Kishore Mahbubani– What happens when China becomes Number One?

Kishore spoke at Harvard on the above topic at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University on 8 April 15.  The lecture is now available on you tube,      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzOHdvNFjrE

I spent one hour listening to this absorbing lecture and it was time well spent. His talk was only 25 min with the rest on Q&A with very engaging questions and answers. I would rate this as one of the best lectures delivered by Kishore.

I would highly recommend commentor, Chris Brickhill, to listen to what Kishore had said about the rise of China and the decline of the USA in particular and the rise of Asia versus the decline of the western powers in general. It is not so much as a case of whose culture is more superior, so people like Chris BrickHill need not feel uncomfortable or embarrassed that his western culture was shot down to pieces. It was all about the renaissance of Asian civilizations that have got back up on their feet and rebuilding their own countries by the sheer size of population and human enterprise and industry.

And many of the new realities mentioned by Kishore must have caught his mainly American audience by surprise, though simple truths but never spoken on, not wanting to see or know, very much like Chris Brickhill. One startling comment by Kishore is how isolated and ill informed the Americans were about world affairs to the point of ignorance built around arrogance, self deception and reinforcement of views they wanted to believe and not the realities.

It was an excellent lecture and the Americans in the audience deserved to be lectured by Kishore to look at the new world that has changed and leaving them behind without the Americans knowing it. By the end of the lecture they really appreciated what Kishore had told them, a perspective that hit them like a lightning bolt. And then there was light.

Jail verdict for City Harvest Church pastors and executives

All six were found guilty and sentenced to jail from 21 months to 8 years for Kong Hee. Chew Eng Han was given 6 years, Tan Ye Peng 5 ans ½ years, Serina Wee 5 years, John Lam 3 years and Sharon Tan got the least, 21 months.

The jail tem will start on 11 Jan 16 so that they can spend time with their families over Christmas and the New Year. The mitigating factor for the light sentence is that the money was returned and the CHC did not suffer any financial losses as well as the guilty did not benefited from it personally, maybe on Sun Ho, but she was not party to the crime. All the $50m involved in the round tripping was returned to the Church? So for those who think the punishment was too light, some may think it is too harsh since no money was lost. What about the expenditure to promote Sun Ho’s music career and the sum spent in the US? This one I am not sure.

Though the six were found guilty by a mortal court for committing a mortal crime, to the believers they are still innocent. What they did was unlawful in the courts on earth. The flock did not leave him and the CHC. 173 executive members of the church have submitted an appeal for clemency.

In a moot point, were their actions against God or in violation of God? Who knows? God has been silent on this. The courts of law and those who disapproved of their deeds have found them guilty of a crime of the state. The believers of their church would have a different view. So has God.

Different agenda in G20 Meeting

The terrorist attack in Paris undeniably took centre stage in the G20 Meeting in Antalya in Turkey.  All the leaders, without exceptions, condemned the killings of the innocents in Paris. The economic conference for world leaders and central bank governors to chart the direction of the world economy and international financial stability was eclipsed by the fight against terrorism with the Paris assault lending weight and urgency to world leaders to double their effort against international terrorism. 

Even before the Paris attack, the agenda of world leaders attending the meeting were mixed. The Americans came with Syria on top of their agenda. The host, Turkey, was more concerned with the refugee problems facing Turkey and the rest of Europe. China came with the agenda on how to cooperate and stimulate the world’s economy with more initiatives, innovations and cooperation among the countries of the world.

In a main article in China Daily, ‘Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday proposed strengthening coordination on macroeconomic policy, innovation-driven development and an open world economy as prescriptions for boosting global growth.

In a speech delivered at the first session of a Group of 20 (G20) summit, Xi said the G20 should work to maintain a stable economic growth in the short term, while seeking to inject new impetus into the world economy in the long run.’

On the other hand the thrust of Obama’s speech was about stepping up efforts to eliminate the Islamic State and prevent more attacks like those in Paris and about a regime change in Syria. The economic agenda for the world economy and financial governance have to share with international security and terrorism.

What would be the takeaways from this meeting in Turkey? How much of the message and proposals of Xi Jinping would end up on the table or be left unnoticed? The different agenda and priorities of the leaders would have missed out the Chinese initiatives and proposals, the very purpose of this G20 Meeting of world leaders and central bank governors.

China may look forward to the next meeting in Hangzhou to push through its economic and financial agenda more effectively than what is happening in Antalya, Turkey. Xi JinPing would then be in a better position to take the meeting in the direction that a G20 Meeting is all about, the world economy and world governance on financial stability.

Are foreign politicians allowed to campaign in Singapore

60,000 British Indians turned out at the Wembley Stadium in London to welcome Indian PM Narendra Modi during his official visit to the UK.  According to a report appearing in the Today paper by Yale Global on 20 Nov 15, ‘The gathering of about 60,000 British Indians seleted through community organizations had a serious purpose – build a database of overseas Indians to help re-elect Mr Modi’s Bharatlya Janata Party(BJP) in 2019….A study of the reception at London’s Wembley Stadium last Friday shows how shrewedly the BJP hides its political agenda with a non political mask.’ Even the PM Cameron was roped in to make an introduction of Modi at Wembley.

The BJP won a landslide victory with the help of another rally at Madison Square in the 2014 election and expecting a better result in 2019 after Wembley. There will also be a similar rally in Singapore for a massive 100,000 turnout at the Changi Expo site on 24 Nov reported earlier.

This is the first time that Singapore allows such a huge gathering of foreigners masked as a non political event in Singapore soil. Would this set the precedence for more of such political rallies in Singapore. Singapore is not only the home for Indian diaspora, there are the Chinese diaspora, Malaysian diaspora, Myanmese, Pinoys, Bangladeshi and many others.

Would the Malaysians be the next to hold such gatherings in Singapore? Would the Pinoys and the Chinese also follow the bandwagon? Would Singapore become a favourite political campaign sites for foreign politicians to stage their rallies here? It is good money for the organizers and the landlord too. This can be a new business with a lot of potentials for earning foreign exchange and also to make Singapore well known throughout the world.

Oh yes, more new jobs will be created.

US, The Evil Empire creates and thrives on wars and instbilities

US. The Evil Empire creates and thrives on wars and instabilities

For the last seventy years there has been endless wars and instabilities throughout the world.. Why is it so? The fingers inevitably point to the Evil Empire , USA. America believes in permanent warfare and conquest and this is based on their evil Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Manifest Destiny.. Under this doctrine America claims it has the divine right to attack, conquer, subjugate and hold complete hegemony over all other countries.

America uses various ways and means in its evil mission of conquest and hegemony. It uses cheating, fraud, currency manipulation, unfair trade, commerce and industrial sabotage, espionage, political control, cyber attacks, direct and proxy warfare.

Between the 1920s and 1970s America had a monopoly of Middle East oil.It set the price of  oil at five US Dollars per barrel. It was able to sell in the market at between fifty to eighty dollars per barrel. The Arab oil producing countries were ripped while US enriched itself fabulously. Further the Arabs had to agree to trade the oil in US dollars only. This locked out the Arabs from trading direct with other countries other than through US oil giant corporations. Thus when Iraq under Saddam Hussein and later Gadaffi of Libya tried to trade oil direct with other countries in currencies other than the US dollars they were atacked and killed. Thus regime change is US evil policy against countries which do not toe the US line. Further when oil was depressed at five dollars per barrel US was able to ship billions of tons of Middle East oil to US to be kept as oil reserves .

Before the 1970s there was international agreement that every US dollar must be backed in gold. This means that a country has every right to demand from the US government to be paid in gold equivalent to the amount of US dollars it is holding and which it now wants to return it to US. The US government reneged on this agreement in 1972 and in the Bretton Woods Agreement it openly defied the world by refusing to peg the US dollar to the value of gold. Thus US is and has been able to cheat the world since the US dollar is still the world's standard currency for trading. When US is in trade deficit with other countries it is just able to print more paper money to pay the creditor countries. This is a dangerous trend because eventually the US dollar will become a banana currency with little or no value.

When US wants to control and hold hegemony over a region it will first sow seeds of dissension and discord among the countries in the region. It will then create a demand of dependency and protection from US. Behind the scene US will continuously foment distrust and hatred among the squabbling countries and quietly leading the unsuspecting countries to hostilities and open warfare. It is then how the US enrich itself by seliing weapons and all kinds of military hardware to the warring factions. In the meantime US pretends to play the peacemaker though for holding hegemony it never really will want the warring factions to have peace. This can be seen in the whole of the Middle East. Now US is trying to replicate the same scenario in the Far East and in the South China Sea . US is really a horrible evil empire .

US is also exerting world hegemony by manipulating the world's monetary, financial and banking business as well as manipulating the stock markets , trade, commerce and industries all over the world. American rogue leaders in private sectors are synonymous with rogue leaders in the government. They work as one banditry team and correlate their activities in supplanting and robbing each and every other country in this world. They are able to cheat and swindle the whole world because they hold full sway over the World Bank and the IMF.

To maintain its continuous world hegemony, America has build over one thousand military bases in all corners of the world. It is signing up unsuspecting countries as allies to help in its aggression. It will stir up trouble in peaceful regions and create tensions , instabilities and wars among the unsuspecting countries so that American war industries will keep on humming as they are able to sell weapons and military hardware to the warring factions .

It is time the world wake up and put a stop to the evil doings of America , a country born out from their evil Doctrine of Christian Discovery and American Manifest Destiny, a country which robbed and stole the lands from native American Indians.

Southernglory1

Friday, 20th November, 2015