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Saturday, Oct 03, 2020 - 21:49 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

The Swiss Standard

Now, that was a somnolent and slightly unfulfilling first Presidential debate - rather tamer and less abrasive than I had expected. To begin with, there was much less of the inventiveness that both candidates were capable of, and my Debate Bingo card remained unfilled no thanks to "X Angry Democrats" and "Dog Faced Pony Soldier" not being mentioned (but if I had missed them, please do let me know!); haven't heard Biden's "Inshallah" for awhile, so that's something, and it went straight into my centre space (also, neat Star Wars reference there!)

All considered, it was swell to watch two candidates that had been disparaged for their advanced age show worthy spirit in contesting for the throne of the free world, especially as The Donald was respectful enough to meet his opponent on his own terms through feisty interruptions; although he didn't quite manage to match the 82 butt-ins that Biden had recorded against Paul Ryan in 2012 (full event on Youtube), GEOTUS did manage to supplement his 73 direct interjections with another fifty-plus on the moderator, after sportingly accepting a 2v1 handicap match to make the contest more balanced and entertaining. Here, we recall another formidable matriarch in the late Barbara Bush, who sagely told her all-too-nice son Jeb! to "[Just] interrupt like other people do". Good advice!

It seems almost crass to try and declare a winner, after the tremendous effort put forth by both all sides (though opinions appear to be partly affected by how acceptable cutting-in is, in one's culture). This harmony seems to have extended to Biden's gracious best wishes at hearing about TRUMP deciding to personally take the coronavirus down (I pity da macrophage), as declared in his most-liked tweet ever, which must be saying something. In return, there was no post-debate needling by GEOTUS on his honoured opponent's non-committal response on court-packing, and TRUMP's dignified suggestion that the traditionally-nationalist Proud Boys group "stand back and stand by", would result in these very multicultural Proud Boys (led by a Latino, no less) holding a joint conference with Black Lives Matter leaders, to denounce white supremacy together.


Photos one generally doesn't see in the mainstream media
[N.B. Wait, does the mainstream media have a stake in stoking dissention and outrage at every turn, instead of focusing on points of commonality? Hmm...]
(Source: washingtontimes.com)


Truly, such a show of unity and cultural exchange could only have been inspired by a mediator of the stature of GEOTUS, who happens to have just been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for a third occasion, this time by a group of Australian law professors for his doctrine of ending foreign wars (yes, it likely took some serious arm-twisting and horse-trading... but isn't that what the POTUS is supposed to do?). Very unfortunately, GEOTUS's current engagement with the coronavirus possibly means that the next debate spectacle might have to be postponed or cancelled, which is such a shame after he agreed for the next one to be moderated by a declared Biden supporter, because a POTUS should be generous to his citizens, old or new... except the racists and hatemongers, that is.

It would probably be too much to go into his concrete half-trillion dollar plan for Black communities at this stage, coming hot on the heels of his consistent support for historically black (and minority) colleges and universities, that even opponents have had to concede; sure, some might decry such acts as vote-buying, but between these measures and tacky reparations, I have to confess to thinking the former being more respectful.


To return more perspective to the placid debate sideshow, it's war (again) on the European borders, with Armenia and Azerbaijan lighting the match; meanwhile, CCP troops have adopted polearms in their dispute with India, which should... reduce casualties, I suppose (remember, long pointy stick good)? It's all moving so swiftly nowadays - Cold War II is clearly in its preliminary stages, with the PLA's air force putting out a video simulating an attack on the U.S.'s Andersen Air Force base on Guam... which might have been slightly more intimidating, had it not been composed of spliced clips from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Rock and Hurt Locker (that said, this was probably more environmentally-friendly). It could be noted that Singapore has a permanent F-15 detachment at that very base, but if it's any consolation, neither party is taking that little detail into account. I hope.

As a prelude to a fuller geopolitical analysis of the New Cold War, I'd like to expound a little on the analogy between Singapore and Switzerland, as brought up in an August post. While probably best known for former PM Goh aspiring towards a "Swiss standard of living" by 1999 (to which a funny gripe is that a Swiss cost of living has been achieved instead), the greater part of this ambition might have been towards Switzerland's renowned neutrality (or minimally, the successful maintenance of the appearance thereof), which may be all the more relevant in the new world (dis?)order that we're entering - though being stupidly rich doesn't hurt either, just sayin' (N.B. I have always quite admired those honest enough to just be direct about what they want out of their worship)

Geographically speaking, however, one would be hard-pressed to find two lands more disparate: Switzerland is landlocked, mountainous, essentially self-sufficient in foodstuffs and other necessities, a natural fortress every which way you look at it. Singapore is a small tropical island served by two bridges, and frankly speaking something of a sitting duck for any power with control of the surrounding sea. How does one feed and placate a population of near six million, were supply lines cut off? There were less than a million mouths to account for during the Second World War, and they knew how to cultivate tapioca!


Not Singapore
(Source: flickr.com)


Leaving such grim considerations aside for a moment, Singapore does much more closely resemble Switzerland in one very important respect - finance. According to the esteemed Goh Keng Swee, "It is more useful that I relate a discussion I had during my last stint in the Finance Ministry [ed note: 1967-1970], with a Swiss banker... Putting on a stern countenance, I asked him why Swiss banks ran secret numbered accounts, implying that there was something unsavoury about this. Actually, we were then thinking of doing the same, but could not find a convincing public explanation [ed: would be introduced in Banking Act 1970]"; in this handling of (other people's) money without the asking of too many impolite questions, at least, we might have caught up to the Swiss.

This more-fascinating side of the local economy would be reflected in the recent FinCEN leak (instantly summoning Bernie and Warren, as expected), which revealed that local banks had moved billions in suspicious transactions. To this, the unanimous reaction of r/singapore and EDMW - so often at odds - was basically eh, everybody knows that already, were you born yesterday? So much for us being squeaky-clean squares (which I suppose is why the revelations about GEOTUS saving on taxes doesn't appear to have moved too many needles, given that everyone expects tax avoidance from billionaires and corporations there). I will leave my clever readers to ponder the implications for a bit, perhaps with the aid of a worked example on money laundering with respect to GEOTUS's Thighland.

Continuing on other similarities, Switzerland's stability has been raised as notable despite the presence of four national languages - coincidentally, matching the number of Singapore's racial categories - which was not entirely missed by commentators. Interestingly, compulsory national service appears another possible factor, although it was further noted that sharing a common ethnicity likely helped. This was, of course, not the case here, thus the insistence on English as lingua franca, and bilingualism in Mandarin with an eye towards China; for all the courteous talk on not wanting to usurp Hong Kong's finance gig, I can hardly imagine our wise leaders turning down business that's arrived at our doorstep. Still, one could read a little too much into Our Most Successful Investment Firm suddenly floating 50-year bonds, and a lot too much into the abrupt interest in urban farming...



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Next: Corona Update (Part I)


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