Shags, Wags and other Things

Feeling a little in the colour today. Ended up sleeping at 4am and am up and about trying to bash out sentences on the computer in an effort to try and stay awake and fill up my life with its usual meaningless thoughts. Khai Meng CO-Chairman of O&M, Asia-Pacific describes writers and other creative folks as the "Meaning Makers" of the future. I would not go so far as to give myself any fancy pretentions of changing the world. I am merely a slightly more refined version of a whore, willing to say anything to please whoever may be listening and somehow hopping to make a living of sorts - well when you think about it, I might as well join the cruder version of whoredome - I'd get to collect the cash before I get *&(^#@().

Anyway, enough  of that. If I carried on in this vein, I might actually sound intelligent and we couldn't have that could we? No, it's best if I kept my thoughts to the inane and continued to ramble on in my usual fashion. Then, I'd probably sound like the rest of the world, caring only for the things that I care about.

It's reached such an advanced stage in Singapore when the national newspaper carries four pages of stories about fadding romances between second-rate sports stars, cats that dress in Armani and so on with alarming regularity in its Sunday edition. Most would blame this sad situation on the media. I prefer to blame the public. 

We're more interested in debating who slept with whom than in more serious issues like torture being legalised and justified and so on and so we create the demand for mundane stories. I admired Rupert Murdoch most when he reffused to appologise for paying papparazi for taking photos of Princes Di after she died. - He said that he only paid the Paparazi because they took photos that sold papers, which were bought by the British Public - which was at that time going through a spate of breast-beating over Diana's unfortunate demise at the hands of a drunk driver. It was a politically incorrect but as Minister Mentor Lee would say, "I'm not interested in being politically correct, I'm interested in being correct."

Iran has held a two-day conference on the truth of the Holocaust. It's quite a funny thing to do in a morbid sort of way. Auschwitz was a horrible event and one shouldn't take anything away from the suffering of the people who died in the concentration camps. However, as awaful as it's been, the Mullah's of Iran have shown up the West for being totally hypocritical in its approach to global issues. When you insult Muslims by drawing awful cartoons of the Prophet its called excercising freedom of speech. When you denny the Holocaust took place, its a jailable offence in many European countries. Freedom of Speech, as Larry Flynt once pointed out, is offensive and if you want to make it the cornerstone of your society, you have to accept that someone, somewhere will be offended.

And its sad that the Mullahs are winning this PR war. The West is for the most part a force of good in human history. Most of the material advances we enjoy, the political freedoms are part of the West's influence on human history. The Mullahs and guys like David Duke of the KKK represent a misuse and abuse of God, which makes it even more embarrasing for the "Engightened" people to be shown up to the hypocrites by them.

Age

Now that I've gone past the three-zero mark, I've begun to notice that everyone seems rather pre-occupied by age. Somehow, whenever you get together with friends, you can't stop talking about age and doing all the things that people with "Age" are supposed to do. Friends start to settle down and have kids. Late night partying is no longer considered fun but part of childish iresponsibility. Parents start to think retierment and talk about estate planning and grandparents start to die. I suppose you can't help noticing this thing called age, because suddenly you realise that you've got in a big way. Appart from noticing that your twenties and teens have dissapeared, you suddenly realise that the forties are round the corner and before know it, pension time will be upon you.

One of the signs of getting old is the fact that you begin to worry about what you're going to do when you're no longer able to run around. For self-employed people like me, that can be particularly worrying. Being broke in your twenties is fun - people call it "Character Building," but when you are in your forties and beyond its rather sad. So, I suppose the only thing for people in their thirites to do is to discover the joys of savings and investments. Somehow, you have to salt away a bit of cash here and there. Working lives are becomming shorter. I remember Monica Alsagoff saying that "The days of working in one place for six years are gone, you're just happy you can keep people for two years." So, if working lives are shortening, I suppose the thing to do is to maximise the time that you're able to earn a living and find lots of things to do when you're old.

But money is only part of the problem. Money can always be earnt, if you're not doing your current job, there are plenty of things that are not age-dependent. If for some reason I stop being able to run around like the clown that I am, I can still sit down and bash out a few legible sentences for newspapers. Reporting will be replaced by column writing. No, the biggest tragedy about aging is the fact that your body starts to give and no amount of money can ever bring that back.

I was reminded of this today. Eldest Aunt is on a course and so it was left to me to look after Grandma. It was supposed to be simple. At a certain time, all I had to do was to put grandmother's food in the microwave, heat it up and then see that she had eaten. However, poor grandma had to ask me to clean out her urine bucket.

My father's mother is particularly sensitive towards this type of thing. She's always been quite refined. Although my father's family did not have much money, they've always been very particular about being "Refined." My mother's family had alot more money. Mum is especially proud of the fact that her family is "Professional Middle-Class." Her family is proud of the fact that it is "Western Educated," and English speaking. However, when compared to my father's family, my mother's relatives are on "Crude" side. My father's family had alot less money but somehow Grandfather found time to instil into his children the value of artistic beauty, gentle manners and decorum. Dad laments that I enjoy the chase for money far more than I appreciate having beautiful things around me - it's in his family to want to be surrounded by beauty and art.

Anyway, here it is. My grandmother who was always proud about being refined was left to asking me to help her empty her urine bucket, which she's needed ever since a stroke left her unable to get to the toilet on her own. 

There's something kind of cute about changing a Poopie nappy of a baby. Somehow, its easy to get gooey over something's inability to control its bowel movements. It's a different thing when its an adult who can't use the toilet on their own.

Age, I suppose is inevitable and we have to make the most of the fact that we all gte older. But let's spare a thought for those who are at times left to the mercy of others because age has reduced them and their abilities that they once took for granted.  

Booze Parties and signs of Age

I'm here at home on a plesantly cloudy Saturday watching a Bolywood Movie on TV. India, thanks to the IT Boys been transformed into a 'hot' investment destination but for me, I see India, when I'm feeling charitable,as a place of sleek and slender young women that you see on Bolywood movies. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the first woman I considered myself in love with was a Punjabi, Chinese mix but I've always found myself being drawn to Indian women long before I discovered the delights of the physical beauty of Chinese girls. - Never had the joy of going to bed with an Indian girl but I've always found them attractive.

Anyway, that could be me talking after the results of attending the Hennesey Party last night. Party was a blast. Free Flow of conagc cocktails and some hot looking chicks. Found the one from Paris very attractive - you know the saying of "Gentlemen prefer Blondes" somehow seemed quite true when she popped her pretty head round the table. Had very little to do with the fact that I had quite a bit to drink that evening.

But my booze content seems to be comming down. I think its a sign of age, whenthe body no longer seems so willing to tollerate the copious ammounts of alcohol that it once used to. Or could it be the sign that I'm picking up my own bills now and you tend to be more cautious about the cost of an evening out with the lads when it's at your own expense. Anyway, my drinking sessions have been cut down, my body feels the better for it and the poor little body and the pocket book.

 

Forget Iraq, What We Need Is a Panel on Bush: Margaret Carlson

By Margaret Carlson

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Waiting for Baker became the Washington game everyone wanted to play.

It allowed both parties to hit the pause button as they anticipated a report from the Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Representative Lee Hamilton. The report would give them all cover -- Republicans reluctant to jolt their president into action and Democrats afraid to risk any proposal that would leave an opening for Karl Rove to accuse them of cutting and running.

President George W. Bush didn't like playing the game, which only added to the sense that the panel could be important. Bush had nervously referred to the former secretary as ``Jimmy'' when he didn't forget him altogether and, before the report, labeled it as just one of many he would look at. Bush fought back as parts of the report leaked. He stepped up his insistence that there would be no early exit from Iraq, whether gradual or graceful, until the ``mission is complete.''

Bush could have saved his breath. The report actually extends the waiting game in his favor since there's no timetable for its recommendations, unlike commissions that propose legislation to Congress. There's a reason Bush was able to say upon receiving the report on Wednesday, ``We will take every proposal seriously.'' He can just continue on as if nothing had happened.

Familiar Ring

Bush isn't going to have to ignore the report. He can just agree with much of it. The panel leaves to the military commanders the decisions on how far and how fast to shift troops from fighting to training. Ever hear Bush say he leaves troop levels and deployments to ``generals on the ground''?

One goal of the panel is to hand over responsibility for security to Iraqis themselves as soon as possible. Ever hear Bush say ``We will stand down when the Iraqis stand up''?

The commission envisions at least 70,000 troops in Iraq for years to come. Looks like Bush was right when he said it would remain for future presidents to end America's presence in that country.

The report did employ some harsh language, describing the situation in Iraq as ``grave and deteriorating'' and questioning the strength of the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. But the president's own national security adviser has already done that, writing in a memo that leaked last week that the security of Baghdad is perilous and that the Iraqi prime minister is not up to the job.

The `Right Guy'

Bush rejected that assessment as he praised Maliki at meetings in Jordan as the absolute ``right guy'' to bring democracy to the Middle East, a day after Maliki canceled a meeting with him.

In a toothless section, the Iraq Study Group warns that Maliki needs to show progress on ``national reconciliation, security and governance'' . . . or face a reduction in ``political, military or economic support'' from Washington. Face that when? And who will be doing the reducing?

The report clears up one mystery -- why Bush would make such a fuss about dropping ``stay the course'' from his phrasebook, if not from his policy, a while ago. Master leaker Baker must have let slip to the White House months ago that his group would say that staying the course was no longer a viable option.

One recommendation may prove hard to get around for Bush. The report recommends a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors, outlaw states Bush has already said he won't reward by agreeing to any discussions. As the Daily Show's Jon Stewart put it, Bush wants to ``exhaust all violent options before resorting to diplomacy.''

`Rejectionist' Iranians

But that panel recommendation may end up giving Bush cover. In one of his many press conferences, Baker said he didn't believe Iran would accept an invitation to talk but that he put it out there so ``the world will see the rejectionist attitude.'' It's not Bush who's refusing to talk, it's those nuclear-obsessed Shiites in Tehran.

Making the Baker group a vessel for our hopes and dreams led us to lose sight of a few eternal truths. Commissions are filled with folks who have managed to chin-tug and brow-furrow themselves to blue-ribbon status and pride themselves on consensus. When this one decided to make the report unanimous and said there would be no ``look back'' to the past, they assured that they could engage the most difficult issue of our time without setting anyone off.

A D-Day Commission, Anyone?

Commissions are fine things to study Social Security and education. But imagine if Abraham Lincoln, instead of firing General George McClellan, had called for a commission to be formed to think on it, or if FDR had consulted the poobahs of his era to ponder D-Day. It is grating to learn that a commission in time of war found time to sit for a photo spread in Men's Vogue and hired its own expensive public relations firm.

The hype about the Iraq Study Group came partly from the notion that whenever anyone from the first Bush administration is called up to help in the second, we think Dad is sending cooler heads to shake some sense into the kid. This is nonsense. Robert Gates made headlines this week from his confirmation hearings by saying we're not winning in Iraq. But later he said we aren't losing either.

Baker and Gates aren't coming to throw Junior off the farm. They're coming to help him plow the back 40. How could we imagine otherwise?

What we really need is the Bush Commission. All we get from the president is platitudes about winning and how much the Iraqis long for liberty and democracy. Nowhere does he tether himself to earth and say what should happen. That would be one commission report worth waiting for.

(Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

Some Relief

Managed to breath a sigh of relief today. Collected the first 3/4 of the payment for the Polaris job and that should be enough to pay down a couple of bills and allows me to breath a sigh of relief. Almost had nightmares that I was going to be running on a total shoe string at this time of the year, which is notorious for making people spend money that they don't actually have.

Anyway, thank goodness for that. Also got a chance to touch base with Supriyo, who has said that we have to catch up for coffee. He's a sweet man and I think I need to manage this one well. Won't get rich off them but hopefully this will be regular enough to keep body and soul together. I enjoy working with Polaris, the press that they aim for is niche market, and international. Somehow they welcome being interviewed by the International Financial Press unlike quite a few people that I can think of.

Will be meeting with Clement on Friday to interview HE Kurdi. This is an interview about Saudi Arabia's efforts to develop tourism and should be quite interesting. It's also good to touch base with HE and the embassy staff. You never know what people will do for you when you make the effort to keep in touch with them - especially when you have no financial interes in doing so. PN was the one who said that one should always help the press work a good story up even when one does not have commercial interest. PR agents, it seems are a little like insurance agents - your best friend whenever they need you but useless otherwise. Well, I'll try to be different, God Willing.

Alcon should be passing a bit more dosh my way next week. Radio were very supportive of the clinic and I think good things may come out of this clinic. A part of me feels that fate aways rewards good businesses. A clinic meant to heal people deserves to be well supported. An MBA programme from a dubious institution does not deserve to be supported by any organisation worth its salt - will always remember working for Chartwell Business School - also known as the School of Crap & Crap - run by Dr (He is?) S. Thevasi and Ganesh. To be fair to ST, he liked Gina and offered he a raise to come back (which she promtly shoved back in his face after a month) I think the experience for working with this guy was the fact he opened my eyes to a world of dubious people.  

Speaking of dubious people, it looks like Roger Hamilton may have come up with a settlement plan for some of his disgruntled shareholders. Alas, alack, it looks like a good many may give up the fight and not want to see his shaddy arse in jail. Roger, to be fair to him, is very clever but he is, at the end of the day just another white boy cashing in on the inability of Asians to see beyond white skin and fancy degrees.

Dad and King's birthday

King of Thailand is having his birthday celebration today and so my Dad does not have to work on his birthday. Called him to wish him Happy Birthday and though, unlike my mother, he claims not to be into the "Birthday" thing, I think he was reasonably happy to hear from me. Next year, however, things could be rather different. The man turns 60 and will be caught in the dilema of deciding if he wants people to make a big deal out of the fact that he's hit the BIG SIX-O or in hidding the fact that he has not desire to announce the fact that he's now part of the "Senior Citizens" group and can legally get discounts of the public transport (something which he's never taken in his recent life.)

Today has been fairly quiet - raining outside. Managed to make a few phone calls, stich a few things together but for now I remain unable to collect cheques, which is a big worry because money makes the world go round and when you don't have the necessary grease to move, its hard to do anything. Still, I have faith that things will turn out for the better, somehow or another.

Went out with Bijay last night. Was annoyed at first because my plans to watch "Lord of the Rings - Return of the Kings" was disrupted but since I hadn't seen the bugger in ages, I thought what the heck. In spite of initial reservations, I  had a good time at Taal and the evening may yet turn out to be productive for me in the long run. Actually met the business development director at Stanford Press and managed to touch the surface of what could be an interesting friendship.  Taal actually had a dancer who could  persuade me to move to Mumbai (Bombay) - she was slim (most of them have a little love handles) and very charming. Ashiwarya Rai she was not but good enough to feast the eyes for a good boys night out.

Instant Gratification

I'm feeling tiered. Stayed up late doing some writing and in between the sleepy mode, my thoughts are heading back to a topic that I posted in this blog from George Soros. The question is, are we a "Feel Good" society that depends on instant gratification to such an extent that we forget some of the more important things in life?

I for one, do believe that I'd rather be a "Feel Good" person than a "Feel Rotten" person. Going through shit is an experience that's no fun except after you've gone through it and you can brag about it to your friends. I think most of us aknowledge that going through crap makes us stronger for it but at the same time, we try to make sure that our loved ones never go through the experience of poverty and depravation. I take my own Dad as an example. He grew up in a poor family and talked about it as if it was something that made him a better person. However, he made darn sure that neither Max or I had to go hungry (say I who is 90 plus KG).

What I do feel is this, the "Feel Good" factor in life is being solved by the need for "Instant Fixes" and that is something that is a little worrying. It's like, wanting a cafine fix but being too lazy to make a good cup of coffee, we live on three-in-one mixes. I have nothing against three-in-one mixes as a drink but these mixes cannot count as serious coffee.

Instant coffee may sound like a minor thing to quibble over but when the desire for all things instant comes to the realm of God and Money, thing s become worrying.

Take a look at Fundimentalist religion. You have Pastors and other forms of Charlatans preaching "Instant Answers" to life's problems and a flock of supposedly intelligent and educated people following them like sheep to the slaughter. Whenever I think of Fundimentalist religion, I think of Elim Church (Gina's Church), lead by the Pastor Fred. Fred, an American in his 70s preached a form of Christianity that I barely recognised in spite of having taken Christian Theology for A-levels and trying to get into Oxbridge to study it.

In the services that I attended, there was very little call to think about passages from the Bible. It was a case of - here is the passage, this is what it means and after you babble in tounges, all your worries will go away. Fred had a one line answer to solve everything - Get Your Life Sorted with Jesus. This was the answer he gave to me when Gina brought him into the picture to try to turn our non-existent marriage into some miracle of happy, happy choy choy. I'm sure this is the answer he gave to his entire flock whenever they approached him. - What he conveniently left out after his "Get Your Life Sorted with Jesus" speech and "Come give me a hug," after he had babbled in tounges was the fact that you had the option of paying

• $100,000
• $10,000
• $1,000

towards his wife's car (to do God's work ofcourse) and to ensure that his Church, located on a nice piece of real-estate could have more lifts.

Of course when it came to offering money and effort to REAL charity like towards the victims of the Tsunami in Ache - his followers like my beloved ex-wife proudly announced that he and his fellow church leaders had visions of how the Almighty had decided to send the Tsunami because the people of Indonesia and Thailand sined and sined and would not let him to talk to them and even though Jesus wept and pleaded with the Father, the Father believed it was necessary.

I think Gina was desparate to get back together after I took out the Personal Protection Order against her and listened to this Charlatan. Fred offered an Instant Fix to her for our failed marriage and she feel hook line and sinker for his scam. Whatever she saw in his message, I plainly failed to see - The Christ I had read about was not into mass murder and did not need agents on earth to collect a portion of my hard earned money to build bigger and better buildings for themselves. Anyone who's seen Mel Gibson's "Passion of Christ," realises that Christ is a God who has suffered as any human and he lives through the disabled, wounded, poor and diseased. Spiritual enlightenment takes time - not instant fixes offered by someone who needs three halls in Suntec to be filled up.

Then there's "Instant Wealth." OK, I don't believe you necessarily need to work your guts out into your seventies to accumiliate wealth. The Dot Com billionaires had a good idea and caught the market trends at the right time. But by and large, wealth comes to those who are willing to go on the long path.

One person who I've encountered who lives off this desire for "Instant Wealth" is Roger Hamilton. I once went to his "Breakfast Meetings." The man spoke well but somehow I felt there was something suspicious about what he was offering - "Join me for USD5000 and I'll hook you up to my network of multi-billionaires." Once again, if Mr Hamilton claimed to know so many rich and influential people, he clearly wouldn't be selling his access to them!

To be fair to Mr Hamilton, he is probably going to be a gazillionaire before his 40th birthday. People seem to be believe his scam, though I recently encountered a group of agrieved life memebers. Mr Hamilton sells "Make Believe" wealth secrets and the sooner people see that the better we shall all be.

Instant Gratification

I'm feeling tiered. Stayed up late doing some writing and in between the sleepy mode, my thoughts are heading back to a topic that I posted in this blog from George Soros. The question is, are we a "Feel Good" society that depends on instant gratification to such an extent that we forget some of the more important things in life?

I for one, do believe that I'd rather be a "Feel Good" person than a "Feel Rotten" person. Going through shit is an experience that's no fun except after you've gone through it and you can brag about it to your friends. I think most of us aknowledge that going through crap makes us stronger for it but at the same time, we try to make sure that our loved ones never go through the experience of poverty and depravation. I take my own Dad as an example. He grew up in a poor family and talked about it as if it was something that made him a better person. However, he made darn sure that neither Max or I had to go hungry (say I who is 90 plus KG).

What I do feel is this, the "Feel Good" factor in life is being solved by the need for "Instant Fixes" and that is something that is a little worrying. It's like, wanting a cafine fix but being too lazy to make a good cup of coffee, we live on three-in-one mixes. I have nothing against three-in-one mixes as a drink but these mixes cannot count as serious coffee.

Instant coffee may sound like a minor thing to quibble over but when the desire for all things instant comes to the realm of God and Money, thing s become worrying.

Take a look at Fundimentalist religion. You have Pastors and other forms of Charlatans preaching "Instant Answers" to life's problems and a flock of supposedly intelligent and educated people following them like sheep to the slaughter. Whenever I think of Fundimentalist religion, I think of Elim Church (Gina's Church), lead by the Pastor Fred. Fred, an American in his 70s preached a form of Christianity that I barely recognised in spite of having taken Christian Theology for A-levels and trying to get into Oxbridge to study it.

In the services that I attended, there was very little call to think about passages from the Bible. It was a case of - here is the passage, this is what it means and after you babble in tounges, all your worries will go away. Fred had a one line answer to solve everything - Get Your Life Sorted with Jesus. This was the answer he gave to me when Gina brought him into the picture to try to turn our non-existent marriage into some miracle of happy, happy choy choy. I'm sure this is the answer he gave to his entire flock whenever they approached him. - What he conveniently left out after his "Get Your Life Sorted with Jesus" speech and "Come give me a hug," after he had babbled in tounges was the fact that you had the option of paying

• $100,000
• $10,000
• $1,000

towards his wife's car (to do God's work ofcourse) and to ensure that his Church, located on a nice piece of real-estate could have more lifts.

Of course when it came to offering money and effort to REAL charity like towards the victims of the Tsunami in Ache - his followers like my beloved ex-wife proudly announced that he and his fellow church leaders had visions of how the Almighty had decided to send the Tsunami because the people of Indonesia and Thailand sined and sined and would not let him to talk to them and even though Jesus wept and pleaded with the Father, the Father believed it was necessary.

I think Gina was desparate to get back together after I took out the Personal Protection Order against her and listened to this Charlatan. Fred offered an Instant Fix to her for our failed marriage and she feel hook line and sinker for his scam. Whatever she saw in his message, I plainly failed to see - The Christ I had read about was not into mass murder and did not need agents on earth to collect a portion of my hard earned money to build bigger and better buildings for themselves. Anyone who's seen Mel Gibson's "Passion of Christ," realises that Christ is a God who has suffered as any human and he lives through the disabled, wounded, poor and diseased. Spiritual enlightenment takes time - not instant fixes offered by someone who needs three halls in Suntec to be filled up.

Then there's "Instant Wealth." OK, I don't believe you necessarily need to work your guts out into your seventies to accumiliate wealth. The Dot Com billionaires had a good idea and caught the market trends at the right time. But by and large, wealth comes to those who are willing to go on the long path.

One person who I've encountered who lives off this desire for "Instant Wealth" is Roger Hamilton. I once went to his "Breakfast Meetings." The man spoke well but somehow I felt there was something suspicious about what he was offering - "Join me for USD5000 and I'll hook you up to my network of multi-billionaires." Once again, if Mr Hamilton claimed to know so many rich and influential people, he clearly wouldn't be selling his access to them!

To be fair to Mr Hamilton, he is probably going to be a gazillionaire before his 40th birthday. People seem to be believe his scam, though I recently encountered a group of agrieved life memebers. Mr Hamilton sells "Make Believe" wealth secrets and the sooner people see that the better we shall all be.

The Difference between A & O

A few weeks ago I ran into an old colleague called Nicole. Nicole and I had an interesting friendship which bordered on the verge of something else but we never got round to doing anything about it. I was still Gina's boyfriend at the time but I enjoyed being with Nicole and somehow we could not keep our hands off each other in the office. Everything bordered in the land of the almighty tease - she would somehow brush herself against me and stroke the back of her foot against me whenever she got the chance to do it. I would subtly hold her hand when nobody was looking. Gina, with her ever suspicious mind, loathed Nicole at first sight and eventually Nicole slipped out of my life and I was left wondering what could have been.

Anyway, she knew about Han Li and I knew she had a boyfriend, who incidentally is a married man. We had tried to meet again but didn't quite make it. I made it clear that I was not interested in meeting her other half and would not inflict mine on her. Somehow the meeting never came up.

Last Friday, we met again. She brought the other half to an official function that I was working on with Allan. The funny thing is, I actually like her other half, I actually think he's too good for her. The girl is a crazy-wanna be Sarong Party Girl. He, on the other hand is a decent man with a steady job of being the Head of Department at a school.

As ironies would have it, there are quite a few similarities between us. He did his National Service in Kranji Camp, a place where I once did a portion of my national service. Like me, he finds his best friends from his army days. We have the same taste in cigars and whiskey (he likes McCallans 12-year old) and we are both Cantonese. His surname is Tong while mine is Tang and to top it all off, he teaches at a school that is not only near Gina's but one where she taught at and I know some of the staff.

Life is indeed funny. For now, it looks like I've lost a potential shag partner in Nicole but I think I've made a new friend in Jimmy. Funny how life turns out and how the people provide you with the experiences that you never thought you would expect....  

The Asian Games and Things to come

I'm up late as usual and it's the Asian Games on telly. As expected, the dual for the medals is between the Asian Giant of today (Japan) and the Asian Giant of tomorrow (China). The Asian Games, like the Olympic Games has a pecking order and that reflects geopolitical realities.

If the Asian Games are anything to go by, China, beating the Japanese in the Asian Games is a sign that the world order of tomorrow is now here. China is the top-dog in the region and I'm actually quite greatful for this.

It's not that I'm anti-Japanese or anti-Western or particularly pro-China in my outlook of the world. I'm probably alot more Western in my outlook than most Westerners. The Chinese economic boom could be the world's biggest bubble and China is going to be gobbling up natural resources like no one's business leading to massive environmental problems. Then there's the issue of Tibet, the eternal land of destroyed hopes - think of my friend Tenzin Tsundue, who recently achieved fame for being banned from New Delhi during President Hu Jintao's visit to India.

But I look forward to China taking over as the world's largest economy. Most of the people on this planet live here and having more and more people being able to feed themselves and do so in style has to be something that's positive for the world.

Why should we accept that the USA and the West remain dominant in perpetuity? I'm not saying that the West should be obliterated, but I think Asia has reached a level of maturity where we should be able to set our own trends and develop our societies in our way, without looking to the West as a standard bearer. Since the Chinese are the only people who are capable of producing atheletes that win on the world stage, I think their accendency will show the rest of the continent that Asians are as good as the rest of the world.

 

A normal day

Managed to get by today with not too much hassle. Went through a bit of a wild goose chase to get the Marina Mandarin to unblock my funds in the morning and then just potted about until the evening when I went to the stakeholders event at the Eagle Eye Centre. Another typical day in my life in December of 2006.

Things were positive. Nobody told me to fly a kite, which is, I suppose a positive sign that I may be doing something right or the clowns around me have not noticed if I have done anything wrong. I'm reminded of the old British Series, Yes Minister when Bernard told Humphrey, "You can be open or you can have government. If people don't know a thing, they won't know what you're doing wrong." That kind of applies to life at the moment.

Not too bad a day. Lived off finger food and wine before proceeding to Harry's in Esplenade to join the guys at Alcon for their Christmas party. Alcon seem quite happy with the job that's been done for them - that does not surprise me, they're barely in the public eye and every scap of news you get them so every thing you do is, "More than they've ever had." Still I think this is a good start and I told the GM that we'll be there to help him achieve his billion dollar sales targets. Inshallah, this will lead to a good and lasting relationship with them.

OK, I'm actually sleepy so I better work on the sleep.

 

It's now December - Don't know if I've had enough!

It's been a pretty good deal for making deals over the phone but the highlight of the day was recieving a note from the PM, BG Lee Hsien Loong about my article in Arab News. It seems he was quite happy to have a Singaporean writing for the Saudi Media and I hope that getting into his good copy blot book will somehow be good for me.

Got to collect money next week. November has been pretty good for the earnings but a pain in the but collecting the cash. Somehow people are very keen to talk to you when it comes to doing things but your face turns the colour of cow dung gone wrong when it comes to paying you. Perhaps I really should learn to be like Simon the debt collector and look ......grumpy when it comes to getting what is mine.

Anyway, its not been bad on the deal making front. Looks like Allan and I may be able to get ourselves a Christmas bonus out of the booze boys at Maxxium. Channel NewsAsia Money Mind is interested in a booze business story and is willing to give 10 mins of air-time on Christmas Eve. It's not everyday where you get that type of publicity ;-)

Also am working on a deal to help my friends on the down low, swing low section of the social ladder (God, I sound like a patronising beeeeeeep)! I'm now trying to set Zen, the world's fatest and chubbiest (you can tell I have soft spot for the telly tubbies can't you) working girl with Anil, a 22-year old Nepaleese friend of Bijay the Naan Maker. One would like to get his PR, the other would like to build up her cash position and hopefully move onto a less demanding and more regular income profession. Both are reasonablly sweet natured and have a common goal. Anyway, Anil has his diploma, which should stand him in good stead for something or other.  

Anyway, I guess I have to do the work. The money will come in later and that should sustain me through the early part of next year, when there's not actually all that much to do and I end up having to give out some Chinese New Year Ang Pao's, though I suspect that I'll be spared having to be nice to my mother's side since we're all supposed to be in mourning for my grandmother.

Anyway, it's late and so it shall be adiue, adiue, remember me and so until the next time, take care of yourselves and each other!!!!!!!!!

A Response to an article in Arab News

Date:  Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:45:08 +0800 [Wed, 29 Nov 06 22:45:08 SGT]

 From:  Hsien Loong LEE <LeeHsienLoong@pmo.gov.sg> 

 To:  Tang Li <li@tang-asia.com>

Subject:  Fw: Article by a Singaporean in the Saudi Media

 Dear Tang Li

Thank you for your article. I am happy that you are pursuing opportunities
in Saudi Arabia, and promoting Singapore's relations with the country.  I
had a good visit to Saudi Arabia. Can I ask what you are doing in Saudi
Arabia? How long have you lived there?

Lee Hsien Loong

Saudi-Singapore Relations: More Needs to Be Done in Cultural Sphere

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=89261&d=28&m=11&y=2006

Tang Li, li@tang-asia.com

A good start, but more must be done Singaporeans have been benefiting from a growing and improving business relationship with Saudi Arabia. Ever since Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Saudi Arabia in February 2005, the city state’s government and business community have been on an “all-out” push to bring Saudi-Singapore ties to a level where Singapore’s business community can operate and compete with others in the Kingdome’s growing market. Recent months have seen Singapore’s leaders visit the Middle East to build ties with the region. First there was President SR Nathan’s trip to Egypt and Jordan. At the same time, Singapore’s minister mentor visited Kuwait and the UAE and now, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visits Saudi Arabia and the GCC region to sign a flurry of treaties. The desire to improve ties has been mutual. Saudi Arabia views Singapore as an important link in its efforts to build its relationship with Asia. This year, Saudi-Singapore relations were marked by Crown Prince Sultan’s visit to Singapore, a first by a senior member of the Saudi royal family. SAGIA also set up its first overseas office in Singapore and Saudi-Singapore business and political ties seem to be on the fast track to a better place. With everything looking so rosy on both sides, is there anything else that can be done to improve things? There are a couple of issues that the Kingdome and Singapore need to deal with in order to take relations to a higher level than they already are. One issue that both nations need to resolve is the area of visas. Saudi citizens are required to apply for visas to enter Singapore. Although Singapore’s small Saudi community has been relatively quiet on the issue, Saudi business people who operate from Singapore like Mansour Al Khazal, managing director of KMC International Pte Ltd have expressed disappointment at the inconvenience caused by the visa restrictions. The visa issue has been something that Saudi Ambassador Dr. Mohammed Amin Kurdi has been working to persuade the Singapore government to reverse its position on. Another area in which Saudi-Singapore relations need to develop in is in the cultural ties or people-to-people ties. The Saudi community in Singapore has been busy working to introduce Singaporeans to Saudi culture. Ambassador Dr. Kurdi has led the efforts to build better cultural ties by inviting members of various NGOs, like charity Pertapis to events like Saudi Arabia’s National Day Celebrations and Saudi Aramco, led by former Regional Vice President Ali Bakhsh has organized a yearly cultural events to bring Saudi culture closer to Singaporeans. Progress has been slow but steady. For many Singaporeans, the Middle East remains something of a mystery. Dubai remains the best-known destination in the region and other parts of the Middle East need to work harder to develop brand recognition amongst the Singaporean public. However, Singaporeans are displaying interest in wanting to know more about Saudi Arabia. Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew recently urged his countrymen to learn Arabic to take advantage of the opportunities in the Arabian Gulf. In September, Dr. Balaji Sadisivan, Singapore’s senior minister of state for the Ministry of Communication, Youth and Sport, who was guest of honor at Saudi Aramco function remarked: “Singapore is keen to do business with Saudi Arabia so Singaporeans need to get to know Saudi Arabia’s rich culture. I used to think Saudi costumes were white but I’ve been introduced to Saudi costumes that are rich in color. When you discover the culture, you discover things you never realized about the people and you make new friends.” Dr. Balaji’s comments have been echoed by ordinary Singaporeans who visited Saudi Aramco’s cultural event. Many expressed interest in Saudi dates and one Singaporean ended up going home wearing a thobe. Singapore, a nation of migrants has been at a crossroad for civilizations to meet. Saudis in Singapore have found Singapore to be welcoming. Singaporeans have shown a hunger to learn more about Saudi Arabia. So, while political ties between the two nations seem rosy and business ties are improving, it is perhaps time for Saudi Arabia and Singapore to double up in their efforts to introduce their culture to each other’s people.

Maybe Bush's People Will Follow the Law Now: Margaret Carlson

By Margaret Carlson

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Political analysts are still poring over exit polls trying to glean reasons why Democrats won the Congress in the midterm elections.

It was the war in Iraq, of course, but also a pile of other issues -- voter disgust with lobbyist Jack Abramoff for taking elected officials off to golf, and elected officials taking themselves off to Terri Schiavo's bedside at the expense of the country's business. It was also images of Katrina's destruction, the anger of those left out of the Bush boom, and a desperate president asserting that to vote Democratic would mean America lost and the terrorists won.

It's all of the above and one other issue bubbling under the surface: the president who ruled as if he had won in a landslide making appointments as partisan as possible.

No appointment was so unreasonable that the Republican- controlled Congress wouldn't rubber-stamp it. Often, President George W. Bush chose a nominee whose views were at war with the agency he was being assigned to head.

I'm thinking of the Exxon Mobil Corp. lobbyist chosen as chief of staff on the Council on Environmental Quality who blacked out of official documents the scientific findings on global warming that he didn't like. Or the mining industry executive chosen to oversee the safety of those who descend into ever-more-perilous mines each day. The Bush administration filled the Energy Department with oil producers and the Agriculture Department with corporate farmers and meat processors.

Family Planning

Nowhere was this more apparent than in matters having to do with family planning. Most of the money the Bush administration controls for reproductive health, HIV testing, sexually transmitted diseases and the like has gone to abstinence-only programs whose efficacy and scientific foundation are under question by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.

Commissions and study groups having anything to do with sex -- from teenagers having it to the spread of AIDS -- are stacked with zealots whose views comport with those of the evangelical Christians in Bush's base.

Bush compromised the Food and Drug Administration by appointing Lester Crawford deputy commissioner in 2002 and commissioner in 2005. Crawford, a veterinarian and ardent opponent of the morning-after birth-control pill, was immediately at loggerheads with the agency's scientists, all of whom agreed with the best medical research that the pill was safe and should be available to the public.

As Bush wished, Crawford stood in the way of those findings and kept the pill from going to market. He suddenly resigned in September 2005 just before the Justice Department charged him with lying, filing false financial-disclosure forms and owning stock in companies regulated by the FDA.

Mission at Odds

Now Bush has appointed Eric Keroack as a deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services where he will run the Office of Population Affairs with a budget of almost $300 million. Among other things, the office is charged with providing ``access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons.''

Keroack's prior mission is completely at odds with his new one. According to Congressional Democrats opposed to his Nov. 17 appointment, he refused to dispense contraceptives even to married women while he was the medical director for the last decade of an organization called A Woman's Concern. This nonprofit network of clinics in Massachusetts preaches abstinence because ``birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness,'' according to the group's literature.

Losing at Love

In his writings, Keroack maintains that having more than one partner affects that part of the brain that helps us form loving relationships.

``Scientific evidence has shown that individuals who participate in relationships which end in failure actually experience a chemical change in the brain which makes it more likely for them to engage in more failed relationships in the future,'' Keroack said at the 2006 Abstinence Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Don't despair, however. There's hope in abstinence. ``Secondary virginity can heal their brains.''

In addition to Keroack, Bush has revisited some of his more dubious personnel choices since the election. He has renominated six judges previously blocked by Congress and asked for the confirmation of United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, whose claim on the job was that he objects to the organization's existence.

Keroack Letter

In contrast to those appointments, Keroack's doesn't require Senate confirmation. Still, with Democrats now in charge, he may not be able to undermine the program with impunity. Seven House Democrats and 14 senators have written a letter to the head of HHS asking that his appointment be withdrawn because of his views, which are antithetical to the legislation establishing the agency.

At his press conference the morning after the election, Bush opened with ``Why so glum?'' -- as if to say nothing had changed for him. So what if Dennis Hastert and his congressional majority were gone? He was still president. Even without a Republican Congress to look the other way, he will see how long he can ignore laws he doesn't like and appoint officials to agencies he wishes would go away.

Among those signing the Keroack letter asking that the appointment be rescinded are leaders of House and Senate committees with oversight of HHS's mission and budget. They can't scuttle Keroack's appointment and they can't fire him. But they can make him follow the law. That may sound like a given, though it wasn't when Republicans were in charge. That was one of the best reasons for voting them out.

(Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

Fights

Just fought with Han Li. Sounds like an auspicious start to my birthday. I'm not feeling exactly cheerful about it but I think its healthy that I fight with her and lose my temper with her from time to time in this relationship.

I just was expecting a little bit of time with her and didn't want to entertain her friend as well. I mean, shit, did I feel angry and I think I've expressed it. I feel strange to have actually stormed out of my meeting with her today. Who knows, I may have given myself a worthwhile birthday present.

Age

I am officially 32 today and starting to get closser to the fact that in not so many years I'll be hitting the big 40.

Have recieved some early birthday greetings, which has been very touching and also recieved greetings from my sister via sms from Poland and one from Jocelyn, a lovely young lady who is in the running to be one of my favourite PR consultants, even if she's never gotten round to pitching me a story. Goes to show personality can get you everywhere.

How does it feel like to be 32? I'm trying not to answer the question and am treating the day as if it were any normal working day. Have to collect my cheque from Polaris, write more articles, interview people and fix a date to go and meet with Aramco and hopefully collect a cheque from them too. Later today, I'll be spending a bit of time with the pinchy half - Han Li has gone on an over drive to make sure my right hand is marked by her teeth and nails - welcome to the world of domestic love! - Some people have remarked that she enjoys inflcting pain while I enjoy having it inflicted. Another group think that this is a sign that she loves me in a very obsessive way. I sometimes think the answer is less complicated - I'm simply getting tubby in my old age and taste like suckling pig or considering my lack of follicles - Monkey Brains - a good old fashioned Chinese dish!

I am of course greatful that even though I've reached the grand age of 32, my parents have not bugged me to settle down - hint, hint - all my friends are Grandparents etc etc. It's a blessing. Dad's version of events is that I'm not allowed to give him grandchildren in his lifetime - though someone did remark that after he faints when a little tyke calls him Yeh Yeh (Cantonese for Father's Father) he'll get up and hug it. Mum has decided that the economics of bringing in children into this world is not worth the effort.  (I've avoided revealing to them that Thui sometimes called me Papa - though she stuck with Susu most of the time)

In terms of my career, I remain as established as the feathers of Paris Hilton's pom poms. Not crying over it but managing to get on with life. Perhaps I should have cried myself to sleep about my inability to get something decent moving but then as PN used to say - "Remain an income man, you'll never be able to explain why you haven't had a full time job." Anyway, I've been pretty lousy in the crying department - which probaly explains why I don't do much sleeping.

Thanks Giving

It's Thanksgiving in the USA today, a time when the people who would become Americans were at peace with the Red Indians. Although history would turn out to be very bloody and quite different from the night that the Pilgrim Fathers had dinner with the Natives, they had a moment where people reached across the racial, religious devide and actually shared a meal together.

With the exception of the turkeys that were eaten, I think Thanksgiving should always be remembered. Not only did people become friends, if only for a few moments in a history of over two centuries, people did something very unusual - they shared a meal with strangers.

Perhaps you might think I'm getting weepy in my old age but here is the fact - people reached accross the colour and relgion barrier by doing something that all people like and need to do - they eat. People as Lee once said, "Are more similar than disimilar." We all need to eat, sleep and shit. We all end up paying taxes and eventually we'll all die. However, since we have nothing better to do, we'll do everything we can to emphaises our differences with others.

We are uncannily similar and yet we don't want to concentrate on our similarities and come together. Human nature it seems, is depressingly prone to selfishness and violence. We are bombarded with daily messages of how we can be bigger, stronger and wealtheir than the next man.

But somehow on thanksgiving, you found two groups of people deciding that instead of hacking each other to bits to become bigger, stronger and wealtheir - they ended up sharing a meal together. It may not be much but given mankind's inability to get along, we should be thankful for the few moments when peace and common sense prevails.

Another One from George

Saw another article from George Soros. Think he raises valid points about consumerism and the desire to 'feel good' without confronting reality. Alot of what he says about the USA is applicable to Singapore and the UK and other similar socieities.

Are We A Feel-Good Society?

Although it predates 9/11, America’s turning into a feel-good
society is a relatively recent development. The epithet definitely does
not apply to the society that emerged from the Second World War. Harry
Truman was not a feel-good president. He called it as he saw it, and he
was considered typical of the small-town citizens who constituted the
backbone of America. The Marshall Plan was an act of far-sighted
statesmanship. It would have been more appropriate to describe America
as a can-do society.

Somewhere between then and now a transformation took place. Ronald
Reagan was definitely a feel-good president—and he has since been
elevated to the ranks of the saints.

His funeral was nothing short of canonization. What happened between
1950 and 1980? I am not very good at this kind of analysis, but I would
attribute the transformation mainly to the rise of consumerism and the
application of consumerism to politics. Since 1980, the unwillingness
to face reality has been exacerbated by globalization. A global economy
based on the principles of market fundamentalism is full of
uncertainties from which many people are eager to escape.* Religious
fundamentalism has also played an increasingly important role, although
I am ill-qualified to analyze it. Fundamentalist religion seems to
avoid the soul-searching that has characterized Christian religions
since the time of Jesus and appears to do everything to reward the
faithful by making them feel good.

How did consumerism come to dominate the economy?

In the classical definition of economics formulated by my professor,
Lionel Robbins, at the London School of Economics, economics was
concerned with the allocation of scarce resources among unlimited
needs.† The market dealt in commodities, the shape of the supply and
demand curves was fixed and economic theory was concerned only with
determining prices. Needless to say, the equilibrium price attained in
a perfect market, where an infinite number of buyers and callers were
competing with each other, assured the optimum allocation of resources.
This remains the credo of market fundamentalists to this day.

But perfect competition does not favor profits. It provides adequate
compensation for the use of capital but nothing more. Entrepreneurs are
motivated by profits. They have been busy inventing ever more
sophisticated ways of generating profits. Inventions have, of course,
been the driving force of economic progress. But in addition to product
innovation, entrepreneurs have found other ways of enhancing their
profits: differentiating their products from others, establishing
monopolies, advertising, marketing. These activities destroyed the
pristine purity of perfect competition. Supply and demand were no
longer independently given because demand was artificially stimulated
and markets no longer dealt in commodities but in brands. This tendency
progressed inexorably because it was driven by the quest for profits.
Firms no longer catered to needs but to desires and they manipulated
and stimulated those desires. They employed ever more sophisticated
methods of market research and motivational research. And the target of
these methods, the consumer, did not remain unaffected. It responded to
stimulation. That is how consumerism developed. It was fostered by
corporations in their search for profits.**

Gradually, the methods developed for commercial purposes found a
market in politics. This changed the character of politics. The
original idea of elections was that candidates would come forward and
announce what they stood for; the electorate would then decide whom
they liked best. The supply of candidates and the preferences of the
electorate were supposed to be independently given, just as in the
theory of perfect competition. But the process was corrupted by the
methods adopted from commercial life: focus groups and framing the
messages. Politicians learned to cater to the desires of the electorate
instead of propounding policies they believed in. The electorate did
not remain unaffected. They chose the candidate who told them what they
wanted to hear, but at the same time they could not avoid noticing that
they were being manipulated; they were not surprised when their elected
leaders deceived them. But there was no escape. The increasing
sophistication of communication methods was built into the system. That
is how America became a feel-good society. It was fostered by
politicians seeking to be elected.

Americans have plenty to feel good about. Democratic capitalism as
practiced in the United States has been highly successful. Consumerism
bolstered demand and the Great Depression has become a distant memory.
Prosperity has bolstered consumerism, setting in motion a benign circle.

The United States emerged from the Second World War as the dominant
military and economic power. That power was challenged by the Soviet
Union, but eventually the West won the Cold War. When the Soviet system
collapsed, the United States became the sole superpower. The United
States was also the main sponsor of globalization which, in turn, has
been a boon to the United States. But the dominant position of the
United States cannot be long maintained by a feel-good society that is
unwilling to confront unpleasant realities.

By George Soros

Found this article by George Soros on his website. Mr Soros (Who is Jewish) is probably one of the greatest human beings that we've seen in this half of the twentieth century. An individual who showed up a few incompetents in government and a man who has had the imagination to make something of philanthropy. Long may he live to inject some common sense in these times of blind "Gung Ho" incompetence from the cabal running the most powerful nation on earth.

Blinded by a concept

By George Soros | August 31, 2006

Originally published in the Boston Globe

THE FAILURE OF Israel to subdue Hezbollah demonstrates the many weaknesses of
the war-on-terror concept. One of those weaknesses is that even if the targets
are terrorists, the victims are often innocent civilians, and their suffering
reinforces the terrorist cause.

In response to Hezbollah's attacks, Israel was justified in attacking
Hezbollah to protect itself against the threat of missiles on its border.
However, Israel should have taken greater care to minimize collateral damage.
The civilian casualties and material damage inflicted on Lebanon inflamed
Muslims and world opinion against Israel and converted Hezbollah from aggressors
to heroes of resistance for many. Weakening Lebanon has also made it more
difficult to rein in Hezbollah.

Another weakness of the war-on-terror concept is that it relies on military
action and rules out political approaches. Israel previously withdrew from
Lebanon and then from Gaza unilaterally, rather than negotiating political
settlements with the Lebanese government and the Palestinian authority. The
strengthening of Hezbollah and Hamas was a direct consequence of that approach.
The war-on-terror concept stands in the way of recognizing this fact because it
separates "us" from "them" and denies that our actions help shape their
behavior.

A third weakness is that the war-on-terror concept lumps together different
political movements that use terrorist tactics. It fails to distinguish among
Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, or the Sunni insurrection and the Mahdi militia in
Iraq. Yet all these terrorist manifestations, being different, require different
responses. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah can be treated merely as targets in the
war on terror because both have deep roots in their societies; yet there are
profound differences between them.

Looking back, it is easy to see where Israeli policy went wrong. When Mahmoud
Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority, Israel should have
gone out of its way to strengthen him and his reformist team. When Israel
withdrew from Gaza, the former head of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn,
negotiated a six-point plan on behalf of the Quartet for the Middle East
(Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations). It
included opening crossings between Gaza and the West Bank, allowing an airport
and seaport in Gaza, opening the border with Egypt; and transferring the
greenhouses abandoned by Israeli settlers into Arab hands. None of the six
points was implemented. This contributed to Hamas's electoral victory. The Bush
administration, having pushed Israel to allow the Palestinians to hold
elections, then backed Israel's refusal to deal with a Hamas government. The
effect was to impose further hardship on the Palestinians.

Nevertheless, Abbas was able to forge an agreement with the political arm of
Hamas for the formation of a unity government. It was to foil this agreement
that the military branch of Hamas, run from Damascus, engaged in the provocation
that brought a heavy-handed response from Israel -- which in turn incited
Hezbollah to further provocation, opening a second front.

That is how extremists play off against each other to destroy any chance of
political progress.

Israel has been a participant in this game, and President Bush bought into
this flawed policy, uncritically supporting Israel. Events have shown that this
policy leads to the escalation of violence. The process has advanced to the
point where Israel's unquestioned military superiority is no longer sufficient
to overcome the negative consequences of its policy. Israel is now more
endangered in its existence than it was at the time of the Oslo Agreement on
peace.

Similarly, the United States has become less safe since Bush declared war on
terror.

The time has come to realize that the present policies are counterproductive.
There will be no end to the vicious circle of escalating violence without a
political settlement of the Palestine question. In fact, the prospects for
engaging in negotiations are better now than they were a few months ago. The
Israelis must realize that a military deterrent is not sufficient on its own.
And Arabs, having redeemed themselves on the battlefield, may be more willing to
entertain a compromise.

There are strong voices arguing that Israel must never negotiate from a
position of weakness. They are wrong. Israel's position is liable to become
weaker the longer it persists on its present course. Similarly Hezbollah, having
tasted the sense but not the reality of victory (and egged on by Syria and Iran)
may prove recalcitrant. But that is where the difference between Hezbollah and
Hamas comes into play. The Palestinian people yearn for peace and relief from
suffering. The political -- as distinct from the military -- wing of Hamas must
be responsive to their desires. It is not too late for Israel to encourage and
deal with an Abbas-led Palestinian unity government as the first step toward a
better-balanced approach.

Given how strong the US-Israeli relationship is, it would help Israel to
achieve its own legitimate aims if the US government were not blinded by the
war-on-terror concept.

George Soros, a financier and philanthropist, is author of "The Age of
Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror."