Sun Tzu - Never fight a losing war

  This ancient military strategist's theory of war, that no country should start or engage in a war unless it is sure of winning, is perennial and continues to be relevant today, to all military forces and countries. Why fight a war that one cannot win? China has learnt from this strategy and has avoided war since Mao successfully reunited China and started on a journey to rebuild a modern China. Mao knew that China was weak in all fronts, and it would be a losing proposition for China to engage in any war with any countries. 

China still could not avoid wars since the founding of the PRC. There were wars that were forced upon China, along its borders, not initiated by China by threatened by external powers to destabilise and weaken China. The Korean War was the worst war that was forced upon China, a war that China could not afford to fight and likely to lose. Mao took the drastic decision to enter the war like a lose or die decision. The Americans were at the peak of their military might. China then was about the poorest and weakest nation on earth. Under all circumstances, and contrary to Sun Tzu's strategy of war, Mao must not be involved in the Korean War. It was a losing proposition from the start. It was a stroke of genius and true grit that China could fight the Americans to a draw, actually beating the Americans by driving them from its border at the Yalu River to the 38th parallel, with minimal and antique weaponry. China was trading lives with bullets and stayed in the war until a ceasefire that both sides have to concede without a clear victory.

China was involved in a few border wars or skirmishes with Russia, India and Vietnam. All were short border wars that lasted less than a month. China fought and pushed out the invaders, then withdrew and disengaged. Other than the border war with Vietnam where China was superior militarily, the wars with Russia and India were not wars that China could win easily against better armed enemies. China would have avoided all these wars if it had a choice. Never fight a war unless sure of winning.

The Americans, since it became the world's number one superpower did live by Sun Tzu's above strategy. In many cases America was right. In the Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghan and Iraq War, Americans were sure of winning these wars as they were militarily and economically more superior than their enemies and winning was more or less guaranteed. Though the results did not speak well for the Americans, their starting points were the same. They fought and could win and should win.

Then came the Ukraine War. This is the biggest blunder of the American Washington clowns. This is an obvious case of a war they cannot win. They may think that the combined forces of the Americans and allies would easily defeat the Russians. Still, they cannot win if they think deeper. They can win a conventional war against the Russians, but Russia is a nuclear power and would release their nuclear arsenal against the Americans and the Europeans should they be defeated conventionally. Only the really reckless, irresponsible and dumb clowns in Washington cannot think of this. Unfortunately, they are still thinking that they can win against the Russians. This is how dangerous the world has become, when reckless clowns are in charge of national affairs. Just like Mickey Mouse states provoking China and thinking they can get away from it.

And the Washington clowns are preparing another war they cannot win, this time against China. Over and over again, they have repeated their wargames against China, conventional war, but cannot win. Still, they are bent on starting a losing war with China, knowing very well that they will be the losers and they will have to resort to using nuclear weapons against China. Would they win a nuclear war against China? These dumb clowns think China would be sitting there waiting for them to nuke and bury China without reacting. The dumb and irresponsible clowns are not only risking the lives of the Chinese, the lives of the Americans and the whole world would be on the table, to be wiped out in one instance. China may not have as many nuclear weapons as the American terrorists, but enough to finish the Americans as well.

Still, the Washington clowns are at it, planning and preparing for a war they cannot win. And they are dragging other silly countries into this war of total destruction, the end of civilisation. Stupidity cannot be cure. The dumb asses in Washington cannot be taught. Mickey Mouse also cannot be taught.

Imagine 1955 - We were still a colony of the British Empire

 In a few days we will be celebrating 60 years of independence as one of the richest states in the world. Can you imagine what your lives would be like if it were 1955, when we were still a colony of the British Empire? We will not be celebrating our freedom and independence at the Padang, but will instead be celebrating the coronation of King Charles or the British Empire, raising the Union Jack and singing God Save the King.

Imagine all the officials at the steps of City Hall would be white men, British, in their Sunday best and their ladies with funny headgears, overseeing a parade of British subjects marching before them, saluting to the British governor of the island state, and calling every white man, Sir, and every white woman, Ma'am, instead of saluting to our President and PM.

Imagine the highest standard of education of the population would be Senior Cambridge Standard Nine, and the highest jobs one aspired to would be a chief clerk in the colonial office, a clerk in a lawyer's office or maybe a cook in the British military bases in Alexandra, Sembawang or Seletar. 

Imagine many of our womenfolk would be maids working for the British NCOs and their families while many men would be labourers, coolies, stevedores in the Singapore Harbour Board?

Imagine, other than a few towkays that made good being the early migrants, could afford a few bungalows and driving cars, because of trading, while the rest of the people were riding bicycles or taking buses to work?

Imagine all the makeshift hawker stalls along the streets, the pushcarts, the tents of hawker stalls along Eu Tong Sen Road, the original people's park?

In Malaya in the north, every Sultan would have a personal assistant called District Officer, a British officer, who would assist him in the running of the states, and the words of the District Officer was as good as orders from the Queen, to be obeyed. Imagine the British owned all the rubber plantations, tin mines and big businesses, and there would be cries of Tuan, Tuan in the sight of the white men?

Something similar also happened in Indonesia but the rulers were the Dutch. In India, ruled by the British East India Company, they were called Sahib, Raj or Sir by the Indian subjects.

In Hong Kong, all the big businesses have British names. The highest rank for the Hongkies in the Police Force was Sergeant or Station Inspector. Only white men could be Inspectors, Superintendents or higher, same in Singapore. And Ah Sir here and Ah Sir there, stuffing money into the white men's pockets and smile when they smile, smile when they get angry, smile when being scolded or kicked around.

Imagine all the concessions in China with foreigners owning pieces of territories calling their own, using their own laws that were above Chinese laws, and poverty everywhere, no industries, no jobs?

Imagine, many ex colonial people of the European Empires, especially those in Singapore and Hong Kong, would still like to be ruled by the British all over again, and to call them Sirs?

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this is 2025.

Trump pushing India into the arms of Putin

India's about turn regarding purchase of Boeing planes and opening up its agricultural sector punctures Trump gloating about his big, beautiful tariff agreement (unsigned by the way) and all his winnings. Everything bites the dust.

The bigger slap must be about India telling Trump it is not going to stop buying Russian oil, which constitutes about 35% of all India's needs. That is a massive sacrifice for discounted oil that India cannot do without. To add insult to injury, India is going to continue to buy Russian weapons as well that Trump had been trying to wean India away. Now, the picture is clearer regarding India's support for Russia's economy and war chest. There is no way that the USA can also force China not to buy Russian energy.

Now Trump is threatening China and India and those still buying Russian oil of a 100% secondary tariff if they do not stop buying Russian oil. The oil market will see oil prices hit the stratosphere if that move is successful, affecting even the USA itself.

Trump can threaten BRICS with a 1000% secondary tariff, but that will be academic if countries just sell less to the USA, just like what China is doing. There is a much bigger world to trade with for BRICS countries, and the USA is not the center of the world in global trade unlike in the past. That is now history, and Trump can threaten BRICS all he likes. He is actually punishing his own USA citizens, the ones who voted for him. If the USA citizens are as dense as we assume, that is just too bad. The world will just move on without the USA and having less problems to deal with a rogue state.


Anonymous

Trump and America are all about lies. How can anyone trust Americans?

If exposure on social media throughout last year is true, Trump is rotting inside physically and outside mentally. Many said that he smelt like a shithole and are using some orange and yellow stuff on his body to musk the stink. That is a sign of rotting meat.

I think Trump's physical is even worse than Joe Biden. Physically Biden's dementia is due to aging, not about other diseases eating away his body. Do not believe those health checks being done. The USA and its medical bodies can lie through their teeth like everything else, just to make Trump sound perfectly healthy. It is all a charade. Doing something truthful and someone on the top would be sacked, just like the labor chief giving the truth about the employment situation and getting the boot.

Trump is always asking Jerone Powell to resign because Powell he does not toe the line by cutting rates. On the other hand, I think Jerone Powell should be asking Trump to resign for dismantling and destroying the USA piece by piece. The tariff fiasco is going to cost Trump even his job.

As I understand, Trump is spending hundreds of millions to tear down the Rose Garden to build a 'Golden Ballroom' for his gloating. I guess that is where all that money collected from his tariffs are going to end up. The elephant in the room is that no one is talking about it. Some USA citizens do bring up the issue, saying that the White House Offices belong to USA Government and was built for Presidents, past and present. It is not for Trump to tear down sectors of the White House just to suit his agenda. For a dictator to do that is acceptable.


Anonymous

India does not have great leaders to lift it up, only talkers and braggers that have nothing to their credits

Bigger population for a richer but smaller country like Germany or Japan might sound more realistic for dividend reaping. Having said that, both Germany and Japan are now sliding down the economic ladder too, so it is difficult to be generalizing. Circumstances can change.

For a poor country like India, it is a big liability to say the least, by having a large expanding population. India has not solved its poverty problem by any stretch of the imagination, so adding more people will test its employment and job creation agenda. Jobs, and I mean good paying jobs must be created in order to lift people out of poverty. If not, children born into poverty will never rise beyond the situation of their parents. This is a chicken and egg problem for India, and I think one solution is keeping the population increase as low as possible. But who am I to say such things when the experts have different views?

India does have great thinkers in the ancient past, and recent past as well, but most have either migrated and what is left are bottom crawlers from inside the barrel that has led India into what it is today. Just look at the state of its ministers, from top to bottom, that are hardly worthy of mention.

I have been thinking about how India could produce such profound philosophers like Siddhartha Gautama (the spiritual teacher who later became Shakyamuni Buddha) that Indians themselves refused to acknowledge for all his brilliance. It was left to the Chinese, Japanese and South-East Asians to realize the brilliance of the Buddha's teaching.

Even Albert Eistein thinks that Buddhism is the only scientific 'religion' in the world, and its teachings stand up to dissection and scrutiny that other religions failed to do so. In actual fact. With due respect to Einstein, Buddhism is not a religion in the true sense, with no God, but a philosophy.


Anonymous