Geopolitics – Who to balance who?

In his article appearing in the ST on 23 Oct 15, Luhut B Pandjaitan, the Corodinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs of Indonesia discussed the role of Indonesia as a regional power and where it should stand in big power politics. He hoped that Indonesia should not be put in a position to take sides between China and Japan or between China and the USA. This is about the only sensible thing that he said before turning into another parrot repeating the views of the western world. The lack of original strategic thinking is evident when he aped the West in talking about the need for the USA to balance the rise of China.

What is wrong with this concept of the American Empire, the world’s Number One superpower having to act as a balance against a much weaker rising power in China? In the first place, the USA is the undisputed supreme military power as well as economic power. The USA can do as it likes, can bulldoze its way against any country, including China. If it comes to shove, the Americans could simply walk all over China. What is this talk about balancing a rising China?

In most cases it is the smaller power that needs to get together to balance an abusing superpower. And this was admitted by Lihut himself when he wrote,   ‘inspite of their reservations about the way in which American power has been used sometimes, in the middle East, for example.’ Was he being polite or being a cock to say that sometimes the Americans abused their power? The Americans have always been abusing their superpower status to whack any country they so desired without the need for consultation, Indonesia included. Could not this Lihut see any need to balance the overwhelming power of the Americans to prevent the Americans from becoming a trigger happy gangster?  

The intervention of Putin in Syria was exactly for this purpose, to balance the power of the Americans from killing more Arab and Muslim leaders called regime change. The Russians have stopped the Americans from doing exactly this and save Assad from the same fate as Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi. The rise of China would fill the same void in Asia, to balance the overbearing power of the Americans not to run wild and bully Asian countries one by one. It is the power of the Americans that needs to be balanced, not China, an emerging power that is very much weaker than the Americans. Without the rise of China, all the Asian and Southeast Asian countries will be treated and bullied by the Americans like the Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East. Indonesia is a Muslim country, remember that.

China’s claim on the South China Sea islands is within its historical right and is not the business of the new South East Asian states. It becomes an issue only when these new states started to counter claim these islands as theirs. If China were as powerful as the Americans, it would show its fingers to these pretenders to think they have a rightful claim to the islands in the South China Sea. China is not making wild claims against the territories of any Asean states. When China was sailing the high seas and marking all these islands, there was no Vietnam, no Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia to talk about.

Would a war start in the South China Sea? Sure, when these new states are audacious enough to want to claim islands already claimed by China several centuries ago when they were not states in South East Asia but villages and tribal chieftains. Where was Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia?

The Americans too would want a war in the South China Sea to allow them to put a foot into the region and control over the South East Asian states by raising China as their enemy. It would then do the necessary to push China back with its superior and unchallenged military might.

The countries in East Asia and South East Asia are too used to be bullied by the Americans, with the Americans calling the shot and threatening them with interference in their internal affairs and even regime change. If these countries did not create an enemy out of China by wanting to claim Chinese territories, China would be their friend to counter American hegemony in the region and to stand up for them when the Americans try to meddle with their internal affairs or even changing their govt.

The rise of China is a balancing force for the smaller and mid size countries to stop the Americans from bullying them and taking them for granted. It is a smaller power ganging up with other smaller countries to balance the might of a super power, not a super power balancing the power of a smaller rising power.

South East Asia must not become another Middle East with the Americans calling the shot and be deceived into endless warfare, to be taken down one by one by the Americans, divide and rule, remember?

Do the British need to bring in the Americans to balance against a rising China in Europe? Isn’t the British using China to balance against the power and dominance of the USA?

On the same page of the ST there was an article by Jean Pierre Lehmann on Britain and China relations and Jean wrote, ‘That was in the “good old times”, when it was “Great” Britain that ruled the waves and pretty much acted throughout the world as a bully – as all (no exception) “great” powers are prone to do – for example, the US in Iraq, Russia in Ukraine.’

Luhut better prayed that the USA would not turn Indonesia into another Iraq. And Lihut is best advised to read what Jean Pierre wrote about the idiot called Charles who ‘boycotted the opening Buckingham Palace banquet, apparently because of “Tibet”. This idiot Charles’ knowledge of history is as far as his nose, and Jean Pierre in his article chastised him for his snobbish royal ignorance of British misdeeds in China. Actually it wasn’t ignorance but a lack of intellect to grasp history, or maybe he had no time to read them.

Can Southeast Asian leaders think? Or they allowed the Americans to think for them, to shape their thinking of what is good or bad in the interests of the Americans?

How should Boon Wan be paid?

The role of Boon Wan in the SMRT is getting recognition for the intensity and furiousity he is going about it. And many rightly questioned whether Boon Wan is indeed the CEO of the SMRT, not even the Minister of Transport. He is fully involved and ensnarled in the nitty gritty of getting the SMRT back on its feet and running. If solving the SMRT problem is indeed a major part of his portfolio, then should Boon Wan be redesignated as the CEO of the SMRT instead of being a minister? And should not he also be paid like the CEO of the SMRT or at least SMRT must foot a big part of his ministerial pay for spending so much time to run the SMRT?

The other question people have been asking is the role of Desmond Kuek, the CEO that was roped in to do exactly what Boon Wan and his specially appointed team are doing? It is still fresh in the minds of the public that Desmond Kuek was head hunted to undo the mess in the SMRT caused by his predecessor. With Boon Wan’s involvement in such a high profile role, who is doing what? Are they sharing the job or has Boon Wan taken over Desmond’s job?

What was not said, after Desmond brought in his army buddies, is that things were not working or improving as he and his team would want them to. And that must be the reason why Boon Wan has to roll up his sleeves to dirty his hands in the SMRT.

The challenges of the SMRT is revealing itself as more than what Desmond Kuek and his team could handle, more than even what Boon Wan could handle. Heard that a section of the train is down again this morning. The intrinsic problems that Desmond and Boon Wan have inherited are deeper and more complex than what they anticipated.

Perhaps Boon Wan should take leave from the Transport Ministry and dig in full time to tackle the SMRT problem, and SMRT be made to pay for his salary. It is just not fair for the public to be paying Boon Wan’s salary as a minister if he is working for the SMRT, a public listed company that is a profit making business.

What do you think?

The US Calvary is here, Indians, you are dead

How many of you remember this fetish Hollywood stuff and stood up to cheer when the US Calvary arrived to massacre the Red Injuns in cowboys and Indians movies?  The Injuns were the bad guys and the cowboys and calvary were the good guys, the land of the Injuns, oops, what land of the Injuns, they were God’s given land for the white settlers. Grab as many as you can by killing the Injuns that were illegally occupying the land, the Promised Land God has willed for his believers.

Many Injuns were butchered, murdered, starved to death or inflicted with deadly diseases brought in by the Europeans to infect them. Today you could barely see an Injun in North America now called the United States of America, minus the original natives that once roamed free in their land.

The story of the Calvary killing the Injuns and driving them away from their home land is being repeated all over again in the Middle East. The modern day Injuns are the Arabs and Muslims in the region that is now war torn, with the modern day Calvary bombing their land to Stone Age and inhospitable.  The modern day ‘Injuns’ are marching into Europe to escape being killed or starve to death. And the Americans and the rest of the stupid world are looking on and cheering the modern day Calvary to kill the natives of the land all over again. The modern day Calvary are the good guys and the natives of the land are as usual, the bad guys. They will be resettled in new reservations. If they are lucky to survive the long march to the North, they could find themselves in Europe, definitely better than the Reservations given to the Injuns in North America.

The American Calvary are all over the Middle East to as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan, used to be in Vietnam, still in South Korea and Japan, and now emerging in the South China Sea, to do what they were good at, looking for more Injuns to kill and take away their lands.

And the rest of the stupid world stood up to welcome the Calvary and to cheer them on, without knowing that their land too will be at risk, that they too could become Injuns of their homeland. Malaysia better watch out, the Philippines will be going that way when they invite the Calvary in.

The American Calvary are the saviours of mankind and will kill the modern day ‘Injuns’ as they deemed fit. It is their right to do so, Manifest Destiny.

City Harvest – 6 top leaders, including Pastor Kong Hee found guilty

The law of the land found them guilty for breach of trust and misappropriating $50.6 million of church funds. They are facing prison terms of between 10 years to life imprisonment. The big question, are they guilty in the eyes of their fellow believers? Apparently by the support shown after the verdict, they are still held in high regards by their followers. They and the followers could not see anything wrong with what they did. Probably some would even think they were doing the will of God, as God’s servants.

When one fails to see the difference between right and wrong, between goodness and evil, and blindly sticks to one’s belief, there is a Chinese saying called 走火入魔. When one is in such a state, the person could be always be seeking testimonies to reinforce one’s belief and ignoring or refusing to see the wrongs or ignoring the wrongs, or trying to explain the wrongs away.  In this case of misappropriation of church funds and breach of trust, is it so difficult to see the difference between right and wrong, and that wrong can be right and right can be wrong? Is the heathen court wrong and there is a heavenly justice that says Kong Hee and his 5 peers were doing right in the name of God?

Is there a conflict between human justice and godly justice? There are more than 17,000 church members in City Harvest. How many of them believe that the earthly heathen court is right and that their pastors and elders are wrong? The fact that they are still members of the City Harvest Church speaks for itself.

There are two kinds of rights and wrongs, one for the non believers and one for the believers.

Jesus said, many will come in my name to mislead you. Do not believe them for they are evil doers.

The militarization of the oceans and South China Sea

Is that a problem? If the islands are claimed by the Philippines or Indonesia or Vietnam and they put troops there, would that be militarization, would that be a problem? The Philippines still have a rusty unseaworthy junk rotting away in a Chinese island that they called a warship. Was that militarization? What if the Americans claim one of the islands and put turned it into another military base, would it be militarization?

What do you think the Americans have done in Guam and Diego Garcia? Both islands are military fortresses, one to control the sea routes in the western Pacific and another to control the Indian Ocean.  Any problem with that?  Not militarization? It is ok if the Americans turned these islands into military bases, islands they seized far away from their now homeland they seized from the native Americans and turned them into military bases, and yes, for peace, for Pax Americana.

Would there be any country out there to say no to the American military presence in the Indian and Pacific Oceans? No, even India is prepared to live with the American military presence in their sphere of influence, used to be the Brits in the island of Gan. But of course India could not say no, unable to drive out the Brits or the Americans.

With the Americans setting up military bases in Japan and South Korea and the Philippines, are they militarizing the region, the East China Sea and the South China Sea? With the 7^th Fleet armed to the teeth and the impending entry of the 3^rd Fleet, are the Americans militarizing the South China Sea and western Pacific Ocean? There is no need to put weapons on islands to militarizing the region. The American Fleets are moving islands of war. And what is so wrong about China building military bases in their own territory, their own islands?

According to Wikipedia, these are the military facilities in Guam,

·         ‘U.S. Naval Base Guam, U.S. Navy – Sumay

• U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam, – Sumay
• Andersen Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force – Yigo
• Apra Harbor – Orote peninsula
• Ordnance Annex, U.S. Navy – South Central Highlands (formerly known as Naval Magazine)
• Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, U.S. Navy – Barrigada and Finegayan
• Joint Force Headquarters-Guam, Guam National Guard – Radio Barrigada and Fort Juan Muna

In addition to on-shore military installations, Guam, along with the rest of the Mariana Islands, is being prepared to be the westernmost military training range for the U.S. Guam is currently viewed as a key military hub that will further allow U.S. military power to be projected via sea and sky.

The U.S. military has proposed building a new aircraft carrier berth on Guam and moving 8,600 Marines, and 9,000 of their dependents, to Guam from Okinawa, Japan. Including the required construction workers, this buildup would increase Guam's population by 45%. In a February 2010 letter, the United States Environmental Protection Agency sharply criticized these plans because of a water shortfall, sewage problems and the impact on coral reefs.^[27] By 2012, these plans had been cut to only have a maximum of 4,800 Marines stationed on the island, two thirds of which would be there on a rotational basis without their dependents

American military facilities in Diego Garcia

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia[edit]

B-1B Lancer bombers on Diego Garcia in November 2001 during the Afghanistan bombing campaign

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia provides Base Operating Services to tenant commands located on the island. The command's mission is "To provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives."^[124]

United States Air Force units based on Diego Garcia[edit]

• 36 MSG, Pacific Air Force
• Det 1, 715th AMOG, Air Mobility Command
• AFSPC Det 2, 22nd Space Operations Squadron, a GPS control facility, Air Force Space Command
• AFSPC Det 2, 18th Space Surveillance Squadron a GEODSS facility, Air Force Space Command

China should not back down when the Americans are militarizing the South China Sea and raising tension in the region. China should respond accordingly and bring in their defensive weapons to counter the irresponsible provocations and aggressive moves of the Americans. The US is forcing China to militarise the islands in the South China Sea. The Chinese must do it. The Americans only understand the reason of might. Learn from Putin and put military hardware in the islands and ask the Americans what do they want? War?

The hypocrisies of the Americans must be pasted on their faces. They have been militarizing the seas and oceans and have been the biggest provocateurs of war. Wherever there are Americans, there will be military tension and wars.