India between a rock and a hard place

Modi is visiting Biden in June, apparently summoned to hear the emperor's edict. It does not come as a surprise, as the timing is perfect, with Moscow wanting to sell weapons and trade with India and to be paid in Yuan, not rupees. Understand India still has not been able to pay Russia for weapons supplied earlier to the tune of US$8 billion, of which US$2 billion is now stuck with the sanctions against Russia, if I am not mistaken. India is afraid to antagonise the USA by paying Russia in Yuan, which means bypassing the US$. Russia has little use to take more rupee payments in unlimited quantities, as India export much less to Russia than China, which is why Russia wants to be paid in Yuan.
This is, of course, not to the liking of the Indians having to use the Yuan. It means the rupee is not clearly favoured by the Russians. Therefore it is leading to trouble. The USA is quick on the mark to 'make hay while the sun shines'. Yes, another alliance is in the making, and you can be sure India will be coerced to move in with the West to condemn Russia in Ukraine and of course to confront China. Those who have been summoned to Washington to hear the emperor's edict, eventually had been arm twisted and forced to bend backwards, following the pressure exerted. Of course, no one wants to talk about it. Does the changing stance of Marcos Jr give us any clue? Or Olaf Scholz now being obedient like a dog has anything to do with his visit to Washington?

India is stuck between a rock and a hard place. India is too dependent on Russian energy to antagonise the Russians by turning against them over Ukraine. The USA is bent on making that happen. Sure, India can buy its energy needs from the USA, but it will not be cheap and certainly not highly discounted. Even the Middle East will not be able to give the same deal of highly discounted oil to India like the Russians. Moreover, the USA has no leverage over the Middle East to sell cheaper oil to India, as even Europe is paying very expensive prices for Middle East energy. Remember that most Middle East countries are now closing ranks with Russia, and when it comes to the doctine of 'the enemy of my friend is also my enemy', India may be in deep trouble.

Anonymous

USA, a nation of lies

Honestly, I never suspect the USA and the West could generate so much lies to disinform which is deliberate, and not just misinform which is accidental. When 911 happened, and the string of events that do not tie into each other to support the whole picture, I started getting interested in the events unfolding. That then brought me back to the Iraq War, the eventual realisation that the war was started with fabricated evidence of WMD that was never in existence. The Iraq War was started just based on lies.

John F. Kennedy's assassination throws up lots of questions being asked, and never allowed to be answered with further assassination of scapegoats by another scapegoat that eventually ended with his death in prison, cleaning the trail leading to the CIA and other top accomplices.

Similarly, lots of questionable details about 911 were never able to see the light of day, all conveniently swept under the carpet. The clampdown on information was so tight, the destruction of evidence so immediate, all doubts brushed aside as speculation even under scientific scrutiny and analysis.

Would you believe that Jeffrey Epstein really committed suicide in detention? His testimony under investigation is going to destroy many high and mighty and super rich individuals. Only that dude of a Prince of Little Britain's Royal family was offically sacrificed. Again just collateral damage with no political significance, since that Royal is already a rotten apple in the eyes of the public, an outcast in his own family.

What the USA system can do to anyone in the boots of Epstein does not miss the eye of others. Even Elon Musk made it clear in no uncertain terms that he is not suicidal, just in case they go after him, knowing that Demented Joe had previously gloated openly that 'we have the means to do it' over the Nord Stream attack. Why did Elon Musk bring up his non-suicidal question?

Just recently one lady, Tara Reade, who came out to claim sexual assault against Joe Biden earlier, and who was potentially being hauled up to testify in Congress, was reported to have said that she wants to make it clear that 'if something happens to me, all roads lead to Biden. The Democrats political machine is capable of doing anything against human sanity, even during Bill Clinton's Presidency. People who crossed Hillary Clinton mostly disappeared or have accidents that make sure they do not have tales to tell.

Anonymous

Presidential Election - Good men and women not qualified...

Under the public sector service requirements laid out in Singapore's Constitution, presidential candidates must have held office - for at least three years - as a minister, chief justice, Speaker of the House, attorney-general or permanent secretary among others.

Chief executives of key statutory boards or government-owned companies like Temasek also qualify.

Private sector candidates must have served for at least three years as chief executive of a company with an average of S$500 million in shareholders' equity.

To run for president, potential candidates must also satisfy the committee that they are people “of integrity, good character and reputation”.  CNA

Not only good men and women will not qualify to run for the Presidency of Singapore, brilliant men and women, academics, scientists. doctors, lawyers, professionals etc etc will not qualify because of the criteria of running a company with S$500m in shareholders' equity.  But illiterates that could run a $500m company, through hard work or inheritance, would qualify, caveat, all men of integrity, good character and reputation. In a way, a qualified person must be earning a lot of money. Poor men and women, oops, those average men and women earning less than $500,000 annually would likely not qualify.

The above conditions have ruled out the majority citizens of the land leaving only a few thousand people eligible to run for President. This is uniquely Singapore democracy. This is Singapore's version of rules based order.  They made the rules to decide who can become president and who cannot. Did they ask the people if this is acceptable or not, whether the people agree to it or not? The power of the day or the rulers write the rules. This is the meaning of rules based order. 

PS. The term shareholder equity (SE) refers to a company's net worth or the total dollar amount that would be returned to its shareholders if the company is liquidated after all debts are paid off. As such, SE is the owners' residual claim on assets after all debts are satisfied. Shareholder equity is equal to a firm's total assets minus its total liabilities.

China remembers, Robert Kennedy remembers

I understand Nato tried to weasel away their crime by claiming they used an outdated map. Why were the bombs not dropped on any other location but the Chinese Embassy? It was all a deliberate act of war. China must never forget this. And the USA and the West must remember that the Chinese have long memories. Ten, twenty, a century of humiliation is not too long for the Chinese to forget. After all, what is that compared to the five thousand years of Chinese history.

China should continue to dig up more of such vile crimes and not let it be hidden just because the MSM had been told to do so. It is comforting to note that there are now numerous sites keeping up the information cyber war over things that had previously been kept away from being discussed openly. China is doing the right thing. That does not mean China is paying all these sites as the West always claims. Some, like the unpaid beans in RB's blog are helping with their time and effort to keep people informed, and many of these sites in cyberspace themselves provide very informative and well researched counter of the fabricated propaganda trotted out by the Western media.

Off topic, the John F. Kennedy assasination cover up is now again in the spotlight with Robert Kennedy Jr now taking up the challenge for the White House. Robert Kennedy Jr's take on the link between the CIA and John F. Kennedy's assassination is opening a can of worms that the CIA and Biden is trying deperately to close down. The Biden administration, CIA and MSM are now desperately demonising Robert Kennedy's claim. Some are worried that this is going to affect badly Biden's bid for a second term, not to say putting the CIA on the dock. Some are even saying that Robert Kennedy Jr could be a target to be 'Epsteined'. 'Epsteined' is the new popular catchword for 'suicided' in prison, or murdered in prison.

Anonymous

America trying to make Asean its cat's paw

Joko Widodo is wise and his handling of events is all about maintaining the peace in ASEAN. When ASEAN members meet, the main subject or topic they usually tend to talk about is progressing, improving conditions for trade and co-operation among ASEAN nations and little, if any, about containing any other country.
Even at the G20 summit which Indonesia convened recently, the USA and the West attempted to hijack the platform to rally condemnation of Russia and China. It failed. And the USA and the West are now intending to be the permanent 'resident evil' to pry ASEAN unity apart and inflict chaos in Asia, with the intended expansion of Nato in Japan. Nato's intention to gain a foothold in Japan is not hatched by accident. It is a long overdue agenda that had been on their evil minds for a long time. Ukraine was the tipping point, the opening for Finland and Sweden to join Nato's expansion in Europe. Ukraine was lured to join as well, which to Russia is the 'Red Line'. No accident in all that.

Back to the issue of Myanmar, Widodo's approach is never adopting a threatening stance towards the Military Regime in Myanmar, not a word of reproach. A big power must not simply resort to use of might to threaten weaker countries. That colonial mindset does not hold much water in today's world. Peace is never a long term result when it is achieved through the barrel of a gun. Temporarily, it may work, but over the long term, it always ultimately results in failure. But it is good enough to sustain the US Military Industrial Complex.

Afghanistan is a good example of ultimate failure after 20 long years. Iraq is not holding either after almost twenty long years as well. Only the oil is keeping the USA military over there, nothing about bringing democracy to Iraq. That was a blatant lie and dishonestly fabricated to start an illegal war. Any talk about war crimes should put former leaders of the USA and UK at the very top of the list of people to go after.

When we read about every meeting held and alliance formed by the USA and the West, the main preoccupation inevitably is about confronting China, containing the China threat and stiffling China in everything, so that it can never be allowed to rise to overtake the USA, which is the country that allies have to protect at all cost. Even the Africans could see through their vile agenda and now are refusing to be dragged into it by turning against China.

And the USA almost always had to leverage on the support and assistance of its allies to achieve its objective, always providing and promising more weapons for them to continue fighting, which ultimately is no more than a lucrative attempt to feed their Military Industrial Complex with continuity in the wars they created, while asking for human sacrifices by hapless allies. Allies can fight to the last man, as it is just collateral damage for the USA's interest.

The USA is assuming that by being able to keep down Germany and Japan before, preventing the rise of China would also follow the same pattern in their same playbook. Little do they realise that Russia and China are no Iraq, Libya or Afghanistan to be steamrolled over. Their little misadventure in Ukraine against Russia tells the whole story.

Anonymous