Chinese Vs West is though fascinating matter. In some sense they are conjoint at the hips.
With cheap, unregulated yet high tech productivity- Foxcon would agree- and best place to dump all manners of consumer goods, well being of China is vital for the “West”. And they will help China to obtain all necessary control and acquisition of energy source, raw material and resource, market for their own dumping of the surplus products, etc. With infrastructure building across the region as if China already owns all the lands of Asia and land acquisition and monetary manipulations.
Yet the “West+ Japan, Korea and Taiwan” -dominant and more seasoned player- would still want to keep the lion’s share, especially trade routes, espionage capacity and military instillation.
Practically for the people of Burma, the main difference is crude way the Chinese come in and do their business- corruption, coercion and control as tocharian put it- versus immobilized and envelop-ped entrapment under the “West” where people could not only cannot think of resisting, but also feel duty bound to serve.
By way of legality and indebtedness.
With the use of the attack dogs- World Bank and International Monetary Fund- abhorrent Bretton Woods monsters laying waste around the world with no regard for the tears while pretending otherwise with the help of World Trade Organization commoditizing all resources and all essentials of life to be owned by people other than the people of the land.
Unfortunately present day Burma has all the fertile ground for all three evils to prosper. Already all Big Four accounting firms are in Rangoon quietly collecting data, laying the ground and tabulating the plans. And all the necessary legal framework is passed through the “parliament”. That is the “Law and Order” people’s A May Suu was referring to even though people- stupid as usual- thought it was meant to be for the actual crimes committed in the land which of course have increased daily exponentially- in number and in degree of violence- and the trajectory is getting steeper along with income inequality, loss of means of living, plain lack of food and dwelling and meteoric rise of (this one is also enthusiastically promoted by the monks as well- monks, the traditional moral leaders nowadays more like jet setters ) wasteful and boastful consumerism.
Major danger for the people of Burma is total lack of moral leadership as well as lack of knowledge, wisdom and broad outlook among the precious few people the country looks up to.
Indeed the stage of the cycle of exploitation and exact pattern Burma is now in has been repeated in Asia- Philippines and Indonesia in particular, Africa and most distinctly in Central and South American states. Yet there is no knowledge about them among the wannabe leaders and academia.
So in the end Burma is likely to end up with worst of both worlds- of the Chinese and of the “West”.
No, no. They cross-pollinate each other. Now the Chinese would also charge the Burmese for the money outlay they put in for the Pipe and Dam and what-else and the Burmese will have to pay those back as well on top of real “loans” to Than Shwe for the tanks, and tunnels and the Potemkin.
Then again collectively they have now thoroughly succeeded in making the whole country Burma to be greedy, needy, insecure and dumb, next stages ware just a matter of time. Easy walk in. As easy as the Pipe.
China backed the Burmese junta for decades and it’s now backing the Thai junta (infrastructure is the code word!). Laos and Cambodia are already in China’s pocket, you see! China doesn’t believe in decadent academic Western values such as democracy, human rights, blah blah blah. China prefers c’s: corruption, coercion and control.
There is not much the West can do to change “basic societal values” in Asia. Forget about pivot and all that US foreign policy stuff LOL
The idea on democracy began in Greek and so did the story of Leonidas and his 300 men. I have never known any groups of mankind who have enjoyed democracy without sacrifices-lives, properties, loved ones, and the likes so that others rather than themselves can benefit from this ideal cause. Ask yourself: Am I ready to give up these worldly comforts to pursue what is right and just? If the answer is “No”, then you are not ready.
With the latest coup, I have noticed a significant lack of “public sphere” (and I use this phrase with reservation since it has an immensely Eurocentric ontology). Folks at Thai academy are extremely quiet, with some even leaving the country. For one, if the current military regime is planning to hold elections not until late next year, I can only pray what will become of this country. My feeling is that hell is going to break lose before that. Of course that is not the sentiment with people with the army I talk to. To many of them, it’s the best time to be in the army in Thailand, just like it has been for those in the military in Burma (sorry, I prefer Burma than Myanmar). From what I know, which is little, there is still a very long way for Thailand to be truly rid of its many fractious rivalries, rivalries that continue to enrich those who have hold the country in constant political, economic, and social divisions.
This “open letter” relates what thinking people already know. Yes, enforced silence hangs heavily over Thailand, or at least the beholden media. Among the latter is the Thai-based Asia Times Online, which has been understandably reluctant to comment on post-coup matters. We now have this carefully-worded item from that source, avoiding any topic contained in the open letter above.
“Both then and now, the [Royal Thai Army] perceives an existential threat to the Kingdom.” In the article this threat is identified as the pro-democracy folks in N & NE Thailand. Kind of unique to have pro-vote folks ID’ed as “existential threats,” isn’t it? Then the authors go ahead and equate this war against democracy advocates with the campaign against communists in Thailand. Mind-boggling.
The Interim Constitution goes beyond one┬┤s wildest nightmares in it┬┤s sheer nastiness. A reflexion of the totalitarian mind at it┬┤s worst. Poor Thailand, poor Thais. How has this ever come to pass?
All well and good – but where is Prabowo in this analysis? I find it difficult to accept that he won’t create great mischief in both the DPR and society to negate reform – and undermine Jokowi’s credibility to the point where a manufactured crisis sees the President impeached (as with Gus Dur). So many commentators are dismissing Prabowo’s Constitutional Court challenge when I see this as just one tactic of many to get the top job. The delusional can be dangerous.
Monique, I’m not sure what you mean here. I assure you I’m not trying to Christianise Judaism, just to point out that the Jewish scriptures, like those of Christianity and Islam, contain passages that are quite repugnant.
To recap what I said above, the Torah does report God’s command to Moses to exterminate the Amalekites in retribution for the Amalekites attacking the Israelites – see Exodus 17:16 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19. These verses are recited by Jews at the feast of Purim because Haman (the enemy of the Jews in Judith’s story) is seen as the descendant of Amalek.
Very few Jews, of course, have any intention of committing genocide against anyone. Nevertheless, there is the example of Rabbi Yisrael Hess, formerly Campus Rabbi at the University of Bar-Ilan, who in 1980 published an article in the magazine Bat Kol titled “The Genocide Commandment in the Torah” which associated the Palestinians with the Amalekites and ended with a call for “holy war” to fulfill “this commandment of the annihilation of Amalek.”
Rabbi Hess is not, of course, representative of all Jews, or even of a sizable portion, but it does us good to remember that hateful distortions of religion are common to all faiths.
[…] ‘Western-style’ democracy was an incredibly good fit with Indonesian values. He waxed about restoring Indonesia’s 1945 constitution, which would have rolled back direct presidential elections and […]
> “In the following days, some reports claimed that workers in several industrial areas went on strike against their Chinese employers resulting in several factories being damaged and Chinese staff/administration killed or injured.”
1) Not ‘some reports’ – this was front-page news around the world for several days.
2) The affected factories were mostly Korean/Taiwanese companies.
3) It is most likely that outsiders, not workers, were behind the main unrest.
4) The deaths of four Chinese nationals were confirmed. These were all Chinese workers building a steel factory for a Taiwanese company in the central province of Nghe An. It is likely that these deaths occurred during a confrontation between hundreds of Chinese workers and locals and it is likely there were fatalities among the Vietnamese which have not been officially reported.
Saul (Paul) was not a Jewish prophet. Nice try at proselytising though.
Purim is about Queen Esther and Haman and about Jews in Persia and nothing whatsoever to do with Saul. No, those so-called quotes are not said on Purim.
Any Jesuit Priest, who knows far more Judaism than you, a non-Jew, not to mention a Rabbi, would laugh to death at your failed attempt at the Christianisation of Judaism.
That you do not quote Martin Buber, Rabbi Steinsalz or even Martin Gilbert (Jewish
History), but an obscure source, further shows your motives.
Jews have not killed Amalekites, Ammonites, Canaanites, or ancient Jews, for quite some time.
They now have sophisticated monitoring systems for the length of the Pipe. Apart form 50 battalions (Aung San was Bo Gyoke with 5 rag-tag recruits “battalions”) of guard dogs. If one were to stop the Pipe, PLA will come in. And the “West” will say exactly what they say now about the Jews insanely and most cowardly and cruelly and heartlessly slaughtering the “Cockroaches”.
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Thailand’s Constitution: An Empty Text
farts are freedom,thais need to learn this from american
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
Get your facts straight before you rant. The Thai military is being supported by the US of A and had always been.
Back to geo-politics 101 for you.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
Military-Monarchy Complex
Four questions about the Kachin war
Chinese Vs West is though fascinating matter. In some sense they are conjoint at the hips.
With cheap, unregulated yet high tech productivity- Foxcon would agree- and best place to dump all manners of consumer goods, well being of China is vital for the “West”. And they will help China to obtain all necessary control and acquisition of energy source, raw material and resource, market for their own dumping of the surplus products, etc. With infrastructure building across the region as if China already owns all the lands of Asia and land acquisition and monetary manipulations.
Yet the “West+ Japan, Korea and Taiwan” -dominant and more seasoned player- would still want to keep the lion’s share, especially trade routes, espionage capacity and military instillation.
Practically for the people of Burma, the main difference is crude way the Chinese come in and do their business- corruption, coercion and control as tocharian put it- versus immobilized and envelop-ped entrapment under the “West” where people could not only cannot think of resisting, but also feel duty bound to serve.
By way of legality and indebtedness.
With the use of the attack dogs- World Bank and International Monetary Fund- abhorrent Bretton Woods monsters laying waste around the world with no regard for the tears while pretending otherwise with the help of World Trade Organization commoditizing all resources and all essentials of life to be owned by people other than the people of the land.
Unfortunately present day Burma has all the fertile ground for all three evils to prosper. Already all Big Four accounting firms are in Rangoon quietly collecting data, laying the ground and tabulating the plans. And all the necessary legal framework is passed through the “parliament”. That is the “Law and Order” people’s A May Suu was referring to even though people- stupid as usual- thought it was meant to be for the actual crimes committed in the land which of course have increased daily exponentially- in number and in degree of violence- and the trajectory is getting steeper along with income inequality, loss of means of living, plain lack of food and dwelling and meteoric rise of (this one is also enthusiastically promoted by the monks as well- monks, the traditional moral leaders nowadays more like jet setters ) wasteful and boastful consumerism.
Major danger for the people of Burma is total lack of moral leadership as well as lack of knowledge, wisdom and broad outlook among the precious few people the country looks up to.
Indeed the stage of the cycle of exploitation and exact pattern Burma is now in has been repeated in Asia- Philippines and Indonesia in particular, Africa and most distinctly in Central and South American states. Yet there is no knowledge about them among the wannabe leaders and academia.
So in the end Burma is likely to end up with worst of both worlds- of the Chinese and of the “West”.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
3C’s. Spot on.
Corruption, Coercion and control!
Most admirable/ desirable human qualities. Plenty found in Burma. (Mahathir’s Asian Values for sure.) In all layers of the society and in all manners.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat
Four questions about the Kachin war
No, no. They cross-pollinate each other. Now the Chinese would also charge the Burmese for the money outlay they put in for the Pipe and Dam and what-else and the Burmese will have to pay those back as well on top of real “loans” to Than Shwe for the tanks, and tunnels and the Potemkin.
Then again collectively they have now thoroughly succeeded in making the whole country Burma to be greedy, needy, insecure and dumb, next stages ware just a matter of time. Easy walk in. As easy as the Pipe.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
China backed the Burmese junta for decades and it’s now backing the Thai junta (infrastructure is the code word!). Laos and Cambodia are already in China’s pocket, you see! China doesn’t believe in decadent academic Western values such as democracy, human rights, blah blah blah. China prefers c’s: corruption, coercion and control.
There is not much the West can do to change “basic societal values” in Asia. Forget about pivot and all that US foreign policy stuff LOL
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
The idea on democracy began in Greek and so did the story of Leonidas and his 300 men. I have never known any groups of mankind who have enjoyed democracy without sacrifices-lives, properties, loved ones, and the likes so that others rather than themselves can benefit from this ideal cause. Ask yourself: Am I ready to give up these worldly comforts to pursue what is right and just? If the answer is “No”, then you are not ready.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
With the latest coup, I have noticed a significant lack of “public sphere” (and I use this phrase with reservation since it has an immensely Eurocentric ontology). Folks at Thai academy are extremely quiet, with some even leaving the country. For one, if the current military regime is planning to hold elections not until late next year, I can only pray what will become of this country. My feeling is that hell is going to break lose before that. Of course that is not the sentiment with people with the army I talk to. To many of them, it’s the best time to be in the army in Thailand, just like it has been for those in the military in Burma (sorry, I prefer Burma than Myanmar). From what I know, which is little, there is still a very long way for Thailand to be truly rid of its many fractious rivalries, rivalries that continue to enrich those who have hold the country in constant political, economic, and social divisions.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
This “open letter” relates what thinking people already know. Yes, enforced silence hangs heavily over Thailand, or at least the beholden media. Among the latter is the Thai-based Asia Times Online, which has been understandably reluctant to comment on post-coup matters. We now have this carefully-worded item from that source, avoiding any topic contained in the open letter above.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-010814.html
“Both then and now, the [Royal Thai Army] perceives an existential threat to the Kingdom.” In the article this threat is identified as the pro-democracy folks in N & NE Thailand. Kind of unique to have pro-vote folks ID’ed as “existential threats,” isn’t it? Then the authors go ahead and equate this war against democracy advocates with the campaign against communists in Thailand. Mind-boggling.
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
How many in Thailand would be so foolish as to support these criticisms of the junta?
Open Letter Condemning the Thai Constitution
The Interim Constitution goes beyond one┬┤s wildest nightmares in it┬┤s sheer nastiness. A reflexion of the totalitarian mind at it┬┤s worst. Poor Thailand, poor Thais. How has this ever come to pass?
Four questions about the Kachin war
Why? as opposed to non-greedy Western colonials?
Personally, I would prefer it if someone come and buy my stuff, instead of claiming it with a flag and a gun! – then collect my taxes as well..
A citizen’s president
All well and good – but where is Prabowo in this analysis? I find it difficult to accept that he won’t create great mischief in both the DPR and society to negate reform – and undermine Jokowi’s credibility to the point where a manufactured crisis sees the President impeached (as with Gus Dur). So many commentators are dismissing Prabowo’s Constitutional Court challenge when I see this as just one tactic of many to get the top job. The delusional can be dangerous.
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Monique, I’m not sure what you mean here. I assure you I’m not trying to Christianise Judaism, just to point out that the Jewish scriptures, like those of Christianity and Islam, contain passages that are quite repugnant.
To recap what I said above, the Torah does report God’s command to Moses to exterminate the Amalekites in retribution for the Amalekites attacking the Israelites – see Exodus 17:16 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19. These verses are recited by Jews at the feast of Purim because Haman (the enemy of the Jews in Judith’s story) is seen as the descendant of Amalek.
Very few Jews, of course, have any intention of committing genocide against anyone. Nevertheless, there is the example of Rabbi Yisrael Hess, formerly Campus Rabbi at the University of Bar-Ilan, who in 1980 published an article in the magazine Bat Kol titled “The Genocide Commandment in the Torah” which associated the Palestinians with the Amalekites and ended with a call for “holy war” to fulfill “this commandment of the annihilation of Amalek.”
Rabbi Hess is not, of course, representative of all Jews, or even of a sizable portion, but it does us good to remember that hateful distortions of religion are common to all faiths.
Returning to the 1945 Constitution: what does it mean?
[…] ‘Western-style’ democracy was an incredibly good fit with Indonesian values. He waxed about restoring Indonesia’s 1945 constitution, which would have rolled back direct presidential elections and […]
Interview with Angie Ngoc Tran
Highly misleading.
> “In the following days, some reports claimed that workers in several industrial areas went on strike against their Chinese employers resulting in several factories being damaged and Chinese staff/administration killed or injured.”
1) Not ‘some reports’ – this was front-page news around the world for several days.
2) The affected factories were mostly Korean/Taiwanese companies.
3) It is most likely that outsiders, not workers, were behind the main unrest.
4) The deaths of four Chinese nationals were confirmed. These were all Chinese workers building a steel factory for a Taiwanese company in the central province of Nghe An. It is likely that these deaths occurred during a confrontation between hundreds of Chinese workers and locals and it is likely there were fatalities among the Vietnamese which have not been officially reported.
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Mr Coggan,
Saul (Paul) was not a Jewish prophet. Nice try at proselytising though.
Purim is about Queen Esther and Haman and about Jews in Persia and nothing whatsoever to do with Saul. No, those so-called quotes are not said on Purim.
Any Jesuit Priest, who knows far more Judaism than you, a non-Jew, not to mention a Rabbi, would laugh to death at your failed attempt at the Christianisation of Judaism.
That you do not quote Martin Buber, Rabbi Steinsalz or even Martin Gilbert (Jewish
History), but an obscure source, further shows your motives.
Jews have not killed Amalekites, Ammonites, Canaanites, or ancient Jews, for quite some time.
Please do embarrass yourself anymore.
Thank you
Four questions about the Kachin war
They now have sophisticated monitoring systems for the length of the Pipe. Apart form 50 battalions (Aung San was Bo Gyoke with 5 rag-tag recruits “battalions”) of guard dogs. If one were to stop the Pipe, PLA will come in. And the “West” will say exactly what they say now about the Jews insanely and most cowardly and cruelly and heartlessly slaughtering the “Cockroaches”.