9/27/2014
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
9/26/2014
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
Read Full Post with References:
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
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