brits.

Then came self rule, then became a part of Malaysia and Confrontasi. Indonesia wanted Singapore as part of Indonesia. The war was against Malaysia. What was the status of the inhabitants in the island? The incident happened at a time, a brief moment in history that the people in the island were still rubbing their eyes about Malaysia and their being Malaysian citizens. Only when Singapore became an independent nation state that the idea and concept of nationhood started to take on meaning to Singaporeans who then became citizens of the island.

National Service was introduced in 1967. We have a nation called our own to defend. Yes, we finally owned a piece of land, a bit small though, but it was ours, it belonged to Singaporeans. This is something worth defending for, to defend against the island being taken over by foreigners. This concept seemed simple enough. Now we are bringing in foreigners to be Singaporeans so freely. There are now more foreigners ie new citizens than the original Singaporeans. We are sharing our little island with foreigners that we once thought we must keep out, to protect our little piece of land. All Singaporeans are co owners of this island. But did anyone ask the Singaporeans if they are happy, agreeable, to let so many foreigners to come and take a share of their island?

What is the difference between foreigners taking over our island with our consent and foreigners wanting to take over our island by force, without our consent? If we are so glad to share our island, our national reserves, our way of life with so many foreigners, the question of defending our island becomes fussy? Hypothetically, we can let 10 million foreigners in to share our little island without knowing that we are giving our little island and everything to foreigners.

There is no longer the need for foreigners to interfere with our affairs from outside. They can officially interfere with our affairs by waving a pink IC and do what they please. It becomes their right to interfere with our domestic and national affairs? Think about it! Think about the long term consequences further from the tip of your nose.

What about Total Defence? What is so Total about Defence? Defending our land, our way of life, our hard and soft asset? As mentioned above, there is no need to defend our land when we are serving it on a silver platter to foreigners. What about our way of life? The academics can write tomes of books about this topic. Simply put, our way of life must be the way we lived, 'we' meaning the original Singaporeans. Now we have more foreigners than the original Singaporeans, and our teh or kopi is now teh susu or kopi susu of various shades, definitely not the same as before. We are being adulterated or to put it crudely, bastardised, to be more like foreigners than ourselves, if the number of foreigners is greater than us. This is simple math.

Our hardware and infrastructure are something similar to our land, physical assets. What about our software, the soft assets? With so many foreigners in the system, in critical operations and top management, with so many unknowns among the foreigners, some could be wildlife, some could be poison that could destroy whatever we have built, sleepers waiting to do damage to us, Total Defence is going to be a creepy subject. How to defend a henhouse when wolves and foxes are welcomed to live among the hens? When wolves and foxes are invited to share the henhouse, to partake and consume what they want, what is there to defend?

Total Defence is supposed to be a very comprehensive, complex and thorough concept, to be awared, to know that many things need to be protected, everyone must be on the lookout for the good of Singaporeans. When there is no difference between We and Them, when We means them and us, the naive and innocent Singaporeans never question the foreigners if they are with us or still them, does Total Defence still makes any sense? When there are so many foreigners being regarded as us, without Singaporeans having a clue of their intent, presuming they are all good, like one of us, Total Defence is sitting on a very thin and fragile line, amounting to being fiction or fatuous. When our enemies are living with us, among us, working alongside Singaporeans, being treated as one of us, and presumed to be harmless, and we are talking about Total Defence so freely, like real. The enemies that Singapore welcomed in as new citizens or PRs will not have horns on their foreheads. They will all look very sweet, very polite, very likeable, like angels.

When the We and Them no longer exist, blurred, where are the enemies to look out for, to defend against? We no longer have enemies or potential enemies. Every foreigner is our friend, our potential citizens. We are now so hard up for more citizens that taking every worm, insect and predator into our island, into our homes, praying that all will be well...is the new mantra for survival.

What do you think? Are you thinking? Or others are doing the thinking for you?

Trump happily and confidently sending American boys and girls to be killed

 Oops, oops, this is only my perception, my interpretation of the new reality. To Trump, America is still the Empire with the most powerful war machine. Only the Empire can go out to kill people. No one can fight back or kill American soldiers. This has been the way of the Empire. Millions had been killed by the Empire at will. So sending American boys and girls to the Middle East is a straight forward process, go there and kill the Iranians. The Iranians will not fight back, cannot fight back, did not have the means to fight back. It is just like another hunting party, have fun, and come back as war heroes, and claiming how many Iranians they have killed.

The D grade brain of Trump cannot appreciate that the world has changed, that Iran is not a little hapless child sitting there waiting to be hit, to be killed. To Trump, if one carrier strike group is not enough, just send in another. Trump does not think there will be casualties on the American side. Maybe he did not, or think the casualties will be too small and acceptable. Barron Trump would not be there to risk his precious life.

After Syria and Venezuela, both Xi and Putin cannot afford to lose Iran and will stop Iran from falling, at all cost. This attack on Iran is a decisive battle for both sides, will decide the fate of the American Empire and the fate of the rest of the world.

Trump is still bragging about his beautiful armada, fighter bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles and bunker buster bombs to do the damage and the killing...Americans killing Iranians. He does not want to know what if. He does not want to know that China, Russia and friends of Iran have joined in to defend Iran with the best weapons that are as good if not even better than what the Americans have. What is the sinking of an aircraft carrier as long as Trump can claim to have won the war?

Like it or not, believe it or not, many American boys and girls will die and be sent home in plastic bags. The Iranians can hit back and will hit back just as hard. Up to this point, no one is highlighting to Trump how many American boys and girls will die. The more Trump sent, the more will die. No American Exceptionalism is going to save the lives of American boys and girls. Trump has been warned.

The black swan moment will be the actions of the Arab and Muslim states. What will they do? Trump and the Israelis still believe the Arab and Muslim states would not react and let them destroy Iran and kill Iranians like before...under coercion from both Americans and the Israelis, and will always be so. We will kill the Iranians first, then we will kill the Arab and Muslim states one by one. Just be nice and pray that we will kill you last. Will the Arab and Muslim states still be docile, allowed the 18 American bases to be on their soil forever to control them? Will they not want to get rid of them when there is a chance now, to be really free and independent nation states and people?

The world is waiting for the sinking of an aircraft carrier to kill the American invincibility myth. Trump can find consolation in the number of Israelis that will also die when Iran strikes back. The good thing is that the hillbillies are thinking just like Trump, so happy to see American boys and girls going to kill Iranians. Same low thinking, only thinking of winning, only thinking that Americans can kill others and will not be killed.

Hallelujah, hallelujah! God will be on the side of the American terrorists! God will be on the side of white mass murderers!

It is catastrophic that the non-Whites are so divided...

The world better wake up fast, especially the non-White countries. The next global war will pitch the Anglo-Saxon Whites against the non-Whites. This is as clear as daylight looking at the behavior of the Anglo-Saxon Whites supporting the survival of the US hegemony. Do not be blindsided by the shifting economic make-belief of the Europeans going to China. All that is just smoke and mirrors, When the shit hits the fan, it is all hands to the deck by the Anglo-Saxon Whites and a signal for them to ensure the survival of the US$ hegemony.

It is catastrophic that the non-Whites are so divided, which gives the Anglo-Saxon Whites the advantage to divide and rule for centuries without consequences. BRICS must remain a bloc for the non-Whites, apart from Russia, to grow together to counter the Anglo-Saxon White's agenda, whether in de-dollarization, trade or having an alternative to get away from economic sanctions. Free trade can only survive without the fear of sanctions through the use of the US$ and SWIFT.


Anonymous

How is China's trade surplus of US$1.2 trillion interpreted as a wrong?

How is China's trade surplus of US$1.2 trillion interpreted as a wrong. Must China pull back and stop exporting to allow the USA, EU, Japan and South Korea to catch up and overtake it before it is interpreted as a right? Must China chalk up massive trade deficits before the USA and the West are satisfied? This seems to be the thinking.

Which clearly indicates that all these bodies like the UN, ICC, ICJ, IMF, WHO and WTO were all bodies set up by the Anglo-Saxon Whites as tools to ensure that the US hegemony is not threatened. It is just like supporting warships protecting an aircraft carrier to ensure it is not vulnerable.

Must the world be made to just cater to trade conditions dictated by the USA and the West? Must Global South countries be made to buy expensive goods shafted down their throats by the USA and the Europeans, instead of cheaper products from China in order to be considered right?

What is considered sustainable? Whether it is sustainable for China or not is not for the WTO to worry about. China is opening up more trade with Africa, now with zero tariffs for African nations, as the continent develops with aid from China. This is going to grow the pie and China's trade surplus will even be higher. How is this interpreted as unsustainable. It is unsustainable when the USA and its allies cannot compete. But it is a win-win situation for Africa and China and is making the USA and its allies red-eyed and extremely jealous. They will create all kinds of reasons to make sure China must be stopped by hook or by crook, not by reason and reality.



Anonymous

Hillbillies can only think of choking China by holding back tools for making mouse traps

US lawmakers chairing key House committees on Tuesday (Feb 10) urged the State and Commerce Departments to restrict China's access to advanced chipmaking equipment, warning that gaps in export controls threaten national security....

"We urge the Administration to press allies to implement countrywide controls on key chokepoint semiconductor manufacturing equipment and subcomponents: that is, all equipment and subcomponents that China cannot produce indigenously," the letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.

The signatories also include House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory Meeks and several members of the South and Central Asia Subcommittee who called for restrictions on servicing existing equipment already operating in Chinese chip facilities, arguing that such maintenance is essential for these tools to remain functional.  CNA

The hillbilly clowns in Washington are still in the dark ages, thinking that the world had stood still. What they are trying to do against China is like wanting to stop China's growth by cutting off selling ICE automobiles to China. With their small and empty minds, the smart Americans are in Wall Street making money, these dead woods can only think of bringing down China everyday and nothing else.  Oops, their only other interest is waiting to be invited to Epstein Island to have lunch.

Creating chokepoints by keeping machine tools to themselves! My goodness, did they know how far ahead China is now vis a vis cowboy country America. Got to forgive them as most of these hillbillies are D graders and did not study anything close to science and math. They opted for the easier less intense courses like liberal arts and law. Just use their mouths, not their heads. STEM subjects are frightening to these dead woods.

Trying to close the barn after the horse had bolted? China is now leading the Americans in practically every leading edge technologies, 66 out of 74, or at worst, level with the Americans. It is the Chinese that should be starting to think about using choke points to prevent the hillbillies from catching up. The hillbillies should not be worried about China challenging them to build ICE automobiles, or slow steam engine trains. And not to worry, China is not going to challenge them in the present chip technology that would soon be obsolete. China is finding new path and new technology to excel in.

The hillbillies have no clue about science and technology other than playing with their shotguns or handguns. We are now in the world of advanced chips, 1nm and 2nm, AIs, quantum technology, not machine tools, not making mouse traps.