One war after another, one regime change after another, the warmongering
nation of the USA is planning to start another war in the Korean
Peninsula. What is the reason for it? North Korea has tested ICBM that
could possibly reach Alaska? Why is this a threat to the USA when
thousands of American ICBMs could flatten North Korea that is thousands
of miles away from continental USA? Who is threatening who? Who is
threatening to use military force on the other? It is the big bully of
course, the world’s number one Outlaw!
It is not that the North Koreans are capable of starting a war of
invasion against the Americans or stupid enough to want to do a mission
impossible. The growing capability of the North Koreans as a threat is
only as far as to negate or limit the Americans from threatening them.
With the growing military might, the North Koreans could inflict a small
dent on the American defence shield at most. They could not do much
damage to the Americans and would invite total annihilation of their
country if they dare to make a single wrong move.
The threat is that the Americans now cannot anyhow threaten them with
military options, can no longer threaten a pre emptive strike and get
away scot free. The Americans cannot bully the North Koreans at will
anymore. The North Koreans can now give the Americans a black eye should
it dare to.
The real threat is the Americans everyday threatening to invade the
North Koreans and wanting to conduct a preemptive nuclear strike. Read
the article from 4th Media below on what the Americans are doing and
planning to do to the North Koreans. Yes, the real devil is the
Americans. And the Americans are at the North Korean doorstep conducting
wargames simulating an invasion while North Korea is tens of thousands
of miles from the American shore. This is the kind of hypocrisy the
Americans are making the silly Asians and the rest of the world to
believe in. The North Koreans are a threat to the Americans when the
truth is that the Americans are the real threat to the North Koreans,
clear and present danger.
War can start at any moment and the two Koreans would be made to kill
and destroy each other at the command of the Americans. What is the UN
going to do to stop this monster from starting another war in Asia? What
is the world community going to do about it, blame the North Koreans
and gang up with the evil Americans to start a war against the North
Koreans?
Everything the North Koreans is doing is exactly to prevent the
Americans from attacking them. The weaker the North Koreans are
militarily, the more tempting would they become for an American attack.
The stronger they are militarily, the more nuclear weapons and ICBMs
they have, the safer they are from the evil Americans, and the less
likelihood that they would suffer the same fate as Iraq and Libya.
The mad Americans are bent on starting a war in Korea and in Asia. Their
war economy depends on war to survive. Their world hegemony depends on
suppressing and threatening the rest of the world with wars. And war is
what the Americans want, away from the American continent. And many
silly Asian leaders love wars and are easily manipulated to go to war.
Pray the Koreans are not so stupid to kill each other at the behest of
the evil Americans.
The American outlaws are the real threat to world peace.
Extracts from an article in the 4th Media
… James R. Lilley puts it succinctly when he says: “At the end of the
Cold War, if North Korea didn’t exist we would have to create it as an
excuse to keep the Seventh Fleet in the region.” …
IN its latest move early June 2017, the United Nations Security Council
(UNSC) unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by the United States to
expand the scope of sanctions against Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK) over its latest missile tests.
Prior to this the UNSC slapped the North Korea with six rounds of
sanctions, but Washington and its allies have been pushing for more
powerful and crippling sanctions in an attempt to halt the increasing
wave of missile tests by Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, President Trump said “all options are on the table” (implying
military solution), while his Vice President Pence declared the “end of
strategic patience.”
Pence added:
“The patience of the United States in this region has run out …………The
world has witnessed the strength and resolve of the US in actions taken
in Syria and Afghanistan.”
Pence was alluding to the 59 cruise missiles the US launched at a Syrian
military airfield, and the 22,000-pound “mother of all bombs,” the
largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat by the United States,
dropped in Afghanistan.
US War Games
Right after striking Syria, President Trump dispatched a giant armada
led by an aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, to the Korean peninsula as a
show of force. The US also dispatched a nuclear-powered guided missile
submarine, the USS Michigan, to the region, capable of launching up to
150 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of about 1,000 miles. The
6,900-tonne USS Cheyenne arrived in the South Korea port of Busan.
The US also has nearly 80,000 US military personnel in South Korea and
Japan, as well as military aircraft and other hardware on a high state
of alert in South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan and its carrier strike
group are based at the Japanese port of Yokosuka, while the US 7th
Fleet, armed with tactical nuclear weapons, patrols the region.
The US nukes are also based in South Korea and Guam, while US heavy B-1
and B-52 bombers can fly from North America to Korea. In the event of
war with North Korea, the US military take over the South Korean
military with some 625,000 personnel as well as naval, air and
anti-missile systems.
To top it all, U.S. performs, twice annually, the largest war games in
the world with South Korea, in which it practises an assassination of
the North Korea’s top leadership, the invasion and occupation of North
Korea, and a nuclear first strike against North Korea with imitation
armaments.
The Foal Eagle war games include 300,000 South Korean soldiers and
15,000 US troops. This year, the exercises also feature Navy SEAL Team
Six, which is best known for assassinating Osama bin Laden on Obama’s
orders.
Moreover, an American plan was made public last September proclaiming
that “the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from
the map if it shows any signs of using a nuclear weapon”.
7/06/2017
China, making sense of massive projects
Ghost towns, endless highways, super high speed trains traversing the
whole of Asia and Europe, hanging bridges straddling across mountains,
pipelines crisscrossing countries, you name it, China has done it. Many
blur westerners are pouring scorns over what the Chinese are doing. They
don’t make sense, money wasting projects at huge cost that have little
or no value. China is in big and deep financial trouble due to debt from
these projects. Economy will collapse or collapsing, from double digit
growth to 6.6% growth. What’s new?
Launching the Belt and Road Initiative cost China hundreds of billions and still promising to pour more money into the projects. China is also building massive infrastructures in countries all over Asia, Africa and SE Asia, with its own money. What western fools are complaining about? These are genuine money, printed papers unlike the greenbacks. If China is about to collapse, where is China to find so much money to give away? AIIB, China contributed hundreds of billions, the biggest contributor. China got no money?
This article is not about how much money China has or how much more they in the reserves. It is about the thinking and policies behind the huge infrastructure projects. Do they make sense? Or are the Chinese foolish as the western pundits alleged, throwing good money away?
Think about it, which country is going to give China massive infrastructure projects if China cannot prove that it has the capability, the knowhow and technology, the experienced engineers and technicians to do the job? And where did all these capabilities, knowhow, technologies and experienced engineers and workforce going to get their experience and skills if they have no projects to work on to add them into their testimonials? Get the picture?
China has a very short history of industrialization and infrastructure building and in many things like building factories, towns, ports etc etc. They must develop these capabilities and skilled and experienced workforce quickly. And only in China can they be given the chance to do so when they did not have any experience to do them. No country will give China a chance to gain these technologies and to train its people. They are learning and testing new technologies in China, to master and perfect them for export. Now the picture is clearer. China is spending a lot of money to build and acquire experience and capabilities, and armed with these achievements and track records, they are going to the world to build the world with their own technology, knowhow and with their skilled and experienced workforce. They have all the records to show what they have done and the people to do it.
This is something that China has done right and everything wrong in Singapore. Singapore is buying skills, buying experience and neglecting to develop its own skills and workforce. Singapore has nothing except some money and when money runs out, there is nothing left for Singapore to offer to the world. No skills, no knowhow, no technology and no experienced workforce except foreigners that come and go. When Singapore was building its MRT with foreign expertise, China was still an agriculture country running on Second World War trains. Today, China is building the fastest train system around the world. Singapore cannot even run its train system without a day free of stoppages, unable to even produce a train cabin.
Compare what China is doing, to develop intrinsic and organic skills and technology using its very own people while Singapore is using, hiring and buying foreigners to replace Singaporeans. How long can Singapore go on destroying its own skill and technology base? Where is China heading and where is Singapore heading?
The Chinese are not stupid and that is why they are now the Number Two super power in everything in such a short span of time and going to be Number One in everything soon. Singapore is heading from the First World to Third World with a snap of the finger. Singapore is bidding for the right to build the HSR from KL, with foreign expertise again, like when it started some 40 years ago when it built the present train system. Where are the skilled engineers and technicians and the industrial base to build them? In China of course.
Are we teaching China? China learning from Singapore? Who is teaching who and learning from who?
Launching the Belt and Road Initiative cost China hundreds of billions and still promising to pour more money into the projects. China is also building massive infrastructures in countries all over Asia, Africa and SE Asia, with its own money. What western fools are complaining about? These are genuine money, printed papers unlike the greenbacks. If China is about to collapse, where is China to find so much money to give away? AIIB, China contributed hundreds of billions, the biggest contributor. China got no money?
This article is not about how much money China has or how much more they in the reserves. It is about the thinking and policies behind the huge infrastructure projects. Do they make sense? Or are the Chinese foolish as the western pundits alleged, throwing good money away?
Think about it, which country is going to give China massive infrastructure projects if China cannot prove that it has the capability, the knowhow and technology, the experienced engineers and technicians to do the job? And where did all these capabilities, knowhow, technologies and experienced engineers and workforce going to get their experience and skills if they have no projects to work on to add them into their testimonials? Get the picture?
China has a very short history of industrialization and infrastructure building and in many things like building factories, towns, ports etc etc. They must develop these capabilities and skilled and experienced workforce quickly. And only in China can they be given the chance to do so when they did not have any experience to do them. No country will give China a chance to gain these technologies and to train its people. They are learning and testing new technologies in China, to master and perfect them for export. Now the picture is clearer. China is spending a lot of money to build and acquire experience and capabilities, and armed with these achievements and track records, they are going to the world to build the world with their own technology, knowhow and with their skilled and experienced workforce. They have all the records to show what they have done and the people to do it.
This is something that China has done right and everything wrong in Singapore. Singapore is buying skills, buying experience and neglecting to develop its own skills and workforce. Singapore has nothing except some money and when money runs out, there is nothing left for Singapore to offer to the world. No skills, no knowhow, no technology and no experienced workforce except foreigners that come and go. When Singapore was building its MRT with foreign expertise, China was still an agriculture country running on Second World War trains. Today, China is building the fastest train system around the world. Singapore cannot even run its train system without a day free of stoppages, unable to even produce a train cabin.
Compare what China is doing, to develop intrinsic and organic skills and technology using its very own people while Singapore is using, hiring and buying foreigners to replace Singaporeans. How long can Singapore go on destroying its own skill and technology base? Where is China heading and where is Singapore heading?
The Chinese are not stupid and that is why they are now the Number Two super power in everything in such a short span of time and going to be Number One in everything soon. Singapore is heading from the First World to Third World with a snap of the finger. Singapore is bidding for the right to build the HSR from KL, with foreign expertise again, like when it started some 40 years ago when it built the present train system. Where are the skilled engineers and technicians and the industrial base to build them? In China of course.
Are we teaching China? China learning from Singapore? Who is teaching who and learning from who?
7/05/2017
Red line over Hong Kong
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China,
President Xi Jinping gave a keynote speech to the elites of Hong Kong
society reminding them of the enduring and uninterrupted Chinese
Civilisation and the confidence of building a new and prosperous China
for its people, including the Hong Kong people. In this journey, Hong
Kong could walk with China towards a glorious future of great
opportunities and possibilities.
On the inaugural ceremony on the handover and the installation of Carrie Lam as the next Hong Kong Chief Executive, President Xi got down to more serious business to warn of a divisive and disruptive Hong Kong society that could undermine the story of a new China. No one, no country, not the dissidents of Hong Kong, would be allowed to challenge the national sovereignty and security of China that the continuing growth and prosperity of Hong Kong depended on. Anyone attempting to disrupt the social order of Hong Kong would not be tolerated. President Xi drew the 'red line' for handling relations between the mainland and Hong Kong, and warned, "Any attempt to endanger national sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible,".
This message came down hard and clear, a warning to the protesters harping on more autonomy and democracy. This is the biggest paradox of Hong Kong today. The louder the voice of protest and street disturbance for more democracy, the greater would Beijing want to exert fuller control over Hong Kong. On the contrary, the lesser the protesters politicised issues in Hong Kong and took to the streets, the more Beijing would be confident to let Hong Kong to have more leeways to govern itself.
There is a bigger picture that the protesters are not seeing and struggling to understand, the story of the growth of China into a big economic and military power. China's peaceful rise is founded on a stable and peaceful international environment, internal stability and a united China. But there are many external forces that would want to use Hong Kong to destabilise China and cripple the Chinese growth machine. Hong Kong would not be allowed to be that poison pawn to be exploited by external forces to cause a breakup of China and to trip China in its path for economic growth and prosperity.
To the protesters and the many young people of Hong Kong, they would need to learn and understand the history of China and the difficult period China had gone through under foreign invasion and humiliation. Some Hongkongers have forgotten what it was like when they were the subjects of the British Empire. China would not allow history to repeat itself and the young people of Hong Kong would be best to understand this bigger picture to know when not to cross the red line.
China would assist and support Hong Kong to be a rich and prosperous city under the one country, two system policy. Hong Kong and its people could choose a path of economic prosperity with the full backing of China or could destroy it with their own hands by indulging in divisive and disruptive politics that undermine China's security and sovereignty. They could choose between a win win formula for both China and Hong Kong or it could mark the end of Hong Kong and the political agenda of the dissidents and protestors. The Hong Kong people have been warned of the 'red line' and cross at their own risk. The common good of 1.4b Chinese people cannot be compromised by a few demonstrators in the streets of Hong Kong.
On the inaugural ceremony on the handover and the installation of Carrie Lam as the next Hong Kong Chief Executive, President Xi got down to more serious business to warn of a divisive and disruptive Hong Kong society that could undermine the story of a new China. No one, no country, not the dissidents of Hong Kong, would be allowed to challenge the national sovereignty and security of China that the continuing growth and prosperity of Hong Kong depended on. Anyone attempting to disrupt the social order of Hong Kong would not be tolerated. President Xi drew the 'red line' for handling relations between the mainland and Hong Kong, and warned, "Any attempt to endanger national sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible,".
This message came down hard and clear, a warning to the protesters harping on more autonomy and democracy. This is the biggest paradox of Hong Kong today. The louder the voice of protest and street disturbance for more democracy, the greater would Beijing want to exert fuller control over Hong Kong. On the contrary, the lesser the protesters politicised issues in Hong Kong and took to the streets, the more Beijing would be confident to let Hong Kong to have more leeways to govern itself.
There is a bigger picture that the protesters are not seeing and struggling to understand, the story of the growth of China into a big economic and military power. China's peaceful rise is founded on a stable and peaceful international environment, internal stability and a united China. But there are many external forces that would want to use Hong Kong to destabilise China and cripple the Chinese growth machine. Hong Kong would not be allowed to be that poison pawn to be exploited by external forces to cause a breakup of China and to trip China in its path for economic growth and prosperity.
To the protesters and the many young people of Hong Kong, they would need to learn and understand the history of China and the difficult period China had gone through under foreign invasion and humiliation. Some Hongkongers have forgotten what it was like when they were the subjects of the British Empire. China would not allow history to repeat itself and the young people of Hong Kong would be best to understand this bigger picture to know when not to cross the red line.
China would assist and support Hong Kong to be a rich and prosperous city under the one country, two system policy. Hong Kong and its people could choose a path of economic prosperity with the full backing of China or could destroy it with their own hands by indulging in divisive and disruptive politics that undermine China's security and sovereignty. They could choose between a win win formula for both China and Hong Kong or it could mark the end of Hong Kong and the political agenda of the dissidents and protestors. The Hong Kong people have been warned of the 'red line' and cross at their own risk. The common good of 1.4b Chinese people cannot be compromised by a few demonstrators in the streets of Hong Kong.
7/04/2017
Lee Kuan Yew’s will – A better way…
I desist from using the word wayang. What about a better way to handle
the issue with a win win for everyone, especially for Hsien Loong? It
can be easily done. For the moment, other then all the allegations from
Hsien Yang and Wei Ling about abuses of power and govt organs, Hsien
Loong is also being accused of being unfilial. All these could have
been avoided with the govt gazetting the property and Hsien Loong still
coming out looking good and very filial, and his siblings could not to
anything about it or to accuse him of all the allegations.
Here is what I thought would be an easier and nicer way for Hsien Loong to have his cake and eat it, ie keep the property from being demolished and do whatever he wants with it and looking very, very filial and honourable and maintaining Singapore as a rule of law country. There is no need for the Ministerial Committee to go asking Hsien Yang and Wei Ling funny questions. Just get the National Heritage Board to put up a case to gazette the house as a historical and national monument.
Hsien Loong can then go to Parliament and make a plea for the demolishment of the property, telling the House that as a filial son, it is his duty to fulfill his parents’ last wish. He could even shed a few tears to make it even more emotional, to tug at the heart strings of people when the session is aired on TV plus a few photos on the front page Straits Times and other local media. Then he can let Parliament to put it to a vote and knowing that all the ministers and MPs would want to keep the house and would vote for it, he could then say his father is not above the law and he would respect the law no matter how filial he wanted to be. He would then reluctantly agree to let his father’s last wish past as the decision of Parliament is about the rule of law, above a private citizen, and he cannot go against it for personal interest. He could even make a last plea for Parliament to reconsider its decision, maybe a second voting after 3 months or 6 months of cooling off period to think it over and over again. This is what a filial son could do to try to fulfill a father’s last wish, die standing for it.
By then, whatever the decision of Parliament to keep the house, he would be seen as a filial son, honouring his father, and also respecting the law of the country. No abuse of state organs or power, just following the normal process of Parliament. Wouldn’t that be nice? And his siblings cannot accuse him of any abuse of law or being unfilial. Swee swee.
What is so difficult about this, why mess around with a Ministerial Committee and having so many ministers voluntarily standing up to run down the will of his father and at the same time running down LKY in the process? All this is so unnecessary.
It could have been done better surely, and quite easily done too.
PS. An after thought. How nice it would be if the will was put to a vote and Hsien Loong, after declaring that he has a vested in it to grant his father's last wish voted to demolish it while all his ministers and MPs voted to keep it. It could then be used to tell the world that democracy works in Singapore when the ministers and MPs dare to vote against the PM. Damn good PR for Singapore.
Here is what I thought would be an easier and nicer way for Hsien Loong to have his cake and eat it, ie keep the property from being demolished and do whatever he wants with it and looking very, very filial and honourable and maintaining Singapore as a rule of law country. There is no need for the Ministerial Committee to go asking Hsien Yang and Wei Ling funny questions. Just get the National Heritage Board to put up a case to gazette the house as a historical and national monument.
Hsien Loong can then go to Parliament and make a plea for the demolishment of the property, telling the House that as a filial son, it is his duty to fulfill his parents’ last wish. He could even shed a few tears to make it even more emotional, to tug at the heart strings of people when the session is aired on TV plus a few photos on the front page Straits Times and other local media. Then he can let Parliament to put it to a vote and knowing that all the ministers and MPs would want to keep the house and would vote for it, he could then say his father is not above the law and he would respect the law no matter how filial he wanted to be. He would then reluctantly agree to let his father’s last wish past as the decision of Parliament is about the rule of law, above a private citizen, and he cannot go against it for personal interest. He could even make a last plea for Parliament to reconsider its decision, maybe a second voting after 3 months or 6 months of cooling off period to think it over and over again. This is what a filial son could do to try to fulfill a father’s last wish, die standing for it.
By then, whatever the decision of Parliament to keep the house, he would be seen as a filial son, honouring his father, and also respecting the law of the country. No abuse of state organs or power, just following the normal process of Parliament. Wouldn’t that be nice? And his siblings cannot accuse him of any abuse of law or being unfilial. Swee swee.
What is so difficult about this, why mess around with a Ministerial Committee and having so many ministers voluntarily standing up to run down the will of his father and at the same time running down LKY in the process? All this is so unnecessary.
It could have been done better surely, and quite easily done too.
PS. An after thought. How nice it would be if the will was put to a vote and Hsien Loong, after declaring that he has a vested in it to grant his father's last wish voted to demolish it while all his ministers and MPs voted to keep it. It could then be used to tell the world that democracy works in Singapore when the ministers and MPs dare to vote against the PM. Damn good PR for Singapore.
7/03/2017
Kishore Mahbubani – Telling the unpleasant truth is hard to do
When Singapore was beating its gongs and blowing its trumpets during the
South China Sea claims by the Philippines and screaming that the fake
Tribunal was ‘UN backed’ and China must obey or be seen as not abiding
by the rule of law, I thought Kishore would say something to cool down
the hot heads in the Foreign Ministry and the Rajaratnam School of
International Relations. He did not.
Perhaps he was still recovering from his ops. Or maybe he was just folding his arms and standing by the ring side, telling himself it was better for the hot heads to learn the lesson the hard way. Subsequently the teacher did deliver the lesson. Whether the hot heads have learnt anything, this I am not too sure, and I think not likely though they kept a very low profile for a while, probably gagged from doing more damage to Singapore China relations.
Finally after a long wait, Kishore opened up. The School of Lee Kuan Yew did not share the youthful or naïve enthusiasm of the Rajaratnam School. You see, today information is everywhere, knowledge is everywhere, at the finger tips. There is no need to go to the library and bury oneself in tomes of literature to gather knowledge and information. The difference between two persons having the same store of knowledge is the wisdom in understanding, interpreting and applying the knowledge. That separates the boys from the men.
When there is an eclipse of the moon, some will take out their gongs and drums and beat to their hearts content for the moon to reappear. The wise and knowing will just wait for the truth to show up. Everyone is concerned, but beating the drums and gongs like crazy would not help but to make one looked crazy in this modern world.
What Kishore said is the hard truth, the painful truth, but the stubborn and arrogant would not want to understand. It is difficult and painful to be told of the unpleasant truth. Singapore was what it was during the time of LKY, being a big mouth in everything, was not because Singapore was principled or strong, but because of LKY. He was the senior statesman that achieved a lot in his life time. He was the oracle, the Jedi master that green political leaders would come to beg for some pieces of enlightenment. He could say anything he want and they would defer to him. Singapore’s politicians then rode on his coat tail to talk big. Now he is gone. No one could fit that shoe and think he could talk like LKY and people around the world would listen to.
Some arrogant nuts would think otherwise, that they are as clever and influential as LKY and demand respect from leaders of the world, to listen to their cocky stories.
It is painful to delve further into this silly mindset that Singapore must blow its trumpets and beat its gongs on grounds of principles. Kishore reminded the hot heads that Singapore went against its principles to join the Americans to invade Iraq without the consent of the UN. Why, to serve Singapore’s interest, to join the world’s number one bully to invade a smaller country and think it was safe to do so? Kishore was warning the hot heads that Qatar too did the same only to be turned against and dropped by the Americans.
Yes, Singapore was not a tame dog to the Americans. Would it sound better being the barking dog, the attack dog of the Americans? Singapore could talk big during the time of LKY on two important factors. One is the LKY dominant presence. The second was to be in the American camp with the Americans standing behind it. Today LKY is gone. Singapore still can talk big with the Americans standing behind. But be careful. This big bully has many interests and should its other interests rule to favour others more than Singapore, than it is going to screw Singapore in the back.
Oops, I think everyone has been chirping that there is no permanent friend but permanent interests. Is this so difficult to understand? Should Singapore throw everything into a relationship and cut all other options loose, and keep shouting and bragging about its ability to punch above its weight with a big bully standing behind, or standing on the shoulders of the big bully? Isn’t this dangerous, like riding a tiger and unable to dismount? Is this good for a small state?
The contest for wisdom, not ideas, between the Lee Kuan Yew School and the Rajaratnam School has started. If the latter has its way, we can expect to hear more shouting by Singapore and China would not be too nice to Singapore again. If the former’s wisdom rules, then the hot heads would be kept in a tight leash, not allowed to bark crazily thinking that the more they shout, that only they have principles and others did not, it is ok, that Singapore may be small, but Singapore can punch above its weight, with big bully around to protect Singapore.
I think the Rajaratnam School would triumph in this match as they have more hot heads and is better at shouting down their opponents. Kishore is going to be alone in the Lee Kuan Yew School as no one would have the dare to shout back except to apologise for Kishore’s excesses in his ideas.
China, please respect Singapore’s principles, abide by the rule of law and listen carefully to what Singapore is going to say about the South China Sea, all over again.
PS. Would Singapore be able to punch above its weight, to talk big and loud without the Americans standing at the back?
Perhaps he was still recovering from his ops. Or maybe he was just folding his arms and standing by the ring side, telling himself it was better for the hot heads to learn the lesson the hard way. Subsequently the teacher did deliver the lesson. Whether the hot heads have learnt anything, this I am not too sure, and I think not likely though they kept a very low profile for a while, probably gagged from doing more damage to Singapore China relations.
Finally after a long wait, Kishore opened up. The School of Lee Kuan Yew did not share the youthful or naïve enthusiasm of the Rajaratnam School. You see, today information is everywhere, knowledge is everywhere, at the finger tips. There is no need to go to the library and bury oneself in tomes of literature to gather knowledge and information. The difference between two persons having the same store of knowledge is the wisdom in understanding, interpreting and applying the knowledge. That separates the boys from the men.
When there is an eclipse of the moon, some will take out their gongs and drums and beat to their hearts content for the moon to reappear. The wise and knowing will just wait for the truth to show up. Everyone is concerned, but beating the drums and gongs like crazy would not help but to make one looked crazy in this modern world.
What Kishore said is the hard truth, the painful truth, but the stubborn and arrogant would not want to understand. It is difficult and painful to be told of the unpleasant truth. Singapore was what it was during the time of LKY, being a big mouth in everything, was not because Singapore was principled or strong, but because of LKY. He was the senior statesman that achieved a lot in his life time. He was the oracle, the Jedi master that green political leaders would come to beg for some pieces of enlightenment. He could say anything he want and they would defer to him. Singapore’s politicians then rode on his coat tail to talk big. Now he is gone. No one could fit that shoe and think he could talk like LKY and people around the world would listen to.
Some arrogant nuts would think otherwise, that they are as clever and influential as LKY and demand respect from leaders of the world, to listen to their cocky stories.
It is painful to delve further into this silly mindset that Singapore must blow its trumpets and beat its gongs on grounds of principles. Kishore reminded the hot heads that Singapore went against its principles to join the Americans to invade Iraq without the consent of the UN. Why, to serve Singapore’s interest, to join the world’s number one bully to invade a smaller country and think it was safe to do so? Kishore was warning the hot heads that Qatar too did the same only to be turned against and dropped by the Americans.
Yes, Singapore was not a tame dog to the Americans. Would it sound better being the barking dog, the attack dog of the Americans? Singapore could talk big during the time of LKY on two important factors. One is the LKY dominant presence. The second was to be in the American camp with the Americans standing behind it. Today LKY is gone. Singapore still can talk big with the Americans standing behind. But be careful. This big bully has many interests and should its other interests rule to favour others more than Singapore, than it is going to screw Singapore in the back.
Oops, I think everyone has been chirping that there is no permanent friend but permanent interests. Is this so difficult to understand? Should Singapore throw everything into a relationship and cut all other options loose, and keep shouting and bragging about its ability to punch above its weight with a big bully standing behind, or standing on the shoulders of the big bully? Isn’t this dangerous, like riding a tiger and unable to dismount? Is this good for a small state?
The contest for wisdom, not ideas, between the Lee Kuan Yew School and the Rajaratnam School has started. If the latter has its way, we can expect to hear more shouting by Singapore and China would not be too nice to Singapore again. If the former’s wisdom rules, then the hot heads would be kept in a tight leash, not allowed to bark crazily thinking that the more they shout, that only they have principles and others did not, it is ok, that Singapore may be small, but Singapore can punch above its weight, with big bully around to protect Singapore.
I think the Rajaratnam School would triumph in this match as they have more hot heads and is better at shouting down their opponents. Kishore is going to be alone in the Lee Kuan Yew School as no one would have the dare to shout back except to apologise for Kishore’s excesses in his ideas.
China, please respect Singapore’s principles, abide by the rule of law and listen carefully to what Singapore is going to say about the South China Sea, all over again.
PS. Would Singapore be able to punch above its weight, to talk big and loud without the Americans standing at the back?
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