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.