Obama's Asia Pivot

The article below is written by Stephen Lendman. Mr. Stephen Lendman is a well known versatile writer on international affairs and the citizens of the world can read more of his postings at his blog  : Steven Lendman Blog.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Obama's Asia Pivot by Stephen Lendman In late 2011, Obama prioritized reasserting America's Pacific presence. His Asia pivot was announced.  It involves advancing America's military footprint. Doing so aggressively is planned. China's growing economic might and military strength are targeted. So is checking Russia at the same time. Containment is policy. Cold war politics is back. Unchallenged global dominanceis prioritized. Anything goes intends to maintain it.  War in a part of the world hostile to invaders is possible. Vietnam echoes remainaudible. So are Afghanistan ones today. China's a far more formidable adversary. So is Russia.  It's hard imagining any country challenging them militarily. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. America hasn't won a war since WW II. Lessons weren't learned. Permanent war remains policy. War profiteers demand it. In January 2012, Obama expanded the Bush doctrine. Dick Cheney explained it. In June 2003, he said: "If there is anyone in the world today who doubts the seriousness of the Bush Doctrine, I would urge that person to consider the fate of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq." Bush put it his way, saying "You're either with us or against us." Neutrality's not an option. Neither are equity, justice, rule of law principles, democratic values and peace. Supporters thought Obama was different. He exceeds the worst of Bush. He does so at home and abroad. He hardened homeland tyranny. He asserts America's right to replace independent governments with client ones.  Doing so prioritizes global aggression. It violates international law. Washington operates with impunity. Its interests matter most. Obama's biting off a mouthful targeting China and Russia. He rules out no options. Bush addressed "wars of the 21st century."  Obama continues them. Tactics include creating instability, chaos and violence. North Africa, the Middle East, and Eurasia are targeted. It's done to justify America's intervention and presence. Obama prioritizes global belligerence. He's cold-blooded about America's interests. He's mindless of whatever it takes to achieve them. Realpolitik continues Washington's odious tradition.  Waging wars on humanity reflect it. Doing so spurns rule of law principles. Democratic values don't matter. They never did and don't now.  Obama's pivot escalated regional tensions. Challenging China and Russia pose enormous challenges. Asia's on the boil. Japan's a virtual US colony. It serves US imperial interests. Washington treats Asian areas like its own. It has no right to do so. Administrations and Congress believe America has sovereign rights over East Asian waters and territory. It wants to dominate and exploit them. Strengthening America's regional presence is part of its new imperial strategy. It's going head-to-head with China and Russia. It aims to undermine and isolate Beijing and Moscow regionally. It's a recipe for heightened tensions and eventual confrontation. Washington has been rebalancing East Asia for years. Strategy calls for strengthening military, economic, and political ties with Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. It involves undermining Chinese and Russian influence, isolating them from neighbors, and asserting Washington's dominance over territories and waters not its own.  Echoes of WW I and II remain audible. Never again is possible. Flashpoints have a way of igniting them. Small disputes lead to greater ones.  Obama's Asia pivot encourages them. Military alliances, strategic partnerships, and expanding bases make them more likely. Cold War politics is back. Soviet Russia's dissolution reignited old rivalries. Scrambling for vital resources followed. Marginalizing Beijing's influence is prioritized. So is challenging Moscow the same way. Both countries are rising world powers. America's been declining for years. Its military might is used to offset it. Waging war on humanity is a losing game. Walden Bello calls Obama's Asia pivot "flawed." Critics denounce transgressing areas of traditional Chinese influence. Obama continues the worst of Bush administration policies. His pivot strategy is more than meets the eye.  It's "a faint," says Bellow, "a maneuver to cover up a strategic retreat from America's disastrous two-decades-long engagement in the Middle East and Southwest Asia." It's Washington attempt "to retreat to an area for imperial power projection that it sees as more manageable than a Middle East that is running out of control." It's hard understanding how. It won't work. Realpolitik won't let Washington disengage. It's "condemned to a condition of imperial overreach."  Increasing America's Pacific footprint triggers military competition with China. It prioritizes protecting its part of the world. It's doing so "as it races to become the world's biggest economy."  Its politics reflects centuries of contesting Western intervention. Don't underestimate its capacity to "promot(e) peace, harmony, and respect for sovereignty better than" America's hegemonic madness. Washington uses whatever it takes to advance its imperium. Its Asia pivot encircles China and Russia with bases.  With all related categories included, its defense spending exceeds all other nations combined. It wants dominance over both countries. It wants it regionally and globally.  It wants Beijing and Moscow marginalized and subservient. It wants control over vital world resources. It wants challengers eliminated.  China and Russia are formidable competitors. They're dominant enough to matter. America's grand geopolitical strategy prioritizes Eurasian dominance. China's America's chief economic rival. It's dependent on vital resources. Russia's military might matters. Both countries represent major Eurasian challengers. Washington tolerates no rivals. No-holds-barred tactics target them. Obama declared global cyberwar. China, Russia, Iran, and other independent states are targeted. Draconian cybersecurity legislation is prioritized.  CISPA is back. It's more about destroying personal freedom than online security. It gives government and corporate predators unlimited power. They'll take full advantage. They'll use it to access personal/privileged information online. They'll claim fake cybersecurity threats to do so.  Constitutional protections don't matter. Diktat power replaced them. Big Lies substitute for truth. War on terror is America's national pastime. China is public enemy number one. On February 19, a New York Times editorial headlined "China's Cybergames."  Times editors are paid to lie. They claim Washington "and security experts have long known that China is the main source of cyberattacks on the United States." A new Mandiant report says so. Claims without corroboration don't wash. Mandiant's a private security firm. Kevin Mandia heads it. He's a retired military cybercrime investigator. He specializes in computer forensics. His staff includes former intelligence officials and law enforcement agents. He targets China. He operates like a digital Blackwater. He's well paid to do so. "We're security guys," he says. "We're not diplomats." He claims Chinese hackers are linked to the People's Liberation Army (PLA). US government agencies, corporations and organizations are targeted from a Shanghai area office tower. It's PLA Unit 61398 headquarters, he says. China denounced his report. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "Hacking attacks are transnational and anonymous. Determining their origins are extremely difficult. We don’t know how the evidence in this so-called report can be tenable." Bet on it having no credibility whatever. Most countries spy on others. They do so for national security reasons. Government hacking is war by other means. Washington does it aggressively. Media scoundrels don't explain. Obama stopped short of accusing China. No one's fooled by who he has in mind. Congressional hardliners say the same thing.  Concerns are discussed privately. Patience is wearing thin, said Times editors. "China-emanated attacks have grown," they claim.  A more aggressive response is warranted, they say. "Publicizing China’s transgressions and blocking Internet access to hackers should be a warning to Beijing. Washington is right to defend its interests." Attorney General Holder weighed in. He warned of "a significant and steadily increasing threat to America’s economy and national security interests." He lied saying so. He's paid to lie. So is Obama and likeminded hardliners. Robert Hormats was Goldman Sachs International chairman. That alone makes him damaged goods. Goldman makes money by stealing it. Hormats was complicit in grand theft.  He's now Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. He said Washington "repeatedly raised  concerns about trade secret theft by any means at the highest levels with senior Chinese officials." Get China is official US policy. Marginalizing, weakening, and isolating it is prioritized. New threats follow earlier ones. Cyberwar opens a new front.  Capability to wage it adds to America's arsenal. Preemption is prioritized. Diktat authority bypasses Congress. Obama's word is policy.  He'll say what he wants without evidence. He's a serial liar so expect it. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars.  Cyber ones are ongoing. They're aggressive, malicious and lawless. New ones are planned. China is prioritized. Obama's got other targets in mind. Cyber sabotage is policy. It's war by other means. Rogue states operate that way. America's by far the worst. US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) has full operational control. It's a cyber hit squad. It's part of the US Strategic Command.  It's based at Fort Meade, MD. General Keith Alexander serves as National Security Agency (NSA) director and US Cyber Command head. Obama's Presidential Policy Directive 20 set guidelines for confronting cyberspace threats. Last fall, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned of a "cyber Pearl Harbor." It could "cause physical destruction and loss of life," he said. It could "paralyze and shock the nation and create a new profound sense of vulnerability." US officials prioritize hyperbolic fearmongering. Americans are easy marks to deceive. They're dismissive and don't think. They let Washington get away with murder and much more.  Obama may have WW III in mind. He prioritizes waging war on humanity. He does so at home and abroad. He's the worst of rogue leaders.  He risks what no head of state should dare. Despots operate that way. Impeaching him is a national imperative. Doing it in time matters most. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.  His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour http://www.dailycensored.com/obamas-asia-pivot/ posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:02 AM

No need for Singaporeans in Singapore

‘Singaporeans biggest threat to Singapore's growth

Singapore's citizens are the biggest threat to national growth, said analysts at Goldman Sachs at an annual wealth conference yesterday, held in Marina Bay Sands.

Speaking at a panel discussion about emerging markets in Asia, the analysts agreed that the increasingly vocal citizenry in the once-orderly island has disrupted economic growth for 2013 and will continue to be a drag on the economy for years to come.

"Let's be honest here. Does Singapore need Singaporeans? No. The children are taken care off by foreign domestic helpers, the hawkers are Malaysian (PRC Chinese), the buildings are constructed by Bangladeshis. All Singaporeans are good for are populating the army, which has never gone to war!" said emerging markets specialist, Thomas Money.

Money pointed out that Singapore's only comparative advantages against its competitors were location, and immigrants. He proposed slowly phasing out Singaporeans so they would be unable to interfere with pro-growth government policies.

"I love the country, but I really can't stand the people and their disgraceful sense of entitlement. The weather's great, the gastronomy scene is livening up in Marina Bay Sands, and the women are gorgeous. But the xenophobia on the island is extremely troubling. Without foreigners like myself who bring in capital without paying taxes, Singapore would not be where it is today. And no Singaporean ever thanks us for gracing their backwater island with our presence and cash." "If things don't improve, I might just pack up and leave."

Other analysts on the panel also noted that as Singapore grew at an astronomical pace under a soft-authoritarian regime, the only way to preserve the country's economy, is to regress democratically.

"I'm quite ashamed of Singaporeans too," said commodities specialist Chao Hee Lang who is a local and a weekend volunteer at a migrant workers NGO.

"All this xenophobia and hatred... No wonder Lee Kuan Yew once said that only educated people should be able to vote. People like myself, who can see that freedom is not always a good thing."

"God bless the foreign workers. Without them working at ridiculously low wages, we would never get anything done. And yet, no one is grateful to them for doing us a favour!"

The panel discussion was chaired by Acting Ministry for Economic Affairs, Mr Jin Jue Lui who reassured the audience that the government was already working on a plan to reduce the proportion of native citizens in the population to about 50% by 2030.’

http://newnation.sg/2013/03/singaporeans-biggest-threat-to-singapores-growth/



When I first read the article I was naturally annoyed. How dare these people talked about Singaporeans in these ways and that Singaporeans are really not needed in this country. Oops, I mean city or is it hotel? On reflection, I think they made perfect sense. From the cleaners in the foodcourts to the top leaders, none of them are needed, really.

As for the cleaners, they are old, slow and not cheap. They can be easily replaced by the CBF foreign workers. The construction workers are all foreign workers, and so are the retail and sales staff, and the nurses. The doctors too are increasingly being recruited from overseas.

In the PME categories, banking and finance are now nearly all filled by foreigners from the West and India, or at least in top and middle management. And don’t have to say about the IT industry as probably 90% are from India. Their dominance in this industry has made Java and C programming language obsolete. The new language used is Tamil.

For the top political leaders, why is there a need for them and to pay them such a huge salary to prevent them from corruption. Remove this profession and there will be great savings. No need to pay for the fear of corruption. And no need to pay for life long pension in the millions to keep them from being corrupt while in retirement.

What is left that the Singaporeans are deserving to be here? Producing babies. But they failed miserably in this. They can’t produce and for those who can, they are demanding a ransom from the Govt. What for paying them so much when the ICA could bring in plane loads of whatever colour and creed, whatever age group, and all hungry, willing to work and exceptionally talented. Isn’t it so much cheaper, efficient and effective to just import the heads for the needed workers to service the economy?

I think the only thing that is of value in the Singaporeans is the properties they owned, private and public flats. Why not encouraged them to sell at a good price to foreigners and move them to JB, Batam or Lijiang or perhaps some paradise in India?. As for the private property owners, they could sell their properties in the tens or hundreds of millions and could even buy Buckingham Palace in the cheap. Then all these people can have their Tea Parties to make merry in Hyde Park or any parks in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA or anywhere. No need to kpkb in Hong Lim Park.

Seriously, Singaporeans are no longer needed in Singapore. As for the NSmen, what is there to defend when Singaporeans are not needed and the country populated by foreigners and their companies and businesses. Talking about this, in the 60s and 70s when there was no jobs, we invited the MNCs here to create jobs for jobless Singaporeans. Today, Singaporeans not only did not want to work, they are also expensive. It is more economical and productive to import factories and companies here, lock, stock and barrel, with their foreign employees. Cheap and good and fit the CBF model. They can hire 100% foreign staff, not an issue.

So, did I make my point clear, that there is really no need for Singaporeans anymore?

The oppression of a civilization

The world was turned into an ocean of colonies of subject people during the few centuries of ‘friendly’ European conquest. The Africans were turned into slaves, the natives of both Americas massacred. The ancient civilization of China was crippled and dismantled into pieces. After the Western powers brought down the decadent Qing Dynasty with the might of modern firearms, the Chinese civilization was turned into a pariah race of nothingness by the invaders in their country. The foreigners did not bring anything good but oppression, bullying and raiding China’s wealth and dignity by all kinds of deceptive means, and by the barrel of the gun. The Japanese joined in and even thought of conquering and ruling the whole of China as their colony.

There was a moment of salvation when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and declared war on the Western power. China and its peasant soldiers were needed to open another front to sap the fighting power and resources of the Japanese. A large part of the Japanese Imperial Army was held down in China by the peasant soldiers. History would not be the same if the Japanese could run through China without resistance and conquer the whole of Asia.

After the war there was a brief moment of equality for China as a key member of the Allied Forces that fought against the Japanese. Chiang Kai Shek was seated with the Allied leaders like Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt in Potsdam and Cairo to divide the world among the victorious Allied Powers. China was lucky to have its lost territories back. Chiang was more like a flower vase, inconsequential, and would not be deserving of any war loot. His presence among the leaders of the big powers was a consolation that gave China a little recognition as a big nation.

This little moment of dignity did not last long when Mao Zedong defeated Chiang and China adopted communism as a state ideology. This turn of event led to a renewed and concerted Western effort to brand and condemn the Chinese civilization as peasants, rogues, dumb, uncivilized, aggressive and the pariahs of the human race, a good for nothing race that was lack of talent, unproductive and unimaginative, and unfit to join the advanced nations of the West. This was the hopeless China painted by the West. They kept repeating the misinformation daily in all western media, like they are doing to North Korea today that the whole world simply believed so. Chinese are useless, Chinese are lame, Chinese are bad.

Cold Wars, containment policies, encirclement, depriving China of its rightful seat in the UN, blocking China from joining international organizations like the WTO and the Groupings of rich nations, were history now. In the last 40 odd years, China came storming back on its own despite all the sanctions and barriers and threats against its rise as a nation and the Chinese people as a civilization, old, ancient, but not useless and remote of talents.

Throughout the two hundred years of Western oppression and suppression, the Chinese civilization was not allowed to surface, no opportunity to break out and be the equals of other nations. The Chinese civilization was down and out, the Chinese in despair. Many Chinese had doubts in themselves, and were ashamed to be Chinese. The Westerners reinforced this belief by sneering at them, contributing negative literature furiously to debase the Chinese, discriminated against them in practically every human endeavour and industry. In the USA there were racist laws forbidding the Chinese from higher skill jobs. The image and perception of useless and untalented Chinese became a self fulfilling prophecy. The Chinese civilization was a joke, a condemned race that was lacking in industry and innovation.

On its own, slowly and steadily the Chinese rebuilt their nation and their civilization, with little foreign talents and assistance, China has over taken Japan and is closing in on the US as the number Two world power, economically and militarily. They have proven that they could match the West in every field of industry. The oppression and suppression of a civilization have failed, and a revitalized China has assumed its rightful place as a proud nation among nations. The Chinese civilization is no longer to be spitted at, to be kicked around by the Western powers or by teeny weeny little Asian states. It is now a force to be reckoned with and to be respected on its own merits.

The tag of being the Sick Man of Asia, a semi colony of the West, a broken country with nothing, no inventions, no modern industries, no talents except poverty and all the trappings of a poor and backward third world country vanished over a few decades. There is renewed pride as a people, a nation and a civilization in the new China. A phoenix has risen from the ashes. There is no turning back. The Chinese have found their way back and will leap frog over the West in science and technology and in all things, while the West are still trying to restrain their advances by hook and by crook.

Today, the overseas Chinese are also starting to rediscover themselves, their pride and dignity as a respectable people. They too find some renewed confidence that they are not rubbish and useless as the West wanted to hole them in, to be bullied by even little third world people, to be told to go home in western countries. They too share the pride of an ancient civilization seeking a second chance in renaissance, to achieve in whatever they seek to do, to be a respectable people and civilization on par with the best in the world. They no longer lower their heads in shame as they go about their lives. They are standing tall, heads and shoulders to the Western civilization with the knowledge that they are just as good if not better. The Chinese civilization is reviving and will no longer be oppressed and suppressed again.

Tessa Wong defends her position in facebook

Tessa Wong, the ST journalist that wrote an article on xenophobia last Saturday came under attack by many netizens. In her facebook posting she tried to explain that her position was quite balance. In the Saturday article she called on the Singaporeans not to discriminate against foreigners, not to be xenophobes.

I still think that her article was very one sided, that the xenophobes were only Singaporeans. I hope she would balance out her position by doing some investigative journalism and fish out those companies and CEO/HR that discriminated and victimised Singaporeans for jobs. Companies and such individuals that hired their own kind at the expense of Singaporean PMEs are xenophobes and must be exposed.

If Tessa Wong could put up a piece to show such discriminations against Singaporeans, she could turn the table and be seen not only as fair and balance but also a Singaporean speaking for Singaporeans and fair play. If she fails to do so, then it is likely that the netizens will go after her more furiously.

We cannot chastise Singaporeans for just airing their unhappiness and protect the foreigners for having committed the such crimes. In fact the Singaporeans were just reacting to the discrimination and victimisation practised by the foreigners. The Singaporeans are the victims and wanting to fight back. The foreigners are ganging up in a concerted effort to ease out the Singaporeans from good jobs here, in Singapore you know.

I hope Tessa reads this and do the due diligence as a professional Singaporean journalist that believes in fairness and transparency. Get the culprits into the open. MOM should have details of the transgression they committee against Singaporeans. Interview Tafep or Tan Chuan Jin, they know.

Hsien Loong and Obama 4 eye meeting. Ampat mata.

What I have written is strictly fictional. It is called humour, ok? It is like turning on the tap for pork soup. Now that you are in the right frame of mind, let me let my imagination runs a little wild, and here it is. In the Oval….

Hsien Loong: ‘Hi BO, I see you got a little problem.’

BarackObama: Sheepishly, not trying to keep his act tough image in his private office, ‘Bad news travels far and wide yah!’

Hsien Loong: ‘No worry. I brought my cheque book along. How much do you need?’

BarackObama: Face lighted up. ‘That’s cool baby. We are so bloke that we can’t even sail a decent size boat to the South China Sea. But we were lucky, as that Captain sailed it into the reef. Embarrassing, so embarrassing!’

Hsien Loong: ‘Heh heh, you should let our boys sail it. We know the ground.’

BarackObama: ‘Yah, you can laugh. The Chinese are laughing too. Damn Marines could not even keep its boat afloat. I think it is safer to sail into Singapore, deep water port, no coral reef to make the Marines looked like Georgie boy.’

Hsien Loong: ‘Again no worry. We will take good care of your boys. We will tow the boat into harbor to make it doubly safe. Our shipyard will fix it like new.’

BarackObama: ‘Thanks a lot. We really appreciate the special relationship we have with Singapore. Now cut it short, how much have you got?’

Hsien Loong put on the biggest smile he could. ‘How much do you need? Fed can print, we can print too.’

BarackObama: ‘As much as you put into Citibank and all the other banks combined. We need to save this F35 project from sinking.’

Hsien Loong: ‘That bad huh?’

BarackObama: ‘The Fed is not going print more money, Congress is not going to approve for more, our bank accounts are empty, the Chinese, the Japanese and the Arabs are not going to buy more T bonds, and we promised the Americans the best aircraft money can buy and a very affordable price tag. Now we don’t have money left to get it off the ground.’

Hsien Loong: ‘What are friends for? Just tell me how much and you can have it.’

BarackObama: ‘You really fixed my problems.’

Hsien Loong: ‘Just a minute. I have a little problem to fix too. After the buying the rotten banks I am now told to be extra careful by Tony. He is the guardian of our reserves and very experience now. He did not want me to put the money down for rotten aircraft like the rotten banks. No haste. The advice of Jim Rogers is invaluable. You know, Tony is the President, and very wise now.’

BarackObama: ‘Oh, tell Tony all is well. No worry, trust US. We have no control over the banks. But for the aircraft, if they don’t fly, we will make sure they fly, 5 years or 10 years later, they will fly. I give you my words.’

Hsien Loong: ‘That’s very assuring. How about two for the price of one?’ And can I pay you in T bonds?