The forgotten history of American China relations was recorded in a film
made by Frank Capra. This movie can be googled under the title ‘Battle
of China’. Today China is enemy number One to the Americans for no
other reasons than a challenge to its world domination as the number One
superpower. China was friend and ally in World War Two but enemy when
it turned to communism and joined the Soviet camp. The Cold War and
rhetoric embedded in the generations of post war Americans see China
through a tinted glass and reinforced by the daily barrage of western
media and propaganda. The reason then was communism.
Today China was anything but communist. China is the number trading
partner of America. China is America’s number One financier. China is
sending its bright students to America to learn the American way of
life. China is a capitalist state in the mould of America but with
socialist ideas. China has many commonalities with America and has many
common interests too. But China is seen as an enemy, promoted in all
literatures as an enemy.
The Yellow Peril still lingers in the mindset of the Americans. But the
Yellow Peril came and gone, in the form of little yellow Japanese, as
quoted in Frank Capra’s movie, that sunk the American Pacific Fleet in
Pearl Harbour. The Chinese are arriving in America and in Canada as
normal immigrants, economic immigrants, not the likes of little yellow
Japanese with plans to conquer America as in the Tanaka Memorial of
world conquest. The Chinese do not have such a plan.
In the Battle of China, America was China’s biggest ally. America
provided all the logistics and weapons, from artillery pieces, vehicles,
fighter and bomber aircraft, to China in its fight against the invading
Japanese. The Americans trained and equipped Chinese soldiers and
airmen in Arizona and New Mexico, and fought side by side with them
against the Japanese Imperial Army. America played a vital role in
saving China from the Japanese. And the British, Dutch and other
European soldiers were also fighting on the side of the Chinese with the
Americans.
Why is it that China today is America’s number One enemy and Japan is
America’s friend? The craps about ideology and communism belonged to a
bygone era. The two economies are intertwined and interdependent on each
other. Both countries can prosper together and there is no real reason
to maintain a mindset of hostility. China is not there to conquer
America or the rest of the world like the Japanese. China does not have a
plan for world conquest.
It was only opportune that America won the Second World War or else it
would become a colony of Japan. Australia too would be a Japanese
colony. Though it is no longer feasible for such an ambitious plan by
Japan to rule the world, the psychic of the Japanese is very different
from the Chinese. The former is still harbouring the desire to revive
Japanese Imperialistic glory while China is only reclaiming what belongs
to her and were taken away during the days when it was a semi colonized
country.
Can the Americans tell the difference between the Chinese and the
Japanese? Which is the real Yellow Peril? Let me quote a short passage
by Craig White from his book, ‘In Search of the Origin of Nations’.
‘Documents discovered in military archives in 1993 uncovered
a Japanese plot to attack Sydney and Melbourne with bubonic
plague, the black death. In its Harbin biological warfare centre
in Manchuria, the infamous Imperial Army Unit 731 succesfully
bred plague bacteria (in addition to cholera, typhoid, anthrax
etc) and deliberately infected 3,000 Chinese, Korean and
Mongolian civilians with the diseases from which they died
horrible deaths. Plague-infected fleas were dropped over Changde
in Hunan Province and elsewhere, resulting in an epidemic which
killed several hundred in a few days. As the war was drawing to
an end, they planned to send plagues into Samoa, Guam and the
Philippines as well as Dutch Harbour in Alaska. Journal records
show that Unit 731 was ordered to ensure that the bacteria could
be taken by ship or submarine to Sydney, Melbourne and Hawaii and released to kill hundreds of thousands.’
2/25/2014
Little India riot – Snippets of COI
The details of the inquiry on the Little India riot are being reported
fully in the media. The transparency index is as good as 100% with
everything in the open. So far, other than the experts in the COI
committee, the witnesses are also proving to be experts themselves. The
two Certis Cisco officers are giving very good and expert views on the
situation on that night and on how the riot could not have happened if
the police were well trained to handle such a situation and acted
swiftly to arrest the trouble makers before the situation worsen. This
is a valuable piece of information that the police should take note of.
Maybe the police should recruit them into the force to conduct lessons
on riot control. These are officers who have lived experience in a real
riot, something like soldiers with war experience, been there, very
valuable people to have.
Another thing that surfaced from the expert opinions is that the foreign workers were really like little innocent children, very nice but very soft. And the woman bus attendant was like Hercules, rough handling them. And with a push these construction workers from very polite environment in the villages, would be sent flying. I am exaggerating here. It was reported that they fell down when pushed by the woman attendant. The bus operators must take note of this and hire gentler bus attendants to handle the construction workers with more tender loving care, like little children. It is just not nice and not proper to manhandle these men, oops, I mean children, or treat them roughly, like shouting at them or pushing them around. Maybe a male attendant would be more gentle and can do the job better than a strong woman.
Maybe it was the pushing and the rough handling by the woman bus attendant that made these very nice construction workers very angry and wanted to kill her and burn the bus, according to the expert eye witness at the scene who understood Tamil spoken by the rioters.
There are so many valuable information and lessons to be learnt from the evidence coming out from the COI.
Another thing that surfaced from the expert opinions is that the foreign workers were really like little innocent children, very nice but very soft. And the woman bus attendant was like Hercules, rough handling them. And with a push these construction workers from very polite environment in the villages, would be sent flying. I am exaggerating here. It was reported that they fell down when pushed by the woman attendant. The bus operators must take note of this and hire gentler bus attendants to handle the construction workers with more tender loving care, like little children. It is just not nice and not proper to manhandle these men, oops, I mean children, or treat them roughly, like shouting at them or pushing them around. Maybe a male attendant would be more gentle and can do the job better than a strong woman.
Maybe it was the pushing and the rough handling by the woman bus attendant that made these very nice construction workers very angry and wanted to kill her and burn the bus, according to the expert eye witness at the scene who understood Tamil spoken by the rioters.
There are so many valuable information and lessons to be learnt from the evidence coming out from the COI.
Short sell reporting a prudent move
Goh Eng Yeow wrote about the plans by SGX to level the playing field to
require short sellers to report their short positions. This is a fair
statement to keep all investors posted with timely information of what
the big boys are doing in the market. The important point is that the
information will be made available to all in a timely fashion and not
some that are privy to information to take advantage of those that are
in the dark.
The SGX has another disclosure measure introduced last year that required investors to indicate their short positions as and when executed in the SGX system. The purported objective is to disclose such short positions to the public and investors, another level playing field effort. All short positions will henceforth be reported by SGX the next day. This seems very fair but is that so?
What happens is that for those computer traders who have their super computers plugged into the SGX system will have immediate information of any short positions and could capitalize on it instantly. They don’t have to wait till the next day to know the short positions. They have real time short selling information to take advantage of.
So, is there a level playing field? With computers plugged into the SGX to have real time information when other small traders do not have, how fair is the system?
Is there an elephant in the room?
The SGX has another disclosure measure introduced last year that required investors to indicate their short positions as and when executed in the SGX system. The purported objective is to disclose such short positions to the public and investors, another level playing field effort. All short positions will henceforth be reported by SGX the next day. This seems very fair but is that so?
What happens is that for those computer traders who have their super computers plugged into the SGX system will have immediate information of any short positions and could capitalize on it instantly. They don’t have to wait till the next day to know the short positions. They have real time short selling information to take advantage of.
So, is there a level playing field? With computers plugged into the SGX to have real time information when other small traders do not have, how fair is the system?
Is there an elephant in the room?
Anger mounting with more MRT disruptions
SMRT had another major disruption on the North South Line at peak hours
yesterday morning between Yew Tee and Kranji. And from a 10 minute delay
it went on to more than an hour, affecting the most vulnerable group of
commuters, students rushing to schools to take examinations. The anger
and frustration were all over the net. Some of the comments posted by
the youth and quoted in TRE are here:
Dory Shi Min: That is really nonsense. Board train at cck at 6.50 now is around 7.30 I still haven reach kranji. Hello I am having school exam
Zzq Alex: 10 min delay announcement at first then plus 20 min delay announcement then plus another additional 20min delay announcement…. Total stuck in train for 50 min… Now another 20 min delay announcements
Sky Oo: BULLSHIT!!!! Train faulty for 15min ? I waited 1hr30min and i am still stuck in the train haven reach destination. Poor service provider. We do not want word we are looking for action
Sue Salleh: What a sucking Monday SMRT!! And thanks as i’m in one of those affected train!!
Jeff Wong: Thanks for making me late for work today. I still could not board my train from woodlands for 30 mins already. The next interval at 6 mins during this peak hour. Come I clap for you.
Cheong Soon Hao: Can use cable tie fixed? I’m stuck for 30mins plus and counting
Dolphin De Esther: I am late for work…how mrt is gng to compensate tat?
WaOne Ketari: F**k you and ur management f**kin a***holes…!!!!!
Irene Kaea: SMRT you did it on purpose right? So that you can fine people $500 when they try to squeeze in the train when its full! If you want increase fare for more efficiency please show us, not breakdown everytime. Or is it we have no choice but to use your service so you dont give a fk about it and keep increasing price as n when you like?
Choi Dong Soo: Well done u wana raise the transportation fees for this crap service???
Alissa Ash Burn: On Monday… AGAIN? Why don’t u deploy your engineers on Sunday to do checks so it’s good to go for the peak hours???? Tts service for the people. We are not taking the train for free u know.
Justin Peh: Still say “smrt rank among better rail operators in international standards”?
There is no point belabouring on improving services and cutting down disruptions. It is better to look at the bright side. You may be wondering what can come out from these daily breakdowns that have become a new normal. For one, the engineers and management will gain first hand experience on trouble shooting, fire fighting and how to react to such failures on a daily basis. The experience earned would be of great value. They could then be as experienced as those engineers from 3rd World countries that have chalked up mountains of CVs for tackling frequent breakdowns in their train systems. Very experienced men.
Our public transportation experts could then use the experience to work in 3rd World countries to compete with their seasoned engineers and management, to prove who have handled more breakdowns and therefore better qualified for employment. From a recruitment point of view, somehow the ones that have more experience in a failed system are more attractive than those who worked on a system that has few breakdowns and their impeccable maintenance regime were not noticed. On home ground, the SMRT needs not have to recruit 3rd World engineers and experts anymore now that the chaps here are just as experienced as them.
Give it another few years we would have a highly trained and experienced team of engineers and experts that the last 40 years failed to produce. Not bad huh?
In every dark cloud there is a silver lining if you care to look for it. And now no one would dare to employ a sales girl to manage a complex engineering system. It is proven that an orchestra cannot play Mozart or Beethoven when the conductor is a bus driver no matter how talented he is in driving a bus.
PS. Students from the Republic Polytechnic were greatly affected by the train fault and many students unable to take their exams. Grades were affected even though SMRT late slips were given to the schools. Students would have to take another exam normally for students with MCs.
Kopi level - Green, nearly Blue
Dory Shi Min: That is really nonsense. Board train at cck at 6.50 now is around 7.30 I still haven reach kranji. Hello I am having school exam
Zzq Alex: 10 min delay announcement at first then plus 20 min delay announcement then plus another additional 20min delay announcement…. Total stuck in train for 50 min… Now another 20 min delay announcements
Sky Oo: BULLSHIT!!!! Train faulty for 15min ? I waited 1hr30min and i am still stuck in the train haven reach destination. Poor service provider. We do not want word we are looking for action
Sue Salleh: What a sucking Monday SMRT!! And thanks as i’m in one of those affected train!!
Jeff Wong: Thanks for making me late for work today. I still could not board my train from woodlands for 30 mins already. The next interval at 6 mins during this peak hour. Come I clap for you.
Cheong Soon Hao: Can use cable tie fixed? I’m stuck for 30mins plus and counting
Dolphin De Esther: I am late for work…how mrt is gng to compensate tat?
WaOne Ketari: F**k you and ur management f**kin a***holes…!!!!!
Irene Kaea: SMRT you did it on purpose right? So that you can fine people $500 when they try to squeeze in the train when its full! If you want increase fare for more efficiency please show us, not breakdown everytime. Or is it we have no choice but to use your service so you dont give a fk about it and keep increasing price as n when you like?
Choi Dong Soo: Well done u wana raise the transportation fees for this crap service???
Alissa Ash Burn: On Monday… AGAIN? Why don’t u deploy your engineers on Sunday to do checks so it’s good to go for the peak hours???? Tts service for the people. We are not taking the train for free u know.
Justin Peh: Still say “smrt rank among better rail operators in international standards”?
There is no point belabouring on improving services and cutting down disruptions. It is better to look at the bright side. You may be wondering what can come out from these daily breakdowns that have become a new normal. For one, the engineers and management will gain first hand experience on trouble shooting, fire fighting and how to react to such failures on a daily basis. The experience earned would be of great value. They could then be as experienced as those engineers from 3rd World countries that have chalked up mountains of CVs for tackling frequent breakdowns in their train systems. Very experienced men.
Our public transportation experts could then use the experience to work in 3rd World countries to compete with their seasoned engineers and management, to prove who have handled more breakdowns and therefore better qualified for employment. From a recruitment point of view, somehow the ones that have more experience in a failed system are more attractive than those who worked on a system that has few breakdowns and their impeccable maintenance regime were not noticed. On home ground, the SMRT needs not have to recruit 3rd World engineers and experts anymore now that the chaps here are just as experienced as them.
Give it another few years we would have a highly trained and experienced team of engineers and experts that the last 40 years failed to produce. Not bad huh?
In every dark cloud there is a silver lining if you care to look for it. And now no one would dare to employ a sales girl to manage a complex engineering system. It is proven that an orchestra cannot play Mozart or Beethoven when the conductor is a bus driver no matter how talented he is in driving a bus.
PS. Students from the Republic Polytechnic were greatly affected by the train fault and many students unable to take their exams. Grades were affected even though SMRT late slips were given to the schools. Students would have to take another exam normally for students with MCs.
Kopi level - Green, nearly Blue
2/24/2014
Long winter for property market?
This is the headline of a report in the Mypaper today. It lamented that
the hopes for some of the curbs to be removed did not materialized and
the cold remains in propertyland. It said, ‘It was a letdown for
property players, who were hoping to see policies such as the additional
buyer’s stamp duty rolled back.’
Yes it is a letdown for the property players who had made a killing in the last few years. The property bull run lasted for more than 10 years and after a year of cooling measures when prices barely changed the property players are crying father and mother.
On the other side of the equation, ‘The non changing of the policies basically creates a buyer’s market for another one year or so…Serious buyers will be able to buy a property at a fair discount.’ Said Mohamed Ismail of PropNex.
Whose interests should the govt take care of first, the serious buyers that have been given the short end of the stick or the propery players that are gaming for more profits?
The fact is that even at today’s prices, the serious buyers are buying at a high with prices doubling or tripling for the last decades. What is another 10% or 15% fall in prices? I fully agree with Tharman’s decision not to remove any curbs as it is really too early to do so. The high prices only profit the speculators and hurt the serious home owners real bad. It also undercuts the quality of life when people are forced to buy smaller and smaller homes and paying more and more.
The policies for home buying must serve a national objective, the welfare of the people and the quality of life must be paramount. The drumming of property players must be the least of concern to a responsible govt that cares for the people.
What is this long winter shit?
Yes it is a letdown for the property players who had made a killing in the last few years. The property bull run lasted for more than 10 years and after a year of cooling measures when prices barely changed the property players are crying father and mother.
On the other side of the equation, ‘The non changing of the policies basically creates a buyer’s market for another one year or so…Serious buyers will be able to buy a property at a fair discount.’ Said Mohamed Ismail of PropNex.
Whose interests should the govt take care of first, the serious buyers that have been given the short end of the stick or the propery players that are gaming for more profits?
The fact is that even at today’s prices, the serious buyers are buying at a high with prices doubling or tripling for the last decades. What is another 10% or 15% fall in prices? I fully agree with Tharman’s decision not to remove any curbs as it is really too early to do so. The high prices only profit the speculators and hurt the serious home owners real bad. It also undercuts the quality of life when people are forced to buy smaller and smaller homes and paying more and more.
The policies for home buying must serve a national objective, the welfare of the people and the quality of life must be paramount. The drumming of property players must be the least of concern to a responsible govt that cares for the people.
What is this long winter shit?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)