3 aircraft carrier groups in western Pacific

The USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Theodore Roosevelt are conducting a naval exercise with the Japanese Navy. What are they up to? Two of the most wicked countries scheming to plan a preemptive strike at North Korea? These monkeys still think war is an option when nuclear weapons are in play and desperately wanting to go to start a war. Do they think that this is going to be a limited war that will be over in a few hours or a few days?
 
Pray hard that it would be that way. The North Koreans are not Arab countries that are hapless and unable to hit back. They have every weapon ready and the slightest sign of an attack could be the signal to let go everything they got. Would there still be a Tokyo standing? How many Japanese cities would go up in smokes and would Japan still be habitable? And they are counting on the Chinese and Russians standing idly by and doing nothing while they devastate North Korea, their close allies, with nuclear weapons that would put both Russia and China and their people at risk of nuclear fallouts?
 
Be very sure that once started, it would proceed to its natural end when nuclear bombs would be flying all over the sky and many would be hitting American and European cities as well. It would be armageddon, no two ways about it. Don’t even think that it would be anything else. The days when the Evil Empires can go around hitting any country with impunity is over. The lessons learnt by the Russians and Chinese about Iraq and Libya have put them on full alert of the wicked intention of the Americans. Strike again and they would strike back. Syria is the last stand. There will be no more Iraq or Libya to fall to the evil Empire. North Korea, Iran and Syria are untouchable. Don’t ever try.
 
The mad and dangerous men in Washington and Tokyo are clear and present dangers to their people and to the people of the rest of the world. They still think they can hit the North Koreans and the North Koreans cannot hit back.
Look at this video again and again. Only 10 minutes.
https://youtu.be/6tKzBB2dJ94
 
This is the fate awaiting the Americans and Japanese should they be reckless and mad enough to think of attacking North Korea. Any attack on North Korea will be an attack on China and Russia. The North Koreans, Chinese and Russians will hit back. The Americans must not doubt the capabilities of the armed forces of these countries.
 
There is no way that the North Koreans would attack the Americans unless the Americans struck first. Only silly little countries are still clinging to the American lie that North Korea is a threat to them. The Americans must stop crying wolf that the North Koreans are going to attack the Americans first. The real devils are the Americans and now also the Japanese, with encouragement from the Americans. The South Koreans would be sacrificed. They are dispensable. In the American calculus to attack North Korea, the South Koreans are not in the equation.
 
Can the American people stop the evil men and women in the White House and the Pentagon who are seeking wars and not peace? The USA must stop behaving like a rogue state. They can continue to stage murders like 911 in homeland USA but not elsewhere.
 
PS. At this point in time, the Americans must not make any silly move that is mistaken by the North Koreans that they are attacking them for them to hit the button first. The consequences of such a mistake are unbearable to both countries and the rest of the world.

Kishore Mahbubani – Premature retirement

It was a piece of gloomy news that Kishore is retiring from his mentor’s namesake LKY School of Public Policy in yesterday’s media. I look at this development with a lot of misgivings. Kishore is just touching 70, at his prime for an academic and many good years to come. In the academia, people grew with age and experience. Many of more senior age are still plodding along well and good, but not many are of his caliber.
 
Like him or disagree with him, Kishore is an independent thinker, a very rare specie in an island where everyone thinks he is an angmo descendant after years of being fed with a western diet and believing that hamburger is good for him, his daily bread. Many of these pseudo Asian intellects are veneer thin western droids manufactured and made in the USA and thinking exactly like replicas of little USAs.
 
The departure of Kishore will lead to a vacuum that is difficult to fill but will be filled as they, as usual, would go around the world looking for another foreign talent to shit over the locals, oops, I mean Singaporeans. Is there anymore Singaporeans left that could think independently as an Asian? Many would think very carefully what they are going to say to be politically correct.
 
How many Singaporeans could have the honour of being invited to address American Ivy League universities? How many Singaporeans could sit in the same forum panel to discuss world issues with the best in the world without fumbling like a school boy?
 
Kishore is one of the brightest academics and thinkers that we have produced, of the LKY era. He was LKY’s favourite showman. Now that the LKY era has been eclipsed so would those that rose with that man. With Kishore passing on, not many of the pioneers of his stature would be left standing. And who is there to fill the void? I don’t see anyone filling his shoe and yes, better look for another foreigner of unknown background but a string of glittering degrees from God knows where waiting to be discovered as another fraud.
 
The grass is greener over the other side. There is novelty in foreigners, many passing off as young genius in the eyes of the gullible and naïve red dot that don’t believe in its own people.
 
With his experience and reputation, I don’t think Kishore is going to fade away just yet. There will be others that would appreciate his thoughts and ideas. Singapore’s loss is another’s gain. Another case of exchanging our talent with foreign duds is in the making.
 
Did someone said Singapore is getting dirtier? Must be the rubbish that are being welcome here.

Asean countries should trade less with China to avoid dependency

In an article by a Sulaiman Daub posted in the mothership.sg, he advocated that Asean countries should trade less with China to avoid a dependency relationship with China and came under the influence of China. In his piece he quoted this,

'In a paper published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS), academic Sanchita Bandu Das argues that China is using its growing economic strength to advance its political agenda in Southeast Asia, including its strong position on South China Sea issues and negotiating for the use of Chinese technology, supplies and workers for China-financed infrastructure projects.'

The same article also mentioned 'white elephant' projects initiated by China like the BRI, ports in Sri Lanka and highways in East Malaysia. There is some logic to this kind of thinking. And there are alternatives to just trading and depending on China for infrastructure building. The assumption is that the govts of these countries engaging in trades with China and with China making more profits are daft, especially those that joined the BRI, built ports and highway that are white elephants and have no or little benefits to their countries. I would not try to argue on behalf of these govts and leave it to them to justify their 'stupid' actions.

While trade in these cases favoured China, it is true that these countries need not continue trading with China. They can choose to trade with Japan and the West. But if the products from these countries are too expensive and they could not afford them, they can always look to India for Make in India products. I think these products, if available, would be much cheaper than China's and would be a good substitute. India could replace China to build highways, ports, high speed trains and mobile phones etc.

As for infrastructure projects like the ports in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan govt can send trade delegations to Europe, USA or Japan to invite them to build instead of China. Oh, England is a good candidate too, the former colonial master that looted the island but forgot to build a decent port like what the Chinese are building for the Sri Lankans. Likewise countries in land locked Central Asia can follow this option or dispense with the 'white elephant' projects since they are white elephants and remain isolated and cut off from the maritime trade routes..

Actually the Americans are having the biggest trade deficit with China compares with the Asean states. The big question, why would the Americans continue to buy China and not buy European or Japanese products or the cheaper Indian products? The Americans cannot be so stupid right? And this applies to more than half of the world that chose China as their number one or number two trading partner despite the trade deficits. Stupid or what?

China, unlike the colonial masters that came to rob and loot these former colonised countries with gunboats, negotiates and trades with these ex colonies on a willing buyer willing seller basis. No guns pointing at their heads. If the govts of these countries, given all the options available, they are not stupid for sure, still choose to trade with China, there must be some logic to it.

I would like to see these 'disadvantaged ex colonies' steering away from trading with China and choose to buy more expensive products from the West and Japan or cheaper products from India. That is only logical when they put everything under the microscope to compare prices and benefits.

Who is the idiot?

PS. The Indians have conceded that the Chinese are making products that are cheaper than the Indians in India. Even the Indian gods are made in China.

Hsien Loong hearing voices

Hsien Loong said he often heard voices of LKY, words of wisdom that he could rely upon to make political decisions. Could not remember what he heard but he quoted something, was it about the Elected President? Anyway, LKY said a lot of things and many are still relevant and applicable but many are obsolete or irrelevant in today's context. For instance his advice on taking up a govt scholarship to pursue a degree and subsequently join the civil service or PAP, I mean politics as a career. I can't disagree with him on this then as this was and still is the shortest and quickest and most assured road to instant multi millionaire for a young man without much working experience in the commercial world, without having to work to produce something of value.

I said I disagree on this is as many ministers have openly spoken out against having a degree while some even said a degree is really useless. It is skills that are more important. Fake degrees also never mind as long as people think you have the skills. Degrees cannot be eaten. So if degree is not important, what is the point of being a scholar? However some would say a scholar with a degree is different from a non scholar without a degree. Ok, I can accept that. The instant millionaire route is still relevant but for how long?

Now where was I? Oops, I was talking about Hsien Loong hearing voices. I think he did not hear this from LKY, and I quote, “Everything works, whether its water, electricity, gas, telephone, telexes, it just has to work. If it doesn’t work, I want to know why, and if I am not satisfied, and I often was not, the chief goes, and I have to find another chief. Firing the chief is very simple.“

LKY also used to say this proudly, ‘in Singapore, when you push a button, it works’. That was his Singapore. Can't say this about the SMRT today. In the latter it is more like every time a button is pushed, nothing works. The faults plaguing the SMRT are like a daily affair and if there is no fault in one day, it is a pleasant exception. This is Hsien Loong's Singapore, not LKY's Singapore.

Why did I bring this up? It is in everyone's lip, the amnesty offered by Desmond Kuek to his staff to own up for non compliance, non performance or even dereliction of duty. This is the first time such an idea is being used in Singapore, pardon first for non performance or violation of standard operating procedure, deceit, and talk later. You can imagine the kind of aghast and the shock waves spreading across the island.

There is a disbelief that Singapore's work ethics has degenerated to this level. Hsien Loong probably did not hear this in his head. LKY must be fuming if he is alive. This is not the Singapore he created or at least at one time during his watch.

LKY better makes his voice heard to make things better. How many CEOs would have lost their jobs in SMRT if he was in charge? Nowadays quite senang. Fingers point here point there and point everywhere. Definitely not my problem, OPP is other people's problem. Not bad for collecting millions every year with no accountability
Latest heard that Desmond Kuek’s amnesty bore immediate result. Several staff had owned up and they were duly sacked despite the condition that no punishment would be meted out. This part a bit grey and people could interpret it either way. Yes, no punishment, just leave. Some would argue that sacking is a punishment. The union would have ‘one head two big’, scratching on how to tackle this new development.

The faces of Rugao 国强民安

The faces of Rugao 国强民安 
I spent a week in Rugao, Jiangsu, a 3rd or 4th tier city about 200 km northwest of Shanghai participating in the 20th Asian Masters Athletics Championship. I went there with a simple expectation, other than trying to get into the finals of the 100m event for the 65-69 age group, to take some good photos of historical architecture, of a China before development wipes away all that was there in the past. I lugged along my SLR, which I normally don’t especially when I was there to run and not sightseeing. It was a piece of baggage that I would have to bear with for the whole trip.
 
I did not get to see what I would want to see in Rugao, a city famous for having the most centenarians alive in China. We arrived at Rugao nearly midnight and the first sight of Rugao was in the morning, from the window of Wenfeng City Hotel. There, right in front of me were rows and rows of neatly built and good quality low rise homes of pretty recent origin. And there were many high rise condomium rising in the distance. The streets were landscaped and manicured and not much different from Singapore.
 
The infrastructure of Rugao was everything a modern city could look for, not a small, tired, rundown 3rd tier city away from the futuristic coastal cities. I managed to sneak away into the villages and along the way the sight was of newly built farmers' homes, built just behind the small living quarters of the past. The few remnants of the past that were still standing have been rebuilt and served the owners in their bigger homes as storerooms or garages.
 
The only pieces of the past left in Rugao were the mansion of Mo Biqiang and Dong Xiaowan and a well preserved patched of low ancient houses right in the heart of the city. These houses still served as living quarters to some residents and small commercial enterprises. The mansion and the houses were some 400 years old and stood there to remind the people of the way of life of their forebears.
 
What really impressed me was the sight of the people of Rugao. The people were pretty well off, well heeled, living in good quality homes and looking very contented with their lives. The children, the youth and the young were a pleasant surprise. They were all at the stadium during the Opening Ceremony for the Asian Masters. Some were there to perform, some were there as spectators to this international events. And the unpredictable happened, the sky opened up, and everyone was wet. But the youth and children came well prepared, with a thin transparent raincoat over their costumes and their latest trendy wear.
 
The rain did not dampen their free spirit. They ran, but to the stadium, not away. They were there to celebrate a big international event, to welcome the visitors to their home town. What was written all over their faces was a future of hope, confidence and well being. Their innocence, their free spirit, their laughter, there was not a hint of fear or uncertainties in them, as they celebrated life. For over 200 years, the children of China had never slept well or eaten well. (两百多年,中国儿女,没有一天睡的好,吃的饱). The youth then never knew what was growing up like as children. They did not have that luxury. Those days are history, not to happen again. The faces of the Rugao children today are the faces of joy, of a happy young people living for now and for a better tomorrow as young people should.
 
China today has reached a point where the people could live life, enjoy peace and be themselves without a worry. Such a privilege only comes about when the country is strong and prosperous and well managed. It is like the saying, 国强民安. The children and youth of Rugao are a manifestation of the children and youth of China today, living in a time when security and prosperity are a new normal. To live a happy and cheerful life of plenty, being young and enjoying growing up as children and young adults (无忧无愁) shielded from the vagaries of life, with a bright and secure future that a strong and prosperous China has bestowed upon them. The children and youth of Rugao and all over China are the new China, a people blessed to live a life never the same as the parents and grand parents of old China. This is the new China and the China Dream.

Below are some pictures of the children of Rugao.