Change is happening inside me

Two things this year prompted me to ask what is happening to me. I did not watch the NDP. And yesterday, 20 Aug, I did not watch Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally Speech as well. Both were events that I hardly missed for the last few decades. Today, I did not even bother to catch up on repeat telecasts or reading the papers to find out what was happening. There was no desire, interest or anticipation of wanting to watch the NDP or wanting to listen to Hsien Loong’s rally speech, like non events, expecting nothing worth spending time on.
 
Maybe I am getting old, tired, losing interest of what is going on. Maybe becoming apathetic, blasé, nothing matters anymore. I glanced through some comments in the social media that said the speech was banal, missing all the important issues troubling the people. I glanced through the main media only to find that the main issues raised by Hsien Loong were about pre school, diabetes and smart cities. Not that these are unimportant, but definitely not something that I would have written and put much thoughts into them. Ok, I may have written some comments about smart cities and dumb people or smart cities making people stupid, but would not think they are issues that demand much attention when there are many more serious issues that are apparently unsolvable and posing a threat to the good life of Singaporeans.
 
Maybe these are good reasons why I did not bother to listen to the rally speech. What else is there to interest me to want to waste my little precious time left on? There are so many madnesses in world affairs and domestic issues that would still be stirring inside me, made me feeling unease, to keep me want to question and be concerned about, to want to write about.
 
Did I miss anything for being tiada apa over the NDP or National Day Rally? Or is there anything important that I have missed?

North Korea’s nuclear capability makes the world safer

Kim Jung Un has succeeded in stopping the world’s number one rogue country from conducting a nuclear strike against his people. Like it or not, living with a myth or a delusion, the Americans can go on pretending that North Korea is not a nuclear power by not recognizing it, but the days the Americans can bully North Korea, can threaten a pre emptive nuclear strike is over. The world’s most bellicose country, the USA, is now prevented from doing the most evil thing they have been trying to do all these years, the right to strike first using nuclear weapons. This is American policy of war.
 
North Korea’s possession of a nuclear strike capability is now an obstacle to the mad and warmongering Americans to conduct nuclear wars. North Korea is now a new member of the forces that would stop the Americans from thinking it can hit anyone it likes with impunity. North Korea, China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran, and the number is growing, are the nation states that would stand up as the ring of armour against the rogue Empire to stop it from its reckless and fetish craving for wars and making wars.
 
The world is now safer with North Korea joining the ranks of nuclear power against the world’s number one rogue Empire. Naïve Arab countries that were conned into believing that the Americans would leave them in peace should they give up their nuclear weapon programmes are the living dead, living monuments of American aggression and invasion. Look at poor Iraq and Libya, testaments to their innocence and stupidity to believe in the American lies. They are now paying a very heavy price for believing in the American guile of peace.
 
Kim Jung Un and the North Koreans have stood firm and are now safe as a nation, as a people, from an American invasion. Together with other nuclear capable countries, they would make it increasingly difficult for the mad Americans to think of starting a nuclear war.
 
Citizens of the world need to thank the North Koreans for making this world a safer and more peaceful place without the fear of the Americans and their nuclear weapons. This is the irony but the unpleasant truth that people of the world have been misled by the Americans not to see and not to believe, but to believe in a world controlled by the mad Americans with their thousands of nuclear weapons waiting to be unleashed to those countries that did not have such weapons. The Americans have always reserved the right to conduct preemptive strikes on any country at their whims and fancy, like Iraq, Libya and Syria. The rogue Empire is all about war, about invading other countries on fabricated lies. Trump is still talking about war with North Korea. In today’s media, it reported that Trump is working on a new war strategy in Afghanistan. Now they cannot do this so freely with more countries standing up to challenge them and with the ability to strike back if they dare to do so except to target weak countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America particularly Venezuela and Afghanistan.
 
This is a difficult truth to the unthinking. They have been misled by the American lies that the USA, the rogue Empire, is about peace when the truth is, they are conducting wars everywhere. Open your eyes and see the truth. Who is at wars, who is trying to start more wars? Stop being daft!
 
When the Americans say they are coming to help you, to save you, be frighten, be very frighten.

Hard core evidence from the White House that the USA is the world's number One Terrorist Nation

Below are some hard core evidence provided by a '72 years old and a Vietnam veteran' praising Trump for doing more for America & it's people in a single year than the last 4 presidents combined. His claims and credential are in his listing of '23 REAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS by president Trump that accounts for every penny of the $19 trillion his presidency & leadership has brought back to America, I defy you to prove even 1 accomplishment I've listed as a lie, I'm a gold donor lifetime member of the RNC which means I'm 1 of 48,000 republicans who receive monthly briefings from the Trump white house listing accomplishments and outlining goals for the near future ,and long term, everything I listed came directly from the RNC on behalf of our president. Source Michael Ledford 29 Aug 17.


Below are the evidence from three of the listings by this Vietnam war veteran.


#19 Eleminating Obama's illegal funding of over $60 billion a year in federal funds being given to anti US groups like Antifa & dozens of others.
#20 Eleminating the $653 BILLION dollars a year Obama spent dropping bombs & drone strikes that killed over 2 million civilians in 7 country's.
#21 Stopping the $500 million a year in Obama arms shipments to Isis and Al Queda groups in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.



Adding the above 3 facts, it is costing the Americans trillions to support terrorist organisations and terrorism and wars across the world. The is the evil Empire that have been conducting wars daily and boasting about peace.


How's that for a little hard truth? Too difficult and painful to swallow after being fooled and made to walk around like American stooges for a life time and defending the American 'goodness'?

The truth hurts.

PS. Spelling errors inherent in the quotes.

Dotseng's thoughts on China's OBOR/BRI

Below is a long piece by Dotseng aka darkness posted in his blog. The writing of this piece it shows how much effort, reading and thinking he has put into it to make it substantial and meaningful,  the usual crap in those western biased, silly and mischievous articles. I hope darkness does not mind me reproducing the whole article here. It is good reading on a Sunday afternoon, something to chew on.

How will Singapore be affected by rail and port investments by China

Q: There are some who believe that China is punishing Singapore for being a staunch supporter of the US. That is why they are investing in ports and railways to create alternative trade routes that will bypass Singapore. Then there are others who simply believe it would be naive to assume that China would not invest in infrastructural nodes elsewhere besides Singapore to further open new trade routes to secure it’s logistic supply of energy. Which one is true?

A: In my opinion as a farmer who only consults his pet parrot on world affairs (cut off)

Q: I have asked a serious question and I and assume the readership would appreciate immensely if you can do us the courtesy of responding in kind.

A: I do apologise. Please let me start again. To say OBOR is huge doesn’t quite capture the sheer immensity of the scale and complexity of the undertaking – it’s like calling the Grand Canyon a giant sink hole.

China in my opinion is not only attempting to construct new trade routes through the Maritime Silk Route and the Silk Road Economic Belt. But it is also a new model of doing things and this is something that I feel is not really discussed and should be. Only because the means to the end this time is equally radical. Radical not only in the methodology, but also how it will be financed as well.

Let me share with you I believe this is so important – for the very first time we are witnessing very big infrastructural projects being financed wholly by the $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the $40 billion Silk Road fund which requires the internationalisation of the renminbi and the harmonisation of various free trade agreements and also intellectual property rights between China and those countries that they are investing in.

So if look at what is happening on the brick on mortar side – there is considerable adjustments to intellectual laws pertaining to patents and copyrights. What the Chinese are doing in effect is to establish their own system of governance when it comes to financial instruments to even intellectual rights.

This is important because one aspect of the TPP and how it aspires to put China in a straight jacket is to nit pick on what it can and cannot do when it comes to intellectual property – so in effect this is a means for the Chinese to sideline those constraints.

Besides hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese funds that are invested abroad. What we are also witnessing is another dimension of Chinese power. Namely its financing prowess and the ability to manage long term loan risk in investments and it is this undiscussed aspect that is key to extending Chinese power across the region.

To do all this requires core competencies not only in just pouring concrete but also how to manage financial risk on a long term basis.

What you need to understand is many of these mega infrastructural projects have traditionally being funded by the world bank, Asian Development Bank and in some cases the IMF. So what we see here is a very significant shift in how things being done along with a very radical shift in both strategy and philosophy as to how loans on country to country basis is structured.

I think when you see OBOR in this light. Then what it actually is, is not simply an attempt to out do Singapore with just providing better port of refitment services. But it is conceivable that the Chinese are also replicate the entire complimentary sets of accoutrements to provide a comprehensive one stop port service ranging from underwriting risk to financial instruments. And I think that is something that should rightly worry the planners in Singapore.

If they worried and keep on insisting that the China and Singapore relationship is hunky dory. Then I say to them – who the hell are you kidding? You think you’re talking to kindergarten kids?

Q: Why is this controlling aspect in managing the financing so important to China?

A: I think it would have to be very important since the AIIB is so new. They need to demonstrate not only the core competencies to be able to manage risk like maybe the World Bank or Asian Development Bank. But there are also issues concerning credibility and credit worthiness.
What you need to understand is outfits like the ADB, world bank and IMF have been around for a very long time. Governments are very familiar in dealing with these institutions. The same cannot be said about AIIB and their counterparts.

Besides what you need to appreciate is when ports and railways are built, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. There is a vast range of accoutrements that need to compliment these mega projects such as power generation, water treatment plants, energy transmission networks, highways, property development, dams, warehousing etc etc.

China already has very mature industries that can compliment many of these mega infrastructural projects – so don’t for one moment think that all they’re doing in dredging deep water harbours and laying down tracks. It’s much more than that – so what we are witnessing from the Chinese angle is the opening of new business apertures for many Chinese firms. And this is not a new economic blueprint. Not at all – that is what the Chinese have been doing in Africa since 1984. If for instance you visit Djibouti in Etiophia. You will not only see a blue water port and a railway. You will also see many Chinese banks, power generation, roads, water treatment plants and plenty of Chinese made heavy machinery and even cars and household appliance made in China – so when we speak about the economic sphere of OBOR, it is really a much bigger construct than anything that the Wall Street Journal talks about. I feel it is this aspect of trade of commerce that will eventually dominate the infrastructural sphere.

Q: Why is China so intrested in ports regionally? Why not make full use of Singapore to fulfill their energy needs?

A: At one level of understanding. We can certainly say ports are extremely important in this pursuit of regional domination. That is why if China decides to let’s say invest in port facilities in Malaysia it is definitely not a personal thing against Singapore. After all China has been making great efforts to develop and control ports in virtually ever theatre in Austrasia – Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port and Pakistan’s Gwadar Port are both China funded much to the consternation of India. So is the port in Djibouti, Africa. Within Bangladesh a Chinese “special economic zone” and port are being developed in Anwara, Chittagong. In Myanmar, China has invested in a deep-sea port on Maday Island at Kyaukphyu, to facilitate a $2.5 billion pipeline transporting oil and gas to China’s Yunnan province.

In other parts of South-East Asia, China is also seeking to dominate ports as well as shipping between ports, with Laem Chabang in Thailand, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Batam in Indonesia and Northern Sumatra. Most recently a “port alliance” has been announced between 10 Chinese ports and five Malaysian ports. The “sister port” tie ups with Kuantan, Melaka, Kedah and Port Klang in Malaysia.
Australia is also part of this maritime blueprint – The Darwin deal will provide Chinese shipping access to the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, as well as to Indonesia and PNG.

But the question still remains why not use what is already available? That is to say why don’t the Chinese feel inclined to leverage on the current port facilities in Singapore to fulfil their current and future energy needs. You can’t say it’s because of a bottle neck or the port authorities in Singapore have no more capacity. Because they do.

I think one reason why China considers it necessary to diversify their supply chain is simply because Singapore is perceived as a reliable ally of the US.

To me it is a very simple and straightforward calculation – how do you expect the Chinese to trust Singapore when they are hosting aircraft carriers with atomics and even allowing them to launch spy missions from their airbases. That is stupid. No strategist is his right mind is going to trust Singapore. So I don’t blame the Chinese, what they are undertaking is very logical.

Because alongside this port centric agenda – there is also the string of pearls strategy that suggest these are simply to lay the ground for China’s geopolitical agenda to project into the Indian Ocean and set up a zone of denial similar to the SCS.

There is I believe some credence to this postulation because the Chinese Navy is definitely becoming more muscular and assertative in that theatre.

Q: What precisely do you mean by muscular. Can you be more specific.

A: You can subscribe to Jane’s Defence Weekly or Proceedings. To find out more. But by all intelligent accounts the Chinese would need a carrier doctrine. Beyond that I don’t wish to comment further as I only speak when I have reliable intelligence to draw sound and accurate conclusions.

Q: How will all these other ports and railways impact Singapore?

A: I think there will be an impact. But you got to understand. Trade routes whether they are maritime or land based are essentially based on economics and that is really another way of saying the customer is king. China may well be a super power but it cannot dictate to the rest of the world how they should best transport goods or even which port it can call on and not – businesses will use whatever ports they see fit and we are not just talking about bunkering facilities. It really goes much deeper to a level of sophistication that I don’t believe the lay man even quite appreciates such as financing, insuring, underwriting, risk management, off shore facilities etc etc. There is an entire pheltora of services besides shipping that goes to make up the whole port experience and Singapore is at the very top of the game.

So when people tell me just because China is investing heavily in Malaysia or planning to develop Carey Island that spells doom and gloom for Singapore. These people don’t know what they are talking about. Because the volume of trade will grow. And PSA is not going to remain the same. They will respond to all these regional emerging threats.

Having said that volume is certainly important. Because when the volume thins out then it would have a knock on effect on all these other complimentary services. They will degrade and that certainly work against competitiveness.

I think it’s too early to tell what would happen now as many of these mega projects have 10 to 15 year gestation periods and it’s very hard to predict accurately what it may all be like in the foreseeable future.

For all you know PSA may even buy equity into these regional ports.

Q: What do you see as the friction points in the Chinese drive to realise the dream of OBOR in their aggressive investments in port and rail regionally?

A: Most countries welcome direct foreign investments. Having said that it’s not merely a case of economic pluses and minuses. There is also historicism and of course politics. And this is one area that I feel China is very blasé. I don’t exactly know how they go about calculating country risk or even whether they have a risk mitigation strategy. But they should given that many of the countries they are investing in on one hand welcome FDI’s but at the same time they do harbour reservations simply because when a foreign power takes such a substantial equity in the running of a business then it can be perceived as a form of economic imperialism and a threat to even sovereignty and if we stretch that notion further it can even encroach into sectarian and race lines.

Like I said historicism certainly plays a preponderant role and it would be foolhardy to assume that China will just be able to have their way all the time without ever having to manage the local sentiments in those countries that they have invested so heavily in.

I see many friction points. Many and some of them I am a afraid will only sharpen as these investments come on line. Only because they can be politicised and weaponized for political mileage.

Q: Would you like to elaborate further on those friction points.

A: No comment.

Posted by dotseng

High Commissioner defends Singapore’s Elected President system

V Gopalan Menon, Singapore’s High Commissioner in KL, issued a rebuttal to Utusan Melayu’s false allegations about the reserved EP for the Malay community. Menon clarified that the President is elected with popular mandate, plays a key role in nation building, ensuring good governance, acts as a custodian to the nation’s reserves and also is a protector of the integrity of its public service.
 
Menon went on to praise the achievements of the Malay community and the progress they have made under a rules based and meritocratic system. He went on to say this, “It is incorrect to say that non Malays in Singapore have been given ‘priority and advantages’. We certainly do not have a race based system of benefits and patronage. Singapore will not tolerate the use of race or religion to promote ill will between different segments of Singapore society, or to undermine our institutions.”
 
Would Menon want to rephrase his statement about ‘race based system of benefits and patronage with the change in the constitution that reserved elections for minority races based on their race? With the reserved EP only for Malays in the next EP, we do now have a race based system of benefits and patronage. No? Would the Malay race still feel as proud of their achievements without crutches now that a reserved EP is created for them to be elected based on their race? Meritocratic?
 
Anyone think this reserved EP is like giving the minority races a crutch that would lead to a crutch mentality in them? LKY and his peers were unyielding and firm about not providing a crutch to any groups, and not to create a crutch mentality. Nowadays no one seems to be defending this position.
 
What do you think?