Temasek Review versus Temasek Review

What is this tussle all about? A case of copy rights, a business wrangle, a political issue or what? One is an internet forum and another a corporate newsletter. Can they share the same name, or does one Temasek Review interferes with another Temasek Review? The target audience or readers are obviously different. What if one Temasek Review is registered internationally? Would it make any difference? Where is the boundary in cyberspace? I hope mysingaporenews is not being used by some other corporations. I have heard of mypaper and your news so far. Will I be looking forward to some nasty surprises from a conflicting claim? And I think redbeanforum is quite safe. At least it has no grand labels attached to it. The closest similarities are tomatoes, apples and oranges and perhaps peanuts. I hope Temasek Review may be able to squeeze some juice from it's name. Or would it be the other way round? Would the word 'pap smear' be banned?

Nobel War Prize

Ever since Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize he has been engaged in the same wars as his predecessor. He added a feather to his cap by adding 300,000 more troops to Afghanistan. And they are fighting another rag tag militia like the Vietcongs, without planes, without tanks, without sophisticated satellites and smart bombs. No Rambos or Arnie too. And the American commanders are asking for more fighting men as they can’t deal with the problem. But that is not enough for Obama. He wanted to start another war with the North Koreans by conducting provocative exercises at their doorstep. And that is still not enough. He wanted to use Asean as an excuse to start a war with the China. It is time that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him be renamed the Nobel War Prize. If not, they need to switch the definitions for peace and war.

What a pity, No Liverpool

Peter Lim's serious and business approach to acquire Liverpool Football Club failed. They did not want his money even when he was willing to pay 60 million pounds more than the successful contender. So, was it a business decision or political decision? Was there more that we do not know? There is no corruption in fine English gentlemen. So what went wrong? Never mind. But it is a pity that he failed in his bid. Otherwise we will become famous as a football nation. Not they we can kick football, but owning a champion English football club will do the trick. Our football fans would have the chance to cheer themselves crazy every time Liverpool plays. We will fly Liverpool flags everywhere, sing Liverpool's anthem and wear Liverpool colours. Just hope they did not get carried away and change our National flag and national anthem as well. They will be prouder to call themselves Liverpudlians than Singaporeans. Whatever, a football club in big debt cannot be a profitable business except for some bought fame. I think it is good riddance that Peter Lim did not get to buy it. Why throw good money after bad money or money for a bunch of hooligans? Some will disagree and feel that this is closest to our dream of being in the World Cup. The possibility of our Liverpool team playing as our national team can be arranged, with some money in the right place. Maybe someone else has a bigger dream to make this come true.

The most enlighten article on North Korea

Doug Bandow, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, I dunno where it is, has his article published in the ST today. Let me quote some of his ’intellectual’ comments about North Korea and Kim Jong Il. ‘The so called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the world’s first “communist monarchy”, poses no threat to America.’ Clap, clap, clap. This is ingenius observation. ‘Its economy is a wreck. Its military equips undertrained and malnourished soldiers with ancient equipment. One American aircraft carrier has more firepower than the entire North Korean military.’ This must be based on objective academic observation and empirical data. Obviously he did not see the recent parade and the well fed, well uniformed and well armed North Korean soldiers. The US should just march in like they did in Iraq and see what happens. ‘…Dear Leader Kim Jong Il is evil but not stupid. He knows that the US could wipe his nation off the map. He wants his virgins in this life, not the next, and would not waste his time attempting to pass power to his son if he planned self immolation in a pyre of fire.’ Kim is evil? How many people has he killed compared to Bush and Obama? And he wants virgins. Kim must have confided in him privately. My god, this is an academic piece of art! ‘The South’s forces are better trained and its equipment is more capable; Seoul has a much large army reserve and military industrial base. It has twice the population and upwards of 40 times the gross domestic product of the North. Moreover, neither China nor Russia, the North’s traditional allies, would support it in another war.’ Obviously this joker did not remember what happened during the Korean War. Let me remind him that the North nearly drove the South Korean army into the sea. Only the American intervention saved the South from a complete annihilation. And his simpleton’s conclusion that China and Russia would not come to the North’s aid in another war is as good as saying there is no Christmas comes December. After reading till this part, I wonder what kind of academic integrity there is in this article. This looks like a thrash written by a bigoted secondary school boy. I couldn’t bear to read further for fear of being impressed by his silliness.

How rich are Singaporeans?

A recent survey claimed that Singaporeans are the 4th richest in the world with net worth of US$336k each or something like that. So how to compare this money with someone with only $30k to see who is richer materially? Of course the Singaporeans have more money, big and strong Singapore currency. The deception is only beginning. Think of how hard it is to save $100k and how fast it slips through our fingers. It may take someone 5 to 10 years to save up $100k but his decision to buy that car will instantly burn every cent away. Ok, Ok, he does not need to buy a car. He can take public transport or buy a bicycle to promote green life. And a young couple saving their first $150k only to see it vanishes when they sign on the dotted line to buy that little flat, and another 30 years to slog to pay up everything. Yes, they need not have to buy. Just rent or stay with the mummy and daddy. Young couples who are able to save this kind of money cannot buy HDB flats, very likely earning more than $10k pm. It is the govt’s ruling. Then the retiree with his $200k savings! They may feel happy and secure to put such a sum of money away for their old age. However, one admission into a hospital for a serious illness, gosh, not a single cent left, nothing left for his remaining years. Are we really that rich and well off? What is the purchasing power of our strong dollar at home? A Singaporean with $50k could barely pay for his Korean car. A Singaporean with a family income of $1k-$2k may need financial help to make ends meet. So we are rich. A major economic crisis will bankrupt a large portion of the population when so many people are indebt of $500k or more. We are exposing our people to such a high and unnecessary risk which we believe will not happen. We have forgotten what happened in late 1990s. Don't they have nightmares of a crash and living in debt, unable to pay their big loans?