Rebalancing of US pivot to Asia

Former US Ambassador Curtis Chin and Secretary of State Susan Rice have spoken about a rebalancing of the US pivot to Asia after it has been stalled by lack of fundings and the expansion of wars in the Middle East. At the moment this pivot is being put on the backburner given the priority to feed the wars in Syria and Iraq and keeping the flame alive in Ukraine. China is having a bit of peace at the moment though Obama is still poking at whatever little holes he can find.

Both Curtis Chin and Susan Rice are talking about commercial, education and cultural balancing instead of war. The American pivot was all about war and about shifting their military assets and soldiers back to the region, warships, aircraft carriers, bases, military alliance, for PEACE! How many jokers believe that?

So, what is the new doctrine, what is the new change? From the pivot to war to pivot for trade? Let’s see what the Americans are doing towards this new direction. It is thinking of selling aircraft to Vietnam and ships to Taiwan. In the former it is about surveillance aircraft for Vietnam to spy on China. In the latter it is about submarines and frigates to fight China. It is also negotiating with the Malaysians for more bases to fly their surveillance aircraft. The Philippines are happily waiting for some aids and handouts, more warships that the Americans could do without.

All these measures are economic and commercial in nature. Not about war but about trade. Well done America, keep the pivot for trade and commercial dealings coming. Sell more arms and warplanes and warships to the countries in the region. Send more soldiers here for R and R activities to promote tourism.

Maybe the region has to wait as the war in Syria and Iraq just hotted up and big money is on the way. For every cruise missile launched, another more expensive will be needed to replace the old stocks. Think of how many bombs have been delivered to Syria and Iraq and all the arms needed to build up the anti ISIS forces and those in Ukraine.

This is big business that the Americans are adept at after continuously practicing it without a single day of rest since the end of the Second World War. American’s formula for trade and pivot to Asia, in commercial terms.

Kopi Level - Green

Ram Puneet Tiwary – Did he or did he not?

Ram Tiwary is writing a book about his ordeal in court and in jail. He was found guilty of killing two SAF scholars in Sydney in 2003. He appealed and was finally acquitted in 2012 after serving terms behind bars.

Today he has written a book that said he is innocent. The two young scholars have been dead for years. Dreams were dashed and hopes turned to agonies for the parents and wives. Many hearts were broken. The deep scars of hurt were still there, and now reopen, and bleeding again. Two young men died and one young man wrote a book about it. With a big question mark hanging in the air, is it not insensitive to splash this piece of news on the front page of a local media?

Legally Tiwary is innocent, the Aussie court has acquitted him, the injustice done to this man and the pain and wrong done to him in prison cannot be compensated in any kind.

If there was a miscarriage of justice, I dunno what to say. The families of the families must be fuming. What is the painful truth? Why made a big splash on this issue? Is this a proper thing to do given the circumstances? Anyone spare a thought on how the two families feel?

Kopi Level - Green

Seriously, Singapore NTU is Number One University; but ….

Seriously, Singapore NTU is Number One University; but …. 

By MIKOspace

The United Nations agency, UNESCO, challenged the validity and reliability, and therefore the usefulness, of University Rankings.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore has secured top placing on a league table of the world's best young universities.  It has overtaken Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who was No. one for the past two years, according to London-based educational consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Of what value to Singapore is this NTU “achievement”?

Well, any good researcher would know that you will get what you measure, instead of what you want to claim the measure to mean.  So, what exactly does QS Ranking mean?

The United Nations agency, UNESCO, challenged the validity and reliability, and therefore the usefulness, of University Rankings:

“Global university rankings fail to capture either the meaning or divers qualities of a university or the characteristics of universities in a way that values and respects their educational and social purposes, missions and goals. At present, these rankings are of dubious value, are underpinned by questionable social science, arbitrarily privilege particular indicators, and use shallow proxies as correlates of quality.”

Indeed, Universities Ranking is itself conceptually problematic.  It embraced an “idealised” model of University to be achieved and in so doing generalize the failure of most Universities to achieve it.  The World-Class University has NEVER existed as a concept, or as an empirical reality. The status of “World-Class University” as the gold standard is the normative social construct of the rankers themselves.

In fact, even QS cautions against the use of the QS Ranking beyond its simple methodology and purpose “to serve the student consumer. Rankings allows the consumer to see how institutions stand against other universities." Adding: "As it became apparent that more and more undergraduate students were looking to study abroad, there was a need for an international comparison. We did not come about it from the point of view of an academic exercise with metrics."

This is a confession admitting to the fact that QS Rankings evolve around the metrics used to devise the tables including citations and peer review. The Rankers did not build their QS Rankings on any solid or vigorous foundation that would withstand the penetrative professional scrutiny of the Academics or Research Institutions which now used them to position themselves in spite of the lack of validity and reliability of these measures. Therein lies its fundamental conceptual and methodological flaw, confirming that the QS Ranking is therefore irrelevant and immaterial for any serious educational policy purpose.

In fact, QS rankers themselves were surprised at "the extent to which governments and university leaders use the rankings to set strategic targets. We at QS think this is wrong. Rankings are (just) a relative measure - if other universities do better and move up, you have to go faster." 

It is just plain mindless stupidity, I may add.

QS Rankings are akin to nothing more than a Market Consumers Survey, much like how marketing agencies rank the Apple iPhone with other handphones by Blackberry, Nokia, ZTE, Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Lenovo and HTC. 

Whither NTU’s Impact on Singapore?  NTU President and University Management, as well as the Ministry of Education, should be more concerned about the need to increase NTU’s, and other universities’, contributions to society, instead of obsessing with the ranking game. 

Kopi Level - Green 

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NTU as No.1 University; but ...

Hong Lim Protest Rally getting complicated- Sat 27 Sep 4pm

Below is an extract of Hah Hui Hui’s letter posted at TRE. The details and comments are available at TRE.
 
Dear all,
 
I need you to bring your families and friends to come to HLP on 27 Sep 4pm.
 
Their (PAP) grassroots will have 5000 people coming to HLP this Sat.
 
Yesterday, a map which shows the route of the march this Sat was being released. I went to collect the banner for our stage at 5pm today, whistles, vanguard and markers are bought too.
 
When I reached HLP to meet up with the contractor to finalise everything, three tents were being built to block the path of our march.
 
4 grassroots leaders came out and negotiate with me. They were trying to persuade me not to organise any event.
 
Their event was supposed to be on Sat 10am, they said their tent will be demolished only on Sun. But if I were to insist in holding an event this Sat, they will change the timing to 4pm and ferry 5000 people down. They also showed me their generator and said that they will get more loudspeakers than us
….
Han Hui Hui
 
According of one commentator JayF, there is an event organized by YMCA and the Guest of Honour is Teo Ser Luck. The timing of the event is from 2pm to 8pm.

Kopi Level - Green

Relentless pursuit of population growth

Population grew from 5.3m to 5.47m in 12 months. The target for 6.9m, supposedly a planning parameter, will be reached in no time. Anyone still believes that it is only a planning parameter? The details of this ‘slow’ population growth are better left to Leong Sze Hian and his team to elaborate.
 
And like a programme reflex actions, all the horror stories are uttered, in fear, that there will be consequences of an economic slow down, of belt tightening, of labour squeeze. Did anyone say anything about the adverse consequences of 6.9m and an unceasing thirst for more population? The only people that said anything of this side of the coin were from the social media. The official view is that population growth is all goodness. Where got anything negative? You want growth with no bad consequences just add more population and you will have economic growth and growth.
 
Now, horrors of all horrors, the population is not growing as fast as desired, but still growing rapidly. Is there no goodness in a slowing down of the economic growth? Is there nothing good in slowing population growth? Everything is going to be bad? China is deliberately slowing its economic growth and the western soothsayers are all praying and saying see, China’s economy is crashing. But the Chinese know what is good for them and are engineering a slow down. And their economic growth is attained by real productivity growth and manufacturing growth, not by adding more and more people.
 
Why is it that there are no negative consequences in pumping growth by adding more people into a piece of rock? Why are there no benefits to a slowing down of population growth in a small red dot? Are the analysts and economists objective in their remarks and comments? Are they blind and can only see one side of the coin?
 
Are they real? Can they put up a balance report to reflect the other side of the coin? The people need responsible people to put up a balance picture of what is happening, and what is the real thing, what is good and bad for them.

Kopi Level - Green