F35 - Die die must buy

SINGAPORE: Singapore expects to buy a "small number" of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for a full evaluation after it identified the jet as the “most suitable replacement” for its ageing F-16s, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) announced on Friday (Jan 18).

This follows a technical evaluation by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and Defence Science and Technology Agency which lasted more than five years.

“The technical evaluation also concluded that the RSAF should first purchase a small number of F-35 JSFs for a full evaluation of their capabilities and suitability before deciding on a full fleet,” MINDEF said....

Details that will be discussed include price, quantity and which variant of the jet to buy, as well as issues like logistical requirements and the training of pilots.

The F-35A – the conventional take-off and landing variant – costs US$89.2 million (S$121 million), according to maker Lockheed Martin.It’s believed Singapore is interested in the B variant, which costs more and can take off from shorter runways and land vertically.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-f-35-fighter-jet-replace-f-16-rsaf-lockheed-11139654

The above report came out on19 Jan 18. What does it say? Is this a case of die die must buy option, don't buy cannot? The reasons given to support the buying of this ultra expensive piece of weapon is at most controversial. One can argue with all the pros and cons against and for this aircraft. No one is saying that this is a bad aircraft, but the justifications and cost to operate this aircraft are questionable. Does Singapore really need this aircraft and can afford to buy and maintain this aircraft?

The idea of buying a few pieces to test and evaluate? What kind of thinking is that? Somebody must be thinking that this is like buying a piece of toy. The cost involved in this test and play thing is enormous.  The pricing of $121 million a piece is pulling wool over the eyes. The variant B is not only more expensive, but how much more expensive. And this is likely the cost of the aircraft without the accessories and weapons. To operationalise this piece of toy it is likely to be more than double the amount mentioned for just a single piece of feel good toy. What about ground system support and satellite support? Free?

Can Singapore really afford this ultra expensive war machine? Is it the only option available? Who is Singapore's enemy and who is this aircraft intended to fight against? Buying a few pieces, how many is  few? A few pieces can mean less than 5, 10, 20 or 30. And if too little, it is economically very expensive and cost ineffective to have all the maintenance and support crew just to service a few.

Is there arm twisting by the bankrupt Empire to make Singapore pay for protection money, to pay for this aircraft as an excuse? Singapore being coerced to buy a few pieces at least? Normally the Americans would not sell their top end war machine to anyone, just like the F22. When the Americans are so desperate to push this aircraft, it cannot be of much good. Does anyone smell a fish?  What are the intent and purpose of the Americans to want to sell this aircraft by all means?

Political change - Abandoning a sinking ship

The once dull, placid and uneventful political scene of Singapore where the PAP dominates and controls everything is showing signs of life, excitement and suspense. Cheng Bock just announced that he is forming a new party, Progress Singapore Party. There are many aspects of this party that are going to change the status quo. Cheng Bock's party would have many members coming from the PAP, a chip of the old block.

In a way this is what Singaporeans are waiting for, have been waiting for this to happen, yes, a split within the PAP. This may not be technically correct in the sense that Cheng Bock's members are likely to be ex PAP and not serving MPs/ministers or card carrying members. A split would be a case of current members breaking away to form a new party to challenge the PAP. I may be saying this a bit too early as this is just the beginning. When things gather momentum, there is always a likelihood that PAP members and cadres could switch camp before the next GE.

People are speculating as to who are the 12 founding members of Cheng Bock's new party. Big names have been thrown into the ring with some mentioning Hsien Yang and even George Yeo may make a comeback. People are anticipating surprises, hoping for surprises, wishing for surprises. And what could they look for, would there be current MPs and ministers switching camps?

The premature retiring of some ministers in the recent PAP reelection must have made some ministers not very happy or even disgruntled. The two DPMs that are standing down are very young, at the prime of their life and have many good years to contribute to the country and people. Would they be happy to be retired so early and be cast into the wilderness?

Then there is the possibility of some wanting to jump ship, abandoning a sinking ship. Though the PAP is still look formidable, just like UMNO was in the last GE before they were defeated. No one would expect UMNO to become a sinking ship once the result was final. This incident would provide fruit for thought in the Singapore context. Is the PAP a sinking ship like UMNO but not showing sign that it is sinking? Would it be prudent to jump ship before it is too late, like the case of UMNO when it was too late once the rice is cooked?

The new Progress Singapore Party can prove to be an attractive proposition if more big wigs join the bandwagon and start a rush for safety, or if there is a strong and attractive pipe piper taking the lead.

Everyone is making his own assessment of the health of the PAP. There are many factors and developments recently that may be read as bad signs for the PAP. Is the PAP still as strong as it was or is it at the terminal stage of cancer and it is better to jump ship before it is too late? If the decision is to jump, Cheng Bock's new party is a good and easy choice to make the switch.

The new party is giving hopes to many that change is coming, change is now before the curtain falls on the PAP. If there are enough people believing in change, change it will be.

Living under the American white lie

Stephen Roach of Yale University could not hold back any more when faced with daily barrage of American white lies about China. In his article in the Straits Times titled, ‘Is China really cheating?’, he wrote these two paragraphs to start his dismissal of the white lies.
 
‘Repetition breeds reality. Such is the case with allegations the United States has leveled at China in their budding economic cold war.
 
Across the American political spectrum, it is now taken for granted that China forces US companies to transfer critical technology in order to do business on the mainland, engages in rampant hacking and theft of intellectual property (IP), and massively and unfairly subsidises its high tech industries – all of which contribute to fears that the country poses an existential threat to America’s prosperity.’
 
Roach ended his article with these two paragraphs,
 
‘China is far from perfect and must be held accountable for verifiable economic transgression. But America’s case against China is based on anecdotes and shaky evidence.
As a trade war now morphs into a cold war, the current US administration would be wise to stop relying on such “alternative facts” to wage its battles.’
 
The gist of the article is that the Americans have been making wild allegations based on fake information and hearsays not backed up by data and facts. American companies operating in China, under JVs, are willing partners that agreed to share technologies and trade secrets. No one is pointing a gun against any party in such joint ventures. They don’t have to operate in China, don’t have to do business in China. The allegation of force is hogwash.
 
The important point, as Roach said above, the daily and constant repetition of these allegations after a while would make the innocent readers take these allegations for granted. Many would shoot from their mouths using these allegations unconsciously as given fact or alternative truth, just like some bananas screaming that Kim Jong Un is a womanizer, a spent thrift, someone who drowns himself with luxury while his people suffer from poverty, that he is a murderer, etc etc. They spout such nonsense without thinking because the Americans have been planting these ideas in their heads through repetitive postings in the main media.
 
Living under the white lies is one thing, making a fool of oneself by quoting the white lies as the truth is another. Asians must start thinking and not make a fool of themselves by allowing the Americans and the West to plant their white lies in their heads as if they are the truths. Many Asians have been made a fool of by relying on western media and living under the spell of white lies without noticing them and strutting around like they are well informed, but actually well fed by white lies.
 
Grow up and start thinking. It is so pathetic that after all the education and exposure to the world and could still fall victims to fake news, misinformation and white lies. Even an American professor could not stand this nonsense anymore. The biggest culprit in propagating these white lies and fake news is the main media. Period.

SingHealth hacker known: Iswaran

The govt has confirmed that they knew the hacker of SingHealth confidential data of its patients. It disclosed that ‘the attacker was skilled and sophisticated, and had the characteristics typical of an advanced persistent threat group, usually state-linked’. The govt has taken appropriate action but would not identify the attacker due to security reasons. Ooooh, why so?
 
Iswaran was quoted in thenewpaper as saying, ‘We want to ensure that all Singaporeans understand that we’ve got nothing to hide here, we want to get to the bottom of it as much as Singaporeans do.’ But the govt would hide the identity of the attacker, at least this is what the govt has done, nothing to hide except for this.
 
Who is the attacker, he used this in singular form, an individual or a single country? Why is it so secretive that the attacker cannot be revealed? He is someone very important that revealing his identity would be very embarrassing? Is he someone we know, we trusted but played out Singapore? Could he be a hired foreign talent still in Singapore that would result in many red faces, or a Singaporean or a new citizen?
 
Or is the attacker a country, a friendly country that we trusted as our good friend but again played us out by screwing our ass? Or is the attacker country our enemy, too big to offend, we are afraid to offend other big country because we dare not punch above our weight? We are a small country and must shut up, no more loudspeaker politics? I think taking such a meek stand would only encourage the offender to continue to hack into our system knowing that we can only blow hot air but unable to fight back, we are afraid.
 
Would it not be better to make it public for all to see who the attacker was, friend or foe, to embarrass them so that they would not dare to create mischief against us again? Remember the time when LKY exposed the Americans for trying to bribe him just to embarrass the Americans to prevent them from thinking that it was ok to do such mischievous act?
 
What is so secretive or embarrassing that the culprit cannot be named? Someone’s identity needs to be protected, the attacker’s identity needs to be protected? Whose interest is being protected by this non disclosure? Is the attacker a minor so cannot be named?
 
Weird! BTH.
 
PS. I agree with many of the comments here that this is not funny but fishy. What is the govt afraid of? No more balls in between the legs?

Trump declares end of policeman role for the US

"It's not fair when the burden is all on us," he said. "We don't want to be taken advantage of any more by countries that use us and use our incredible military to protect them. They don't pay for it and they're going to have to."
 
"We are spread out all over the world. We are in countries most people haven't even heard about. Frankly, it's ridiculous," he added.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/trump-declares-end-to-us-policeman-role-in-surprise-iraq-visit-11065108

The above comment is even more ridiculous, disinformation and misinformation. The American troops are all over the world because the Americans demanded and dictated to those countries for their troops to be there, to protect the American Empire, not to protect those countries. American troops in those countries made those countries top targets for a military strike in the event of war with the USA.
 
Now Trump is still pretending that the troops were there at the request of the respective countries and so they must pay. The people that need to pay for the privilege of stationing soldiers and military weapons in other people’s countries are the Americans. If the Americans cannot afford to pay, then they must give up the right to station in those countries.
 
Countries offering their land to foreign soldiers are compromising on their own safety and security and dignity as independent countries. Some are in cahoot with the Americans to serve the American interests in containing American enemies like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The South Koreans and Japanese would not want the American bases in their countries and with the Americans commanding their national armed forces. Japan does not need American protection. They were the conquerors of Asia in WW2 and even attempted to conquer the USA.
 
Did Trump really believe in this white lie, that the countries wanted American bases and American soldiers in their soil? The only country that needs American soldiers and bases is Israel. Without the American bases and soldiers, Israel does not stand a chance against the Arab neighbours. They would be burnt to the ground.
 
Trump can prove this point simply by demanding payment for American bases and soldiers and see if there are any takers? The South Koreans already refused to pay. Would the Diego Garcians and islanders want to pay for the American base in their islands, in Guam? Would any proud Asean country want to have American bases in their soil? The Pinoys chased out the Americans, Vietnam chased out the Americans. Would Malaysia and Indonesia ask the Americans to base in their countries against their national pride?
 
What policeman of the world? It is policing and controlling the world for the American Empire.

Trump – The Great Wall of America!

Trump is going to spend US$5.6b to build a Great Wall of America, 2,000 km long to rival the Great Wall of China. The only similarity between these two Walls is that they are both called Walls. When the Chinese built their Great Wall, it was to keep the barbarians out, to stave off the marauding hordes from invading China, killing and looting China.
 
The intent and purpose of the Trump Great Wall are totally different. It is to keep migrants, like the pioneer white Europeans, from finding a better life in the land of the free. The USA is a land of the free, a land taken free, seized from the native Americans, without paying a single cent, for the poor European migrants to start life anew. Now the North Americans are going to keep away southern Americans, the Mexicans and the lots that are American natives and have more rights to live in the land of the free, their land, to start a new life. What an irony and unfair proposition.
 
The migrants are just normal people, not barbarians or marauding hordes wanting to invade the USA, to kill North Americans. They just want to live and work in the USA, nothing more, nothing less. What is so bad, so evil, that the Trump Administration wants to spend US$5.6b to keep these people out, mothers, children and their parents? And it is not just the Trump Administration, all the European Americans are in favour of the Wall to keep the migrants out, but in different forms or different kinds of walls.
 
Come on Americans, you stole the land from the native Americans. It is only reasonable to share this stolen land, the land of the free, free land, with free people that just want to live there like every one of you.
It is selfish, devious, against human rights and liberty and against what the Statue of Liberty stands for, welcome immigrants to the land of the free. At least in Singapore we are opening our little piece of rock to the rest of the world. We are going to pump in migrants, several times our local population, to fill up the island, to share the island with all who wants to come here and to become owners of this piece of rock. Our piece of rock belongs to everyone that comes here. The Americans must learn from Singapore, be unselfish, be enlighten, be generous, you have a continent of land and can welcome hundreds of millions to the stolen free land. Singapore is only a piece of rock but we have no problem bringing in the millions, no need to build any walls to keep out the migrants. We welcome all migrants. We even gave them good jobs, top jobs, never mind our own PMETs going jobless or become taxi drivers and cleaners.
 
Shame on you, Americans. After stealing the land from the natives you are keeping the natives out of their homeland. Most of the migrants are original people of the Americas, they are not Europeans that came and stole their land.

US is Untrustworthy. China should not put too much hope in the US-China Trade Talks

You  can never trust the white Americans. The Native American Indians have been warning us since a few hundred years ago. There are a million and one reasons not to trust them. 

The native Americans warn us, "White men speak with fork tongues and can never be trusted."  They had earlier trusted the European invaders and marauders to their great disconcert. When the first hordes of European invaders landed in America four hundred years ago the natives went all out to help them to settle down, giving them food, shelter and lodging and helping them in farming, fishing and hunting. They would soon learnt a painful lesson a decade or two later  after white men's first landings when the European invaders turned on them, kill them and took over their lands, farms and villages. Since then it has been over four hundred years and  a total aggregate of over eighty-five million natives or 98 percent of the native population have been killed and butchered. To add insult to injury the white European invaders from England, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland  stigmatised the natives as savages and not themselves the marauding invaders.

The point at issue now is despite all the glaring facts and evidences that white American Evil Empire is inherently evil and wicked and cannot be relied and trusted yet many misinformed or disinformed people in third world countries especially the self interest and self aggrandize intellectuals and politicians who are constantly pounded by heavy American propaganda tend to believe and take the side of the Evil Empire in its disputes or issues vis-a-vis third countries such as Russia, China. Iran, Cuba or Venezuella, Many of these grotesque  fools and idiots manage to maneuver themselves into positions of power in the government  in third world countries or if they are intellectuals finding themselves in high pay positions in the universities and institutes of higher and international studies working as lecturers, department heads or leaders and advisers , These intellectuals are American 5th columns and there is an abundance of them in Singapore earning high salaries at the expense of Singapore tax payers and yet ironically to the detriment of Singapore's interest.

Below are some of the points why white men and the American Evil Empire cannot be trusted. The Evil Empire has been using various insidious sinister doctrines to justify their land grab, power and killings.

In the beginning when they first went to America they justified their invasion and genocide of natives by their "Doctrine of Christian Discovery. I will not delve into that doctrine as it is now quite well known and moreover Redbean, myself and others had written quite substantially about it before.

After mopping up all the self-governing native Indian states they propounded the doctrine of " American Manifest Destiny" the right to expand the empire  to conquer Mexico and to conquer  across the Pacific Ocean . The result of this doctrine were the wars on Mexico ( 1840s to 1890s ) and Hawaii in which Mexico lost one million six hundred and sixty-five thousand  square miles of territory to the United States viz the present states of Texas, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and California. Hawaii was attacked and invaded in 1895 and officially annexed by the Evil Empire in 1957.

During the British Opium Wars against China in the 1830s and 1850s the Evil Empire even thought of expanding its Manifest Destiny  to involve taking over China under its rule to cater for the export of its abundant manufacturing products. The then Evil Empire was one of the western rogue countries which pushed the illicit and clandestine opium trade on China and thus making hundreds of millions of silver dollars in profits annually. In fact from the 1840s to 1930s American infrastructures , the railways, roads, ports and cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco were built with Chinese blood money from illicit opium trade.

China should not put too much hope on the present US-China Trade Talks. Talks and negotiations are used by white men to buy time to build up their strength and strategy. As soon as they feel they have the upper hand and are in a better and superior position they have no qualms in breaking up any treaties or commitment they had signed or agreed earlier. 

There are endless and countless examples of broken treaties by the Evil Empire. Recently US broke a nuclear arm treaty signed in 1985 between president Gorbachev of Russia and US president Ronald Reagan. 

 President George Bush Jr broke up a treaty signed by president Clinton with North Korea in 1994 , an agreement on terms and conditions that required DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapon research facilities on conditions that US would help DPRK to build up a civillian nuclear power station to generate electricity for North Korea. While DPRK responsibly kept to its agreement, US recoiled from the agreement with spurious excuses. President Trump announced that US would withdraw its troops from Syria . A few days later he went back on his words to play a different tune that US would not pull out its troops from Syria after much pressure from warhawk generals in the Pentagon and the Jewish American John Bolton who like most American Jews in high positions of power have shown more loyalty to Israel than to America.

The US unilateral abrogation of JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran in which it was a signatory broke international law of the United Nations Security Resolution 2231. The kidnapping of Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou by Canada at the behest of US shows US broke international law 2231 by applying its own domestic laws on others as illegally applying extraterritorial powers.

So the Evil Empire can sign any treaties or agreements and break them at will at its convenience with impunity.

In the present US-China trade talks US is adopting a rigid hardened policies towards China. It is treating as if China is a colony or semi-colony of the US and must accept all the nefarious terms brought to the table by the Evil Empire. If China accedes to American terms and demands then it is like China would have lost its independence and sovereignty and is under US dictates as had happened over a hundred years ago during the Opium Wars of 1830s and 1850s when China was reduced to a quasi colony status of many western caucasian countries which exercised extra-territorial rights against a weak and hapless China.

In the present trade talks US is dictating to China to restructure her companies and business according to terms put forth by the US. This shows US is not sincere in the trade talks. It is using trade negotiations as a plot to  weaken Chinese trade, commerce and industrial prowess and vitality so that US and the west will once more be able to exploit the Chinese economy to the advantage and benefits of US and the western countries. US and its allies are now behaving like parasites and China should adopt due deligence and be wary of them.

China and the Chinese people have every confidence in the astute Chinese leaders to hold their own against US intrigues. They will never negotiate under US threats and pressure and will not accept any insidious terms and conditions detrimental to China.

US must stop thinking it can still arm twisting China to accept its one sided and lopsided deal. Today China will negotiate from a position of strength. Other than the military. China is not inferior to US or the west in economic, scientific and technological development. Should the US dare to declare war on China it would be suicidal for US and the west for China is more than capable of immediate total nuclear reprisal.

What is so lamentable is the self appointed critique of the US-China trade talks by a bunch of slavish obsequious pro-US and anti-China intellectuals in many of the Singapore institutes of higher learnings and international studies calling themselves as analysts of international relations. They show empathy with the US in the US-China trade talks and tend to pick issues with China on all matters concerning China and the US. They invariably post slanted views, ideas and expressions against China which show that they hold strong morbid bias and hatred for China and the Chinese people. They even openly hope that a second Trump-Kim meeting in Vietnam will augment the future alignment of North Korea with US against China. These numbskulls should be made to fight in the front lines of any war to face reality.

An ex-Singapore Indian diplomat who is well known for his hostility towards China is in this camp and he holds similar views. This horde of anti-China pseudo intellectuals is a liability to Singapore and is anathema to Singapore's hope and intent of building a good relationship with China. If Singapore hopes to ride on the Chinese bandwagon of economic development which is now the economic engine of growth vital to the economic development of third world  countries then Singapore must ensure that these dishonourable critiques behave responsibly or be asked to leave  their posts.

On the other hand Singapore regretably had lost the notable service of Kishore Mahubani, a great Singapore diplomat and previous Singapore ambassador to US and the United Nations. Mahubani's crystal clear intellect and great wisdom is not only an asset to Singapore but also an asset to Asia, Asean and the third world at large. He is a man of peace and mince no words when in many of his speeches and lectures he implied diplomatically  that the source of all the world's problems and 

troubles lies with US and its western allies and that there will be no peace unless they change their odious insidious behaviour and attitude.

Southernglory1

Monday, 14th January, 2019