Grandpa Xi is looking for an English-speaking ghost writer to write the “The Real Art of the Deal” which he intends to be a sequel to Trump’s “The Art of the Deal”. No need to be able to speak or write Mandarin. The ability to write entertainingly in English is all that is required.
Xi thinks that he trumps Trump in deal-making. And who can blame him?
Trump got screwed: China is not honouring its “phase one” import commitments.
Goldman Sachs now expects US GDP to expand 6.6% this year, with the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.5″. No wonder markets are flying.
Beat that Loser Trump. Sleepy Joe trumps Loser Trump
Trump wasn’t Putin’s chimp, but was Xi’s running dog.
No wonder Trump’s a LOSER. US equity markets kept moving up after Biden’s inaugration, somepthing the Koser tried to stop, He failed.
As Biden is a Catholic, is he asking the Pope to do an exorcism to ensure that no traces of the Trump genie remains? They are both no friends of capitalism, the Trump version. The Pope may even be a closet Marxist.
No, nothing so spectacular. It’s more prosaic.
The UK’s Mail on Sunday reports that the US President-elect has asked that the White House be deep-cleaned, after Donald Trump leaves in January. A spokesman for Joe Biden’s transition team says this is because “Mr Trump’s administration has been riddled with coronavirus”. The spokesman says a team in protective clothing will go as far as replacing door knobs and removing soft furnishings.
The fifth and most recent translation in China of Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal”.was published in 2016 by the Communist Youth League.
No wonder Trump Corp has a Chinese bank account. LOL.
Lessons Trump learnt from other bad losers
[S]pit and stamp like Rumpelstiltskin? … [P]rotest about the unfairness of the universe, like the water-soluble Wicked Witch of the West? “Oh what a world, what a world,” she wails, on discovering that she occupies a reality in which little girls can liquidate regimes that run on black magic and flying monkeys.
https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/11/09/lessons-in-losing-from-cleopatra-to-thatcher
But no bleach or hydroxychloroquine which he had recommended to Americans. President Donald Trump finished a regimen of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine “without side effects,” a White House doctor said in June.
So why didn’t he keep taking it?
And why was he given it recently?
SAD.
The editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, Hu Xijin, tweeted in English: “President Trump and the First Lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the Covid-19.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54376618
For those not in the know, the Global Times is the Chinese govt’s equivalent of the progressives’ New York Times and the Guardian, and the S’pore govt’s Straits Times: whatever the masters want, they’ll parrot unthinkingly.
And to my mind, the Chinese are right. He’s paying the price of saying, “The risk is very, very low”, “Covid? I’m not concerned” and “Infections will be close to zero”. His words are is awkward for The Donald.
Karma is a bitch. “Kung flu” aka “China virus” has floored the “stable genius”.
UBS researchers looked at how ESG investments fared under the Trump presidency: he comes across as a Woke.
That’s the latest name Trump has called the virus causing the global pandemic.
He first called it the “China” virus, then the “Wuhan” virus and now the “kung flu”.
Very clear who he is blaming for over 2.3m Americans catching the virus and killing over 120,000 of them.
China reacted angrily after US President Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus”.
The foreign ministry spokesman warned the US should “take care of its own business” before putting the blame on China.
But let’s not forget that last week the same Chinese foreign ministry spokesman shared a conspiracy theory, which alleged the US Army had brought the virus into Wuhan.
The allegation seems to imply that the US has a time machine, enabling it bring a dead body containing the virus from the US this year into Wuhan in December 2019.
Whatever, the US secretary of state was not amused and took umbrage that a Chinese official was giving credence to the allegation by talking about it. Btw, secretary of state Mike Pompeo regularly, like me, refers to the virus as “the Wuhan virus”.
So maybe China is right to be upset?
Related post:
The first case could have on 1 December, not 31 December 2019.
Wuhan virus: Jialat, if this true
Trump had suggested on Thursday that the Chinese authorities could help dig up dirt on Mr Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in China. Trump is already facing a very rapidly escalating political crisis because of an impeachment inquiry.
The impeachment inquiry focuses on a whistleblower’s claim that the president put pressure on the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, the former vice-president and his potential rival in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump has now exacerbated the situation by asking for help from China, a nation that his own White House labelled a “revisionary power”.
Here’s what the BBC says:
What about the Bidens in China?
In 2013, then vice-president Mr Biden went to China on an official visit, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials.
Hunter Biden and his daughter joined the vice-president, who had travelled with family members before.
During the two-day visit, Hunter met a Chinese banker, Jonathan Li, who would eventually become a business partner.
Mr Li founded a private equity fund shortly after the trip, and Hunter was on the board, although a spokesman for the younger Mr Biden told NBC News they did not discuss any business during the trip and the fund had been planned months earlier.
Hunter Biden was also not an equity owner in the fund during his father’s term as vice-president, according to the spokesman.
Hunter has denied meeting any Chinese officials about the business. However, he reportedly helped arrange for Mr Li to shake hands with Joe Biden during his trip to Beijing, which stoked claims of influence-peddling.
This August, Republican Senator and Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley questioned Hunter’s actions on the trip.
He said the younger Biden had a “history of investing in and collaborating with Chinese companies, including at least one posing significant national security concerns”.
There is also a story that a Chinese SWF invested a billion US$ in a hedge fund connected to Hunter. No credible evidence of this.
Or to be a lot more accurate, will the US Congress pass “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act”?
The proposed bill would allow the US government to place sanctions on Chinese officials who “suppress basic freedoms” in Hong Kong and would require it to regularly certify the city’s “high degree of autonomy” in order for it to continue to enjoy preferential trade and investment policies not available to mainland China.
Last weekend, there was the usual massive peaceful protest followed by small scale but very violent riots. HK protesters were marching, asking the US congress to pass the above act. Many of the marchers, from elderly retirees, young families and students, carried US flags, or placards bearing the face of Donald Trump to call on the him to support them.
————————————————————————————–
How Hongkies justify flying US flag
The US flag is about freedom and bravery,” said one, a 30-year-old who gave his name as Peter. “It’s not about supporting the US government, it’s about the value behind the flag no matter who the US president is at the time. The flag and the freedom doesn’t change.
Quote from FT
Tun manufacturing another row to stir his anti-PAP S’porean fans?
Btw, carrying placards with The Donald’s face on them is a smart way of currying his favour. He can tell Xi, “I’m more popular then you in Hong Kong.”
—————————————————————-
The US Congress will return this week after its summer recess. The Hong Kong bill has widespread bipartisan support.
China’s leaders must either respect Hong Kong’s autonomy and rule of law or know that their escalating aggression will inexorably lead them to face swift, severe and lasting consequences from the United States and the world. Today, that choice is theirs.”
Marco Rubio, a former US presidential candidate and co-sponsor of the bill.
Another example of the Americans’ attitude: Americans and Chinese lay down the law to HK
An unstable one even if he calls himself “a stable genius”.
Mr Trump has portrayed the Fed chief as an economic threat, and few people have come to the central banker’s support. Recently, The Donald called dubbed Mr Powell the “golfer who can’t put”. Populists side with Trump, while Democrats and progressives don’t want to be seen as defenders of Wall St. They think the Fed is more interested in protecting Wall St, not Main St.
Karen Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, says Mr Trump has set up Mr Powell for blame if, or when, things go wrong. For all the president’s contradictions, he’s a master of political reality, she says.
Mr Trump doesn’t care what rates are. He cares about who voters think is to blame for slower growth and market turmoil, and he is determined to be sure it isn’t him,” she said. “What’s an astute politician to do? Find a fall guy distrusted by Republicans, Democrats, independents, populists, and progressives.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49415776
In addition to the Fed’s focus on balancing inflation against employment, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is dealing with two other sources of stress. Investors have been critical of how he communicates policy and The Donald has been demanding, more aggressive by the day, for more monetary accommodation via interest rate cuts and quantitative easing.
Powell has juz given Trump the finger.
Powell has now called the current era of Fed history the “emerging new normal”, and said it offered three challenges: low inflation, financial risks, and how the Fed can support economic growth when interest rates are already so low. The Fed, he added, “faces heightened risks of lengthy, difficult-to-escape periods in which our policy interest rate is pinned near zero.”
How to support economic growth when interest rates are already so low is an important question for central bankers all over the world. They had gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to among other things, discuss whether policy rates have any effect on the real economy.
With his historical timeline, Mr Powell offered an answer to both. The current era of slower growth, downward pressure on inflation, and lower interest rates is the consequence of long-term trends. And there is not much the Fed can do right now to help.
It’s a very pessimistic (and hawkish: nothing much can be done) speech.
Here’s how the Economist put it
He spoke of the difficulty the Fed faced in assessing and responding to Mr Trump’s trade war. And he mentioned that if interest rates globally remain near zero, then central banks may need new policies. But on the subject of the moment—what the Fed will do next—he gave little away. “We will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labour market and inflation near its symmetric 2% objective,” he said.
Mr Powell may have felt he could say little more, given the disagreement within the Fed. But both the recent minutes and the speech today devoted more words to the possibility that low rates might contribute to financial instability than has recently been the norm in the Fed’s discussions. That may be a sign of more determined opposition to additional easing than recognised hitherto.
And btw, Trump’s not that dumb
At least one observer felt the hawkish overtones of the speech to be crystal clear. “As usual, the Fed did NOTHING!” Mr Trump tweeted after Mr Powell’s remarks. “My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?” The president thus cast a longer shadow than the Tetons over the day’s events.
How all this impacts us:
S’pore: the canary in the coalmine/ Is the ground sweet for the PAP?
Latest “bad” economic data is really “gd” news for PAP
“Only cold spell coming, but not Winter,” says Heng
Ground is not sweet economically/ Authorities may have to do something but no gd options
Chinese businesses were obeying Trump even before Trump tweeted to US cos, (not Chinese cos)
Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies home and making your products in the USA.
Chinese companies are following MNCs in leaving China, and using alternative production bases to mitigate the impact of the trade war with the US
Since last June, 33 listed companies have informed China’s two stock exchanges of their plans to set up or expand production abroad, according to data compiled by the Nikkei Asian Review.
To be fair to them, multiple rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods are only part of the equation. Rising wages and other costs, are prompting Chinese companies to move out of the country.
He didn’t know tariffs on Chinese imports hurt Apple but helped Samsung.
US President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Apple’s Chief Executive Tim Cook about the impact of US tariffs on Chinese imports – and how those duties could give an edge to rival Samsung.
Mr Trump said Mr Cook “made a good case” that the tariffs could hurt Apple, given Samsung’s products wouldn’t be subject to the duties.
“I thought he made a very compelling argument, so I’m thinking about it,” said Mr Trump.
The US is due to impose tariffs on an additional $300bn (£246.9bn) worth of Chinese products this year, even after the Trump administration recently said it would delay imposing tariffs on goods such as mobile phones, laptops, video game consoles and computer monitors until 15 December.
Trump wants a weaker US$: Another reason for Trump to be upset with UK.
But as Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors said his plans to impose a fresh 10% tariff on another US$300bn of Chinese products will result in a further strengthening of the US dollar – already at a two-year high before the tariff announcement – “as investors inevitably rush for its perceived safety”.
“Furthermore, US tariffs will weaken China’s economy and others that are intricately tied to China’s supply chains, putting downward pressure on their currencies and upward pressure on the US dollar.
“The reality is that the US has a far greater ability to control its own currency than Europe, which is beset with problems including Italian instability, an unbalanced economy across the bloc and fiscal tightness. At some point, the Trump administration may realise that the most effective and beneficial route to weakening the US dollar will be correcting the underlying fundamentals, not intervention.
“The quickest route to a cheaper dollar is ending the trade war”.
Trump realises that S’pore’s freeloading off the US, and has told the US trade representative to fix the freeloading. The good news is that China and a whole host of countries are in the same situation.
In a memo to Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, on Friday, Mr Trump has yet again attacked the World Trade Organization, saying it allowed too many countries to claim the status of a developing economy and special treatment that is damaging the global trading system (i.e. damaging America).
As well as usual suspect China, he mentioned other countries that he thought should not be classified as developing., This included S’pore and two other Asian city-states such as Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He also said Turkey, South Korea and Mexico claimed the status of a developing nation, even though they were part of the OECD group of advanced economies. On these three countries I agree with him that their status of “developing nation” is illogical.
What about India meh? Can developing nation afford to send robots to the moon, even if the rocket is rubbish? Failed to launch first time. Had to repeat. Secret Squirrel’s sidekick, Morocco Mole, says his Indian cousin twice removed says the fault lay with made-in-India software. And we still relying on Indian software expertise for projects like SingPass? Re: SingPass technical support versus that of OCBC and HSBC and SingPass sucks, really sucks. (To be fair to SingPass, it does work well after one gets into the system. But getting to that stage was a struggle as the posts show.)
He reminded the benefits that came from having developing economy status at the WTO, including procedural advantages in disputes, softer tariff cuts, the ability to maintain export subsidies and weaker commitments in negotiations.
Related posts:
If China withdraws behind the Great Walls
Why Sino-US Cold War is great for our economy
Donald Trump appeared at a right-wing rally in front of a fake presidential seal, doctored to make apparently satiric references to Russiaand golf.
The tweaked image flashed up on a screen behind the president as he spoke to a summit hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USAin Washington earlier this week.
The normally solitary bald eagle was seen with two heads, made to resemble the two-headed bird on the official Russian coat of arms in a mocking nod to Mr Trump’s woes with investigations into Moscow’s election meddling.
Organisers said they didn’t know how it happened: “An honest mistake”?
Not surprising this behaviour from a Muslim woman Democrat.
Democrat Rashida Tlaib courted controversy when she used explicit language while calling for the president’s impeachment.
[…]
Michigan’s Ms Tlaib made the remark to supporters at a reception hours after she was sworn in on Thursday as one of the first two Muslim women members of Congress.
And better still for Trump, she had to be of Palestinian origin
Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib has been sworn into office while wearing a traditional garment stitched by her Palestinian-born mother.
Ms Tlaib had been expected to take her oath on a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson, but changed her mind, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Ms Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar became the first-ever Muslim female members of Congress on Thursday.
What is surprising is that The Donald was so restraint in his reaction.
The Republican president called her comments “highly disrespectful” to the US in a news conference on Friday.
“I thought her comments were disgraceful. This is a person I don’t know, I assume she’s new,” he told reporters.
“I think she dishonoured herself and dishonoured her family using language like that in front of her son and whoever else was there.”
BBC
He could have thrown red meat at his fans by tweeting. “I’m right to want to exclude Muslims from US. MAGA.” and “Had to be Muslim, Palestinian and Democrat congresswoman. MAGA”.
What a f *** moron:
The US exported more petroleum than it imported for the first time in decades last week, marking an astonishing if momentary reversal from its longtime status as the world’s largest oil importer.
FT last week
Announcing OPEC’s production cuts, the Saudi oil minister alluded to US exports by saying that US shale producers also benefit from an OPEC production cut.
Stable genius? What stable genius?
OK sort of.
Look at this and tell me if Trump loves polluting the atmosphere as the media alleges?. I mean he’s a lot more green that the EU and Grandpa Xi. His bark (He is sceptical about climate change and loves “beautiful, clean” coal) is worse than his bite.
The real “natural aristocrats” not the PAP version as exemplified by the PAP yesterday.
Denise Coates
Ownself pay ownself 220m £220m last year but it’s her own money.
Bet365 was established by Ms Coates in 2000, when she started to transform a small chain of betting shops in Stoke in central England owned by her father Peter, into an online betting giant.
She realised punters were avoiding shops and betting on mobile devices. Meanwhile, online gambling bans in other major countries, such as the US, China and India, had made Europe home to the world’s biggest companies for placing wagers via the internet.
FT
Btw she has a first-class degree in econometrics from a red brick Uk university.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama
She
was born in Chicago’s South Side, to a poor but aspirational and tightly knit family who poured every spare dollar and iota of energy into their children — even while her father, a boiler engineer, struggled with multiple sclerosis. That parental support, along with her penchant for obsessive planning, propelled her to a selective “magnet” high school, then Princeton and Harvard Law School, on scholarships. She returned to Chicago as a lawyer at Sidley Austin, seemingly destined for a stable, prosperous, middle class life — a striking feat, in itself, for a black woman from the wrong side of the tracks.
Her life famously changed when she was asked to mentor another upwardly mobile black Harvard Law School student, Barack Obama.
Donald Trump
OK he became a billionaire because of pa’s money and connections. But remember his casinos etc went under and he had to sell his yacht and Trump One. But he reinvented himself as reality tv star, and with help from Deutsche Bank (His cos owed money to Wall St’s finest who didn’t want to know him after his cos went bankrupt) regained billionaire status, and then became POTUS beating the shit out of Hilary Clinton who behaved like a PAP aristocrat.
Yesterday, the renminbi touched Rmb6.9462 to the dollar, its weakest level since 2008 on Friday.
The cont’d rise and then collapse of renminbi during Xi’ reign (starting in Nov 2012). When Trump became president the renminbi rose, then collapsed.
I kid u not.
The top three fastest-growing languages Indian. And there’s another four Indian languages in the top 10 fastest-growing languages (Chinese in only 7th).
And Indians vote for Trump.
United States of India?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-45902204
And notice that Muslims (Arabic speakers) are up there too.
Not if u only read our constructive nation building (OK, OK, I don’t read BT) or TOC and other anti PAP publications.
What this means
A sharp and sustained rise in oil is one of the nastiest taxes on growth you can get.
FT columnist
So expect GDP growth here and elsewhere to slow down if oil doesn’t fall back to below US$80 (Top of trading range for this yr until late Sept).
Buy Keppel, and SembCorp listcos. And take a punt on the penny stocks in O&M sector?
Whatever, shows Trump is “stable genius”. His much criticised tax cuts earlier this yr, will help cushion the US consumer (and hence the world) againsat this oil price oil if it persists.
Trump’s serious about a trade war and Alibaba’s Jack Ma warns trade war could last 20 years.
Big league conference moved here from Beijing
Fallout from the trade war between the United States and China has prompted billionaire media executive Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, to relocate a conference of global business and political leaders from Beijing to Singapore.
The event, touted as a rival to Davos, the elite annual conclave in Switzerland, is to take place in Singapore over two days in the first week of November.
Mr Bloomberg made the decision after a Chinese partner last week asked the organisers in New York to postpone the event, according to people with knowledge of the planning.
PAP govt must be doing shumething right, right?
Joyce and her dad have only recently found that the speakers they make in their Chinese factory could see a 25% tariff placed on them when they are sold in the US. Speakers are on the most recent list issued by Washington that targets $200bn worth of Chinese goods.
The tariffs have yet to come into effect – in fact, they are currently only under consideration – but both Joyce and her dad are extremely worried about the impact on their company. More than half of their business in China consists of producing speakers for the US market.
Fortunately they have a plant in Vietnam:
they are already thinking of moving their production to Vietnam to mitigate the Chinese tariff threat.
Still they’ll suffer as these things take time.
Let’s wish them all the best.
“I know he’s a good general, but is he lucky?”
Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, 1642-61, said the question to ask of a general is not, “Est-il habile?” Is he skilful? but “Est-il heureux?” Is he lucky?
Well Hilary certainly is not lucky.
If she had won, she’d have inherited a good economy. So good that
Walmart’s chief executive, said: “Customers tell us that they feel better about the current health of the US economy as well as their personal finances. They’re more confident about their employment opportunities.”
Mr McMillon’s comments echoed those from other retail sector bosses that have posted decent figures in recent days.
FT
Instead the Donald inherited the labours of a black man and his team.
The economy was going to be great guns and the tax cuts and deregulation is turbo charging making it in danger of overheating. The Democrats will inherit a bad economy, again.
The Republicans are lucky again.
No wonder the US progressives are so angry. Maybe they should start believing in a Christian God again?
OK, OK it’s Ownself pay Ownself’s Fees.
China imposed a 25% tariff on US soya beans as part of the trade war, and a ship carrying soya beans from the US failed to dock in time to beat the tariff imposition.
One for the Xi?
Well a few weeks later, with the ship still hanging round the Chinese coast, the Chinese customer, state-owned conglomerate Sinograin is paying the US$6m tariff bill so it can get the beans.
More ships are on the way from the US.
FT
One for the Trump.
Last night, S&P 500 gained 0.4%, eyes record high
Earlier in the day Trump ramped up trade rhetoric, and Chinese stocks slid (the CSI 300 index of big stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 1.3%). Yuan kept falling.
Meanwhile reports keep coming out from Beijing that Xi is being criticised for going against a former principle of Chinese statecraft
Maintain a low profile. Never take the lead – but aim to do something big.
Deng Xiaoping
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump said the US market was “stronger than ever”, while the Chinese market “has dropped 27 per cent in last 4 months, and they are talking to us”.
He’s wrong about the “4 months” though: Chinese stocks have lost $2.29tn in value since their high in January, falling 27%.
The transition away from easy money has always seemed the most perilous step of the plan to deal with the crisis of 2008
Well with US growing at 4.1% thanks in large part to the tax cut that Trump pushed for, the transition is proving less perilous.
Still plenty of things can go wrong as the volatility in markets show but a growing US ecomony helps keep investores sanguine.
Think about it.
The EU is really having problems getting its economy to fire.
The Chinese are trying to deleverage the economy (all those debts) but afraid that moving too fast could cause a really bad economic slowdown or recession leading to riots.
Meanwhile the US economy is firing on all cylinders, rocket-boosted by tax cuts. It might overheat.
So a trade war now for the US could cause the US to cool down while causing serious damage to Europe and China.
What better time then now for the US to start a war that damages everyone but affects it least?
Trump’s not a dotard after all?
U.S. companies operating in China earn hundred of billions of dollars a year whereas Chinese companies make only 26 billions a year in U.S. Who benefits more?
Comment that is among Editor’s Picks in FT
And don’t forget that the Chinese lend the money (at really low rates) to the Americans to buy Chinese goods.
Think about these points when next Trump or US biz leaders complain of Chinese stealing US technology or forcing US cos to share “secrets”.
On June 19th Mr Trump said he would slap a 10% tariff on an additional $200bn worth of Chinese goods. The new policy, which followed an announcement by the White House on June 15th that it would push forward with the original tariffs announced in March, sent markets plummeting. Stock exchanges fell around the world, from Tokyo to London to New York. Unsurprisingly, the losses were most acute in China, where the Hang Seng share index closed down 3% and exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell by 4% and 5%.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/20/americas-trade-spats-are-rattling-markets
Falls in US were peanuts compared to Chinese, HK because as Reuters Breakingnewsputs it
Any [Chinese] reprisals probably would have a limited effect on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other stock indexes. Though Apple generates about a fifth of its top line in China, listed U.S. companies overall find only about 4 percent of their revenue in the People’s Republic, according to Morgan Stanley research. And it’s far-fetched to think China will stop buying Boeing aircraft or Intel chips.
.“I have no plans to go and see him,” Dr Mahathir said of Mr Trump, whom he called volatile. “I don’t know how I can deal with a person who is so much like a chameleon.”
NYT
Remember this
“The belief that I dismissed him because I was afraid he would oust me is without basis. I dismissed him for two reasons only: he was unsuitable to continue serving in the Government and he was unsuitable to succeed me as Prime Minister.” — Mahathir’s 2011 book “A Doctor in the House,” on his sacking of Anwar as his deputy during the Asian financial crisis. “I may have made many mistakes, but removing Anwar was not one of them.”
Then he said before the election he said he would make way (after serving two yrs as PM) for jailed opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim to be PM after Anwar is pardoned by the King. Now he’s hinting he’ll stay on on PM.
And like Trump he’s taking a long time to announce his full cabinet.
Oh and remember this? HSR: I was right wasn’t I?
Sounds like Tun is Asean’s Trump. All he needs to complete the comparison is a couple of buildings named Tun. Akan datang.
Looks like Najib was faking it when he hinted he and Trump were bros. Tun and Trump are the real bros deal.
For starters, they both remind me of this quote by another POTUS
Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one.”
Lyndon B. Johnson
For another this is what Augustine Low wrote on TRE
Dr Mahathir has a fundamental strategy not unlike that of the one that has served President Donald Trump very well. He keeps saying he wants to Restore Malaysia’s Glory (Trump’s motto is Make America Great Again). Dr Mahathir is moving at breakneck speed, racing against time to do what he tells Malaysians is necessary to bring back the glory days. What he says is gold and he has the backing of his countrymen and women because he is seen as a saviour who can do no wrong – at least for now.
Tun has the same communication strategy as Trump: Talk cock, Move fast, Break things,
Full piece
The risks of letting Mahathir be Mahathir in the age of social media
When Dr Mahathir Mohamad was last the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Lee Hsien Loong was not yet Prime Minister of Singapore, and social media was not yet the phenomenon it is today.
But it seems that the Singapore government is treating Dr Mahathir the way it did some 20 years ago: Let Mahathir be Mahathir, let him say and do what he wants, we’ll keep mum and we’ll only cross that bridge when we come to it.
With the social media, everything that Dr Mahathir says becomes instantaneously widespread. His remarks that “the people of Singapore, like the people of Malaysia, must be tired of having the same government, the same party since independence,” immediately became the talk of the town. Thanks to the fact that it was all over the Internet and social media applications such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in double quick time.
Singapore’s mainstream media did not even touch on those remarks. Because Singaporeans are not supposed to know? Because they would be deemed offensive by the government? Needless to say, such censorship does not hold sway anymore.
The government has always been quick to rebut criticism and unseemly comments, especially those seen as meddling in internal affairs. But it has kept mum about Mahathir’s provocative remarks about Singaporeans being “tired of having the same government” and about plans to build an island near Pedra Branca.
Dr Mahathir has tested the waters and sent out signals that he going to be combative, especially the way he called off the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail project – unilaterally, without even an official word to the Singapore government, displaying trademark nonchalance and disdain.
Dr Mahathir has a fundamental strategy not unlike that of the one that has served President Donald Trump very well. He keeps saying he wants to Restore Malaysia’s Glory (Trump’s motto is Make America Great Again). Dr Mahathir is moving at breakneck speed, racing against time to do what he tells Malaysians is necessary to bring back the glory days. What he says is gold and he has the backing of his countrymen and women because he is seen as a saviour who can do no wrong – at least for now.
Singapore’s strategy of letting things simmer down and take its course may no longer be relevant because the 92-year-old is a man in a hurry and the 24-hour news and social media cycle suits him just fine.
Clearly, the government is still trying to grapple with how to manage relations with Dr Mahathir. The strategy of two decades ago must be reworked.
Beyond showing their mettle and resolve, Singapore’s leaders also need to raise their game when it comes to agility and speed of response and communication.
Augustine Low
* The author is a proud but concerned citizen. Voicing independent, unplugged opinion is his contribution to citizen engagement.
As a banker, Mr Ross opted not to force the casino developer into bankruptcy.
FT
Wilbur Ross, billionaire, and US Commerce Secretary was that banker.
When Trump first called off the summit (Looks like it’s on again), one of the most popular Sina Weibo comments, receiving over 2,000 likes is from a user saying they are “gutted” that “the first international hair style competition has been cancelled in Singapore!” (BBC)
Oil fell last night to around US$76 when it was announced that Opec and Russia are set to boost oil output after Trump pressure.
Opec’s secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo said Mr Trump’s tweet last month had prompted the cartel to respond as “we pride ourselves as friends of the US”.
This appeared in the comments section of an FT article on Trump
Mouldover
The whole theatre of this presidency concentrates on promoting an image of a colossus commanding every aspect of society and government where the other branches of government are ineffectual and withering away. It is completely compatible with the roles of other totalitarian leaders such as President Xi and Putin. Probably President Trump changed his stance on ZTE purely to show that he also is not constrained by any rules just like President Xi. Thus the US is having the opportunity to see what command government can be like. It will be interesting to see what percentage of his support base supports this. He is surely shaking up Washington, and draining the swamp. However he didn’t say that he would not replace it with his own swamp and denizens. Hopefully the US military will not be bought by unlimited expenditure on their coveted weapons, however he is doing his best to get allies in law and order and the military fields. Hopefully he will not start a war to strengthen these relationships though that is the usual path taken by similar dictators as it polarises the country into believers and non believers as happened in the Iraq war. His actions in the Middle East are surely inflaming everything, and Israel might seize the opportunity to greatlly increase its power in the region and expand militarily. Thus this might be a prelude to more instability and gambling on his part, with extremely dangerous consequences, possibly with a view to influencing the coming election in November.
Seems the author of The Art of the Deal has been doing the wrong things: he breaks all but three of the tips of good negotiation listed below. But then he regained billionaire status after losing it: that in my book makes him a winner.
Whatever from FT
Top tips for good negotiation
Learn to empathise and put yourself in someone else’s shoes
Thorough preparation is essential. Make sure you do the necessary research on those parties with which you will be negotiating
Do not get too caught up in internal negotiations — negotiating among yourselves rather than with the party across the table
Learn to read your opponent
Communicate effectively. Never lie or exaggerate
Be patient and learn to listen
If both parties reach an impasse, bring other issues to the table
Learn to deal with difficult situations without being aggressive
Conduct a fair and respectful process
Know your bottom line and what your alternative is if your bottom line cannot be met
Trump’s tips (based on his tweets)
Learn to empathise and put yourself in someone else’s shoes
Thorough preparation is essential. Make sure you do the necessary research on those parties with which you will be negotiating
Do not get too caught up in internal negotiations — negotiating among yourselves rather than with the party across the table
Learn to read your opponent
Communicate effectively. Never lie or exaggerate
Be patient and learn to listen
If both parties reach an impasse, bring other issues to the table
Learn to deal with difficult situations without being aggressive
Conduct a fair and respectful process
Know your bottom line and what your alternative is if your bottom line cannot be met
Jagger
Trump’s choice of song to follow his victory speech when he became US president last year, the band’s You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
“It’s a funny song for a play-out song – a drowsy ballad about drugs in Chelsea! It’s kind of weird. He couldn’t be persuaded to use something else.”
Keith Richards got it right about Trump, 30 yrs ago
Keith Richards says he can’t be bothered to get angry any more – but the last time he did was nearly 30 years ago with Donald Trump.
“He [Trump] was the promoter for us in Atlantic City [during 1989’s Steel Wheels Tour],” he told the BBC.
“[It was billed as] ‘Donald Trump presents the Rolling Stones’ [with the band’s name written in miniature].”
“I got out my trusty blade, stuck it in the table and said: ‘You have to get rid of this man!'”
He joked: “Now America has to get rid of him. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
His fifth column in China, juz as China has US retailers and MNCs as their fifth column in the US (Don’t know what fifth column is? Think of what the PAP thinks of our ang moh tua kees esp one PJ Thum.).
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The u/m graphic from the BBC shows that experts think that S’pore is a possible venue for the summit between “Stable Genius” and “Little Rocket Man”. If this happens, mud in the eye for the siblings of PM and their anti-PAP allies. Lots of face for PM and S’pore.
James Matiss, the US Defence Secretary, had the nick-name “Mad Dog”. But as the BBC reports
The Daily Telegraph reports that President Trump considered a strike three times bigger than was launched on Syria last week – but was dissuaded by his defence secretary, James Matiss.
It highlights claims in the US media that the proposed attack could potentially have included targeting Russian air defence systems – as well as Iranian targets.
The reports say Mr Trump and his UN ambassador, Nikki Hayley, were both pushing for a more robust strike, but that Mr Mattis urged caution, warning of an escalation by Russia or Iran.
Btw, Obama fired Mattis as Commander Central Command (which covers the Middle East) because Obama tot that Mattis was provoking the Iranians into attacking US forces so that he could hit back. But then Obama was Wimp in Chief.
And given that Trump loves chaos (Trump is channelling Sun Tzu) he should adopt as Airforce One’s call sign “Chaos”: that was Mattis’s call sign.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
Winston Churchill
Well a modern day variant would be
You can always count on Trump to do the right thing – after he’s tweeted about everything else.
From NYT Dealbook
| Has Trump changed his mind about the TPP? |
| He once denounced the trade pact as “a rape of our country.” But his decision yesterday to reconsider joining — which surprised his own advisers — could hearten U.S. businesses and Republican lawmakers who supported it as one of the best ways to box in China. |
| Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, told Politico, “If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors.” |
| Free-trade backers may point to this reversal, as well as attempts to revise Nafta, as a change of heart by a protectionist president. Then again: |
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| And Japan’s chief cabinet secretary cautioned this morning that it’d be hard to rewrite a “well-balanced pact” that already met the needs of 11 signatories. |
| The president’s decisions on economic matters are now the purview of Larry Kudlow, who’s casting himself as a “happy warrior” even as he described the TPP decision as coming “out of the dark, navy blue.” |
| Meanwhile, China is not-so-subtly threatening to scale back its purchases of U.S. debt, though that would be a risky maneuver. |
Sounds ridiculous that Trump follows Sun Tzu’s precepts? After all he doesn’t read.
But remember “quickness is the essence of war”, and Sun Tzu talked about behaving “without ascertainable shape” to confuse the enemy.
Well Trump acts quickly and uses chaos to confuse friend and foe. He loves chaos.
And he has a point. According to an FT columnist US military strategist John Boyd talked four decades ago about the use chaos
Create enough chaos and you could completely paralyse your foe. If the chaos made life uncomfortable for your own side, no matter.
Btw, Mad Dog Mattis, Trump’s defence secretary used the call sign “Chaos” when he was a general. Obama sacked him from Central Command (responsible for US military involvement in the Middle East) because Obama had no balls. Mattis believed in responding to Iran’s provocations. Obama preferred to swallow mullah’s sperm.
A Chinese academic (The Chinese equivalent of brown noser Eugene Tan and other local academics?) said “The aircraft US carrier has stayed long within this region. China now is showing that it’s not afraid.”
He was referring to the USS Carl Vinson, a US supercarrier that sailed very slowly through the waters in the South China claimed by China in February and the massive naval China exercise now on the way.
If the Chinese had balls, they’d have carried out their exercise when the carrier group was sailing in waters claimed by China. They most probably were afraid that the US were trying to get them into a Gulf of Sirte incident.
In 1981, the Libyans flew two planes near a carrier group that it claimed infringed their territorial waters. The US shot them down claiming it had fired on their aircraft.
Then as now the US had a president that was no talk cock sing song artiste like Obama, a Democrat. Not only is Trump president but Mad Dog Mattis (Military call sign “Chaos”) is his defence secretary.
The US last week announced proposed tariffs against China, which sent US and Asian markets tumbling.
But China’s premier Li Keqiang said on Monday that China and the US should maintain negotiations.
Mr Li’s comments followed those made earlier by US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, who told US media on Sunday he was “cautiously hopeful” that the US and China could come to an agreement on trade issues.
NYT Dealbook reported on Mon morning NY Time as mkts cheonged (Tuesday NY mkts recovering from Monday’s rise)
| Behind Washington and Beijing’s back-channel tariffs talks | |||
| After a Friday that saw the markets sink amid fears of a trade war, the U.S. and China are holding high-level talks to defuse tensions, the WSJ reports. Leading them: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Liu He, Beijing’s economic czar. | |||
| Among Washington’s requests, in a letter to Mr. Liu, were lower Chinese tariffs on American cars and more freedom for Wall Street firms to expand in China. | |||
| Mr. Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he believed the recent rate increase by the Federal Reserve was to blame for recent market declines, not tariffs. He added, “We’re not afraid of a trade war, but that’s not our objective.” | |||
| News of the talks have lifted markets in Asia and Europe, while S.&P. 500 futures jumped this morning. It will also undoubtedly ease the fears of C.E.O.s, economists and foreign leaders and allies who have openly fretted about the prospect of a trade war. A sample quote, from Larry Fink of BlackRock: “The world does not need a public fight in which we reduce future opportunities.” | |||
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Summary: Be happy because global trade will suffer and thus S’pore very dependent on global trade (Why S’pore’s growth is so gd this year) will suffer.
Chief cybernut, Oxygen, already sending out invitations to his “PAP will collapse soon” party
Alternative view from EDB: Really? “Singapore Says Asian Growth Helps Offset U.S. Trade Threat”(From early last year)
From NYT’s Dealbook
Will the U.S.-China trade fight be a flicker or an inferno? They’re here. President Trump imposed $60 billion worth of tariffs and penalties on Chinese goods. China is threatening tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods like nuts, wine and pork. Now S.&P. 500 futures and markets in Asia and Europe are down this morning, following yesterday’s steep sell-off (which was driven in large part by Boeing). The context: Mr. Trump has made subtext — China is the U.S.’s main economic rival and must be treated as a strategic competitor — text. Few in the U.S. are happy with Beijing’s trade and intellectual property policies. But the world is now watching to see whether the fight turns out to be a spat, or a prolonged and damaging conflict. Peter Eavis’s take: A trade fight that eventually relaxes some of China’s disadvantageous conditions could bolster the long-term prospects of U.S. firms. And if the U.S. is able to recruit other countries to its cause, China may relent. Still, much could go wrong. On the other tariffs: The E.U. is still waiting for confirmation of exemptions from the imported metals tariffs. They may get quotas instead. Meet Century Aluminum, the tiny manufacturer that pressed for those penalties. Critics’ corner • Stephen Gandel of Gadfly writes, “Trump’s tariffs and especially his protectionist rhetoric threaten to cut more and more of the world off.” • Paul Krugman writes, “America has much less trade leverage over China than Trump imagines, and a trade war with ‘China’ will anger a wider group of countries, some of them close allies.” • The WSJ editorial board writes, “A rising and aggressive China poses considerable risks to world order, but persuading its leaders to conform to trading norms requires more than scattershot tariffs.”
Doesn’t know difference between US$1bn and US$100bn.
Mr. Trump tweeted that he has asked Beijing to reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. by $1 billion, adding, “We must act soon!”
NYT’s Dealbook
US$1bn is “peanuts” in the context of a trade deficit with China of more than US$500bn.
Seems he meant US$100bn.
Maybe taz why although he’s worth slightly more than US$3bn, he thinks he’s worth a lot more. He can’t count.
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, said he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to the pornographic-film actress Stormy Daniel. (NYT)
The U.S. is on track for huge economic expansion, but in California — which accounts for a fifth of the country’s growth — the governor is preparing for doom. (NYT)
NYT Dealbook
A warning for chief executives of foreign companies: A photo-op with Donald Trump ain’t enough to win his administration’s support when it comes to buying up US assets.
Jack Ma of Alibaba learned that the hard way when the US government blocked a company he controls from buying MoneyGram. Hock Tan, the chief executive of Broadcom is starting to learn that too after the US government launched an investigation into the Singapore-based company’s attempt to buy Qualcomm for $142bn (despite the fact that the two sides have yet to reach an agreement on a deal).
FT
Good for Trump. Good for the system. Being seen with POTUS is no big deal.
| This was before the tariis on steel and aluminium. LOL
From NYT Dealbook |
| David Rubenstein, the Carlyle Group co-founder, told CNBC at the SuperReturn conference in Berlin that, over all, businesses support the White House’s economic policies: |
| “I think there are some things the administration has done that the business community will not like, but generally I think the administration has pleased the business community and other people as well.” |
| Why? Largely the tax cuts, for which both Republicans and Democrats are compiling data to support their political arguments. |
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has floated the idea of rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, more than a year after President Trump walked away. (NYT)
NYT Dealbook
If Trump can change his position on assault rifles, he can move his position on TPP.
PM will be pleased with the newsreport.
Trump tweeted last Wednesday, “In the ‘old days,’ when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down. Big mistake, and we have so much good (great) news about the economy!”
More seriously, NYT’s Dealbook writes
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Trump doesn’t believe in free trade and decries that China is a beneficiary of US free trade policies.
China juz following US’s playbook of overtaking the UK in the late 19th century, early 20th century.
China’s economic success lays bare an uncomfortable historical truth: No one who preaches “free trade” really practices it. (NYT)
NYT Dealbook
Trump not that stupid. Btw, he went to Wharton.
With Donald Trump having successfully persuaded the populace to treat the rallying stock market as a validation of his young presidency, and a meaningful achievement in its own right, the administration is now stuck, and has to give excuses when all of the year’s stock market gains are wiped out. This shows that claiming credit for the strong stock market was always bad politics (as I have made clear more than once).
Oddly, Mr Trump has not tweeted about the stock market since January 20 (when he referred to a “Record Stock Market”). The corollary to claiming credit for a stock market rise was always that it carried the risk of taking the blame for a subsequent fall.
John Authers, FT columnist
He spoke too soon because S&P was just up 1.7% to 2,695, its best day since Donald Trump was elected US president. I’m sure there will be Trump twit on this fact.
Because
For every step that President Trump takes in debasing discourse, his opponents manage to go one step further.
FT columnist
A local ang moh tua kee posted on FB a story about a Muslim Canadian girl who lied about an attack on her. The local ang moh tua kee attacked Trump as a liar.
I commented that the story was not about Trump. She replied that she stood by her comments that Trump lies.
Hours later realising that she could be seen as implying that the gal was right to lie because Trump lies regularly, she said she didn’t condone the gal’s behaviour.
Taz how Trump gets under the skin of those who hate him: especially those who espouse “left-liberalism which celebrates civil rights”.
———————————————–
And
The focus on his ludicrous ego and ignorance may make us feel superior. But that is all it appears to be doing. He will not be toppled by us jeering at a picture of his enormous arse or reports of his word salad on climate change, his links to Russia and his comments about pussy-grabbing. Not as long as he is supported by racists, the far right, Christian fundamentalists, the global business elite and his own party. And he is. It is time to get serious about what drives this presidency. At the moment, the joke is on us.
And as usual the whining liberal from the Grauniad* doesn’t tell us how to fight him because she doesn’t have a clue. Talking cock, singing song like our anti-PAP cybernuts and ang moh tua kees who don’t know that paramactol is available here ot that estate duty has to go up 4000% if it is revived to replace a 2% rise in GST.
Steve Banon’s plan to get Trump elected “was to create such a cacophony of indignation” that the progressives would lose their focus. He was letting Trump be Trump for a strategic reason: to make the progressives angry and so lose focus. It worked then, and it’s working now, even if he’s no longer advising Trump: the progressives are still losing their focus in their indignation and anger.
—————————————–
*The Grauniad is a nickname for the UK national newspaper, the Guardian, because of a now ill-founded reputation for typos. The name was given to it by the satirical magazine Private Eye.
Wikipedia
And from NYT’s Dealbook
| • Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase told CNBC, “I promise you, we are going to be sitting here in a year and you all will be worrying about inflation and wages going up too high.” |
| • Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs said of President Trump: “I don’t want to be hypocritical, either. I’ve really liked what he’s done for the economy.” |
| • Sundar Pichai of Google said about taxes: “We are happy to pay a higher amount, whatever the world agrees on as the right framework. It’s not an issue about the amount of tax we pay, as much as how you divide it among various countries.” |
| • Jack Ma of Alibaba said on a panel: “I think globalization cannot be stopped. Nobody can stop globalization. Nobody can stop trade. And I believe, if trade stops, war starts.” |
| • Raymond Nolte of SkyBridge Capital said, “If you take away Trump’s Twitter ridiculousness, it’s actually been a pretty good year for the business community.” |
As President Trump prepares to fly to the World Economic Forum, he is likely to feel vindicated coming to a club of elites that had long scorned him. (NYT)
NYT’s Dealbook yesterday
Trump will later today troll the global elite who scorned him by telling them that he won and their heroine Hilary and her sleaze bag of a husband (who is actually a lot sleazier than Trump) lost. And then he’ll lob a few verbal grenades into the crowd.
His officials are already in Davos playing the mood music about the grenades:
— “Wilbur Ross [Commerce Secretary] held firm on the Trump administration’s tough line on international trade.”;
— US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would welcome a weaker US$; and
— “Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary … absolutely expected to see an acceleration of trade measures during 2018, and said the administration was tightly co-ordinated in pursuing tougher trade policies.”
“America has got one of the best presidents ever,” Mr Museveni said to laughter during the opening of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
“I love Trump because he tells Africans frankly. The Africans need to solve their problems, the Africans are weak.”
Mr Museveni’s comments are in opposition to the reaction of many leaders who have condemned Mr Trump’s language.
Taz from tDr Jackson, whose official title is Physician to the President. (Btw he also examined Hussein).
When asked by a reporter how a man who consumes fried chicken and Diet Coke and does not exercise could be in good shape, Dr Jackson replied: “It’s called genetics… He has incredible genes.”
In a blow to those who hate him
“I have no concerns about his cognitive ability or neurological functions,”
To celebrate the fact that the second anniversary of Harry’death passed without his daughter publicly showing her grief (something I was afraid of because it would dishonour him, not honour him), I reptoduce this piecewhich I did when no-one thought Trump would become POTUS.
They have so much in common that I’m surprised so many known PAPpies are dissing Trump while adoring LKY on social media.
What Trump and our Harry have in common
LKY didn’t want anything to be named after him, while Trump wants his name on anything “big” like Trump Tower (see pix). The Republican foreign policy establishment said nice things about Harry, while they cry at Trump’s comments.
LKY had life-long marriage, Trump is into his third marriage.
You’d think that there would nothing that LKY and the Donald have in common or would agree on. But you’d be wrong.
Children
They have two sons and one daughter, though Trump’s daughter is married and by all accounts is a normal person even though she admires (not worships) her father. His children work for the family business.
Attended elite universities
LKY was a graduate of Cambridge. The Donald graduated from the Wharton Business School.
Super Salesmen
Trump talks about “truthful hyperbole”. Before Harry became lord and master of all he surveyed from his Oxley Road house (built on a hill), he had to persuade the British and the voters to trust him and the PAP.
Recovered from knockdowns
Some of Trump’s businesses went bankrupt and he lost serious money. But he reinvented himself as a reality tv star. Our Harry failed to persuade the Malayan Malay and Chinese elites of a “Malaysian Malaysia” with him in charge.
The result was independence for S’pore, something he had argued was bad for S’pore’s prosperity.
Well he had a good cry on tv, then did his best to ensure that he and S’pore could prosper.
Use or the threat of litigation
No need to say much about our Harry’s love of litigation. But did you know Trump also is litigious?
Five years ago, I was part of a discussion panel on the popular Morning Joe talk show in the US when the issue of Donald Trump came up. A rowdy debate erupted and I cheerfully joked that Trump was a great businessman “barring a few bankruptcies” — and blessed with charisma even “with that hairpiece”. A few minutes later, Trump telephoned the show and demanded an on-air apology. Apparently, he was not just upset about the bankruptcy quip (he wanted to clarify that he has never personally gone bankrupt but “only” seen some of his companies go bust); he was also angry about the hair joke.
So, as we sat around the table on the TV set, one of the show’s hosts read a straight-faced legal apology to camera. “He might sue,” a reporter later explained to me, as I squirmed with embarrassment and wondered whether to laugh or cry.
(Gillian Tett in an FT magazine article)
Finally,
Views about Muslims
The most neutral thing that can be said about their views on Muslims is that they seem suspicious of people who happen to be Muslims ie people who profess Islam.
Trump had said Muslims should be barred from the US. He later dropped the idea when it was pointed out that this was unconstitutional. He changed it to ban anyone from a country where terrorism was rampant. He calls for the profiling of Muslims in the US.
LKY’s views on Muslims are on record. But if anyone forgot what they were please read on.
LKY’s views on Muslims as documented
Wikileaks released a cable by the US Embassy in Singapore reporting on the visit of Senator Hillary Clinton to Singapore in Jul 2005. The cable claimed that in my meeting with Senator Clinton, I had “characterized Islam as a ‘venomous religion’”.
This is false. I looked up MFA’s filenote of the meeting. Nowhere does it record me describing Islam as “venomous”, nor did I say anything which could have given that impression.
I did talk about extremist terrorists like the Jemaah Islamiyah group, and the jihadist preachers who brainwashed them. They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them. So their Islam is a perverted version, which the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Singapore do not subscribe to.
I also pointed out that our Muslim leaders are rational, and that the ultimate solution to extremist terrorism was to give moderate Muslims the courage to stand up and speak out against radicals who have hijacked Islam to recruit volunteers for their violent ends.
(TOC)
And
Singapore’s presiding genius, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, on the failure of Muslim integration:
In the book, Mr Lee, when asked to assess the progress of multiracialism in Singapore, said: “I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not wish to offend the Muslim community.“I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration – friends, intermarriages and so on, Indians with Chinese, Chinese with Indians – than Muslims. That’s the result of the surge from the Arab states.”He added: ”I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam.”He also said: “I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate.”(Can’t remember the source of this quote)
But to be fair he then
issued a statement last night and said he stands corrected on how well-integrated Malay-Muslims are in Singapore, according to a Straits Times report.
He referred to the comments he made in the new book, Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.
He said: “Hard Truths was a book based on 32 hours of interviews over a period of two years.
“I made this one comment on the Muslims integrating with other communities probably two or three years ago. Ministers and MPs, both Malay and non-Malay, have since told me that Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities, especially since 9/11, and that my call is out of date.
“I stand corrected. I hope that this trend will continue in the future.”
Since the book was published, reactions from some Muslim groups were negative. Some said his remarks were unfounded while others called for him to apologise.
But Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that his perspective differed from MM Lee’s, which were the latter’s personal opinions.
During a breakfast session at the Yio Chu Kang Community Club on Jan 30, PM Lee said: “Muslims are a valued and respected community, who have done a good deal to strengthen our harmony and social cohesion.”
PM Lee added that his own views were that of the Government’s.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110308-267055.html
Btw saw this http://singapore.coconuts.co/2015/03/27/outrage-ensues-muslim-community-over-praise-lee-kuan-yew-during-friday-sermons.
(https://atans1.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/what-trump-and-our-harry-have-in-common/)
He could be the best thing since sliced bread.
Let me explain
The FT magazine has a column called “Undercover Economist” written by a really smart man Tim Harford, a paid-up member of the Western liberal elite, even if he has an, open lively mind.
On 9th November he wrote
when a group of very smart people with similar perspectives find themselves stuck, someone who brings a new intellectual tool or a fresh perspective is far more valuable than one more smart guy in the same mould.
Err well the Western liberal elite and the ruling class have a problem: how to handle resentful mobs ungrateful with the benefits of globalisation and capitalism because they unlike the elites didn’t have their snouts in the trough. They are in the cold, noses pressed against the windows looking in at the feast that the heroes of Donald Low and Ariffin Sha and indulging in.
Enter one smart, succesful hustler who has been thru tough times and reinvented himself. Btw, he went to a really elite university.
So stop the whining and whinging liberals.
The only problem with the Donald is that he could start WWIII accidentally. Otherwise he could be what the doctor ordered.
NYT’s Dealbook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asks a big question that wasn’t answered in last night’s debate: Donald J. Trump has tried to project himself as a successful businessman throughout his campaign. So where is his business backing? |
| His plans to lower corporate taxes and remove regulations should make him a chief executive’s dream and yet, many successful businesspeople refuse to support him or do business with him. |
| Perhaps the self-described great negotiator isn’t so great at striking a deal after all? |
All this reminds me of the following exchange:
Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
Holmes: “That was the curious incident.”
Silver Blaze by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
LKY didn’t want anything to be named after him, while Trump wants his name on anything “big” like Trump Tower (see pix). The Republican foreign policy establishment said nice things about Harry, while they cry at Trump’s comments.
LKY had life-long marriage, Trump is into his third marriage.
You’d think that there would nothing that LKY and the Donald have in common or would agree on. But you’d be wrong.
Children
They have two sons and one daughter, though Trump’s daughter is married and by all accounts is a normal person even though she admires (not worships) her father. His children work for the family business.
Attended elite universities
LKY was a graduate of Cambridge. The Donald graduated from the Wharton Business School.
Super Salesmen
Trump talks about “truthful hyperbole”. Before Harry became lord and master of all he surveyed from his Oxley Road house (built on a hill), he had to persuade the British and the voters to trust him and the PAP.
Recovered from knockdowns
Some of Trump’s businesses went bankrupt and he lost serious money. But he reinvented himself as a reality tv star. Our Harry failed to persuade the Malayan Malay and Chinese elites of a “Malaysian Malaysia” with him in charge.
The result was independence for S’pore, something he had argued was bad for S’pore’s prosperity.
Well he had a good cry on tv, then did his best to ensure that he and S’pore could prosper.
Use or the threat of litigation
No need to say much about our Harry’s love of litigation. But did you know Trump also is litigious?
Five years ago, I was part of a discussion panel on the popular Morning Joe talk show in the US when the issue of Donald Trump came up. A rowdy debate erupted and I cheerfully joked that Trump was a great businessman “barring a few bankruptcies” — and blessed with charisma even “with that hairpiece”. A few minutes later, Trump telephoned the show and demanded an on-air apology. Apparently, he was not just upset about the bankruptcy quip (he wanted to clarify that he has never personally gone bankrupt but “only” seen some of his companies go bust); he was also angry about the hair joke.
So, as we sat around the table on the TV set, one of the show’s hosts read a straight-faced legal apology to camera. “He might sue,” a reporter later explained to me, as I squirmed with embarrassment and wondered whether to laugh or cry.
(Gillian Tett in an FT magazine article)
Finally,
Views about Muslims
The most neutral thing that can be said about their views on Muslims is that they seem suspicious of people who happen to be Muslims ie people who profess Islam.
Trump had said Muslims should be barred from the US. He later dropped the idea when it was pointed out that this was unconstitutional. He changed it to ban anyone from a country where terrorism was rampant. He calls for the profiling of Muslims in the US.
LKY’s views on Muslims are on record. But if anyone forgot what they were please read on.
LKY’s views on Muslims as documented
Wikileaks released a cable by the US Embassy in Singapore reporting on the visit of Senator Hillary Clinton to Singapore in Jul 2005. The cable claimed that in my meeting with Senator Clinton, I had “characterized Islam as a ‘venomous religion’”.
This is false. I looked up MFA’s filenote of the meeting. Nowhere does it record me describing Islam as “venomous”, nor did I say anything which could have given that impression.
I did talk about extremist terrorists like the Jemaah Islamiyah group, and the jihadist preachers who brainwashed them. They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them. So their Islam is a perverted version, which the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Singapore do not subscribe to.
I also pointed out that our Muslim leaders are rational, and that the ultimate solution to extremist terrorism was to give moderate Muslims the courage to stand up and speak out against radicals who have hijacked Islam to recruit volunteers for their violent ends.
(TOC)
And
Singapore’s presiding genius, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, on the failure of Muslim integration:
In the book, Mr Lee, when asked to assess the progress of multiracialism in Singapore, said: “I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not wish to offend the Muslim community.“I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration – friends, intermarriages and so on, Indians with Chinese, Chinese with Indians – than Muslims. That’s the result of the surge from the Arab states.”He added: ”I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam.”He also said: “I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate.”(Can’t remember the source of this quote)
But to be fair he then
issued a statement last night and said he stands corrected on how well-integrated Malay-Muslims are in Singapore, according to a Straits Times report.
He referred to the comments he made in the new book, Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.
He said: “Hard Truths was a book based on 32 hours of interviews over a period of two years.
“I made this one comment on the Muslims integrating with other communities probably two or three years ago. Ministers and MPs, both Malay and non-Malay, have since told me that Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities, especially since 9/11, and that my call is out of date.
“I stand corrected. I hope that this trend will continue in the future.”
Since the book was published, reactions from some Muslim groups were negative. Some said his remarks were unfounded while others called for him to apologise.
But Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that his perspective differed from MM Lee’s, which were the latter’s personal opinions.
During a breakfast session at the Yio Chu Kang Community Club on Jan 30, PM Lee said: “Muslims are a valued and respected community, who have done a good deal to strengthen our harmony and social cohesion.”
PM Lee added that his own views were that of the Government’s.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110308-267055.html
Btw saw this http://singapore.coconuts.co/2015/03/27/outrage-ensues-muslim-community-over-praise-lee-kuan-yew-during-friday-sermons.
(Images of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on a television vehicle at Hofstra University, in Hempsted, New York, venue for the first Presidential debate. Sums up where I think they both should be.)
Later today, Trump the Donald and the “truthful hyperbole” King, and Lying, Crooked Hilary will debate or rather talk cock sing song.
Expect Trump to win big by entertaining the audience like one Reagan did many yrs ago: Mr Trump grasps a truth about today’s low-trust democracy that still eludes others. People want to be entertained. His mangling of the facts and distorting of the truth sadly won’t matter. It didn’t matter then, But Reagan ended up as a great president, though I doubt the Donald will.Reagan was a good governor of California, something the liberal media ignored.
A few weeks ago the FT carried a piece on Trump the media manipulator
“It was clear to me that Trump had his own vision of how to be nominated. It was not a vision I shared. He never took a single poll, he was shooting from his gut the entire time — no analytics, no targeting, no paid media of any kind. He decided to bet the ranch on a communications strategy that consisted of doing as many interviews as you could jam in one day, then framing his rallies as media events that enticed the cable channels to cover them in a kind of commercial worth millions of dollars that we don’t have to pay,” he says. “I didn’t think that could work.”
Roger Stone, Trump’s longest-surviving confidant tot it wouldn’t work and he’s an expert. Stone was a self-described “dirty trickster” for Richard Nixon’s infamous Creep (Committee to Re-elect the President), a campaign that culminated in the Watergate scandal.
But Hilary has done on a comedy show to get a little practice on entertaining the audience. http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37443618
Btw, the FT article had this bit about Nixon whom LKY admired (actually so do I too)
that in life when things don’t go your way, when you get knocked down, again and again, instead of quitting, you dust yourself off and start again.
“That’s the way Nixon was. He does not come from privilege. His gangster, bootlegger father is not buying him the presidency [as Stone alleges that Joe Kennedy did for JFK when he defeated Nixon in 1960]. Elites are soft — they don’t have the belly for the long fight. They didn’t want to see Vietnam to the end. There is also the subtext of inherited wealth.”
Sorry, moderate.
Don’t believe me. See his views on domestic and foreign policy issues http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-35703300
He juz likes to talk cock to get the adulation of the mob.
Will they be surprised when he turns out be like Obama: talk cock sing song.
Think about it, Obama talks cock but the kind of cock that liberals and blacl Americans like. Trump’s audience is different, taz all.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 