GRANDEUR AND MAGNIFICENCE IN ASIA’S CITIES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good day to my fellow global citizens!

The year had just kicked off, and we’re already witnessing the contrast in images projected in the mass media between East and West. Just notice the projections regarding urban life in each hemisphere, and you can see the differences in the images.

Asian cities have been projecting themes of cooperation, growth, exquisite city plans, 21^st century architectural wonders, and these themes were projected well despite the typical urban problems of decay (congestion, pollution, traffic jams). In contrast, those of Western cities’ projected crimes, street protests, snow storms, floods (e.g. Australia’s), and related pessimistic images.

Coming from the East makes me feel with awe and pride about the transfigurations that our own emerging markets and big cities are going through. Our economies are clearly the drivers of the world economy, our investments and treasuries in the West largely keep their economies alive, and our growth and rising middle class make for our urban accomplishments as well.

Whereas before our cities were citadels of flies, malaria, squalor, and crimes, today our big cities have mutated to model skyscrapers, exquisite urban plans with many mixed land use commercial centers, architectural wonders & cultural innovations, and multi-cultural cooperation. Peoples of the West who are truly appreciative of our feats would normally experience their jaws drop in awe over the marvels that our big cities can show to them.

Among recent depictions, I recall vividly the images of Christmas trees in malls all over Asia even in countries that are Buddhist, Hindu, and Moslem. Asian urbanites are showing the way to how a former sectarian event—the Christmas holidays—can be globalized and celebrated by every nation, race, and culture. Buddhist children in Thailand for instance showed deep fondness for Santa Claus and Christmas, so their respective schools respected their fondness and celebrated Christmas as well.

In Indonesia, Moslem workers were shown preparing the finishing touches for Christmas decors, Christmas trees, food & delicacies for the Christmas event, and related paraphernalia. Many of the exported decors from Indonesia’s Muslims reached the Philippines, with some of the Christmas lights reaching our home in suburban highlands east of Manila. China’s toys, Christmas lights, delicatessen, wines, and holiday paraphernalias made us equally happy as did the Indonesians.

Scenes of Asian cities celebrating the New Year—largely the Western New Year based on the Gregorian calendar—were well projected on television, internet, and print media. Taipei 101, the 2^nd highest building worldwide, had its equivalent scenes of pyrotechnic fireworks and revelry of people in its surrounds. Such an event happened in all the big cities of Asia, rest assured.

Beijing with its trade exposition buildings, wondrous streets, magnificent palaces, and other marvels, were among those projected in the media. The world’s largest mall is in this city, and is owned and built by the SM Group of companies of the Philippines (owned by the Sy family).

The cities of Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Calcutta, Shanghai, Shenzen, Mumbai, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, Dubai, Abu Dhabi among others, were also projected with each one having their contributions to the grandeur of 21^st century life and the bright beginnings of 2011. Till now the very positive projections of lustrous performance and compass of the future in such cities are still being churned out in the mass media.

Contrast those images to the still prolonged floods in Australia (cities affected too), another round of snow storms in the USA, massacre in Arizona by a sociopathic young man, hundreds of deaths in Mexico (how many dead in Acapulco? Mexico city?…), continuing protests in Europe over austerity measures and rising poverty,…well, negative images dominate those reportorials about Western cities, with some images shocking and unnerving.

Before the year 2010 ended, an American lady (professional) whom I met in a social network, shared to me a videofilm of hers about “3^rd World America.” Depicting huge poverty incidence in the USA coupled with urban decay, huge income disparities between rich & poor, and deterioration of the once mighty physical economy there, the short feature film struck a cord. It amplified scenes of 3^rd world deteriorations in America at this time, degenerations that we analysts thought would take place in the next decade yet.

The film was hair raising and admittedly effective in portraying its intentions. Knowing the rapid ‘decline of the West’ (ala Spengler) that is going on in the industrialized world, I could only but hope for a reversal of degenerative trends there, trends that are likewise manifested in the negative images about the Western cities.

Maybe it’s time that Western peoples should look up to the themes and images projected by Eastern cities, watch and learn from our nascent innovations and urban marvels, and hope that the experience could help to reverse the deepening pessimism and nihilism going on in Western cities and nations.

[Philippines, 19 January 2011]

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ASEAN’S THORN IN THROAT: BRITISH & AMERICAN IMPERIALISTS’ DIRTY ENGAGEMENTS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

It definitely feels great to see my country and region booming economically at this time, boom marked by strengthening currencies, bourses, and investment environments. However, the climb of ASEAN to economic prosperity is being hampered by the rouge manipulations of the Saxon Empire—British imperialism and U.S. hegemonism combined.

Western empires are on the decline now, and will continue to fragment in the years to come. However, the greedy oligarchs of the said empires, notably the Saxons’, will always have dirty things to hatch and manipulate client-states, relentless acts that can ensure the gravitation of the latter towards the power orbits of the former.

Take the case of the USA. Already declining as an economic power, it still nurtures the mad agenda of a future war versus China and Russia, and is so desperate to control the necks of Indonesia and the Philippines as its obedient client-states. Obama may be the civil libertarian that he was as a young man, but those days are over, and he is performing the presidential role of his imperialist Saxon nation.

As of the 1990s yet, the USA was already in the heat of nurturing client-states in the ASEAN, with the agenda of isolating China in the long-run. Signing of ACSA (acquisition & cross-servicing agreements) were done in flurries of diplomatic talks (read: subtle bullying) that resulted to the likes of Indonesia and the Philippines being hooked up anew to the USA’s militaristic pursuits (the Philippines already abrogated the Military Bases Agreement that decade, only to sign an ACSA treaty later!).

Meantime, the British Empire, led by Queen Elizabeth herself in behalf of the Anglo-Dutch oligarchy’s interest, had long held the necks of the Sultan of Brunei, Lee Kwan Yew & leaders of Singapore, and King Bhimibol & bureaucratic puppets of Thailand. Inside Myanmar there’s the puppet Aung San Suu Kyi, while in Malaysia there’s Anwar Ibrahim.

Now, knowing the links of Aung San and Ibrahim to the British oligarchy, you should not wonder why the Mahathir leadership of Malaysia jailed Ibrahim while Myanmar’s generals continue to house-arrest Aung San Suu Kyi. The media moguls of both the West, who are in league with Queen Elizabeth and the American elites, have done every demonizing they can versus Mahathir and Myanmar’s generals, but have told nary an expose about the connection of Ibrahim and Aung San Suu Kyi to the Anglo-American-Dutch oligarchy.

The greed of the British & American oligarchs is very insatiable, they already had a taste of such greed by attacking the currencies of East Asia in mid-1997. That dirty operations, to recall, was executed by George Soros and the Quantum group’s 99 or so financiers, a dirty act that began with the attack on the Baht and expanded like wild fire to take on the ringgit, peso, and other currencies of the region.

Almost overnight, the developmental gains that took the East Asians many decades to build were wiped out! In just a couple of weeks or so, around $1.5 Trillion were taken home by the Soros & greedy financiers, while more were taken out as ‘hot money’ investments in the ASEAN were rapidly withdrawn by the same circle of financiers.

ASEAN is to a great extent being consumed by the clientelism or imperialism of the British and Americans, a reality that contributes to both political and economic instabilities in the region. For as long as the member states of ASEAN will play fiddle with Saxon imperialism, the region will take time to arise as an autonomous economic and political power on the global front.

In some other writings of mine, I already delved into the drug traders in the region, a coterie of operators who are directly tied up to British financier interests. British drug traders are in a modus Vivendi with the Chinese mafia circles, a balance of trade that shouldn’t be offset so suddenly. This trade balance ensures unhampered British dirty drug operations in the ASEAN that is a portion of its drug operations in the entire Asia from East to West of the continent.

The same drug operators were identified by economic intelligence teams as having direct tie ups or representatives of the Inter-Alpha group of companies, a group that practically controls banking & finance in Europe and America. (See reports of the Executive Intelligence Review, The Guardian, and related news for the matter.)

In some other articles, I already articulated the British & Americans’ creation of jihad groups across the region and Asia. So much studies were already done on the matter, so many exposes of the link between Al Qaida and the British Intelligence & CIA already published by other observers. With jihad terrorists roaming the region, America thus has the rationale to stretch its muscles to intervene militarily in affected countries, thus reinforcing intelligence gathering by Americans at grassroots levels in ASEAN.

Empires are definitely tough to crack and knock out. Hence, ASEAN’s encounters of many thorns in the neck from the generic Saxon empire will ensue for some more time before it will be able to establish its secure autonomy.

[Philippines, 14 November 2010]

 

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

UNLADTAU: https://unladtau.wordpress.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

ASEAN AEROSPACE PROGRAM

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

 

Magandang araw! Good day, most especially to fellow Southeast Asians!

For this piece I’m going to focus on the theme of an ASEAN-wide rocket industry-based aerospace program. ASEAN is about to integrate economically by 2015, so may the member states put in the list of agenda for action the launching of a regional aerospace program.

As the region’s member countries grow at immense rates, the middle class of the region will likewise grow that will serve as its sustaining consumption base. A large middle class will mean a higher demand for telecommunications infrastructures that will, in the main, depend on satellite and related facilities.

So, instead of each member country trying to outdo each other by launching their respective rocket industry-based aerospace programs, the countries better sit down together within the aegis of an ASEAN economic union, concur a binding agreement regarding the launching of an ASEAN aerospace program, and fund the entire program internally from ASEAN resources.

With an ASEAN central bank in place by 2015, it wouldn’t be so difficult to generate funds internally for all sorts of grand projects from infrastructures to aerospace. An ASEAN development bank would then be securitized by the central bank and allocate funds for the aerospace program.

Malaysia today is in the stage of research & development for a rocket industry and has begun training & development for its technical experts. It may be prudent for the ASEAN to assign to Malaysia a lead role in orchestrating the ASEAN aerospace, with the quid pro quo of compensating Malaysia for lending its expertise and certain aspects of the backward linkages for the future industry.

The aerospace program would largely be used to launch satellites and only secondarily for space research & development. The space R & D can come later, maybe at a time when the ASEAN will be prepared for political unification in the long run.

With a satellite industry in place, the ASEAN can then compete with other market stakeholders (countries & regions with satellite industry) to supply and launch the satellites of other developing countries. Project costs can be cut down at the satellite production phase, thus bringing down prices of ready-to-launch satellites and ensuring patronage by many developing countries.

All of the essential components—at the backward linkages—of satellite production are now present as running industries in the region. From metallurgy to computer software & hardware, name it and the region has it. Hence the viability of satellite industry is very high enough.

It is in the domain of rockets that the ASEAN would need to co-partner with other countries at the production phase. It can be an option for ASEAN to co-partner with Russia that can supply the rockets that will launch ASEAN’s satellites. China and India are other options also for supplying the rockets.

However, in the long run the economic union should work out to establish a strong rocket industry for itself. The rocket industry can spin off into a more comprehensive program later, one that can be extended to launching R & D in other planets and their respective moons, space tourism, and sending missions beyond the solar system.

Rocket technology can also be modified so as to integrate it into the mining industry, so that in the long term ASEAN can mine for metals in other celestial bodies. Environmental standards are getting to be stricter by the year, standards that can constrain the extraction of rare & precious metals regionally, so the alternative in such a context would be to mine for the metals in other celestial bodies.

The aerospace program is one developmental area that will prove the potency of a regional approach to launching it contrasted to country-initiated approach. Given the gargantuan level of funding that a rocket industry cum satellite industry will entail, funding that a member country will be hard put to supply, then regionalize the program altogether to circumvent country constraints.

[Philippines, 07 November 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

UNLADTAU: https://unladtau.wordpress.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]