News Stories

[oompa loompa]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

The situation with Pakistan makes it very difficult for India to ask America for help, as we both know Pakistan is an American ally... For some bizarre reason. Even though at this point it seems the only thing the government officials of Pakistan want is American money.

The Pakistani civilians hate Americans for the drones, and the Americans are justifiably suspicious of Pakistan's terrorism links. And yet they are allies all the same.

Any chance India can get help from Russians? Or did that option die with the fall of the Soviet Union?

Eh, something along the lines of 'Pakistan is the last bulwark against radical islamism', or something along those lines /sarcasm. To be fair, they've been allies for a really long time as the Indians went NAM and soviet in the cold war, while the pakistanis went american. Apart from this, really though, they are an important piece in the 'war on terror', having the official paki government, which is quite liberal and western on their side is quite strategically important i suspect.

On the Russians, we still do get help from the Russians. AFAIK a large portion of our arms are still purchased from the Russians, not to mention there is the $30 billion dollar Russia India oil pipeline project, which is set to be finalized in the next few months. When you look at the official Indian statements made about Crimea for example, it's clear that Russia is still a big ally.

[Fireminer]

We're trying to become less and less dependence on China, that is for sure. If you guys just know all the talks about expanding the markets: China only interests in buying raw material, not opening new factories or purchasing goods from us. And their cheap commodities overfloodings Vietnam. That is a bad, one-side relationship.

(Should I mentions that Chinese merchants have this abnormal tendency: Every three or four months, a wave of them spread a hoax of their need of something weird - like buffallo's nails, or a type of rice-eating snail. And they first buys it, with a high price. But when too many farmers try to cut of their buffallo's nails - therefore, killing the animal, they stop buying. The result: We lost a lot without knowing we were tricked.)

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Fireminer

(Should I mentions that Chinese merchants have this abnormal tendency: Every three or four months, a wave of them spread a hoax of their need of something weird - like buffallo's nails, or a type of rice-eating snail. And they first buys it, with a high price. But when too many farmers try to cut of their buffallo's nails - therefore, killing the animal, they stop buying. The result: We lost a lot without knowing we were tricked.)

They do that to every rural area they do business in. And they give us "2nd-class" Chinese (non-mainland) a very bad reputation with those jokes.

[JokerD]

Tests for two 'potential' US Mers cases

Has the 'Oh Shit' moment been reached yet?

US hopeful Thai military will not stage another coup

Part of me wonders if some military officer sent some feelers to the US on their support for another coup and this is the response.

An interesting part:

Thailand was the first Asian ally of the United States, with the kingdom -- then known as Siam -- signing a friendship treaty with Washington in 1833 and famously offering elephants to president Abraham Lincoln to fight the Civil War.

Didn't know the king of Siam offered elephants to Lincoln... You learn something new every day

[PzIVf3]

China expanding presence on disputed reef near Philippines: sources

Johnson Reef
Combined supplied photo shows Johnson Reef, a Philippines-claimed reef in the South China Sea. Photo in the top column was taken in February 2013 and the one in the bottom column was taken in February 2014. A Chinese military base is seen at the bottom left of the bottom photo. China has been shipping large quantities of soil to the reef, known in the Philippines as the Mabini Reef, since 2012 apparently in a move to enlarge the land area for security facilities, Philippine and U.S. military sources said May 13, 2014. (Photo courtesy of the Philippines government)(Kyodo)

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2014/05/289926.html

[ganbaru]

More than 20 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A4E03Y20140515

German growth puts stagnant France and Italy in shade
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A4E06H20140515

[killer3000ad]

Cat saves boy from dog attack

YouTube

https://youtu.be/C-Opm9b2WDk

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[sa547]

Originally Posted by PzIVf3

China expanding presence on disputed reef near Philippines: sources

Meanwhile across the pond, we hear of anti-Chinese factory riots which left some 20 people dead.

I find these bootstomp noises all the more unsettling as I'm seeing coincidences like this and you have the NSA seen as a greater danger to humanity than information stealing botnets and relentless spammers, all the while reading about the capabilities of the DF-21 ballistic missile and the J-20 fighter.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by sa547

Meanwhile across the pond, we hear of anti-Chinese factory riots which left some 20 people dead.

I find these bootstomp noises all the more unsettling as I'm seeing coincidences like this and you have the NSA seen as a greater danger to humanity than information stealing botnets and relentless spammers, all the while reading about the capabilities of the DF-21 ballistic missile and the J-20 fighter.

It is the Taiwanese and Singaporeans who got hurt. No actual Chinese were involved. Looks like the rioters better pick more accurate targets next time.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

It is the Taiwanese and Singaporeans who got hurt. No actual Chinese were involved. Looks like the rioters better pick more accurate targets next time.

Actually it Taiwanese and Singaporean factories that got damaged/destroyed. The industrial park itself belongs to a Singaporean company.
One dead, 100 hurt as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

But yeah, some China Chinese got hurt and killed.

[SaintessHeart]

Why only one dead. Needs more casualties.

Cmon it is sell-in-May! The stocks need a rally!

[Lhklan]

As a Vietnamese, I'm rather ashamed of the actions some of the people right now.

I mean, god fucking damn it, what's the fucking point of attacking those factories? Not only does it deprives OUR people of works, it also make Vietnam the bad guy in all this.

FUck if they want violence so bad why don't they join the army instead of all those bull shit?

[LoveYouSaber]

How do Vietnamese see the Chinese in general? Judging from Lhklan's comments, it seems that it's not the Chinese stealing factory jobs from Vietnamese workers, so I guess it's Chinese funds plus local workers combination for those factories right?

Did any hostile feelings exist prior to this latest marine incident? I know China and Vietnam fought a war, but that's almost 35 years ago.

And yeah, I also rolled my eyes when I heard Taiwanese factories were damaged rather than Chinese. Guess the rioters are paying the Chinese government the ultimate compliment by admitting Taiwan is part of China lol.

[Lhklan]

Originally Posted by LoveYouSaber

How do Vietnamese see the Chinese in general? Judging from Lhklan's comments, it seems that it's not the Chinese stealing factory jobs from Vietnamese workers, so I guess it's Chinese funds plus local workers combination for those factories right?

Did any hostile feelings exist prior to this latest marine incident? I know China and Vietnam fought a war, but that's almost 35 years ago.

And yeah, I also rolled my eyes when I heard Taiwanese factories were damaged rather than Chinese. Guess the rioters are paying the Chinese government the ultimate compliment by admitting Taiwan is part of China lol.

As for the factories: some what like that. While the companies may or may not be from China, the workers are mostly Vietnameses.

As for views:

- There some of us who just don't care about it, since the doing all the BS is the Chinese goverment.

- There are those who are slightly irritated, but never the less keep being polite and good people.

- And then there those fucking idiot. Part of me is sure that the patriotism is only a part of what they're doing, but the fact that they get to steal/rob those factories blind.

Also, it's not just Taiwan and Hong Kong companies that get hit. There are also some Thailand, Japanese and Singapore factories that were involved.

As for hostile feelings: Well there are lingerings hostility yes, but it's not because of the war but because of the fact that China's been harassing us for the last few years.

[sa547]

If anything, it's badly misdirected anger; the rioting is too reminiscent of the Rodney King vs. LAPD beating incident in Los Angeles years ago -- outrage among some of the city's blacks prompted immediate chaos, the rioters blindly targeting mostly Korean stores and businesses instead.

Here, I fear that the continuing activities in both Paracels and Spratlys will further exacerbate not just tensions but also fuel racial prejudice, where the prevailing populist view here is that the Chinese are a greater threat in all aspects (especially that some of the wealthiest citizens are ethnic Chinese) and there's continuing clamor for military modernization, as leftists are now seen as collaborators.

[maplehurry]

On a separate topic regarding bully...

Being a bully is good for kids' health: Study

People who were bullied as children had higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of low-grade inflammation and a risk factor for a variety of health problems, including cardiovascular disease.

The more a person was bullied, the higher their CRP levels. The bullies, meanwhile, had the lowest CRP levels of all. The researchers theorize the former bullies are reaping the health benefits that come with a higher social status.

"Enhanced social status seems to have a biological advantage," lead author William E. Copeland said in a release. "However, there are ways children can experience social success aside from bullying others."

[oompa loompa]

For anyone who was following this, the Indian general elections have just come to a close with the BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party ----> Indian People's Party) winning with a landslide victory.

For the first time since India gained independence, a party other than the INC (Indian National Congress), has got an absolute majority, The BJP itself has gotten a party record 283/543 seats, with their coalition, the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), getting a total of 335 seats. The congress, on the other hand, got less than 50 seats (a record low) as opposed to the 206 they got in 2009, casting doubt over whether they will be able to form the opposition (which requires 10% of the total seats).

The prime ministerial candidate, and new PM Narendra Modi, is one of the most polarizing political in figures in India; His supporters point towards the remarkable economic growth in his home state of Gujarat (where he was CM), while his detractors point towards his inaction and possible involvement in the 2002 Gujarat Riots, where over a 1000 people were killed, most of them being muslims.

Narendra Modi today stormed to power at the Centre giving BJP its highest—ever tally in the Lok Sabha elections, securing for the party a majority on its own and in the process handing out the worst—ever defeat to Congress.

BJP has won 115 seats and was leading in 168 others, which will take the party to a total of 283, eight more than the required half—way mark in 543—member House. With its allies, the tally of NDA is expected to go up to 335.

Congress was virtually decimated as it bagged only 18 seats and was leading in 27 others. Party president Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi accepted responsibility for the defeat.

Riding the Modi wave, BJP has come a long way from a party of two Lok Sabha members in 1984. Even at the height of the popularity of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it could manage to get only 182 in 1998 and 1999, on the back of Ayodhya movement.

A massive 12 per cent increase in its voteshare in the current elections has propelled the party to new heights while in 2009, it had secured only 116 seats on the basis of 18.8 per cent voteshare.

On the other side, the Congress plumetted from a tally of 206 in 2009 to less than 50 seats on the loss of around 10 per cent voteshare from 28.5 per cent.

The Congress found it difficult to cross the double digit mark in most of the states as BJP swept Gujarat (26), Rajasthan (25), Delhi (7), Uttarakhand (5), Himachal Pradesh (4) and Goa (2).

BJP also nearly swept the crucial heartland state of Uttar Pradesh where it bagged 16 seats and was ahead in 55 of the total 80 seats. Its ally Apna Dal was leading in two seats.

All the other seats were won by two political families.

Only regional parties AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and BJD were able to stymie the saffron march in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, respectively.

AIADMK had won five seats and was leading in 32, while TMC had won 12 and was ahead in 22. BJD was set for a near sweep as it was leading in 19 of 21 seats.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...?homepage=true

I was wondering what people from outside of India think about this (as you might imagine, with a two party system, opinions are heavily polarized within the country, and all the western media I've read (the guardian, NYT, Washington Post, as some examples, I haven't read the economists piece on it, or any of the articles that have come out in the last couple of weeks), harp on about the 2002 riots by painting Modi as a villain, while completely ignoring the facts; including the fact that he has been cleared by the Supreme Court of India of involvement in the fiasco, and that in the 10 following years, there have been no riots in Gujarat, which is also a record). On the one hand, the congress has put the country in the shitter over the last 8 years, with growth plummeting, corruption rampant, and a worryingly high fiscal deficit rising due to (in my opinion) populist and ultimately unsustainable social welfare schemes (See: NREGA and Food Security Bill). On the other hand, the BJP is notorious for it's hindu fundamentalist stance, which many expect to be pushed even further. This is a reasonable assumption considering Modi was a prominent member and follower of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), with senior members like Subhramaniam Swamy making claims like " If an Indian doesn't recognize and accept the fact that, even if they are not, their ancestors come from a Hindu heritage, they should not be granted citizenship " (Or something along those lines), coupled with the worrying inaction of the Modi government in the 2002 riots, and his subsequent apathy for those involved).

My opinion was that the landslide victory was mostly fueled by anti-incumbency sentiments, the Congress simply had to go after all the scandals and poor performance. India is full of (what I like to refer to as) 'armchair socialists' , who come from rich backgrounds, live in luxury, and harp on about the importance of peoples rights. As a now certified economist, I can't agree with populist welfare schemes and the idea that 'Oh you only care about economic growth, not the welfare of the people'. Unfortunately, the majority of Indian english press at least, is run by such people (again, this is just my opinion), and the polls show that the majority of people don't agree. However, an anti-incumbency wave is not a good basis to vote a party into power, and given the rampant conservative nature of the BJP in some states (I'm from Karnataka, where a BJP govt. was recently voted out of power), having a BJP government in the center is worrying for many reasons. I suppose only time will tell...

As far as International reactions are concerned, perhaps the most important one is that of China's:

As the Narendra Modi-ed BJP won a decisive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, China on Friday said it is willing to work with the new Indian government to take their bilateral strategic partnership to a new height.

“China is willing to make joint efforts with new Indian government, maintain high level exchanges, deepen cooperation in all areas and bring China, India strategic partnership to new height,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters here in response to a question on BJP’s victory in the elections.

Noting that counting is still going on and official results are not out yet, Hua said China valued its ties with India as it is Beijing’s close neighbour and relationship in recent years have witnessed steady momentum.

Though officials say that Beijing was expected to come up with a detailed reaction after the elections results are officially announced, Chinese media and its analysts have been giving positive projections about future prospects of bilateral ties under a prospective Modi government.

Modi is widely seen here as someone who could give trade, economic ties a big boost, though he could be tough on border, Tibet and the Dalai Lama issues, analysts said.

Modi visited China a few times as Gujarat Chief Minister and much of China’s investments are made in Gujarat.

“I think the Indian people chose Modi and BJP because they want ‘change’ which means reform, no corruption, no inflation, jobs and better life,” Li Li, Deputy Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies of the China Institute of contemporary international relations, said.

Li, an Indian specialist who studied in India specialising in China-India ties, said Modi’s victory reflects India has a national consensus on putting development as the strategic priority.

“In this sense, I think there is a great potential for further economic cooperation between China and India. Since Modi is committed to boosting infrastructure and manufacturing, on which China is strong and experienced. I believe many Chinese enterprises and investment will see it as a great opportunity,” she said.

“Since India will have a strong new government, if Modi can push forward some reforms to make the Indian market more open and friendly to FDI including the Chinese investment, I think Chinese investment is definitely ready,” she said.

“On the political front, of course there is a chance for a step forward, because a strong government can make a bold decision,” Li added.

However, she said that the border dispute is so complex that patience is still very important.

“Only when it is accepted by not only the two leaderships but also the two peoples can a solution be reached. So there is still a lot of work to do for the two governments,” she said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...?homepage=true

Granted, this is from The Hindu, so I don't know what China actually thinks, or whether they care enough for this to make a difference to ties between the two countries.

[KiraYamatoFan]

Originally Posted by oompa loompa

India is full of (what I like to refer to as) 'armchair socialists' , who come from rich backgrounds, live in luxury, and harp on about the importance of peoples rights.

India ain't the only one. There are places like my home province of Quebec and even France (with Mitterrand and Hollande) where armchair socialists sold their idealist crap for a while through the media before their reign went down crashing in flames when they left things in a worse state of affairs.

The worst thing that can happen is when a country lets such people be elected to power because all they have is ideology but no practicality. Meanwhile, the most performing countries on the economics front are usually standing towards the center, never leaning too far towards the right nor the left.

We'll see how this unfolds for India, but I would not put too many hopes there. Speaking of the two-party system, I know this is not very good considering what we have seen how far it goes in the US. However, I cannot tell how to solve that; so many countries with a fully functional electoral system have a long-standing rivalry between 2 parties having legitimate chances of winning elections. Perhaps it reflects part of human nature on moving towards a pole or the other.

[monster]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

However, I cannot tell how to solve that; so many countries with a fully functional electoral system have a long-standing rivalry between 2 parties having legitimate chances of winning elections. Perhaps it reflects part of human nature on moving towards a pole or the other.

Sometimes having too many choices would lead to indecision. Having only a few choices, including only 2, simplifies the decision process.

[oompa loompa]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

We'll see how this unfolds for India, but I would not put too many hopes there. Speaking of the two-party system, I know this is not very good considering what we have seen how far it goes in the US. However, I cannot tell how to solve that; so many countries with a fully functional electoral system have a long-standing rivalry between 2 parties having legitimate chances of winning elections. Perhaps it reflects part of human nature on moving towards a pole or the other.

As it happens I'm not going to get my hopes up, because the two party system in India is pretty silly; the policies either party will implement are not particularly different from one another. In fact, an opposition will stall a bill from being passed when elections draw close just so that they can pass it when they come to power, in our case, FDI in retail is one policy that the BJP will almost certainly implement even though they vehemently opposed it in parliament. What is encouraging however, (or discouraging, depending on your view), is that the party got an absolute majority, and will be less bogged down by coalition politics, which has been one of the plagues of Indian democracy in the last couple of decades. What I do like however, is that the country stood up in a big way to show that we won't stand by while a weak government is in place, even if it is the party that has ruled for the better part of post-independence, and the party that led the country to independence during british rule. At the very least someone else should be given a chance

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

India ain't the only one. There are places like my home province of Quebec and even France (with Mitterrand and Hollande) where armchair socialists sold their idealist crap for a while through the media before their reign went down crashing in flames when they left things in a worse state of affairs.

I think it's even worse for a country like India. Despite the great economic growth the governments always spout, we're a poor, uneducated, and backward country for the most part. We simply don't have the resources to entertain anything other than the practical. Take the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), where the government guaranteed a minimum wage and working hours to all those in rural India. What happened was, with the lack of accountability, there were huge amounts of funds illegally diverted, with a large amount of people who were entitled to work not getting paid. The other thing was, despite the government claiming 'millions of jobs' were created, in reality all it resulted in was sub-standard work on public infrastructure, that would have to be done again. Those who did work, were not prepared or trained to do the labor they were assigned, coupled with the fact that a large amount of them not getting paid, it was a disaster. Even if the families did receive money, if their kids can't get educated, companies can't set up factories due to poor infrastructure, and farmers can't expand due to the lack of government provided irrigation, nothing will actually change. (as it happens, many farmers sunk huge amounts into getting wells dug up, and getting diesel powered pumps. When droughts hit, and they weren't able to pay their loans, several committed suicide to protect the well-being of their families, a phenomenon which still happens today), social welfare schemes like that are just wooden crutches that will break sooner or later, without adequate infrastructural development as a supplement. However, Gujarat, Modi's state as CM, has seen great leaps forward in infrastructural development, and though the benefits have not yet been seen in all sections of society, I believe they will soon, and that is the basis of moving forward as a country. If only he and his party could set aside their distaste for the 150 million muslims in the country