TR EMERITUS

In a dramatic escalation, Yemen's Houthi rebels have declared war on America, launching their largest-ever attack in the Red Sea. Utilizing multiple naval missiles and 37 drones, the insurgents targeted American ships, the bulk carrier Propel Fortune and US destroyers in the Gulf of Aden. The US and allied forces have labeled the assault "large-scale," managing to intercept and destroy only 15 drones. The Houthi spokesman, Yahya Sarie, concluded the in an official statement that the operations were a success. The US Central Command responded, confirming the attack and stating that US Navy vessels, aircraft, and allied forces successfully intercepted the drones. This significant assault comes shortly after the Houthis' first fatal attack days ago, resulting in the sinking of the Belize-flagged RubyMar vessel. In response to ongoing threats, the US had previously announced a maritime initiative to divert vessels away from the Red Sea. Despite Saudi-led bombings since 2015, the Houthis maintain control over much of the Red Sea coast.    Read More →

I was struck by the hubris and naïveté of certain academics from a local university who declared recently that because of the Taylor Swift concerts,Singapore was becoming a vastly more interesting place. Singapore of course had ranked as one of the least interesting countries in the Time Out Index of 2018. I was struck by the hubris and naïveté of certain academics from a local university who declared recently that because of the Taylor Swift concerts,Singapore was becoming a vastly more interesting place. Singapore of course had ranked as one of the least interesting countries in the Time Out Index of 2018. Let’s examine this exaggerated statement critically. In the land of POFMA, draconian defamation laws and ridiculous laws governing contempt of court, can Singapore really be in the same league as London, Amsterdam and Berlin when it comes to being an exciting city? For an exciting city to come into being, a great level of freedom must exist in order for people to experiment and discover themselves. Have people ever thought of Pyongyang or Beijing to be in the same league as London, New York or Amsterdam when it comes to exciting cities? So let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that Singapore has suddenly gained promotion to the premier league of exciting cities because Taylor Swift is performing 6 concerts here and none in other South-East Asian countries. For a city to be exciting also implies that people from other countries want to come here very much.I would suggest that the exclusive deal struck between the Singapore agencies and Taylor Swift’s management team has in fact damaged Singapore’s standing in the eyes of the International community. Philippines has the most number of Swifties in ASEAN and maybe Asia. But how many could afford to travel to Singapore to attend the concerts? And they have no opportunity to see their idol in their own country because of the exclusive deal. One can only imagine that there are many aggrieved Taylor Swift fans all over South-East Asia. Benjamin Disraeli, the great British Prime Minister of the Victorian era,saidthat prestige was the everyday currency of International relations. A country may be wealthy but money doesn’t buy Her prestige. Prestige is how a country is perceived by other nations of Her worth or value,and the respect She is due. Instead of enhancing Singapore’s prestige, the incident regarding the TS concerts in my view has severely damaged our country’s reputation in the International arena. The citizens of other ASEAN nations are likely to look askance at what has happened. It is not helped by the fact that a former top diplomat took the occasion to make the most condescending remarks possible about others. God help Singapore if we have diplomats like him. Arising from this incident, I also make the bold prediction that Taylor Swift will not return to Singapore for many years to perform. She will not want to hurt her fan base in other Asian countries, which is the unfortunate consequence of the deal which her management team struck with the Singapore agencies. She is a consummate professional and she will continue to say the nice things and the right things about Singapore in the remaining 3 concerts,but she must be ruing her decision to perform exclusively in Singapore on this tour,which has led to the controversy.   Lim Tean      Read More →

It is 151 days or five months of relentless and ferocious attacks by Israel against the Palestinians since it declared war on Gaza after HAMAS allegedly killed 1200 Israelis and took 240 hostages. Till today, these numbers have not been verified by independent personnel. How many of the 1200 dead were killed by Hamas and how many were killed by IDF soldiers is not known. Speculations have it that at least half of that number were killed by Israeli soldiers when they stormed and bombed the kibbutz, killing both Hamas soldiers and Jews who were reportedly, peace loving and helping suffering Palestinians under the apartheid regime of Israel. It was also reported that young people fleeing from the music festival were attacked and killed by Israeli soldiers rather than Hamas. Until and unless independent investigators are permitted by Israel to carry out thorough investigations of 7 October 2023, we will remain in the dark. One hundred and fifty-one days of continuous bombings of Gaza, aided and abetted by the US, UK and Europe have seen the death of over 30,000 Palestinian civilians, with countless number still buried under the rubbles. Of the dead, more than half are children. How many are injured and receiving medical aid, we do not know. Hospitals have been bombed and patients killed. Amputations have been carried out by doctors without anesthetics. IDF soldiers even raided Naser Hospital pretending to be doctors, nurses and patients and killing patients on their beds in February this year. It is terrifying to know how cruel Israeli soldiers under instructions and it is claimed, likely under the influence of drugs can be. Like Emperor Nero who is said to be playing the lute while Rome burned, Israeli soldiers laughed and joked while buildings crumbled in thick clouds of smoke. I cannot imagine the cruelty of IDF soldiers until this one sided war. How could they kill 6 year old Hind after she had pleaded for help and the world waited anxiously for her to be saved. But no, the soldiers stopped the ambulance reaching her and killed the driver and his assistant too. So Hind and her entire family and two ambulance crew members were killed. On 3 March, aid distribution trucks were fired on by IDF soldiers and at least nine people were killed with many more injured. It is beyond any excuse that while permission was granted by the Israeli authority for aid trucks to deliver food, Israeli soldiers instead of ensuring the safety of the trucks, attacked them. The methods of killing Palestinians are cruel, gruesome and beyond imagination of civilised people. Israeli soldiers humiliate Palestinians, strip them, torture them, tie them and drag them onto the road before running them over using heavy vehicles and tanks. Many cases have been documented by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. PM Netanyahu is simply a bloodthirsty monster. I have no words to describe him. He doesn’t care about his people or the hostages. If he did, he would not have ordered his troops to attack Gaza and the West Bank. He is non repentant when his soldiers killed three bare chested Israelis hostages with hands waving white cloth. They had escaped from captivity. Besides negotiating for the release of 102 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in December 2023, he has done nothing to ensure their safety. Indiscriminate bombing of buildings, hospitals, camps, schools, mosques, churches, warehouses, etc are not directed to ensure the extermination of Hamas. They endanger the safety of hostages. Hamas have repeatedly claimed that hostages have been killed by Israeli/American bombs but Netanyahu does not care and does not stop. According to news reports, 80% of Gaza have been destroyed. Infrastructure have been destroyed. Netanyahu is simply using the excuse of destroying Hamas when he embarked on this genocide which started decades ago. Only America and its allies pretend to believe him. They too are bloodthirsty, supplying weapons, drones and airplanes at dizzying pace. They are complicit in this genocide and I hope that one day, their leaders will be brought before the ICC. This genocide can end only if America and its allies stop supplying weapons to Israel. The heroic Houthis of Yemen have done their best in creating havoc in the Red Sea. It is reported that two crew members of a merchant ship tragically died in their attacks today. How many brave Houthis and Yemenis have died under missile attacks launched by America and its allies. True, the world is inconvenienced by the Houthis. But who cares. If the world does not stop this genocide taking place before our eyes, the Houthis have every right to do what it can to stop it. They are the ones sacrificing their lives for humanity. Aaron Bushnell, the 25 year old American air force pilot killed himself in front of the Israeli Embassy in New York in extreme protest against his country’s complicity in the crime of genocide. He livestreamed his self immolation and shouted FREE PALESTINE several times while he was engulfed in flames. America should wake up and take care of its youths instead of continuing its support of this genocide of the Palestinians by Netanyahu and his gang. FREE PALESTINE!   Teo Soh Lung    Read More →