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 The Herald of the Emperor of the West calls his banners! (Source: latimes.com) Several days after the previous timely post on the Princes and Emperors of the World, the GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP is leaving no room for misinterpretation, having despatched his trusted aide - and pinnacle exemplar of American robotics and On his hosts, appreciation for founding (Athenian) democratic principles and values was fittingly given, which would firstly involve restricting the electorate to adult Real Men™ of adequate testosterone (to the approval of the Secretary of the God of War), and the restoration of serfdom amongst other cultural revivals. It could also be remembered that democratic Athens might be considered a progenitor of the "might makes right" doctrine, from the Melian Dialogue in which they informed their fellow Greek victims that they needed their city-state for their own ends, and so they could either submit or die. This by the way closely relates to the Thucydides Trap repeatedly brought up by President Xi, who likely knows what's up too. One can at least appreciate the Athenians for not attempting to add insult to injury by hallucinating bullshit justifications towards morality (unlike near-contemporary Europeans), a virtue also amply demonstrated by Herald Rubio, who openly urged the embrace of that earlier ethos of exploration (then) dominance and conquest, to "maintain their place at the head of the world". This is no less than what one would expect of a True Emperor, and as the cycle begins anew, it may be interesting to watch who prevails this age: the GOD-EMPEROR of the West, in charisma and strategy unmatched? Hóngdì of the East, latest of that inscrutable line of Chinese dynasts? The Tsar of the North, already reconstituting the Rodina? Possibly a Maharaja of the South, whose numbers are flourishing anew? Or some other aberration of mortal due, to write a fresh legend?  OK Braveheart, settle the China account once you're ready (Original sources: pinterest.com, politico.eu) One must say that the European Parliament already erecting a statue of TRUMP - that explicitly references him as King and Emperor, what more in a fusion of Rubens and Michelangelo - may be a little fawning, but I guess it's never too early to get a headstart on the avant-garde flattery. Thankfully, the Euros have, as with Iran, modestly concealed the GOD-EMPEROR's considerable member (though with the Freudian unconscious reflected in the length of the pole that GEOTUS is wielding), which could otherwise have led to much discomfort and feelings of inadequacy for the diplomats prowling those halls; that could have some Excellencies engage in exotic exercises, import questionable pills or even arrange for risky cosmetic surgeries, all of which would not be clearly beneficial to the European Union's core missions. So, thank you too, Europe! By the way, there were also numerous comments as to why the artist depicted TRUMP being carried by Gandhi of all people, but one supposes that old habits die hard for the Europeans... But one reckons Europe could do with some levity given their current troubles, with France and Germany (or is the fixed phrase "Germany and France"?) apparently finally working up the courage to apply trade tools against Team Rouge leaders China (because reducing the trade deficit is suddenly critical now, what with the U.S. Imperial Tariffs redirecting exports as previously explained), which has had China of course threaten retaliation. Having also recognized Great America's energy squeeze "blackmail", some of the Europeans such as the French have been considering a "middle power approach" to counter the Great Powers, as recently proposed by the Canadian Prime Minister, but specifically warned against in no uncertain terms by the representative of the American God of War. It most probably won't work, sadly for them.  Translation: The Prince went up against the Emperors; but in terms of long-term strategy, he had no answer to Xi and China's production plans. Then on military power, in front of the peerless GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP, he did not even dare to raise his hand - where then does all that hot air about challenging for leadership and victory come from? (Source: manhuagui.com) For the more detailed explanation, we would need to return to the original Liberation Day Imperial Tariffs from May of last year, and while the analysis on this blog has not been much repeated in mainstream channels, one believes that the passage of time has shown it to be essentially true. To repeat, the tariff numbers did not matter, and GEOTUS TRUMP raising his edict with the European Union and China heading the list - before all the other nations - was simply an open challenge to the whole world. The question was: will you bend the knee, accept the unilateral tariffs, and in doing so support the existing international order? And to expand on the setup, the GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP then graciously gave all other countries a full three months to consider their response (justified, given the average pace of European bureaucracy), instead of picking them off one at a time as he well could have (but which would have been beneath his status). If any or all of them wanted to rebel against Great America, this was clearly the time - middle powers, small powers, other so-called Great Powers - they were all free to scheme and plot and form coalitions against the Orange Plague for ninety long days, present a united front, and stand up against the Emperor of the West and say, you are not the Boss of us, we will not accede to your Imperial Tariffs, we deny you! Well, as we soon found out, almost all of them bent the knee eventually. Xi did not (and underlined his credentials by gathering his own entourage some weeks after GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP had formally received his Princes of the West), and so the Emperor acknowledged him as a peer. Europe (and most others) did, so he helped them back to their feet following ancient tradition - but this relationship of course brings with it its own obligations, ones that thus far have not been honoured by those of the Old Continent - a serious breach of protocol! Just an intermission before the discussion continues... [To be continued...]
 Sounds like monarchical status envy here (Source: france24.com) The allusion to the leaders of Great America and China being Emperors, as made in the previous post, had in fact been supported by the outgoing President Macron of France, who explicitly warned against the "abuse of power by Empires" - note the plural - in what should be his final speech at the United Nations in an official capacity. And, just in case pedants claim to be uncertain of what these Empires are, he would then call for countries to work together on AI independent of the Great Powers of China and the U.S. (a term also used by Canada's foreign minister in her speech), and not become their vassals. Such language was perhaps only to be expected for a U.N. General Assembly, together with the mainstream Team Bleue critique of Russia and Israel, though Macron's accompanying railing against the "law of the jungle" and "might is right" might well have gotten some nods from Team Rouge and Grise delegates in the assembly hall. For some pertinent context, however, France has arguably been maintaining their own pocket empire in Africa (as discussed back in October 2023) all along, with a measure of control imposed by the use of the CFA Franc currency, much as U.S. dollar influence is being exploited in the wider world, as being imposed against Iran. France is moreover of course one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - holding the unrestricted right of veto - by virtue of having won the latest edition of the  The Emperor of the West granting an audience to his Princes(ses) [N.B. The Dauphin of France honoured by being given the central seat.] 燕雀安知鸿鹄之志? (Sources: instagram.com, GPT Image 2) While certain countries have made the expected platitudes about the non-inferiority of nations at the United Nations - while literally being hosted in the Empire State, no less - a picture should be worth a thousand words in demonstrating that this exalted aspiration is, quite simply, untrue. Consider the arrangement of the GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP and a bevy of Team Blue petitioners above; what is the unspoken but undeniable implication? Can they honestly be claimed to be "equals"? Would President Xi accept being presented in the same way, being of similar rank in the international order of precedence? No, the essence of the current geopolitical situation is quite simply that of an Emperor being tremendously disappointed at the indolence of his supposed bannermen, who have been derelict in providing such men-at-arms and suitable provisions for the Imperial cause - many of whom are not far removed from overlordship themselves. While disparaging colonialism is de rigueur in Western liberal circles nowadays, it might be remembered that the Europeans did not stop practising it because they were suddenly struck by some moral revelation or pang of conscience about it being the right thing to do! For some like Italy, Austria and of course Germany, they were stripped of their colonial possessions due to having lost the World  Expanded to include sundry countries, nowadays (Source: newscaststudio.com) From another perspective, for those who may be aghast at their country basically being a vassal state, in the neofeudal anarchy that is contemporary international relations: I take that it is not distressing to point out that the esteemed reader, and perhaps the vast majority of people, may have a boss, who in turn have their own boss(es), all the way up the organizational chart; for large institutions such as multinational corporations, it is not uncommon for there to be a dozen layers in the hierarchy, with most people being near the bottom of the pyramid - or have big-big-(repeat as desired)-big-bosses, in other words. So why is it so unacceptable, that the boss they thought at the top of the chain, actually has one more Big Boss above him? Anyway, said probable Biggest Boss remains by all appearances very disappointed with the inaction by supposed "allies", and thus the energy strangle strategy for the Hormuz multiplayer game continues with GEOTUS TRUMP rejecting Iran's latest seven-day offer to reopen the Straits - probably out of consideration for their shared Abrahamic roots, from how the only higher Power took six - which has had the Iranian President then vow not to "bend the knee" in those very words, which does put truth to the GOD-EMPEROR's true intentions. Ukraine, the Houthis and Iran themselves have been contributing by popping Russian, Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi oil refineries all this while, and with Great America also starting to seize Iran's tankers, this has had Iraq and Syria look like a scene out of Mad Max. And, since his bannermen appear spectacularly dense about their circumstances, TRUMP has further telegraphed a diesel export ban, before having to resort to ordering Europe - and France and Germany in particular - to start draining their strategic reserves (and no, not just the declared ones; also the secret tank behind the boat shed that Starlink picked up on, and the super-secret jerry can under the sofa). Well, what can one say, winter is coming!  Translation: I do not blame you - the weather is too warm; this makes it hard to remember things, such as your sacred responsibilities. Praetorian, take their coats - some cold may help their recall! (Source: manhuagui.com) Lest GEOTUS TRUMP be said to be unfair, he has made a suggestion to his peer Emperor in China to increase petroleum production, to which China has immediately suspended their fuel exports in response, probably understanding TRUMP's strategy. There may be a reason why decorated man of letters TRUMP referenced Sun Tzu in his address to Xi at their state dinner after all, seeing as to how he (had a ghostwriter) wrote the sequel to The Art of War. And before there is unbecoming quibbling about whether this counts, it could be recognized that somebody else compiled Sun Tzu's textbook for him too! While premature news headlines had Europe reject TRUMP's polite and entirely reasonable request, they would in fact cave almost before the day was out, with Team Blue G7 agreeing to release a hundred million barrels as a show of good faith towards the existing Bleue Imperial Order (which, it has to be said, does benefit them). All this encouragement seems to be gradually taking effect, with South Korea reportedly slowly getting more open to taking up a role in the Hormuz after their initial denial-not-denial, with France also sending "military means" to Saudi Arabia (close enough), who are also finally mustering their own 100,000-strong army. With effective Control over Greenland also established - because how else can one describe an unlimited veto over competitors in the territory - it has been a great month for the GOD-EMPEROR indeed! Finally, a quick follow-up on Iranian propaganda billboards as covered in late August. A feature article by Agence France-Presse, as also published by the South China Morning Post*, has just confirmed that the "Great Victory!" effort was indeed a riff off Nirvana's Nevermind album art (not that there was ever much doubt), from an interview with the studio manager from Khaneh-ye Tarrahan (Designers' House), which laid it out. The studio is further described as a subsidiary of a state-run media conglomerate (expected, as the billboards could hardly stay up elsewise), which has adopted Photoshop, ChatGPT (i.e. probably GPT Image 2) and Google Nano Banana as elements of their production pipeline (what, no love for Chinese LLMs?!) Well, it could be noted that the question raised here on why the fundamentalist Islamic Iranian bosses would reference Nirvana (whose philosophy appears largely antithetical to their state doctrine) remains unanswered, but you know - nevermind**! [*The SCMP would also somehow describe Singapore as "leaving U.S. and China in (the) dust", after the physics department at our flagship university created the most accurate atomic clock currently existing. Far be it for me to downplay a Nature-level achievement, but the explicit comparison against Great America and China does strike one as strange - do they even know that they are in a race here?] [**The appreciation for cultural references has also been taken up by the U.S. Navy, from their assertion of a "lost Lenore".] [To be continued...]
 GEOTUS appears thoroughly enjoying himself 这是西懂霸王粗中带细，铁汉柔情啊！ (Source: facebook.com) The Greatest Game continues with the Emperors reunited in Great America, with TRUMP doing his peer the rare honour of a personal welcome on the tarmac in Maryland; the emphasis on the adjective by the way follows President Xi's own official statement, that "...achieving the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation and Making America Great Again (MAGA) go hand in hand". Indeed, how could he do anything but reciprocate TRUMP's recent matching of his own famous couplet, by literally applying 百年未有之大变局 in former Team Red ally Venezuela? Anyhow, the main fruit of their meeting would be a "30-for-30" framework (i.e. XXX for XXX) aimed towards the reduction of tariffs on US$30 billion of goods on each side (with thoroughbred Umas somehow heading China's import list) - which may be bad news for competing exporters such as Europe and Canada. Having the two Great Powers interact peacefully is probably a good thing for the world at large, all said, and after Xi reminded his hosts of China's four red lines, the rest of the visit was reportedly entirely amicable, and orchestrated with great attention to detail by the Americans, if with ardent scholar of history TRUMP somehow drawing concern from Japan and Taiwan for (entirely accurately) referring to China as a gung-ho ally of the United States during World War II (which the local Chinese ambassador had recently raised in a way too) While Xi's assignment of two friendship pandas to Zoo Atlanta, and Bessent's following announcement on the extension of the trade (tariff) truce between the two countries by a couple of months was perhaps only par for the course, an apparent offer by GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP to sell China arms - maybe partly as they do have the right to them - raised some eyebrows. This does come after some F-35 parts disappeared in Hong Kong after being rerouted there, so one figures it an improvement as Uncle Sam will at least get paid this way. No word on whether China will have to keep the gear in America too, however!
And onto a rare excursion into academia, a working paper hosted by America's National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has made it to the local news, a feat that would have been unlikely but for the suggestive title: Do Social Norms Substitute for Enforcement? Evidence from Public Officials' Home Purchases in Singapore. This would shortly after have the local Public Service Division (PSD) carefully reviewing the main findings, which alleged that "(Singapore) civil servants disproportionately purchase homes near planned - but not yet publicly announced - stations, with the effect concentrated one to two years before public announcements." The actual manuscript is a fairly-dense 39-page thesis that begins by modelling the situation by setting up the environment and public official agents, before integrating actual data drawn from the Singapore Government Directory Interactive website (apparently recently scrubbed of personal contact information), and comparing the public official group against a matched uninformed control group, with additional analyses run against groups assumed to have housing market expertise, namely real estate agents and corporate board members. Perhaps damningly, it was observed that "...Civil servants exhibit a notable increase in purchasing target properties one to two years prior to the (new MRT station) announcement... correspond(ing) to a relative increase of more than 60% relative to the unconditional average" (Page 22). For explicit context as to why this would be scandalous if found true, it would imply civil servants essentially insider-trading for monetary profit using knowledge obtained in their public service role, which might be known as (gasp!) corruption in certain jurisdictions. And although more-mature democracies such as the United States have apparently come to terms with congresspeople supplementing their meagre salaries with incomprehensibly accurate stock picking, such enlightened and modern attitudes have not yet filtered to more-traditional and authoritarian societies such as Singapore, whose ruling party and founding father(s) had taken pains to cultivate a (near-)zero tolerance stance towards such hanky-panky.  Not pulling many punches here (Source: nber.org) Now, a number of seemingly-valid critiques have been raised against the working paper, the most glaring of which would probably be on the veracity of the individual data used. Since no collaboration had been sought (or granted) with the public service, the linkage between individuals and private-property transactions appears to be by name only (Page 18) instead of a provably-unique identifier such as the NRIC, which would mean that incorrect linkages of multiple people with the same name might have occured; such matching concerns do not appear to be discussed in the paper. Further, allocation of civil servants into rank tiers is by ChatGPT 4.0 (Page 68), and while hand-coding and validation is mentioned, details are sparse. What was far more intriguing to the general public, however, was the authorship and acknowledgements list, especially the latter. The four authors all hail from very reputable universities - Columbia, Stanford and The University of Hong Kong - which does put some weight on the paper, all the more since research on foreign phenomena is nothing out of the ordinary in academic economics. The acknowledgements were yet more fascinating, including as it did the estranged nephew of our senior Senior Minister, whose father had been front and center in the tussle over LKY's house (now national monument), as covered last year. Two of the local professors would also request that their names be removed from the thank-you list, an appeal that has yet to be granted as of today, so it seems. Although it remains to be seen as to what verdict the PSD will deliver on the rather concerning pattern, it does appear not overly difficult to make educated guesses about upcoming MRT station locations, and it seems unlikely that conclusive non-circumstantial evidence will be found, not to mention that our extremely well-educated technocrats will probably be able to poke holes in the methodology if need be. Still, the shade thrown on the reputation of the local administration should stay to an extent - and this may not be resolvable by suing the perpetrators in the domestic courts, as recently happened for Bloomberg concerning other questionable real estate deals, if only insinuated against selected individuals. Then again, one supposes this barely qualifies as a "love tap" in The Greatest Game, as the GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP would put it! [To be continued...]
 Hey, this viral marketing gig pays the bills (Source: GPT Image 2) America's likely energy squeezy-squeezy strategy has been going swimmingly over the past week or so, with multiple Saudi Arabian oil refineries reportedly struck by Houthi forces, with attacks by drones launched from Iraq also disabling one of their main export pipelines. FIFA Peace Prize laureate TRUMP has been pursuing a gentleman's agreement between Russia and Ukraine for them not to target each other's energy infrastructure in the meantime, but this has apparently been ignored by the warmongers on both sides, with Ukraine reportedly blowing up a Szyran facility, and Russia duly undertaking their own blanket retaliation. Oh well, TRUMP really tried so hard... and if it comes down to that, one supposes the U.S. would not be too torn up at effectively trading Ukraine's power plants for Russia's... There hasn't been too much movement on the ally "head tax" issue either, with South Korea still wavering on an official decision before their foreign minister's meeting with Rubio in Washington at least, where the latter should probably be requesting a show of loyalty, as demonstrated by their troop contributions to the Vietnam and Iraq Wars previously. Getting a concrete deployment from Seoul should go some way towards having the European slackers lift some fingers too, and Saudi supply being cut - amidst China's massive demand coming back online before their hole cards get revealed - may moreover aid in fostering some urgency there and elsewhere, before the situation gets out of hand. The old continent has certainly been dragging their feet on getting involved, with the European Union coming up with the so-far performative gesture of "associate membership" for Canada, with the main feature apparently a student exchange programme; while Australia (and others) may be wanting in on the posturing too, it remains that Europe is hardly all that united itself, before recalling how they effectively abandoned Canada to bend the knee early on tariffs previously (and which may be returning). In any case, as explained last September, it's easy to hold hands and smile for the camera, but entirely different when actual trade concessions and deficits come into play...  Undeniable video evidence of TRUMP recruiting Rambo for fresh operations in Iran, where he's planning to keep the oil too [N.B. He cracks a joke at the expense of his Secretary of War too!] (Source: youtube.com) [To be continued...]
 The joys of international commerce (Source: cnn.com) The Greatest Game is playing out slowly in the Middle East, with the U.S. Navy reportedly hitting three Iranian oil tankers last week, after Iran had attempted an attack on two of their ships. This had the Iranian side then claim to have targeted six vessels, with the latest exchange from several days ago reportedly having Iran respond to a fresh American strike on five ships with ten of their own - to a blanket denial by CENTCOM. That had amateur mathematicians attempt to work out whether a geometric series* was in play, and how long it would take for the barely over nine thousand tankers available globally, to be chewed through if so. And while other world leaders might have gone golfing or simply slacked off at home on Labour Day, the indefatigable and incomparably high-energy GEOTUS TRUMP would keep up his marathon improv insult comedy set through the holiday, and I gotta admit that I quite liked his Green Lantern impersonation** that used the ring's powers more creatively than the DC Comics original would have. He then drew a warm response from multiple countries such as Iceland, Mexico and Cuba after posting a map showing them as part of the American family; seeing as this is a man who got a whole ocean named after his East Coast casinos, though, I'm not betting against him. Certainly, one can hardly recall another personage as colourful as TRUMP, who would then declare that he had been carried away from Ground Zero by firefighters - this may be a little unfair given how popular a movie on similar tall tales by a distant cousin had been, and that guy couldn't even pronounce his last name correctly! As of now, TRUMP has tentatively extended his performance until after the November midterms, and while foils such as Krugman have decried rising gas prices, it might be considered that all this may fall under the GOD-EMPEROR's strategy - including an inexplicable-sounding increase in U.S. gasoline stockpiles following delayed reporting by the US Energy Information Administration, as hinted. But TRUMP can hardly be blamed for the delay, given how slow other nations have been to commit; South Korea's naval force contribution is being slow-walked from how they have just dispatched a fact-finding team, but one figures that GEOTUS is entirely willing to wait them - and their other "allies" - out. On this, he has just declined a request for military action against the Houthis by the Saudi crown prince, likely because he wants them personally involved in the Team Blue-Team Red conflict (with Iran directly threatening South Korea were they to enter Hormuz), much as Europe is being lured into (and by) Ukraine... $$$ For A $$  Aren't we on the same Team, why so insensitive? (Source: google.com, ref. the BBC and CNBC) And while GEOTUS TRUMP has taken a leaf out of the Singaporean political playbook by offering US$5000 in cold, hard cash (and not CDC vouchers) to every citizen were his party to win said midterms, our local government has just announced a one-off increment of up to 9% for political appointment holders, if with a somewhat more generous salary benchmark possibly to take effect in the future. This came immediately after a debate in Parliament on the subject (after it got put off back in June), and stands testament to the sheer efficiency of our system (when those in charge want something to happen, anyway) This was ripe for international attention given that the previous (downwards) adjustment had been some fifteen years back, with our Prime Minister's new recommended annual take of S$3.6 million (up from S$2.2 million) drawing its share of both admiring and derisive comments. This is by the way pegged to twice the salary of an entry-level minister (now S$1.8 million), with mayors and (senior) parliamentary secretaries at the bottom of this list with a 0.45 ratio (S$810k a year) Here, I would like to apologize for a previous misconception, where it was implied that a minister would collect a separate salary for each of multiple portfolios; it was explicitly clarified that political appointment holders would get only one (assumed the higher) salary package. That said, typical bonuses come close to ten months of variable pay, if still coming under the top tax bracket of 24% for chargeable income above a million dollars - which implies that a local Cabinet Minister would (soon) expect to take home slightly over S$2 million annually.  Doesn't seem like a big change, when put like this (Source: r/SingaporeRaw) The domestic response online has expectedly not been overly positive, largely centering around the perceived poor timing of the increment given a growing income and wealth gap (i.e. a "K-shaped economy"), as well as the (in)appropriateness of benchmarking ministers' salaries to the median income of the top 1000 highest-earning citizens***, if with a 40% discount to reflect the ethos of public service. This would be revisited by various Members of Parliament, with well-worn suggestions to instead peg the salaries to the median income (currently about S$4000) or similar metrics, to better reflect the common man. Our PM has taken the lead by donating his full salary increase for the next five years (while not expecting**** the others to do the same, ahem), but his claim that the government did not intend to use higher pay to attract new candidates was apparently not readily accepted by netizens, some of whom brought up the usual comparison with conscription (National Service), where duty (and piddly allowances) had been sold as priceless From another perspective, however, it can reasonably be argued that Cabinet Ministers (and Permanent Secretaries) do have a job scope comparable to CEOs of medium-to-large commercial enterprises, with most of them responsible for thousands of subordinates; seen in this light, the better question may be why politicians in other countries aren't being paid more, if a high level of competency is expected. The absolute cost is actually not that great (about S$5 million extra annually, given that there are just 20 ministers, 10 of them moreover at the baseline grade, four parliamentary secretaries and five mayors), all the more when compared to say the NBA (median salary of S$7.6 million, for 482 players) On this, the WP chief would raise popular queries on the need for so many mayors, and it was probably not the best time for the Speaker to be caught sleeping, but he does have some of my sympathy in this case, given that he was at least present! [*2,3,6,8,10 does have multiple sequences in The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), so we may need to wait a while more for clarity here.] [**Haters will say that it's A.I. generated, like they did for the Hamster vs. Ngannou MMA contest, which ended by chokeout after a knee takedown. Then again, had I not witnessed it in person, I probably wouldn't have believed it either.] [***By my understanding, this would be equivalent to the average salary of the 500th and 501st-highest earners, who might be under some stress if they knew who they were!] [****The GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP donates his full salary, of course, while transparently offering early access to his wisdom for a suitable fee, instead of burdening the taxpayer.] [†Errata (edited September 17th): There is apparently no YouGov/IPSOS poll or data on the subject, although some of the figures (e.g. for Vietnam) are corroborated, and there appears no direct evidence against the general sentiment. Nonetheless, this blog apologizes for the oversight.] [To be continued...]
 The Straits (Source: straitstimes.com) The GOD-EMPEROR TRUMP has been diligently working on his in-game entertainment as mentioned recently, with his latest stand-up (ok, usually sit-down) comedy routine including the (foreshadowed) proposal to rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself. While this brought recriminations from those not in on the joke, such as Carney and Sanders, the more important critique might be on the lack of originality - but then again, coming up with new material is hardly an easy job even for one as talented as TRUMP, as the writers' guild might attest to, especially with all those weeks of dead air to fill before Team Red rivals - and some "allies" - get squeezed, just as planned. On this, our Prime Minister may well be in the know too, as he performed The Beatles' Let It Be on the guitar with the Thai premier taking the vocals, at their retreat in Bangkok - certainly a fitting counterpoint to Nevermind. Whether the sentiment in the lyrics will be acknowledged by the Emperors of the East and West may be another matter, with Team Blue European Union officially signing on to the Holy Caesar's Operation Economic Outcast against Iran. Amerika's strategic energy gambit looks to be on, with close Imperial ally Argentina bringing oil into their Falkland Islands claim, alongside South Korea reportedly on the brink of contributing military assets to the Iran All this had of course been covered back in May, when it was suggested that getting Amercian "allies" to shed some blood as a form of "head tax", was at least a secondary objective for the ongoing Hormuz affair. Assuredly, selling a joint military offensive in partnership with Imperial Amerika will hardly be easy, especially for their coddled and snooty European cousins, but one supposes that oil reserves actually running dry may prove to be an exceedingly persuasive argument. Going from the vibes, the American God of War is simply getting tired of holier-than-thou "partners" eye-powering as the U.S. enacts at least partly mutually-beneficial enforcement actions, and it appears to be coming to: if one wants a chicken in the pot, they had better be ready to help wring a few necks themselves.  For the non-vegetarians, it's okay if somebody else does the killing (and clean-up, and packaging) on your behalf then? (Source: mangatown.com) That said, it might still be a little more reassuring had Bessent not openly blamed Ukraine for attacking Russian oil refineries and thus contributing to rising oil prices - which does leave Amerika with the cleaner hands for once. With his popularity apparently waning, Zelensky has been reduced to publicizing the blowing up of a Coca-Cola production plant in Kyiv in an effort to regain American support, but that is perhaps only a fate to be expected for proxy participants in The Greatest Game; the wrangle over redirecting frozen Russian funds to Ukraine remains deadlocked within the European Union too, likely because they know well what Game is being played here. Quickly reviewing the fast-changing Game state, Putin has put his own spin on the right to bear harms, as he used the analogy of orcas (a.k.a. killer whales) dismembering (polar) bears in explaining current geopolitics to students, in an only-too-obvious reference to Team Blue naval power. Over in the Middle Eastern theatre, Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel is working towards overthrowing the Iranian regime - so zero change there - even as Iran's top negotiator has taken to calling the United States just "Satan", downgraded from "Great Satan", which is how one suspects that they are getting a bit miffed. Oman reportedly rejecting their framework for Hormuz tolls may have contributed to that, in turn probably partly due to TRUMP's natural talent for extremely persuasive negotiation. Back home, there has been a timely reminder that the majority of the local air force's latest fighter jet contingent will be kindly hosted in Arkansas, concurrent with an essay in Foreign Affairs by an LKYSPP don on how China is not really that popular - believe us - because balancing between Teams is seriously not easy in this day and age, with SM Lee doing his part in Kazakhstan (whose opportunistic straddling of Pax Silica and WAICO appears unresolved). As for WP leader Pritam Singh, he has displayed some fine political nous with a rendition of perennial Hokkien favourite Ai Piah Jia Eh Yia (i.e. Must 125 Then Can Win), after which his longstanding stance for an English competency test for new migrants may seem more palatable - if still biased against a certain Team Red giant... [To be continued...]
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