What is the true meaning of military alliances?

 

Many countries are signing military alliances with the Americans and having war games with the Americans, practicing how to conduct joint attacks against American’s enemy countries. The war games sound so innocent, like playing computer games but actually a preparation for war, to attack and invade

Not many people are thinking about the significance of war games and military alliances with the Americans. Duterte is standing up to enlighten the unthinking about military alliances and war games. Signing military alliances with the Americans is as good as signing up your enemies, identifying your enemies and declaring to your enemies that they are your enemies. And conducting war games is now very clear. It is about attacking and invading your enemy countries.

The Americans are practicing to conduct war with their allies. And when the Americans go to war, the allies will be part of the American coalition of invaders. And all the soldiers and military hardware of the allied countries would come under the American command. Now it makes sense why they sell weapons to their allies. They did not only make money from it, the weapons would be used eventually to fight on the side of the Americans.

Duterte did not want any of it. Duterte did not want to sign up enemy countries. Duterte did not want to antagonize other countries by conducting war games against them. A friendly country does not keep provoking its neighbours by conducting war games and signing military alliances that said we are your enemy.

Why would countries preach peace, but sign military alliances, conduct regular war games and sell military weapons everywhere? For peace?

Now the Philippines are being threatened by the Americans to honour their treaty obligations. If not more pressure will be exerted on ‘abuses’ especially on human rights and killings of drug lords and peddlars. The Americans are also threatening to rein in the purse strings, ie, no more aids, no more antique warships for the Phi8lippines. Can the Philippines get out of the military treaty signed? It is a case of you can say you want out but you just cannot leave, once you are in?

One funny question to ask, who had invaded the Philippines and colonized the Philippines in the past? China! Wrong, idiot. Next. China! Wrong again, stupid. The first country that invaded and colonized the Philippines was Spain. The next country was the USA. The Americans did the same, conquered and colonized the Philippines. Anymore? It’s Japan. The Japanese also conquered and colonized the Philippines and in the process massacred hundreds of Pinoys like the Spaniards and the American invaders. And some daft Pinoys are asking the Japanese and the Americans, their colonial masters and murderers of their forefathers, to protect them from China!

Has China ever invaded and colonized the Philippines?

No talent Singapore helping full of talent India

Singapore is going to help train 400 million skilled Indians by 2020. Should I say steady lah Singapore, or funny lah Singapore? We are now well known to be a little country lacked of talents and most of our talents are coming from India. We have imported talented Indians to fill top positions in banking and finance, in IT, in medicine, in law, in teaching, in the civil service, in every industry that you can think of.  I thought Yaacob did a very good job cleaning up Singapore River and should be sent to India to clean up the Ganges. No? Did we send all our experienced train engineers to India and ended with the daily breakdowns with our own trains, no local talents left?
Now we are going to help to train Indians to upgrade their skills? How? Are we going to send back all the Indian talents we recruited from India back to India to train and up skill the Indians in India?
Does it make sense? On careful study and some deep meditation I found the answer. Yes, it makes sense. The key word is ITE. It is the low technical skill level that India needs and we have plenty from our ITE Education Service. At this level we are surely competent, more than adequate to train the low skill Indians.
For the higher skill and talented Indians, we would continue to import more of them here. We need them badly. Maybe the terms and jobs in the CECA should be extended for more Indian talents to work here to replace the no talent Singaporeans.  And we can send our displaced no talent Singaporeans to India to help them and build smart cities for them. Oops, no talent Singaporeans to build smart cities? Make sense or not?
This is mind blowing stuff. The more I think about it, the more blur I get. No talent Singaporeans teaching highly skilled and talented Indians?

The farcical Hague rulings on SCS is dead

 

The Philippines did not want to talk about it. Vietnam too is quietly staying away with Chinese investment pouring into Vietnam. Malaysia, after Najib being attacked by the Americans, is also distancing itself away from the kangaroo court rulings. Brunei is smart enough not to be used as a clown by the Americans and the Japanese and embroiled in a dispute that would only drag it into a shit hole.

Who else is still clamouring about this farce? Who is still whipping this dead horse, the farcical Hague rulings? Who else still has an agenda and a special interest in wanting to drum this stupid ruling from The Hague when the claimant states are no longer interested in the scam? The believers of this farce did not believe that a similar scam could be used to turn against them in the future if the rulings of a kangaroo court is seem as just, fair and legal.

Which country is still having sleepless night and an obsession over The Hague rulings and wanting it to be in the headlines, refusing to let it die? The big question, why? Why are these non claimant countries beating their drums everyday about The Hague rulings when the claimant states have already let it passed?

China is of course furious and would kick the ass of Japan if it dares to conduct joint patrol in the South China Sea. This is a red line that China would not allow the Japanese to cross as it would invite the herd of hyenas from as far as Australia, France and Canada to think it is ok, China is too weak to resist, to join the fray. Are there any idiotic leaders with no claims in the South China Sea but want to join the Americans in joint patrols and think sitting on the head of a tiger means they can shout at China?

Which leaders are silly enough to put their country and people at risk of war with China when they have no business in the SCS? Freedom of navigation? China is a threat to freedom of navigation? What is China doing with the One Belt One Road project, to curb freedom of navigation? Who needs more freedom of navigation? Who is the biggest trading nation in the world that needs freedom of navigation?

Silly boys and girls are easily conned to believe in lies and will swallow everything, hook, line and sinkers. Anything the Americans said is golden truth.

Singapore is entangled in a dispute with China over its role in the Non Aligned Movement. Singapore had vehemently denied that it was the devil pushing the SCS agenda. It was all Asean working as a group pushing it. If there was anyone pushing this dead horse, it would not be Singapore. Singapore is innocent.

Below is a quote from an article in The Singapore Daily supposedly by an old man of unknown identity. In this old man’s view, Singapore has all the reasons and intent to want to flog the dead horse to protect its interests as a small state, on grounds of principles, to protect the rule of law, international law, and freedom of navigation. And by the way things are happening, the rest of the Asean states are unprincipled, did not see the need to protect the rule of law, to protect international law and freedom of navigation. Their national interests do not coincide with such principled positions.

Here are the reasons what this unknown old man said of Singapore’s position. True or not, Singapore’s position or not, this is his view of why Singapore has to speak up, to keep whipping the dead horse.

‘It needs to come out strongly and defend ASEAN as a regional grouping that has a voice, and a unified voice at that, against any country that dares to thumb down the region.

It is to the interest of the grouping that Singapore speaks up on the SCS issue, not play it down. If Singapore allows China to walk all over it over the South China Sea issue, what’s to stop any other great world power or regional bloc from doing the same?

Singapore is the leader of Asean and has assumed the role of protecting Asean and the hapless and weak Asean states. The Asean states are so blessed to have Singapore to protect them and their interests. Perhaps Singapore could conduct joint military patrol with another big power, India, in the South China Sea. That would definitely scare off China.

F1 final curtain call?

 

11 races gone by and nearly $2b spent with the govt footing 60% of the bill, would the F1 race continue for another chapter? No doubt there are values generated from such high profile event to add some oomphs to this once labeled dull and lifeless city. With the changes in govt policies and the two casinos, cruise centres, Sentosa, the Zoo and Night Safari, would there be a need to continue to splurge a few billions for an event that, based on the latest race, losing its glitters? Attendance had fallen to a record low of 73,000 from its height of 219,000.

The bill of $150 million to organize such an event is real. The returns of $150 million incremental receipts is as good as extrapolation from a lot of intangible accounting. How much of the receipts would be translated to actual profits to offset the $150m of cost has yet to be added up. Assuming 30% was profit, that was only $45m, a far cry from the cost of $150m. A $150m receipt is NOT $150m profit!

The Singapore Race is now dubbed as the ‘crown jewel in F1’ by Ecclestone. Iswaran added that ‘there is a clear appreciation of the value that Singapore brings to F1, not just as a venue but in terms of the larger position of the sport and also as a business…’

Singapore has added value to the F1 event. There is no other place like Singapore to hold such a glamour event, safe, clean and efficient and convenient. Should not the F1 organiser be paying Singapore a fee instead of Singapore paying them a helfty $150 million? The big question should be who needs who more, who contributed more to the success of the event?

It is time Singapore appreciates its own value and not continue with the self deprecating thought and policy that we need them, like the foreign talent myth, that Singaporeans are daft, and trust that they need us more. Just hang up the phone and wait for them to call back. The worst case scenario is for Singapore to save $150 million that could be used for better things.

What do you think? Should Singapore continue to behave like the unthinking glory seeking adolescent, begging to be invited in, to be given a seat, and to pay whatever they asked, because papa got money to throw?

Grow up Singapore. You are not a third world little country that needs to pay for superficial glory, for a bit of noise on the streets. It is $150m a race to organize. It is public money that must be accounted for and carefully spent.

CPF – Coffin money kena tangkap

 

This is the most cruel thing to do to anyone. The coffin money is what a person has left for his last journey, to have a decent burial. When one accuses another of robbing his coffin money, it is a very mean and heartless thing to do. Some called it ‘or sim kua’ or 黑心肝.

Going back in time, anyone remember what was the purpose of CPF savings? Yes, it was a simple saving scheme for old age, for retirement, a kind of coffin money. Over time, when the savings got too big, someone decided that housing was also very important, having a roof over one’s head was a basic need. So some CPF money was allowed for the people to buy a home. $7k or $10k, quite affordable and would not erode the savings. Still a lot of money left for retirement and to buy a coffin. Then HDB prices gone up, $30k, $50k, now $300k, $500k, $1m, and still some donkeys said very affordable. But after paying for a home, what is left in the CPF for retirement and for a coffin? Hardly any, barely any left. Don’t talk about the hare brain scheme of allowing 90% of CPF money to play the stock market. That is another pathetic and heartbroking episode to many oldies.

Now, did anyone put their savings into their CPF to buy medical insurance? What is that? Never heard of! The CPF is about retirement and coffin money. Who wants to save to buy insurance with their retirement and coffin money?

How much of your CPF money has been ‘tangkap’ and set aside for medical and insurance? When has the CPF been turned into a medical insurance scheme against the wishes of the people? Do the people, the savers, have a say in their money? Why is the money now gone, to pay for insurance, to pay for medical insurance whether you need it or not?

What happens to the main objectives of retirement savings, of coffin money? Where is my money for retirement? Not enough, why not enough for retirement? Who has been robbing me of my CPF savings? After saving a life time, at more than 50% of one’s income, still not enough for retirement, not enough for coffin money?

Who has been so cruel to dip into the people’s coffin money?