Poor man of Asia coming to save Rich Europe

As the world embarks on its journey into the 21^st Century, Europe is waking up to a new reality that its heydays of colonialism and conquest are over. Europe would have to sustain a lifestyle and standard of living without the loot and largess from the colonies, and would have to live within its mean. The hard truth of small is small and would not be able to throw its weight around, except for an island in SE Asia, is sinking in fast.

 

China, the poor man of Asia, the victim of Europe’s looting, is going to the aid of the ailing European economies with a blank cheque. Europe could simply ask and the Chinese would oblige. But the Europeans are still stuck with their superiority complex that they were the empires and this new kid in the block could not offer them anything except cash. And the new kid is up to no good except that they could not figure out how or why.

China’s offer of aid and infrastructure development is laden with hidden agenda and not transparent. The clever Europeans are so perplexed and confused by the Chinese magic box that they are trembling in fear, just like what they said of the Africans. The Europeans have been warning the Africans that the Chinese development and trade agreements are biased to exploit them, like the colonial West putting a gun at the African leaders of the past. The only truth that they refused to see and acknowledge is that the African leaders are not duds of the past, and China is not pointing a gun at their heads.

Similarly, China is not pointing a gun at the heads of European leaders to force them to accept whatever trade agreements and infrastructure development aids it is offering. China does not go to Africa or come to Europe with warships and big guns to rob the natives. And the natives in both Africa and Europe cannot be duds and fools that cannot think and read and be readily conned by the poor Chinese. Can that be the truth? What is this fear of the Chinese coming with baskets of cash to offer to the Europeans?

As Jonathan Eyal wrote in his article in the ST on China’s Silk Road and Maritime Belt, it is the Chinese money that is at risk. China is gambling on the projects with its own money. What have the Europeans got to lose? They have gained roads, highways, bridges, nuclear power stations, ports, high speed trains, all financed by the Chinese and paid by the Chinese. What the fuck are they quibbling about in fear?

Are the Europeans so stupid that they cannot read and count and did not know what they are doing with the Chinamen? Are they acknowledging that the Chinamen are smarter than them and are out to cheat them but with Chinese money? They needed the money and the Chinese are coming with their hard cash to put it in their hands.

What is wrong with the Europeans? Lost their minds, loosing confidence in their ability to negotiate a good deal to their advantage without a gun pointing at their heads? The Europeans are shivering in their pants when the Chinamen come calling with money in plane loads in tow.

Can you believe that? The Europe of today has lost all initiatives to economic growth, and is bankrupt. Their economies are no longer sustainable and the Chinese money is the drug that they need to keep going. They don’t have to colonise and loot China with their warships. The Chinese are offering them money on a silver platter, willingly, with hundreds of billions for the European Infrastructure Fund.

SGX – Smart computers and super computers

Computers are smart. If not we would not be paying millions or hundreds of millions for them. We don’t expect computers to make mistakes, only human make mistakes. When computers made mistakes, it is either that they are programmed with mistakes or input with mistakes, GIGO.

The latest fiasco by SGX, sending investors CDP statements with errors in the number of stocks they have or did not have, is a grave error. 1% of 460,000 investors means 4,600 would have received error statements. And the nature of such errors is like banks sending monthly statements to their clients showing their deposits, more or less, could be a very harrowing experience. Some may die of shock if seeing their millions disappeared, or died from disbelief when a few millions appeared in their statements.

A mistake like this in the banking industry is a cardinal sin. It is also no small matter in the stock broking business. The stocks are money in another form and people can also die from shock when the differences are huge and unbelievable. And if it is a number game, the plus must come from somewhere, and the losses must go to some where, it is a vicious circle to unentangle. Where would the disappeared stocks go to or the increase come from, from whose accounts to whose accounts?

How could it happen? The errors must be due to some input, deliberate or otherwise, through a modification in some programmes or data entry. Given the fact that so many people are affected, it is likely to be a programme or system error, and a new one. Or it could be the deliberate act of someone or some maleware in the system. A human error due to negligence is likely to affect very few people. When more than 4 thousand people are affected, it is no small matter, not likely to be due to negligence or carelessness of an operator.

Hope SGX is on top of this problem and could rectify it fast.

Amos Yee – The world’s youngest Prisoner of Conscience

Below is what Kenneth Jeyaratnam posted.

Amos Yee: World’s Youngest Prisoner of Conscience to be recognised by Amnesty International

At the beginning of this month I started exchanging correspondence with some contacts in Amnesty International sharing my view that Amos was  a prisoner of conscience.  I am delighted to say that after monitoring and considering the situation they have just written to me to say that they concur. Amnesty International will recognise Amos Yee as a Prisoner of Conscience.  Amos Yee does fulfill their criteria because his actions, though offensive, should not have been criminalised.

And this is the reply from Amnesty International.

Dear Kenneth,

Well, the IS has considered it and judge that he is indeed a POC by Amnesty’s definition. What he said falls under the kind of edgy and sharp expression of opinions that may annoy or insult, but it was peacefully said and doesn’t fall under the definition of incitement etc and is not grounds for criminalization. WE will speak out and expect to issue a statement ahead of the 23 June court hearing.

XXXX Redacted XXXXXXXXX

Warmest wishes, xxxx

I feel very sorry and sad to know that Amos Yee is having suicidal tendency and they are handling him like a mental patient, tying him to his bed. His mother is trying all she could to save her child and is in desperation, alone fighting the whole world. I salute Kenneth for speaking out for Amos Yee.

Where are the decent men and women in this island? The silence is pathetic and a shame. If they don’t speak up for Amos Yee, they must remain silent for the rest of their lives. No one will give them any respect for anything they say henceforth.

Is there a conscience in this piece of rock? Or has everyone been turned into a piece of rock devoid of compassion, moral righteousness, kindness, empathy, decency, justice, heartless….?

Hollywood – You are sane until the psychiatrists made you mad

This article is not to malign the noble profession and the good people doing a good job to manage the disease of mental illness.

Hollywood has regularly produced movies on madness and how normal healthy individuals fell victims to dictators, corrupt officials and made to look mad or even become mad with the assistance of evil men and women practicing the trade of psychology and psychiatry. In their hands, they can cook up anything to pronounce a normal person mad and should be held against his wishes, freedom curtailed, and to be controlled by the evil people posing as their guardians.

And once in their hands, in the confines of a mental hospital, in the privacy of their charge, they could do many things to make a sane person mad, even by prescribing and administering drugs and injecting drugs into the victims to ensure that the victim will become mad.

For those who were victims of such circumstances, life is like living hell. And the fictions churned out by Hollywood are only the tip of the iceberg. The truth is more frightening. It is happening everywhere!

GE the Independence Day

The movie Independence Day has many messages that are relevant to the political situation here and the world. The dominance of hegemons and dictatorships over the world and the individual countries to oppress the people in their own interests would lead to rebellion and the overthrow of the empires and dictators. This historical formula is evergreen and would just repeat itself over and over again. It is just like the cycles of life.

The Independence Day movie is about the invasion of aliens in overwhelming superior force. Their spaceships were huge beyond imagination and powerful and impenetrable. Earth was as good as lost and to be dominated by the aliens and controlled by them forever, as slaves to serve the new master.

At the final moment of death, there was a break through. A pilot found a hole in the spaceship when the defence shield was crippled and taken down. Without the shield and knowing the weak point, it was a piece of cake to take down the armada of monstrous looking spaceships.

The next GE is around the corner and Independence Day is also around the corner. The space ships are the prized GRCs. The defence shield used to be the formidable image of the PAP and bolstered by the strength of the ministers helming them. They were impenetrable. This defence shield appears to be no longer there. The PAP has lost that image of invincibility. The ministers, nothing to crow about and worst, everyone looking more like a liability than an asset, or anchor to strengthen the GRCs.

With the defence shield crippled and down, every GRC is vulnerable and ripe for the taking. This GE is not about taking SMCs. These are easy looking at the slate of candidates and the results of the two by elections. The prize now is the GRCs. If there is a better moment to take them, the time is now. There is no defence in the PAP wall and system. The vulnerabilities are exposed and cannot be patched, or not for the immediate future. The next GE is like Independence Day when all the opposition forces are there to strike at the GRCs, to take them down. You can feel the shivers.

The key question is whether there will be enough good opposition candidates to do the damage. The message, the shield is down and there is no ministers left to protect the GRCs.