Shanghaiist: Opinionist: Sichuan quake — Tipping point for a new China?

historyguy99

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:15:56 +0800

Just thought you would like to know that author and strategist Tom Barnett linked this article and posted favorable comments about this site.. Sichuan earthquake = system perturbation http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/2008/07/sichuan_earthquake_system_pert.html "Interesting site on China, with good post detailing emerging consensus that Sichuan earthquake is sizing up as significant System Perturbation, as I've noted in past."

vera

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:32:43 +0800

Well, if this is Ho's benchmark, then his expectations must be very low indeed : Speakers Cornered. Do you know the context surrounding this video?

Joon

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:12:13 +0800

he was co-opted by the pap, it's something they do very well. other folks of his generation who are now part of the establishment are simon tay, the dude who started the substation, vivian balakrishnan (slightly younger) and others who i can't think of right now. co-option is an adaptive response the pap have introduced to ensure they don't lose power by failing to change. it's also what (among other things) distinguishes them from a tinpot tyrant.

vera

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:12:48 +0800

"Funny" as in "curious" with regard to his position within the Singapore establishment, of which he is obviously now a part (ranked #20 on Forbes' Singapore rich list). Obviously, he's not exactly "old guard," although he did inherit the Wah Chang group from his daddy. He just sounds like an interesting figure, and his personal history as an "elite" and a "rebel" raises a lot of questions about the origins of his dissent. Know anything about this? Here's an interview where Ho Kwon Ping talks about his past (which I haven't read yet).

Joon

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:22:42 +0800

why funny? ho was a well-known rebel. he was detained without trial for two months while a correspondent for the far eastern economic review in the 70s for being critical of the PAP government. he isn't exactly a rebel today, of course, but he doesn't fit the mold of the typical 'singapore inc' leader. lee's ideas about eugenics are well known. i dont think he has ever apologised for them; in fact they are the principles on which singapore society is ordered.

vera

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:00:53 +0800

Funny that Ho was protesting against eugenics, while the "founding father" of his home country, Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew was famously a eugenicist. http://is.gd/MAV

sirlogic

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:57:15 +0800

Wow... a very well written article, and a nice take on the events and its effects unrealized by many... bravo.