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Wednesday, June 04, 2025 - 21:07 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

The Birth Of Strategy


"...So, as I conclude, it is with sage leadership, and strategic vision, and a sense of urgency that Lee Kuan Yew turned Singapore into one of the world's great success stories. Many call it the 'Singapore Miracle.' That's what common sense policies can achieve. And that's precisely what President TRUMP's vision is all about."

- U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, closing remarks at the 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore


A scarce few months ago, Hegseth had been panned for not being able to name a single ASEAN country, so it was honestly quite remarkable as to how he went on to deliver some of the most-incisive and insightful remarks from a U.S. delegate ever, at this annual Dialogue. In also asserting that "the United States is not interested in the moralistic and preachy approach to foreign policy of the past", he has moreover signalled an extremely welcome turn in America's attitude towards others.

Appropriately, his speech also emphasized Strength (19 times, if primarily as a prerequisite for peace) and Respect (7 times, including a statement of "immense respect for the Chinese people and their civilization"), one supposes it is really time to move on to the Strategy section of our planned trilogy; but first, some additional commentary on the previous post, which may have broken this blog's readership records once more.

On the subject of TRUMP and LKY, it should first be understood that any comparisons drawn are entirely factual - they are based on documented and accepted evidence. It is perhaps their interpolation - and the perspective born from considering said facts side-by-side - that makes the truths and realizations derived thus, hard to bear for some. This, it should be noted, is something that LKY was no stranger to. He was never afraid of confronting Hard Truths, after all, and where Grand Strategy is concerned, there is nothing more important than knowing the Truth, unpalatable as it may be (although whether one chooses to admit or reveal it later, is another matter)



And what luck, the U.S. of America is gonna produce a lot more iron, with the 50% steel tariffs coming in!
[N.B. LKY may be a little obsolete on the "game of cards" bit, though... but more on that next time.]
(Sources: gmanetwork.com, businessinsider.com)


With this said, it should also be established that I personally hold a deep respect for all LKY has done for Singapore, if not necessarily (all) his methods and views. The key point rests in maintaining internal consistency - if one lauds LKY (as good Singaporeans are expected to, I suppose), it would take incredible mental gymnastics and intellectual contortion to not do the same for TRUMP, given that TRUMP's major directives and policies are merely watered-down versions of LKY's.

Going over the previous points in more detail, if we are to apply LKY's Operation Coldstore to the modern American context, this would be TRUMP mobilizing the FBI right before the general elections (with the acquiescence of the military, police and Supreme Court... perhaps in progress, fortunately) to arrest not only Hillary, but also Obama, Biden, Bernie, AOC and the Squad, dozens of other prominent Democrat leaders, and a few GOP dissenters such as Liz Cheney into the bargain, and imprison them for decades without any trial. Oh, there will be protests, but a few rounds of heavily-armed riot police (and state persecution of dissenters) should handle it.

Continuing the analogy, all allowed television channels would become some variant of Fox News (which, as a former host, Hegseth may well be down for), and following a change of ownership, the New York Times would become a lot closer to the New York Post in outlook; after a few unlucky journalists are sued into oblivion, most of the rest should quickly understand the invisible OB lines, even without explicit legal directives. Opposition parties are, of course, given next to no airtime.



It's National Service Day!
(Source: ChatGPT-4o)


On education (which TRUMP is indeed actively reforming over in the U.S.), the official Republican Party-run kindergarten chain ("My Little Elephant" sounds cool!) soon dominates the market, becoming the only realistically-viable option for much of the working population. Primary and high schools teach a sanitized version of national history, with the humanities and inquiry on civil participation greatly diminished. Student unions and demonstrations are conclusively crushed, and non-compliant universities and colleges closed down (i.e. more a beheading, than a bend-the-knee thing).

Well, there are benefits too. After the populace understands the futility of engaging in politics, productivity increases. Racial harmony is established by clamping down on anybody that steps out of line, and forcing ethnic quotas in public housing. Illegal immigration is a non-issue; they're simply jailed, whipped and sent back. Drugs aren't an issue either; guy has a kilo of weed? He's hanged. Streets are fairly clean too; caught littering from a vehicle? That's up to a year in the clink (that, and an army of sweepers). And yes, the (MRT) trains run on time. Mostly.

The point here, I guess, is that LKY is a legendary-enough leader with enough strengths and accomplishments, that there is really no need to invent nonexistent virtues to burnish his living legacy. As an example, one LinkedIn post in response to the TRUMP-LKY comparison claimed that "[LKY] would not undermine democratic institutions", at which I involuntarily spit my drink all over my monitor. Friend! Angkat bola also not like that one, lah*! Are we even talking about the same person here?! The state of history and political education these days...

[*Or, in standard English, even if you want to carry somebody's balls, it is still no good to spout complete utter poppycock**!]

[**In LKY's defence, comments that "One is historic, the other is hysteric" aren't very accurate either; LKY may be many things, but "hysteric" doesn't quite fit.]



An inescapable conclusion.
(Sources: nas.gov.sg, abcnews.go.com, figma.com meme)


朋友，懂王川普已经是李王光耀的仁慈版，希望你们能知福常乐吧！若要硬攀比这两个政治神话，懂王少了李王的几分狡猾冷酷无情，多了些温馨的皇者霸气！但这些差异到底是微不足道的，毕竟两人都是同类人，历代伟人，天才！

Definitely, while the similarities far outweigh the differences - both LKY and TRUMP are known to part ways with former teammates once challenged, for instance, although as far as is known TRUMP hasn't thrown former allies and colleagues in jail yet - there are of course many small disparities. TRUMP staunchly promotes his own cultural and civilizational values, for one, whereas LKY has been more... eclectic in his principles. TRUMP has managed to keep his entire nuclear family (three wives, five kids, many grandkids) together and supportive of him (ok, fine, this is a bit of a low blow, and I sincerely hope that our Senior Minister mends fences with his brother soon)

[To be continued, with reference to the Liar Game!


Well this is kinda ominous
(Source: Liar Game #201 [final chapter])


...maybe the author did draw inspiration for this manga from geopolitics, after all?]



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Next: Practical Uses Of Strategy


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