I was observing Biden’s nose the last couple
of days, trying to see if it had grown a little longer.
“Russia will invade Ukraine on February 16th.” He warned the world.
Biden spoke as if his whole heart was with the Ukrainians.
What happened next was not a surprise to many observers, though not as predicted by Biden. Russia officially recognized the two republics bordering Russia - Donetsk and Lugansk - in Eastern Ukraine and launched attacks on several fronts.
Biden
and NATO have been completely outmaneuvered by Putin. It is indeed not
surprising, since you have nincompoops occupying the White House and the NATO
secretariat. (Oslo-born Jens Stoltenberg has been NATO’s
secretary general since 2014 and under his watch President Emmanuel Macron of
France was blunt enough to say NATO was brain-dead in an interview in November
2019.)
Even the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy, whose shortsighted anxiousness to join NATO has precipitated Russia’s agitation, was incredulous about Biden’s “definitive” February 16th call. As the president, how could he not feel it if there was an impending attack? And hey Buddy Biden, where is the evidence? He asked. The havoc that has been created is doing much damage to the country’s economy; notwithstanding, Biden and his cried-wolf boy Blinken are now insisting the invasion has now been slightly delayed – because Putin is afraid of the “all out” punishment he will mete out to Russia if it fires a shot!
As if! America has
sanctioned Russia umpteen times! It is still surviving. Biden is welcomed to
do anything he thinks fit. Biden and his nincompoops do not understand the concept of 声东击西 (shengdōng-jīxī) or make a feint to the east but attack in the west, a strategy
which Putin has employed before – in the annexation of Crimea.
The world knows Biden’s recent bravos are all Pinocchio talks. He and his allies are taking the world in a merry-go-round. (There is also no need for us to talk about these minions. We all know they will dance to his tune no matter how bad he plays it.) All his talks about seeking a diplomatic solution to solve the crisis are just a smokescreen; he really hopes Russia will invade Ukraine. His crocodile tears can fool few man. There is an old Chinese proverb that goes back to the Warring States Period (approx. 476 – 203 BCE) - Yù bàng xiāng zhēng, yú wēng dé lì (鹬蚌相争 渔翁得利), or when a snipe and clam quarrel, the fisherman benefits!
Make no mistake it; Biden needs the war
badly. The invasion will cause Americans to be distracted from their domestic
woes – chiefly the Trump/Republicans challenge, the uncontainable coronavirus
pandemic, and the inflation – and the opportunity to regain the hegemony of the
US Dollar, make the American military-industrial complex richer and more
powerful, and ultimately, deplete and consume Russia to such an extent that it
would not be of consequence in China and Russia’s unwritten alliance.
Biden’s mid-term blues are obvious, unless
he can do something fast. But everything seems to be slipping out of his hold. It
is a situation that has largely been created by Biden himself, for a lack of
foresight and wisdom. He creates bush fires everywhere.
When Ukraine first became independent, it
was happy to count on Russia economically and militarily. (It chose to destroy
its own nuclear stockpile and capability.) Ukrainians and Russians are East
Slavs; they share cultural affinities. By itself it had hardly been a nation
per se before. Unfortunately, corruption and autocracy of its earlier
pro-Russia leaders put paid to that trust or affinity; many began to throw
their support to the western-funded ant-Russia orange uprisings. Zelenskyy’s
installation effectively turned Ukraine into an enemy of Russia.
But Russia’s stance has been clear from
Day 1. As long as Ukraine remains non-NATO, it will leave it alone, for it is simply
unable to accept a huge NATO member right in its doorstep. (Remember the Cuban
Missile Crisis in 1962 – when President John Kennedy also caused Soviet Union
to remove all its ballistic missiles in Cuba for the similar reason?) Zelenskyy
is allowing himself to be used as a pawn by Biden in the game. Few ask why. I
always think the the fact that Zelenskyy is not thinking like a East Slav. (He
is Jew.)
Unlike the peanut states in the Baltics, Ukraine is substantial
enough to stand as equal to Russia. But good neighbourliness must prevail. it
must not allow itself to be a member of an anti-Russia alliance which NATO is.
NATO is a cold car creature; with the collapse of the Soviet Union, its shelf
life has already expired but America just wants to use it to control not only
Russia but also Europe. As the situation evolves, Ukraine might have no choice
but to allow the Donbas region to become independent. What is the big deal
since most of the people are not loyal to Ukraine anyway? Weren’t because
of this Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic states had their day in the first
place?
China is a friend to both Russia and
Ukraine. To deescalate the tension in Ukraine, Russia wants the West to respect
the Minsk agreements (Minsk Protocol and Minsk II.) But these agreements were
meant to stop the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region, not to solve the bigger
Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Donbas is a region even most of Ukrainians speak Russian;
small wonder the separatists are so loyal to Russia even to this day!) China
has also asked for the spirit to be upheld. However, this is not going to work.
The crisis is bigger than that, but the solution is in fact easier for all
well-wishers to see, a sine qua non, i.e., Ukraine must remain non-NATO!
There is a political commentator by the name Li Jian-Nan in Taiwan. To me he is one of the shrewdest political observers/philosophers I have come across. He frequently talks about the China-Taiwan relationship and world affairs in general. He appears often on Facebook’s “Watch” platform.
On the Ukraine “crisis”, he spoke about
the physiognomy of Biden. He
says Biden lacks the “qi” [气] that a winning fighter would
always exude in a contest. (Qi is abstract; practitioners of qi
would tell you that it is a form of mystique force that would stream through the
body’s meridians and gather at their palms for instant mobilization to help
fight or heal something. Its manifestation – good or bad – can also be observed
from the face of the person.) He says Biden’s facial qi appears to be
that of dead qi – the type that manifests in the face of a to-be loser.
The fortune teller in me says Biden is
going through a period when his facial give-away is not wâng [旺] (capacity for great break-outs in terms of luck or
fortune). Indeed, his “tiger-general” Blinken has a look of a defeatist –
someone who appears and speaks like a sheep that is being herded to a
slaughtering house? How can their faces exude wâng? To many of us,
Bliken is the classic example of a boy who cried wolf. Who can believe all his
rules-based rubbish?
The late Tan Sri Frank WK Tsao who, together with Robert Kuok, helped the Malaysian government to start the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC) had authored a little red book called Success and Succession. He wrote about the traits or virtues that are necessary in entrepreneurship and leadership. They anchored around eight Chinese characters for the former and five for the latter. The eight for entrepreneurship are: 認 (Rèn - education, knowledge, understanding); 忍 (Rĕn - patience, commitment); 銀 (Yín – capital); 人 (Rén - people, human resources); 慎 (Shèn - prudence, critical thinking, careful and realistic planning); 誠 (Chéng - mutual obligations and responsibilities, sincerity, commitment, integrity); 勤 (Qín - diligence, perseverance); and 儉 (Jiăn – thrift). They are self-explanatory, and I do not propose to talk about them here since they are not relevant to this discourse.
He also singled out these five traits as sine
qua non of great leadership, namely, 智 (Zhì – wisdom); 信 (Xìn – credibility); 仁 (Rén – compassion); 勇 (Yŏng – courage); and 嚴 (Yán – discipline).
Biden and his team fail in every of these categories. Despite his age, Biden has little wisdom to show, whether in domestic issues or foreign affairs. He is unable to close the Republican-Democrat divide, rein in violence, convince non-allies of his genuineness in solving global issues. His administration constantly flip-flops over foreign policies and this has destroyed whatever that has left in their “sincerity” 信 (Xìn – credibility) 誠 (Chéng) piggy bank. And his recent decision to appropriate or confiscate half of the Afghan’s foreign assets has also put paid to any virtue, or the lack of it, of 仁 (Rén) -ness in him. I would even venture to add another missing human goodness in them: Shàn [善]. The US has destroyed the country. Most of the people are dirt poor. Yet, he can be so heartless. I have no sympathy for the Taliban, though. My heart goes to the millions who are now being punished because they are Afghans! The people who are guilty of September 11 Terror were some Arabs!
Is he able to exercise勇 (Yŏng
– courage) when he said he would not send American troops to fight
for the Ukrainians? He has even asked all Americans, including its embassy
staff, to leave Ukraine! Does not this speak volumes of his courage, or the
lack of it. In Chinese, 勇is complemented
by another character敢 (Gǎn), which denotes
daring. Ha-ha! Yet, he says he will do everything to stop Russia from
invading Ukraine! Words are cheap, Joe!
I am happy to leave it to the Americans to decide who they want to be their commander-in-chief to be. But in the international arena, every silliness of his affects all of us.
America was a Camelot to many of us in the yesteryears.
America’s democracy was that of exemplariness. During the Soviet days, it was
“hope” to many. But its present breed of politicians has destroyed all that.
And its brand of democracy, according to Prof Hong Hai, is chaotic to the core
now.
Biden is a through and through low-end American politician
– devoid of principles, morality, not to mention wisdom.
*****
A
tribute to a great mentor…
I had the privilege of serving as the
Executive Chairman of IMC Plantations in the 2000s. The IMC conglomerate was founded
by the late Tan Sri Frank Tsao; it was a Hong Kong-based conglomerate whose
principal business was international Shipping, although it was also in other
investments as well. I knew Tan Sri Tsao well back in the 1990s, when he
was embarking on his 26-story Menara IMC project in Kuala Lumpur. By the time I
joined, he had already passed his business baton to his son Fred who would go on
to build IMC into an even bigger conglomerate. Tan Sri Tsao was bestowed
the order of PSM, which carries the
honorific of Tan Sri, by the Malaysian king in 1972, a rare honour
during those days, especially to a non-Malaysian like him.
Tan Sri Tsao was best known for the part he played in the launching of Malaysia’s first national shipping line – Malaysian International Shipping Corporation or MISC in short. Tsao held the position of deputy chair of MISC until it was taken over by Petronas (Petrolium Nasional Berhad) on the government’s “instruction.” He was also one of the founders of Malaysian Shipyard and Engineering (MSE).
But few know Tan Sri Tsao had done even greater things for Malaysia. At a time when Malaysia and China had no diplomatic relations, Tsao had sometimes served as the bridge between the two countries. Always a self-effacing man, Tan Sri Tsao did not go around blowing his own trumpet. At one stage Malaysia was short of rice and thanks to the good office of Tan Sri Tsao, China promptly chipped in to help. A crisis was averted and Mr Tsao became Tan Sri Tsao.
He used to come to Kuala Lumpur once a month and would usually stay at Shangri-La. (Tsao and Robert Kuok are old friends. They both helped start MISC and MSE. IMC is also a significant shareholder in Kuok’s Jerneh Insurance and Hilcrest Development.) He would ask for a room facing Jalan Sultan Ismail where he could see his new brainchild – a 29-storey super-intelligent building named IMC Tower – taking shape next to the Concorde Hotel.
Tan Sri Tsao was also a big name across the Causeway. Amongst other things, he was the chair of Suntec City. In Thailand, his flagship UNITHAI was at one time the foremost shipping line there.
Despite his wealth and fame, Tsao is a very humble and frugal man. Unlike many others of his class, he listened. He had contacts at the highest level all over the world, but the last thing he would do was to take advantage of these contacts.
I was a small friend to Tan Sri Tsao. But he made no distinction. Despite his busy schedule, he would always try to accommodate me. And his thoughtfulness was most endearing.
“I picked this up in Bangkok, I hope your wife will like it.” Over a cup of tea at Shangri-La, Tan Sri Tsao passed me a piece of silk. When crab was served during lunch in one of the restaurants near the United Centre on my visit to him in Hong Kong, Tan Sri Tsao reached for the biggest claw and gently put it on my plate, “This is for you.”
Being counted as a friend by Tan Sri Tsao, I feel both honoured and guilty. Guilty because I had not done or could not do much to reciprocate.
* * * * *
Southeast Asia has a disproportionately high share of Chinese making good in
business. There are many fairy-tale like rags-to-riches stories. Many books
have been written and explanations offered, most centered around hard work,
thrift, adherence to Confucian values and so on and so forth.
But what has become of the second or third generation of many of these great entrepreneurs?
The cold truth is: Few can manage the issue of succession.
This concern has prompted Tan Sri Tsao to author a little book entitled “Success and Succession.”
I had the privilege of discussing with Tan Sri Tsao, amongst other things, his book.
Tan Sri Tsao thought that few great entrepreneurs take pains to prepare the next generation to take over from them. In his book, he summarized the lessons that have proven to be invaluable to him and his peers in their common efforts in (1) founding and managing an enterprise, (2) leadership, and (3) preparing for succession.
Readers should get a copy of this insightful book, as it certainly is remarkably interesting and informative.
* * * * *
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