FAC YUOs in 2016

How FAC YUOs are evolving with their inherent flaws and potential gifts has been enumerated in my last post FCUK and Chinese Branding.

I can sense easily at least a hundred such FAC YUOs are rigorously swimming and silently fermenting in my head at this very moment. I would like to download a sample in an artfully crafted didactic form to illustrate certain interesting latent characteristics of the Chinese.

For weirdly reticent Chinese (see post Opening Doors to Chinese Minds), FAC YUOs could be a bold burst into the Global Conversation (GC) Scene in a playfully sneering way to make up for lost ground and time.

Through patient following of these FAC YUOs, you will be rewarded with the discovery of where the Chinese are coming from deep inside their viscerals. FAC YUOs on revealing the Chinese Mind is like National Geographic on Wildlife, if I may be allowed to brag a little. Incidentally, behind the inscrutable facade, the Chinese have a wild side, too, if you know where to look. Wink, wink. You may be getting a treat here as well in the new year.

Sedulously, I have been mulling over the holidays whether to shorten FAC YUO to FU on grounds of pronunciation and for ease of presentation.

FIND OUT next year if I have succumbed to this nefarious temptation.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and GREAT PROMISES of FAC YUOs in 2016

FCUK and Chinese Branding

It's the holiday season. Let's have a fun break and mess around a bit with some letters of the alphabet.

Would you think FCUK is a French or a British enterprise ? Once I tell you FC is French Connection, you will straightaway conversely deduce that it is British, from the remaining letters UK for United Kingdom, of course.

The Japanese brand UNIQLO was forged in a comedy of errors mixed up in communication between 2 non-English speaking and writing Asian countries. Not the least surprising.

Once upon a time, Hong Kong (HK) was the centre of the universe for "Rag Trade". Inevitably, HK holds the distinction in some way for the birth of names of both FCUK and UNIQLO. 

FCUK  was hatched from the fax exchanges between its London and HK offices from the fax header "FCUK to FCHK". Someone noticed that FCUK is suggestively catchy and the rest was history.

The Japanese thought HK was better at English with HK's British connections and left it to HK to handle the nitty-gritties of an English brand name. Japan wanted the first 3 letters of of the 2 words "unique" and "clothing"which should have been UNICLO. Instead, HK botched it up in the misplaced selection of letters of the alphabets and the brand was stuck with UNIQLO, but retained its pronunciation as "uni - clo" as the Japanese intended. 

In this spirit of letter-play, I, as a Chinaman would like to brand my anecdotes to enlighten the understanding of the Chinese Culture and Way with the acronym FACYUO.

In my efforts to produce a somewhat FCUK styled suggestive effect and reenact our Asian tendency to "fcuk up" Anglo-American alphabets as in the case of UNIQLO, I am confident my brand would do nicely positioned in two words in the form of FAC YUO. Pronounce it any which way you fancy !

Remember, we Chinese are, at the moment, weak in Brand Building as pointed out in my post Opening Doors to Chinese Minds and also we are inclined to be hyperbolic as per post Trump Knows China? How Much? part 2. So, please bear with FAC YUO for the time being.

As a start, my FAC YUOs will cover Chinese eating affairs at the more representative lower tier of Chinese food stalls. The Haute Cuisine variety of Chinese dining has caught up with and closely imitated Western standards and would be of no didactic value in these anecdotes.

So, LOOK OUT for and ENJOY my FAC YUOs in this holiday season !!!

Amazing Grace

Americans who read this blog can be forgiven for thinking that I am some kind of an ISIL maniac minus the mindless violence and gory chunks. As ISIL hates, I dislike America.

But, nothing can be further from the truth. When I think of America or Americans, two words spring to my mind - "Amazing" and "Grace". And it's not just the Christmas spirit or season. It's something quite firmly lodged in my psyche. Those who have read my posts sensitively may have detected this disposition in me.

The amazing and gracious lists of things are endless and, for the moment here, I touch on the immediately most profound.

Each time I returned to Malaysia from a trip to the US, I am imbibed with a very generous and gracious mood. While the mood lingers, I tip exorbitantly and smile at everyone. Then, the overwhelmingly sour local drag repossesses me probably after about a month. 

Americans are amazingly open with their hearts and minds. They are not afraid to let others learn from them and they willing bare their warts and all in the teaching process. That's how many bloggers all over the world can feel at home and comment critically on America.

When we are at home, faults can be easily spotted around us. The grass always looks greener on the other side. Michael Moore has again capitalised on this type of situation which is themed in his coming movie: Where to Invade Next.

There is deliberately no question mark at the end of the sentence, Michael giggled, as this was not a question but a decision already taken, in the distinctive brash American fashion.

The very manner of framing this movie title shows that Americans can mock at their own faults in a self-deprecating way. This movie was shot entirely outside the US to point out how things that had gone seriously wrong in the US, are better handled elsewhere.

America always has its self-correcting mechanisms when it has gone into extremes as I reassured a fellow countryman of mine, who was unduly worried over an unsavoury American policy as touted, in my post: Trump irks Muhammad Ali.

As we go into the Christmas holidays, we can be rest assured in Amazingly Gracious America that the excesses of Fox News would be balanced by the likes of Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky.

On my side of the world, we are reassured of the harmonious validity of the Yin and Yang equilibrium firmly in place.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE ON EARTH

Obama's Honest Stand

Everyday on Fox News you see the hawks lambasting Obama for not doing enough in Syria and defeating ISIL. And the Fox presenters are having a gala time goading on their hawkish guests' voracious appetite for the fun sport of Obama-thrashing.

Everyday I hear disconnected lectures on Obama should do this or that. Why do these hawks have such unrealistic expectations?

Don't you hawks know Obama is a "Yin" President? Come on then, guys, read my posts on "Yin" President Obama, and Troubles of a "Yin" Obama and you will begin to have an understanding of Obama's mindset.

You can then stop wasting yours and the viewers' time whining about expectations of this President that are never going to happen.

This morning I heard the smartest and most harmoniously accurate thing said about Obama by a Major General Bob Scales (Ret).

He said Obama was voted in to end wars and he is not about to start one in his final year in office and the General then moved on to talk about strategies.

How refreshing and soothing to hear this Major General Bob Scales on Fox News for a change who did not waste time and energy by the usual plunging into a vicious diatribe of expecting the unexpectable from Obama.  

A "Vegetarian" Obama in this sense will never eat Meat. Bob Scales has got the smarts to get it right. To borrow from Trump's parlance, it would be STUPID of you hawks to keep on harping on such an Obama to start eating meat, metaphorically speaking of course.

The real problem in my view is with the US brand of Democracy. In Great Britain, the Westminster Parliamentary System of Democracy would have changed the Prime Minister to fit in with the ebbs and flows of the times, not hampered by rigidly fixed 4 year terms limited to 2 terms per president.

So, blame the current impasse and US inactions in Syria on the STUPID US SYSTEM. You can never go wrong Mr Trump so long as you keep on using the word "STUPID" in your campaigning.

Opening Doors to Chinese Minds

President Franklin D Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on the 19th February 1942 and about 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and interned in military camps during WW 2.

The key word that sealed the fate of the Order was "INSCRUTABLE". No evidence was available at that time that could prove that the Japanese Americans posed a threat or danger to America. The White House discussions justified that the Japanese could be planning something, but because they were viewed as inscrutable by the Americans, it was felt safer to lock them up.

No such concerns were discussed about German Americans or Italian Americans though America was also at war with Germany and Italy at that time. 

Inscrutable, that's how the West sees us, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc. In this sense it is quite clear that I am an unusual Chinese. In my posts so far, I have already clumsily spilled out so many secrets.

Pai Gow when fully revealed and explained will begin to open doors to the Chinese Mind.

In my post "Global Conversation (GC)", I pointed out that many secrets of the Chinese are already out in the open but their significance not noticed or realised.

Pai Gow is one of many such open secrets. So widely exposed to the American public, yet no one knows the secrets behind it.

There are weird characteristics of the Chinese that just won't reach out to the GC or somehow impose self-damning restrains to bringing matters up.

Surely what I have brought up so far must be easily known by say at least 100 million other Chinese out of a world population of 1.8 billion (Chinese diaspora included). Let's be even more conservative, say 10 million. Yet not a word of what is in this blog of mine is found anywhere else, hitherto. What can explain this sort of statistical probability except that the Chinese character is weirdly reticent in this regard.

It is well known that although China is the world no 2 economy, but when it comes to brand building, it is still like a baby learning and can only take baby steps to improve.

When you look at a Western advertisement of a prestigious product, you can immediately identify with the product and the glamorous celebrity in the advertisement at one glance.

Chinese products reaching the International Arena when advertising still have to name the celebrity and uses English to do so (yet no one knows him/her from Adam or Eve). And then, even more puzzling, needs to describe what the celebrity is famous for and do so in this instance in Chinese character writings. How on Earth are so many Chinese Bananas and other non-readers of Chinese character writings throughout the world supposed to follow and understand? All the advertising dollars are simply poured down the drain.

How a culture advertises and approach brand building is an excellent indicator of how the culture communicates.

Chinese at the moment, unfortunately, still don't get it. How to communicate to reach out to and stay up in the GC.

More dangerously, an irascible President Donald Trump may get confused and irate with this wishy-washy nature of muddled Chinese communication and impatiently start a war with China.

Bathwater Used, Baby Thrown Out

Pai Gow being first adapted into a casino game in Las Vegas and now spreading back to Asia, struck me like a bolt, to discover that the uncouth proponents of the adaptation were enamoured to the bathwater and threw the hallowed baby out. A slightly perverse twist to the English Maxim: "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater".

This is how it feels to a traditional-conscious Chinaman like myself who has an inkling passed down verbally to me by my Dad of the rich meanings and historical importance of Pai Gow.

Apparently, the casino business in the 1980s was waning in Vegas and an innovative casino owner dabbled with the idea of introducing new games to boost business. He had numerous Chinese customers and friends from nearby San Francisco. Together they set up an American version of Pai Gow reduced to its simplest form. It has now become popular in casinos all over the world.

Of course, it is a gambling frolic of the Chinese, too. As a Chinese realist, I would unapologetically confess that Chinese culture ostentatiously revolve around money (see post: Minor Conversation). For motivational endeavours to bear fruits, money must always be in the pot. That's how the didactic properties of Pai Gow could be cogently used to spread and build fundamental character and attitude of the widely scattered Chinese masses.

Chinese are comfortable with being super wealthy and make no bones about flaunting their wealth. Chinese Proverbs sing high praises about the might and joy of wealth.  Jack Ma is openly adored and envied. We are, indeed, pretty puzzled as to why Westerners are so pretentious about wealth.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife upon the birth of their daughter pledged US$ 45 billion to charity. Many Chinese till today are still troubled and reeling from speculations whether his wife, a Chinese, agreed to it and, if so, how on earth did Mark CONvince her. As it turned out, however, as exposed by a NYT writer it is not exactly a charity yet, but an arrangement that has a tax benefit angle and phenomenal philanthropic publicity. 

Western ideologies and values stemmed mainly from religious teachings tend to cast bad light on wealth. Common admonitions:"it's easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than a rich man the kingdom of ....", "the love of money is the root of all evil" and such like. Yet, amongst the richest Western institutions in the world is a religious establishment at the fount of spreading these messages. Western hypocrisy simply never fails to overwhelm us, Chinese.

According to known records, Pai Gow started during the Song Dynasty which places it at 1,000 years old. My Dad contended that it could have been almost 5,000 years old, give a millennium or two. It was Song scholars who first recorded the game officially.

Those days the peasant Chinese were mostly illiterate and the pedagogue function of Pai Gow encouraged the spreading of the philosophies imbued in the game at an infectious rate throughout the Chinese Empire and vassal states like Vietnam.   

Today, the banal version of the game, fit only for gaming, rakes in billions for the casinos with no recognition for the significance and value of the meaning and symbolism behind the game.

The bathwater is cherished, but the baby is thrown out.

Prefatory to Pai Gow

Malaya was a prolific producer of tin and rubber under British Rule. Yet, you never hear of a glut of these two commodities. There was the London Metal Exchange (LME) and Rubber Stockpile Board. Together with the British artful domination of the GC (see post on Global Conversation) there always seemed to be a reasonable demand for tin and rubber. When international tensions heightened anywhere around the globe or war broke out, like the Korean War, inevitably, a windfall of tin and rubber prices boom followed.

Our first 3 Prime Ministers were lawyers trained in the prestigious Inns of Courts in London, UK. They were quite happy even after independence to leave it to the British to do the International Talking on behalf of Malaysia. They understood and appreciated the might of the GC. Tin and rubber prices managed to remain rather buoyant throughout.

Along came our fourth homegrown PM M2 (see post Trump irks Muhammad Ali). Educated locally, if you count Singapore then as part of Malaya through the Straits Settlement provisions. Another accolade to the British for their cunning juggling of acquired territories for political posterity.

M2 innocuously (a description that can rarely be associated with him) but, more so, naively believed that world commodity prices obeyed the simple economic laws of supply and demand.

M2 staged what he thought was a masterly stroke of genius. A commodities coup to corner prices through a 'dawn raid" on a British-owned Malaysian Corporation listed on the London Stock Exchange was executed. Only to be undone by a change in the rules of the LME and the assertions of the influence of the British in the GC.

M2 became patently aware of the power of the GC from this incident. Since then he had added a vitriolic dimension to his premiership and "retired" life attacking  the deceitful GC and the West. The slogans that emanated: "LOOK EAST", "BUY BRITISH LAST", etc.

My Dad descended from a family that came from China to Malaya lured by the prospects of tin at the turn of the twentieth century.   

The Chinese used sturdy wooden structures called "palongs" to mine for tin - cheap, slow and labour-intensive. The British had their sophisticated "Dredges" and created huge, ecologically damaging man-made lakes to operate the dredges. With each ravenous scoop of a bucket, sediments about the size of a car are processed for tin inside the dredge. The British method proved to be more efficient, productive and plunderous.

To run the labour-intensive palongs, my Dad's family had to engage armies of labourers and coolies. During their free time at night the popular game of Pai Gow was fondly played amongst the workers as entertainment and relaxation. The powerful Chinese Philosophical Didacticism built into this game was passed on in this way which helped to shape their orderly attitudes towards life.

This game has been in existence for millenniums and has always been widely enjoyed by artisans and tradesmen throughout China and from the southern borders spread to Vietnam which for very much of history had been a vassal state of China. 

My Dad as a young man was enamoured by this game which he played in the mines he supervised that fostered a camaraderie spirit between workers and owners and who were closely knitted through festive dinners and other traditional celebrations in tin mines as well.

Chinese Miners' Unions or strikes were unheard of, much to the puzzlement of the British then.

My Dad motivated by his deep love for Pai Gow, impassionately impressed upon me the symbolism and philosophy in this game and of all its beauty and empirical value. That's how I saw the link in this game to the Victorious Vietnamese in the war with the US.

Trump irks Muhammad Ali

Trump irks Muhammad Ali. Trump irks Malaysians. The same thing. He irks everybody. Except that the former heading will instantaneously grab widespread attention.

My posts had consistently warned of the dangers a President Trump poses. Now a fellow countryman of mine has joined in the chorus and expressed incendiary indignation at Trump's latest bigoted utterances. And rightly so! 

In Malaysia the doubled-barreled M initials conjure awe and great significance. We had a Prime Minister with the initials M2 who had governed for 22 years and is still robustly stirring the pot of government at age 90.  

We have a popular press publication in Malaysia called the Star which, if accommodated for our mode of restrained democracy, can count to be a distant type of cousin to perhaps, The New York Times ? Well roughly anyway. Our M2 PM has taught us well to think big.

All being said, in today's Saturday Edition 12/12/15 (we are ahead of the US in our time zone) the Star's Business section termed Starbiz, obviously, carried an articulate article chastising Trump's utterances on Islam as contributed by a distinguished Malaysian intellect who also has the initials M2 but to be sure is not our ex-PM.

It would appear that this article followed from the publicity generated by Muhammad Ali condemning Trump's bigotry and, for good effects, a handsome photograph of a young Ali in a boxing pose accompanied the article. This provided a conducive opportunity to pun some curious "fighting words" into the heading of the article.

Essentially, the article tackled 3 hits (why not "punches" as the photo background justified the choice of that word ?) of a president Donald Trump.

The hits were "Muslim-bashing", "Kicking Chinese Arse" and something to do with the Republican Party which I am still working out to see how it fits into a hit of Trump.

I agree fully with M2's point about "Muslim-bashing", "Kicking Chinese Arse"which I have been making a big fuss about it myself in my posts here, but more clarification is required regarding the Republican Party - how is it a hit of Trump.

As I understand it the Republican Party had not been pleased with Trump from the beginning and there is a current furore about Trump and Carson planning to leave the Party.

Notwithstanding the above, the beauty of the US system is that it has self-correcting mechanisms to handle the personality defects of its prominent citizens.

One of them has kicked-in already. Trump's bigotry immediately became the butt of jokes of the top news and talk shows. It was taken up by Noah Trevor, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jay Leno, Conan, etc, whose hard hitting twists of humour drive home the shortcomings mercilessly and are more humiliating than any direct criticisms.

Back in school, I remembered that Malaysia with a third world status before being upgraded to developing, we had to follow a programme called the 3Rs to uplift our fundamental skills to participate competitively on the world stage. The 3Rs were Read, 'Rite (for write) and 'Rithmetic (for arithmetic or maths).

Trump's unfortunate demeanor shows that America today needs a comprehensive 3Rs curriculum firmly established in its schools.

In this case, the 3Rs would be Religion (to understand the major faiths and beliefs in the world), Recall (to understand significant historic developments and milestones of the world) and Region (to be aware of the geography of the world).

Presently, Americans are sadly learning about religion, history and geography through the devastating wars they have started based on misled assumptions and knowledge and widespread misunderstandings. 

What a World Tragedy inflicted by the so-called Leader of the Free World based on ignorance!!!


   

Why US lost Viet War ?

This is a perspective taken from the Chinese Philosophical Attributes.

Based on Western conventional wisdom, the overwhelmingly superior US warfare tactics, weaponry and technology would have made North Vietnam in the 1960s, a backward third world country, an easy prey just for the taking.

This must have been the encouraging rationale for President Johnson and his team of National Security Advisors to escalate the war and get it over with swiftly, so they thought.

At the height of the war, US had more than 500,000 boots on the ground; carpet bombed (see post: Clinton Viet Visit) regularly; sprayed highly toxic herbicide Agent Orange to defoliate the lush vegetation and other forms of destruction.

Under such cruel and brutal conditions of enduring incessant heavy poundings by B-52 bombers; mercilessly burned by napalm that sticks to the flesh in the burning process; and coping with the drenching of poisons with the potency that can impact the vegetation and human genes for generations, the Vietnamese could still persevere and fought the war to victory.

All the Expert Western postmortems and assessments on the war could not turn up a convincing account for the US defeat. After decades of inconsequential debates, it was resigned to some vague notions of lack of political will...blah, blah, blah.

But, surely the Way of the Universe cannot be so simple. A military and technological power disparity of this gargantuan magnitude and yet the underdog won the day cannot be unexplainable. There must be a fundamental reason for the Vietnamese perseverance and confidence in winning the conflict and gone on to achieving the amazing progress it has done that can be seen today !

There is this reason but the knowledge of it is, for the moment, outside the ambit of Western awareness.

Curiously my last post: Troubles of a Yin Obama, discussed the hedonistic lifestyle of most mainstream Americans who could be aware of virtues and desirable skills but not prepared to invest the efforts in acquiring them.

Rather, quite happily, to turn them into a form of entertainment through the multi-media and enjoy the "feel good" effects of watching the virtues and skills acted out. Examples of the cases of Jesus Christ and Kung Fu, again, compliments from my last post.

In this surrogate-styled entertainment ingenuity, you have in this one instance ran ahead of yourselves and tweaked a Chinese Philosophical Didacticism, studded with gems of knowledge that hold the keys to unlocking the fundamental reason why US lost the Vietnam War, into a gambling game popular in Casinos.

The Sacred Cosmological Derivatives of millennia of Chinese Legacies and Wisdoms are vapidly, in a casual cliche-ridden fashion, explained away in the rules of the game as mere tiles. 

Sounds quite like the way Trump looks at the Chinese and China.

This game in the Casino is called Pai Gow (Chinese dominoes version, not playing cards). As a start, please familiarise yourselves with the basics of this game through Google. In my future posts I will restore the elements of this game to its rightful position of Honour and Prestige. I can then perhaps reveal the magnificent link to the fundamental reason sought after about the paradox of the Vietnam War,  that explained why the US lost. 

Troubles of a "Yin" Obama

The Pilgrim Fathers settled in America from 1620 onwards and engendered a WASP culture. I dread to imagine if it had been just a WAS culture with the Protestant element missing.

The centerpiece of the P in WASP is Jesus Christ whose way of life the followers should adopt, and be Christ-like. Christ has no sin, is humble and good.

The horrendous state of America today as champions of debauchery, haughtiness and bellicose behaviours belies its puritanical beginnings. Is this an illustration that one of the purposes of life is the pursuit of understanding of the complexities of the Paradox of God ?

In pursuing this understanding a number of the missing puzzle pieces can be found in the Chinese Civilization. On the Chinese Yin-and-Yang philosophical scale, the present state that America is in is definitely a predominantly Yang.

After the incredulous Yang excesses of the Bush Administration, a formidable political "Quantum Vacuum" - an atmosphere emptied of tolerance for anything Yang - was created that guaranteed the next occupant of the White House to be a Yin President.

Obama, against the mightiest of all odds, breezed in. That's indicative how potent the "Quantum Vacuum" was. Even Hillary Clinton then wasn't Yin enough !

Never, never underestimate the power of the Yin-and-Yang equilibrium of Chinese Philosophy.

In line with Yin principles, Obama uses the stoic silent way that is calm, composed and patient in contrast to the loud and bragado way of Bush to address big issues. Violent undercurrents are allowed time to run their natural courses. Strong opposing forces are not interfered with to let them cancel each other out. In this way, minimal cost is expended to deal with the residual unresolved matters, instead of sticking fingers into every pie and not knowing what is going on.

Obviously, the predominant American Yang is not accustomed to Obama's approach and constantly attack and ridicule him based on their impatient presuppositions. Amongst the conservatives leading the charge are Fox News and Ann Coulter to mention a couple and, now that the Presidential Election is just round the corner, the GOP contenders' entire line-up. These broadsides can be quite entertaining.

Through these Obama Yin initiatives, it has to be appreciated that Russia has now entered the fray in the Middle East together with France and Britain, and Germany in waiting to make military commitments at this point of writing. The opposing Middle Eastern factions are slugging it out hard against each other. In the past the tabs for these expensive adventures would have been picked up only by an all too eager and hubris America.

In observing these spats in the US, I noticed a fascinating psyche of the modern Americans. You love virtues but not practising them. You instead enjoy them in the form of entertainment.

You have made Jesus into epic movies to admire his virtues and his endurance upon his brutal sacrifice on the cross (Passion of Christ).

You have produced the Kung Fu TV series to be entertained by the Chinese pacifist and humble ways. And the martial arts moves that harness the aggressive enemy's energies to disrupt the enemy himself.

American Society is in a new age of surrogacies not to internalise any virtues or skills observed but let your avarice and convenience coast on auto mode, to steer your lives irregardlessly. Yours is, indeed, a very lucky country and lifestyle despite the constant moanings and groanings.

On this note, I would like to thank you Americans for your free press mediums to allow us to watch you intimately. I am encouraged by more and more of you visiting my blog. I hope my feedbacks as an outsider are helpful.

Thank you very much. 

   

"Yin" President Obama

The first palatable tastes of "Yin" influences experienced by Americans at large were through the popular TV series "Kung Fu". It starred David Carradine as a Shaolin peace loving monk, Kwai Chang Caine, fondly called "Grasshopper" by his Master.

This series ran from 1972-75 for 3 seasons and then later as "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" in 1993-97 for 4 seasons with 88 episodes.

Eastern thought and philosophy and martial arts began to seriously permeate into the American pop consciousness through these series.

As "Grasshopper" David Carradine trekked through America, he came across various complex blend of cross-cultural situations and relationships. His mind would cast back to his training memories in the Shaolin Temple in China, in a peaceful and meditative ambience surrounded by candles. He would recall the philosophical question and answer session he had with his Master relevant to the problem at hand to guide him solve the problem. 

The common scenes would depict overconfident and brashful Americans looking down on and insulting "Grasshopper" who remained calm and quiet, and still respectful of the American. The American would then be irked by this peaceful and non-combatant nature and would become even more aggressive and attack the Chinaman. The Chinaman then with bare hands would maneuver gentle and graceful kung fu moves that soon floored the bully American and disarmed him of any weapon.

Obama with his "Yin" background (covered in earlier post: Obama Presidency Minus Fox News) had astutely opened up receptor valves to admit into the US much needed "Yin" influences to counter-balance the predominantly "Yang" America as he had found it. 

George Bush had been brash and boastful in the manner of the bully Americans as portrayed in the Kung Fu shows. Amongst his mean deeds was his unrepentant bragging of authorising the CIA to carry out waterboardings. He made early claims of success in the Iraq War by declaring on board the USS Abe Lincoln "Mission Accomplished" in May 2003. He boasted about the success of "The Surge" in 2007 before he left office. All turned out to be premature boasts and futile.

"Grasshopper" Obama in contrast is calm and humble. He has always made known his stand against Grandstanding in making speeches on his policies and strategies. With his gentleness and patience, he has been able to "kung fu" the artful pivotal moves that shifted the heavy responsibilities the US used to bear in the Middle East to the Russians, Iranians and Saudis.

Getting their skins in the game which is theirs to shoulder in the first place. Obama will be judged well by History for his skills which are not recognizable at the moment by his country.   

Baiting NATO, Endangering Own Citizenry ?

Now that some of the dust have settled in the Russia-Turkey spat, a silhouette of the treacherous scheming motives of Turkey, in particular President Erdogan's, begin to take shape.

To understand the issues clearer, let's bring this International Incident down to a simple story.

Two life-long neighbours, Eddy and Putty, living next door to each other in a village. Their children go to the same school and are good friends. Their wives go to the local food markets and shop together. Putty has invested in Eddy's village ventures and community projects and are bearing good results.

They both know there are stray and diseased dogs roaming outside their houses and are a threat and nuisance to the neighbourhood.

One night, Putty took a stick and went outside his house to whack the stray and possibly rabid dogs to be rid of them. Eddy, at the same time ran out of his house and stabbed Putty on his back.

Eddy justified his actions by claiming that he felt threatened by Putty wielding a stick and had momentarily veered across his front gate in chasing the dogs.

What kind of person do you think Eddy is ???

Back up to the International Scene. The actions of Erdogan can be seen as parallel to that of Eddy's. He was spoiling for a fight that would under Article 5 suck NATO in for a battle, he hopes, of an ARMAGEDDON proportion in the Middle East. It would then drain NATO's resources and punish the Russian presence which play cosily into his plans in the aftermath.

In all this, Erdogan is prepared to gamble with and sacrifice the lives and properties of the people of Turkey in the event Russia opted for a brutal retaliation.

To Putin's credit, his level-headed handling of the trap set probably disappointed Erdogan immensely.

The Russians seem to be smartened by the ploys of pre-manufactured evidence to implicated them in incidences.

In the Malaysian MH 17 case, a recorded conversation appeared to pin blame on the Russian side of the circumstances for shooting down the Malaysian Airliner. It is plausible in this instance the recording could be authentic.

But, the Turkish recording of warnings issued is dicey. Turkey claimed to have issued 10 warnings in 5 minutes and admitted its airspace was violated for only 17 seconds. Jets manoeuvre at such high speeds, how could Turkey tell in the time frames given that the Russian jet would enter its airspace. If for 5 minutes the jet was in its airspace and all that warning given, then the case can be made for Turkey's position.

Moreover, fighter pilots in those roles are well selected, trained and disciplined not to be trigger-happy.

The news and analyses of the motives for Erdogan in this incident are now flooding the internet and you can check it out.  

Russia/Turkey Spat

Russian jet shot down by Turkey. The Global Conversation (GC) immediately rallied around Turkey This most recent and poignant international incident illustrates the heart of how GC works to one's advantage even when key facts have not been ascertained.

Knowing that the GC is on its side, Turkey was emboldened to warn Russia not to "play with fire" even though the "fire" was first started by Turkey. How Audacious ! 

As the hard facts and information emerge, suspicion is growing that Turkey has many motivations to launch a premeditated attack on the Russian jet under the guise of protecting its territorial integrity. At the moment the body of circumstantial evidences supports this notion.

Not to be speculative, we should be patient and wait for the confirmation of these evidences to jell before further observations can be made.

Quite sure the stories will be fascinating !

Clinton's Viet Visit

Obama's visit to Malaysia this Nov 2015 reminded me of Clinton's to Vietnam in Nov 2000. This was 15 years ago to the dot.

This story is to illustrate the adroitness of the US in orchestrating the Global Conversation (GC) on a macro level. No malice to the players in the story. I am a great fan of Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton is the modern day John Wayne as portrayed in the context of my earlier post, John Wayne/James Bond.

This is the story of Vietnam that in the 60s/70s was so heavily bombed by the US that a special termed was coined for it - Carpet Bombing. Each time after a bombing raid, the targeted area looked like as if a carpet had been laid over it.

The viciousness of the US at the start of of their air campaign "Operation Flaming Darts" and the more prolonged "Operation Rolling Thunder" could be summed up by the assertion of the then Chief of Staff of the US Air Force: "We're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age".

This gave rise to the Heaviest Aerial Bombardment in history. The bombs dropped on Vietnam was 3 times in tonnage to that of the entire World War 2 from all sides.

The horrors of this bombing campaign could be summed up by an iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken in 1972 of a 9 year old Vietnamese girl running naked and crying on the street after being badly burnt by napalm bombing. The ghastliness of napalm is that it sticks to the skin and continues with the severe burnings until the napalm is spent. 

A large part of Vietnam's vegetation was also defoliated using the highly toxic herbicide Agent Orange. The intention was to clear the jungles and the thick undergrowth so that the Vietcongs (Vietnamese Resistance Fighters) had no place to hide in the strategic areas of the War Zones as designated by the US Military. The ecology of the vegetation and human genomes in those areas have been seriously harmed for generations. 

Yet, when President Clinton visited Vietnam in 2000, he was welcomed with great fanfare. A sample of the press reports were as follows:

"..surrounded by an enthusiastic and noisy crowd".

"It was like a festival".

"Everyone was applauding him and trying to get his autograph".

As if to rub salt into the Vietnamese wounds, Clinton brought along the 2 sons of a lieutenant colonel bomber pilot to Viet Tri, a village 100 km from Hanoi. Apparently the pilot was bombing a railway station there and was shot down.

Clinton and the sons were visiting an excavation site in a rice paddy field to look for the missing remains of the bomber pilot. I remembered watching the scene on TV news then.

Clinton and his whole party were welcomed by about 300+ villagers at the site who were smiling and beaming with joy at Clinton's presence. Some might have lost loved ones in the bombings.

If I had not known better watching the buoyant gathering, I would have thought the villagers were there showing their gratitude for the past US droppings of food parcels or Christmas presents. And poured the country-side with honey instead of the poisonous Agent Orange.

This is one of the many glowing examples where I gasp in awe of the US dominance of the GC that allows them to reap profits even in the face of severe adversity.

Can anyone imagine a future Russian President visiting Syria one day, and like a parallel in this case is embraced and so adorably mobbed by Syrian villagers, after they have been so brutally devastated by Russian weapons?  

Only the Americans know how to do it. China can and must learn the art of this political charm as a new Superpower.

  

John Wayne/James Bond

John Wayne is a real person and James Bond a work of fiction. Both, nevertheless, are WASP popular icons in the Global Conversation (GC).

Back in the 1960s when I was a kid, we loved Cowboys and Red Indian movies. For 5 cents US, I could get admitted into a school matinee starring John Wayne. We were conditioned to bite our nails and cower in dread as the Red Indians were sneaking up on to wagons with women and children inside, to encircle and attack them.

Suddenly, in the distance the Cavalry would appear sounding their bugles. The relieved audience would break out in loud cheers and approving shouts. As the Calvary decimated the Red Indians, we descended into a frenzy of incessant clapping.

The GC of the day then could turn villains into heroes and victims into demons. In today's "politically correct" thinking, the Cavalry was committing genocide and the Red Indians were defending their homeland.

With every James Bond movie unveiled, we are conditioned to anticipate beautiful and sexy Bond Girls, sophisticated Bond spy gadgets and a Noble Mission. Then, there is the Bond theme soundtrack. 

The songs in the soundtracks can only be belted out by a uniquely gifted British artiste. Amongst the more famous were Shirley Bassey who had the honours 4 times, Paul McCartney, Sheena Easton, Adele and latest Sam Smith in "Spectre". 

Most of us would be rushing off to a cinema and paying good money to get our brains "washed" once again by "Spectre".

I can only gasp in awe and marvel at the WASP ingenuity in information engineering of this sort as part of the overarching GC to imprint their values, causes, lifestyles and products onto our minds.

To be truly on the World Stage, China must hold its own in this Game of occupying the Thrones for the dominance of the GC and thus the minds of the denizens of the world.

At the moment, China have icons known to the world of only those at the very top of their game. Mao and Jack Ma who are more akin to idols rather than popular icons of the John Wayne/James Bond genre that pervades virally and validates the day to day activities and preferences of the masses around the globe and drive their ideological beliefs in the 21st century. 

Genesis of Global Conversation

We need nutrients to sustain our bodies and grow. Our Biology has the mechanics to make us thirsty and hungry to crave for water and food to meet these needs.

Theologians tell us we are born with a moral compass. Neuroscientists are beginning to understand that we are imbued with an innate process of Language of Thought (Mentalese). Combine these in a mix with other cerebral elements, we have a craving for certain narratives to sustain the balance of our mental health.

WASP leaders are adroit in massaging and manipulating these narratives for bloated national prestige and power domination. Technological advances which led to globalisation encouraged these narratives to evolve into Global Conversation (GC).

These narratives in ancient days powered the Romans to birth the organised religion of Christianity and the Bible today is the most extraordinary and encompassing GC on Earth. 

The Romans in occupying part of the British Isles passed these skills on to the English who have their own brand of genius to enhance them. The Magna Carta was drawn up that provided the underpinnings of political reforms leading to the foundations for social justice and early forms of human rights. 

As the world progresses, the English kept transforming these gifts into the fine art of providing moral authority to justify their adventures and territorial ambitions around the globe. In latter days the US followed suit with these strategies.

Robert Clive ran the private East India Company to trade with India. When the "Black Hole of Calcutta" incident broke out, some of the data were hyped to justify Clive requesting the Crown to provide military back up which were used to fight the various battles that led to the colonisation of the whole of India.

The British slyly supplied opium to China against the Chinese Authority wishes that precipitated the Boxer Rebellion. The Opium Wars then led to the annexation of Hong Kong as a concessionaire to compensate for the damage done to the British opium trade.

The "Gulf of Tonkin" incident gave the moral authority to the US to start the Vietnam War.

These are just some of the milestone examples of many that illustrate the Game of GC on the world geopolitical stage.

China must master the fundamentals of this Game to assert its vested interests around the Globe. The babblings of Donald Trump risk raising the temperature in this GC Game that China must be eveready to cool down to avert hostilities. 

Already of late, US Battleships and B-52 Bombers are buzzing China's territorial space. 

Deepak Chopra

PM Modi of India and President Xi of China were on official visits to Britain within 2 weeks of each other in Oct/Nov 2015.

There were noteworthy differences in the receptions and responses of the British. This importantly demonstrates the respective emerging Powers' potential impact on the Global Conversation (context connected to earlier post titled Global Conversation). 

India's historical strong links to Britain puts Modi at an unassailable advantage in its special relationship. Speaking in eloquent English, Modi effortlessly charmed his British audience and puts them in attentive ease.

PM David Cameron as the gracious host was naturally also the bellwether of the responses to the rhetorical dexterity of the visiting leaders. When Modi spoke, Cameron sat relaxed, wore a broad smile and laughed heartily at the Westminster Parliamentary nuanced wit and jokes.

In stark contrast, Xi's polite diplomatic platitudes only drew soporific looks from the ear-phones hung audience and a stern face Cameron who weakly broke into a smile of relief when the speech ended.

China will, of course, on its own steam and in good time influence the Global Conversation as its stature grows. But, it is an impeded race against time to beat the misled thinking of the likes of Trump in the WASP sphere. Harm could have already been done first.

I adopted my alter ego name of Dipachupa in this campaign to leverage on our Indian Brothers who have already made deep inroads into the WASP world because of their better command of the English Language. Pragmatically approached in this way, not that Chinese Language is not important, to fast track the power of Asian Voices in the Global Conversation which for historical reasons is English Language dominated.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Deepak Chopra's impressive visibility on the WASP Scientific/Spiritual arena makes him the most deserving candidate to be imitated and emulated. He is a rare personality who has mastery of Ancient Eastern Wisdom and Advanced Modern Sciences. 

I wanted to be simple and considerate and tweaked my adopted name to Dipachupa. The letter "R" is pronunciation challenged to the Chinese and was thus avoided (sorry Dr Chopla). 

Diaspora Chinese always knew their stature could be enhanced by prefixing a WASP name to their family name. Lee Kuan Yew was once Harry Lee. When he realised the substance of his achievements were attributable more to his Chinese roots, the WASP prefixed name "Harry" was dropped.

Many Malaysians studied medicine in India but did not return home as Govinda Tan, Thanabalan Lee, Siva Chan, etc...

But, we are now in a New Era. Dipachupa will draw on the combined strengths of India and China to stake our Rightful Voice in the Global Conversation before it is too late.  

Trump Knows China ? How Much ? Part 2

(....continued from Part 1)

"What Mark Zuckerberg knows, but, Trump doesn't" would have been more appropriate for the title of this portion. Since this, however, is a continuation of a Part 1 and for the sake of continuity of referencing, the title is as captioned.

In my Birthday Greetings to my daughter (see earlier post on Happy Birthday, Janice), I took the opportunity there to subtly demonstrate the different mindsets of WASP and Chinese as I am conversant with both Worldviews.

Notice the different cultural mindsets expressions for my fondness of my daughter.

WASP : Apple of Daddy's eyes - fondness expressed in soft terms of a likeable fruit eaten daily for good health. Exudes the love and goodness in a wholesome father/daughter relationship.

Chinese : Thousands of Pieces of Gold Young Lady - fondness expressed in materialist (see post on Minor Conversation) value of gold. Love is a function of the reality of wealth and prestige.

More Examples of such differences but far from exhaustive : WASP name buildings using proper nouns. The Hilton Hotel, Carnegie Hall, etc. Chinese use adjectives. Sincere Building, etc. Or verbiage phrases to depict grandeur and profligacy of a building e.g. The Palace of the Golden Horses (PGH) which is a grand hotel in Malaysia.

Misunderstandings and unintended jokes come out of the PGH instance and you need to imagine the whole mouthful of words to see the funny side.

Upon confirming to a WASP friend of mine that I have booked him into the PGH, he retorted : Come on, man, you are not putting me up in a stable. Don't you have hotels in Malaysia ?

On inviting another WASP friend for dinner at the PGH, he wittily remarked ; We're having Sunshine Hay and Grass Salad ?

There is clearly a difference in the fundamental settings of the templates for the Language of Thought (Mentalese) between the WASP and Chinese cultures.

It is possible therefore when a Chinese is signaling and communicating friendliness, a WASP can mistakenly based on WASP cultural settings, interpret them for being hostile. And Bang, Bang... it's Dick Cheney all over again - shot a friend. 

Famous WASPs fell in love with China after living there. Bertrand Russell, Joseph Needham to name a couple out of many. Mark Zuckerberg took up residence in Singapore, a Chinese spawned City State. There must be many things great and good if you understand the Chinese Way in its correct context.

BE A GREAT PRESIDENT, MR TRUMP, LEARN FROM ME ABOUT CHINA AND THE CHINESE.

Trump Knows China ? How Much ? Part 1

Does Trump know China or the Chinese ?

In last night's Fox Business Republican Debate (FBRD 10 Nov 2015), Trump professed to know Putin intimately, merely after sharing a holding room with him prior to appearing separately on CBS 60 Minutes show.

This is a typical Trump indulgence of basing on a faint impression, he fervently launches into a sweeping prognosis on a matter as if he is a life-long expert.

No doubt, Trump is brilliant in subject matters he has deep knowledge of and experience in. That's why he has done very well for himself and is the GOP front runner at the moment. 

He has substance in his areas of strength and can communicate them convincingly, though in a brash but quite natural way. That's fine as it promotes his brand.

Most of the other candidates are beginning to sound more and more hollow. They acted very revealingly of being coached and had rehearsed their performances. Their awkward folksiness that suddenly toggle switch to being presidential and back again, make them look ingenuine and, at times, downright stupid !

Chinese psyche which is very down-to-earth (read post on Minor Conversation) can effortlessly see through these shenanigans, but, American audiences seem to revel in them as an art form of showmanship. Probably this difference accounts for why Chinese orientated countries are adverse to and fight shy of democracy practices.

The greatest danger Trump poses is when he is dealing with a subject he lacks knowledge and understanding in.

For the moment it is the significant topic of China and the Chinese. Mistaken perceptions in this case can lead to devastating Superpower Conflicts, maybe even Warfare....

In the place of knowledge and understanding, Trump allows raw emotions to wantonly take over. He was so obsessed and riled up on China on the FBRD show, he bursted into a tirade against China and labelled China the number one abuser of the US. He further accused China of currency manipulations that had not been properly addressed in the impending TPP Agreement.

Only to be told to his utter embarrassment by a fellow panelist Rand Paul that China is not a party to this TPP Agreement. This is a Frightening Indictment of Donald Trump's blatant over-eagerness to attack China on issues that can be on mistaken grounds. 

Have I sufficiently made the case for my campaign and your kind support to educate Trump on China and the Chinese ?

(to be continued in Part 2/.....)

Happy Birthday, Janice

Even the cogs of the Wheel that turns the Destiny of the World must take a break when it comes to Family.

Please excuse moir for this short interval of your invaluable time to allow me to greet my precious daughter with the customary Good Wishes. My sweet and charming daughter turns 23 today.

Dearest Sweetheart, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Apple of Daddy's eyes. Thousands of Pieces of Gold Young Lady (Chinese literal translation of Chin Kum Siew Chay for those conversant with Cantonese). Significance of these two manner of greetings explained in later post.

Hope you are having a blast in Hong Kong with your friends celebrating your Birthday.

Everyone at home sends their Love and Good Wishes.

God Bless and Lots of Love, Daddy 

Obama's Presidency (Minus Fox News)

Fox News is highly controversial.  To open a Conversation on the US one must be somewhat controversial to be seen as cool. That is the stuff of democracy, particularly that of the US genre.

What better way to open to achieve this impact than to do a literary SNL styled schtick as an Outsider/Foreigner expressing views on the sitting US President through the prism of Fox News. This was what I did in my earlier post titled "Obama's Presidency" on 5 November.

That post should entertain and demonstrate the ways the warped effects Fox News can impinge on the opinions of Foreign US watchers (FUs) like myself for one.

To my credit (hubris developed from watching too much Trump), I am one of those FUs who inquisitively peeks beneath the veneer of the obligatory hullabaloo of American Democracy. In doing so I may get a shot closer to the truth.

All past Presidents were WASP influenced in their formative years. They looked out from the US at the world. Obama is the first US President that has been equipped to look back into at the US.

Past Presidents were like fishes swimming in a huge glass tank. They were unable to be aware of the water they are in as it just felt so natural. Obama is more like a "frog" that can occasionally hop out of the tank and look at the fishes in the water and see the water affecting the fishes. He is imbued with an extra dimension of insight lacking in his predecessors, to bolster the range and the depth of his outlook.

Obama has this frog-like advantage because he went to school in Indonesia during his impressionable years between age 6 to 10. He then spent his formative years in Hawaii up to around 18 years old.

Hawaii has strong traces of Japanese influence. Japanese is very much a derived culture of the Chinese going back in time. Inevitably, oriental thoughts and memes must have pervasively seeped into Obama's subconscious, made more receptive by his earlier years spent in Indonesia.

It can be said drawing from the benefits of the gentle Oriental nature, Obama is the first serious "Yin" US President as in the Chinese Philosophy of "Yin and Yang" (more about this in later posts).

Fox News is a vestige of the Nixon era. Its thinking is obviously oblivious to the water in the fish tank too. It is also obviously very much a "Yang" creature barking at anything "Yin" all the time.

Obama pivots his Presidency on "Yin" influences. The favourable effects take time to shine through. History will judge its goodness and soundness.

By disengaging from the Middle East, Obama has avoided further loss of American lives and dollars. Those with vested interests like Russia and Syria's neighbours have started to take over those heavy responsibilities that are theirs to begin with and are really sweating it out. Finally, their long overdue skins got into the game.

America should be pleased at how Obama has passed the ball back to them and learn more to look at itself from the outside to be adroit in this sort of ball games. Studying the stories here is one of the ways.

Obama has opened the Doors ......

AM I INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE ?

More stories to come.... 

Donald Trump/John Lennon

WATCH video on YouTube titled : Donald Trump says "China". It has enormous implications for World Superpowers Stability and Conflict Avoidance.

It must be his belligerent and obsessive outpourings on China that galvanised the conventional wisdom in the journalistic community to produce such a video. None of its kind had ever come into existence before.

"one thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside" by JOHN LENNON

The manifestations in this video is a haunting testament to John Lennon's prophetic genius. Trump's bellicose demeanor displayed is very revealing of what has crippled him inside - his bedeviled thinking on China.

Also eerily prophetic and coincidentally, Trump just about a week ago (early November 2015) released his latest book titled, "Crippled America".

So, it is timely to beg the question, can CRIPPLED THINKING save CRIPPLED AMERICA ?

Every Chinese around the world CANNOT NOT watch this video. Then, must contemplate the serious consequences for China should Trump in his present state of mind wins the 2016 Presidential Elections. An unnecessary and painful war may be triggered based on silly misunderstandings. 

There is about only 1 year left to the elections in November 2016 for China to tap onto the business acumen parts (which are working very well) of the cerebral of Trump to extend them to understanding correctly the positives and truths about China.

One possible saving grace for China. Trump hosts the SNL show tonight (7 November 2015). There seems to be a SNL 'curse' on this hosting. All 6 previous presidential candidates who hosted lost the elections.

Just in case this 'curse' fails, the stories here can help to improve Trump's understanding of the Chinese Worldview as the next President of US and, hence, a safer China.

HAPPY HOSTING OF "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE", DONALD !!!

Minor Conversation

This inkling of a sample Conversation should give a rough insight into a form of expression of Chinese. "Expression" is used here in the context as in Gene Expression. There is Core Chinese and depending on the environment and influences subjected to, a certain expression of Chinese emerges and manifests its distinctive characteristics.

Most well known form of such an expression - "Bananas" - Chinese who are white inside and yellow on the outside due to prevalent western influence. The wonder of the modern day Chinese is the evolving diversity of such amazing expressions.

Mitt Xi is the best friend of Dipa. Dipa kicks off the Conversation.

Dipa: Mitt, do you think for a Chinese we hold too many opinions on too many issues and we talk too much ?

Mitt: Yep

Dipa: I mean we really dig in and argue heatedly, sometimes over issues zillion of miles away and doesn't even concern us or ever likely to hit our shores.

Mitt: Ya, we are living, sensitive and thinking creatures. We can't help it. It's a good thing.

Dipa: But, our friends think we are nuts and they don't care to join in our arguments. All they talk about is money and more money. Or luxury this and avant-garde that. It is more than materialism, it is blatantly.....I'd rather not say.....

Sometimes I wish I am more like them. Have an uncluttered mind and gleefully lead the life of a hedonist with sybaritic tastes. Why should I care about what is hurting this world and the wellbeing of future generations ?

Mitt: Yeah Dipa, like the nouveau riche Chinese who are bursting out all over the globe that we read about everyday, flaunting their profligate lifestyles and expensive toys, like Bentleys, BMWs....

Dipa: Precisely, you know my other half is Chinese-educated and is very much of that mentality. She is irked by my myriad views on world affairs and talking about them. She laments all the time that I waste my time and energy mulling over lofty ideas. I should be more like our avaricious friends who are living in coveted neighbourhoods and go on an unending spree of acquiring deals and real estate.

Mitt: My wife is a carbon copy and she is not even Chinese-educated, beat that....

You may have noticed that some traits exposed are universal, not necessarily confined to the Chinese.

Global Conversation

Dipa in his retirement free time also watches the Great Debates on internet and the prominent cable stations. What is striking to Dipa due to his background but apparently not at all to the entire Western World is the deafening absence of the Chinese Voice. A Global Power with the Second Largest Economy in the world has no voice or presence in these Debates.

By voice and presence I don't mean Mandarin being spoken or a Chinese face on the panel. The contents and substance whenever or wherever relevant in the Debate should at least in some ways show signs they have taken into account Chinese thoughts, values and perspectives. But,  Nope!

A robust world stressed and strained by missing vital pivotal components and descends into a highly disequilibrium state as a result, is a Dangerous World. As I am writing this very moment, a US battleship is testing the Chinese resolve by cutting through Chinese territorial waters as marked by the nearby Chinese atolls. Threats and counter-threats are exchanged....can they talk on the same wave length in such a skewed world?

This incident is happening under a pacifist and conflict-adverse President. What would happen if Donald Trump is in the White House ? Trump might be a brilliant businessman who has the smarts to add value to his business empire and do international deals. But, listening to him rant on TV news and talk shows, he hits out at China for all the wrong reasons and has no clue on the Chinese psyche and worldview.

The Global Conversation had better close out these imbalances. Every Chinese has a big role to play to contribute the positives and truths of the Chinese People to this Conversation. I already have my work cut out for me to do my part. There will be a long agenda of postings on this blog of anecdotes that can fall under one of the 3 main headings:-

1. Chinese Worldview and Traditions
2. Chinese Open Secrets Differentiating Itself from Western Cultures
3. Donald Trump

Do spread the word of these impending stories coming out here soon especially to influential people of all shapes and colours who can make a difference to tilt the contents in the Global Conversation to be inclusive of Chinese perspectives and, hence, more conducive to World Peace....

1. 
   

Obama's Presidency

Dipa has retired recently and has plenty of time to follow Fox News. Obviously this Channel has little affection for Obama.

Thus, Dipa formed this impression of Obama.

Obama ran the Office of the President of USA as if he is undertaking a course for an Institution of Higher Learning's Scholastic Award. He stuck closely to the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) prescription almost textbook-like to ensure his re-election.

In his second term when he is no longer eligible for re-election, he made bold moves reflecting his true colours. He broke away from the WASP script and is very much his own man. He took a strong stand against Israel - a traditionally close ally of the US. Opened up ties with Cuba. Gave generous concessions to Iran. Neglected Syria. Abandoned Iraq and Afghanistan.

At home, strengthened gay rights and the pro-choice agenda. Weakened support for the law enforcement agencies leading to increased violent crime and murder rates. Released 6000 drug users-pushers.

All actions seemed to be motivated in handing in a glowing report card when he leaves Office in January 2017. A report card that showed high scores when checked off against the election promises before the 2008 win. One big black mark, however, would still be the inability to shut down Gitmo. Not too bad an overall academic record to be housed in The Barack Obama Presidential Library when it is completed.

Really ?.... the Presidency of the US to be conducted this way, like University Dons prepare for their post-doctoral citations or evaluations or whatever you call them. No wonder so many political novices are crowding the GOP field vying for 2016.

GOD save US. 

But, this is the Fox News influenced take.. See latter post on Obama (Minus Fox News)

Dipachupa - Beautiful Malaysia ?

Dipachupa is a Chinese man born in Malaysia and spent most of his life living in Malaysia. The fact that a Chinaman can perceptively adopt an Indian sounding name like Dipachupa and carry on living normally in Malaysia speaks volumes to the Beauty of that remaining Beautiful aspect of Malaysia.

But, Beautiful Malaysia is fast choking to extinction through societal climatic changes brought forth by the ignoble winds and storms of political idiocies and greed. We will soon only be able to talk about Beautiful Malaysia mostly in the past tense. We therefore need to store up as many stories as possible to preserve the memories of the Beauty before it is eroded, for the sake of our future generations. They can learn from the follies and perhaps one day restore the full Beauty and beyond.

"Beautiful Malaysia, truly Beautiful Asia", if I may confer a noble adornment to that familiar underlying tagline of our Tourism Board, "Malaysia, Truly Asia".. By virtue of Malaysia's serendipitous geography, history and resources, the best gifts, talents and blessings of Asia have a natural proclivity to coalesce and blossom in a Beautiful Malaysia and re-exported.

This weekend 7 November 2015, Saturday, Lee Hsien Loong will be hosting a historic meeting in Singapore for China's President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou. Unresolved matters stretching all the way back to 1949 would be on the table. It is not exactly far fetched that with some savvy positioning earlier on, Beautiful Malaysia could have had clinched the hosting. We have palatial facilities and logistics in Putera Jaya to play gracious host that is more than befitting of such a seismic event.

With the ascendency of China and India in their Golden Eras to Global Power Status, they will inevitably bolster many other Asian Nations' Status.  For a Chinese man with an Indian name living in a Malaysia that is willing to enhance its Beauty instead of degrading it, the potentials are limitless. Dipa, as he wishes to be fondly known, has stories to tell that will be eagerly awaited!