Russian - Georgian Conflict Just started my semester at NUS and I’ve been really quite busy, so much so that I couldn’t really comment on the whole din going on in the Caucusus despite this being a blog thats supposed to comprise of my takes on military and political issues.  Despite getting chewed up by my military history prof for being an idiot (I plead guilty), and stuck with quite a number of readings, I’ve managed to cut & paste an excerpt of one of my replies in a military forum.   Just my thoughts. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL9wYVueTaVMFFQY-sIaTnWXnfXw US Evaluates Georgia for Humanitarian missions. In a sense, I’d interprete this as the US upping the ante on Georgia. Putting US Forces on the ground, regardless of their “non-combat” intentions, could be saying, “keep invading if you dare.” Putting the rumors of American mercenaries aside, if US troops wearing the American flag, gets bombed by the Russians on a humanitarian mission, the UNSC would be pressed to act. Chances are, that would spiral into open conflict with Russia. Of course, that is provided the Americans don’t turn tail and run away the moment the bombs start falling. If there was ever an opportunity that would present to Russia to decisively humiliate the US in a conflict, it would be now. Perhaps a similar opportunity presented itself some time ago during the Vietnam War but the Americans recovered from it. Several factors put the US in a very difficult position to respond. Off the top of my head and just to name the few… 1. The dragged out War in Iraq. A large number of American forces are still stuck there. And this war has already taken its toll on the American population back home. People don’t want to fight other people’s war anymore. 2. A potential showdown in Iran and Iranian sponsored insurgency in Iraq. As mentioned before, Russia can simply flood the Iranians with weapons. S-300s will cause significant for American aircraft operating in the theatre, while indirect weapons such as mortars and rocket launchers can find their way to the insurgents in Iraq 3. The current Political situation in America puts the American people’s attention in the 3 ring circus back home. Not only is the Bush administration in bad light, the 2 upcoming candidates are divided over the Russian-Georgian as well. Obama would appeal to the war-weary Americans, and “request” that Russia and Georgia show restraint. On the other hand, McCain’s brand of foreign policy is as perhaps best put by Tuesday’s ST Forum writer, “Don’t make me go over there.” Americans will find themselves more divided than ever over the Russian-Georgian conflict. There is a possibility that the Americans might find themselves in combat against Russian forces if they are really NOT bluffing. NATO’s silenced itself for a moment after the recent developments, and China’s not saying anything either.  In a worst case scenario I can think of, the Americans might find themselves engaged by several Russian proxies in the Middle East, East Asia, and the Caucusus itself.  A concrete line needs to be drawn against Russia. For that, the US needs European support, and the UN Security Counsel resolution for all military forces in the region to pull back to positions occupied before August. Until that level of solidarity can be achieved by, the Russians are not going to react to any “requests” or “veiled threats” that American Politicians and current Presidents, respectively, throw. Matriculated and Orientated, All Systems Go. I finally received my NUS Student card! Matriculation happened yesterday with greater efficiency than I expected.  I received my student card with mixed feelings of excitement and disappointment with the shoddy photo on it.  I am now, formally a student of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.  Hooyah! Attended the first day / round of Orientation talks at LT11 today.  Everything’s great when I was sitting at LT11 listening to the APs as part of the “LIVE” audience.  Unfortunately, LT11 was full up after the “Welcome Tea,” and I had to shift over to LT12 for the “LIVE” Webcast…  It was unfortunate not because we lost our seats at LT11, but that LT12’s crowd was a little more boisterous.  They pretty drowned out most of what was important that was being briefed by Prof Straughan.   So yeah, I missed a large part of the briefing on the modular system. On the brighter side, I wasn’t as “alone” as I thought I’d be too.  Ran into Tammy and hung out with her “group” throughout the O’talk.  Really nice seeing familiar faces around an unfamiliar environment. Tomorrow’s 2nd round of Orientation… and I’m reconsidering whether I should take  Minor… arggh.. Tests Cleared!! I went for my QET @ NUS last friday.  Finally got that bit over! *Phew* Though I knew NOTHING about the theme of Biotech, I think I managed to get through it relatively unscathed.  The major portion of the paper was based on the essay question, “Biotech industries are not suitable for all developing economies, do you agree?” (something like that). Randomly grabbing some details from the paper’s articles, I formulated a weak argument to support the statement, and I think it should get me through the QET and NUS’s requirements.  I gave myself a good pat on the back for my writing, cos I have NO GP background or any knowledge about Biotech. The second test I cleared was my 2-ship Flight Lead upgrade with the 27th.  It was supposed to be a short hop to hit some power plant.  The whole flight from planning to execution went very smoothly with exception that I forgot totally about the mission data card and the emergency procedures briefing.  Point noted for future 4-ship Flug though. Deejay’s comments were laced with humor as usual.  He was “offended” that I asked for a 70ft impact spacing for the Mk-82 bombs instead of a 27ft interval.  I’ll remind myself to ask for 270ft one the next hop.  That should make both of us happy! Thats all for now! Trading Organs for Money I saw some articles on the papers recently about organ trading.  Didn’t realize they were for real until I saw a Minister’s name attached to it. Monday’s English daily The Straits Times quoted Khaw as saying organ shortages and a black market in the region made legalizing trading an option. “I think we should not write off or reject the idea of selling organs. But I think we need to study it carefully,” he said. I was really quite surprised that this was a serious consideration.  I do not personally approve of the idea of selling organs.   Neither do I find the Minister’s justification to be reasonable.  My main concern is that less privileged people, would consider organ-trading as a mean of income.  Sure, its not something that one person can do repeatedly, but even doing it once for the sake of money feels wrong to me. People who choose to donate their organs make a personal decision, out of compassion for the person they are donating to.  But people who trade their organs for money, are mitigated by circumstance and seduced by the lure of money to sell their organs.  These people don’t really make a decision out of choice, but rather out of financial pressure. Who in the right mind, if not out of compassion, would want to give up their organs?  No one. Moreover, Khaw’s justification that a regional black market and organ shortage does not hold sufficient weight to me when ethical questions like the above, are raised.  I agree that it is indeed noble to try to provide organs to those who need, but if that happens at the risk of encouraging our poor to sell their organs, then I am firmly against it.  There should be no reason the poor should have to lose so much because they are not financially better off. I am in favor of research to grow human organs in pigs, but not for human organ trading.  Label me a conservative, but it is a pandora’s box full of moral and ethical issues that will surface out of legalised human organ trading. Already we have a huge morally gray area with the introduction of the IR and casinos.  Now gamblers who lose all their family’s finances are gonna lose their organs too.  No, let’s not go there. These are my personal views. Its Test Week for me! Its an odd thing not because I’ve never taken tests before.  Just that I’m actually working now, but still have tests going on. The first test happened this morning at NUS.  It was called the QET (Qualifying English Test).  NUS believes that Poly students (rightly so I guess) may have difficulties with the English language.  In order to help the linguistically weaker students, NUS requires Poly students to take the QET to see what level of help is required.  Those who do not do well, are required to take additional English modules during their academic semester. As a Poly student, I had to take the test as well.  I was sincerely hoping for something easy to write about, but had my hopes dashed.  The theme was based around “Biotechnology for Developing economies.”  Firstly, I am very clueless about Biotechnology, and secondly, not being a JC student, I had next to no-knowledge on how to present my views.  Armed with just the information provided in the earlier sections, I did my best to agree that Biotech investments are not suitable for all developing economies, and left before 11.30am.  I think I ought to pass… I think… Second test is gonna be at tomorrow evening, about 10pm.  “Thumper”, our squadron CO scheduled me for a 2-ship flight lead upgrade flight.  In that flight / test, I’m to plan, lead and execute a 2-ship strike on an enemy power plant.  I’m actually supposed to schedule these flights myself, but the procrastinator in me, has been putting it off due to unpredictable work schedules.  “Padre” mentioned something about instructor pilot, so I kinda figured they want me to be the next IP in the +8GMT time zone.  That means I’ll have to fly the 4-ship flight lead upgrade soon as well. Now, I need to figure out how to move my stuff to the NUS residence.  I’ll need my flight stick, thats for sure. **Padre getting tanked up while running me through the 2-ship Flug** Camel11-the flying gas station there, is a KC-10 extender.  Being the flight lead, I gassed up ahead of him, and slipped into a echelon left position of the tanker to take some pictures.  Sadly, the tanker entered a turn  while he was gassing and had some difficulties maintaining the connection. Sharp talons for Singapore’s Eagles The Republic of Singapore Air Force’s F-15SG Strike Eagles have been confirmed to include several new weapons and systems that would boost the fighter’s combat effectiveness. - 72 AIM-120C-5 (Mod C-5 Variant of the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile aka AMRAAM) - 128 AIM-120C-7 (Mod C-7 of the AMRAAM) - 50 MK-82 ( GBU-38 ) Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) with BLU-111 Warhead (GPS Guided Smart Bomb) - 30 AGM-154A-1 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW) with BLU-111 Warhead (GPS Guided glide bomb with a range up to 70km) - 30 AGM-154C JSOW (GPS Guided glide bomb with a range up to 70km) - 200 AIM-9X (Short ranged heat-seeking air to air missile that can be cued using a helmet mounted targeting system. More information of the USD$1 Billion deal can be found here The F-15SG Strike Eagle is the most modern version of the F-15E Strike Eagle currently operated by the USAF. It’s arguable more advanced than the Korean F-15K, due to the new AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array ) radar, APG-63v3 radar that it has been mated with. The AESA radar, boasts an almost instantaneous scan rate when compared to the older generation of mechanically scanned array radars, and are more elusive to radar-warning receivers. Though the “Mud Hen” ( the Strike Eagle’s nickname ) was optimized for air-to-ground attacks, it still retains its capabilities of its Air Superiority predecessor, the F-15C Eagle. The Strike Eagle can still pull 9Gs without air to ground ordinance and is still a lethal air to air adversary when coupled with the AMRAAM and Sidewinder X. The RSAF currently assigns its deep strike and long range interdiction roles to its F-16D Block 52+ multi-role fighters.  However, due to additional fuel required for such high endurance mission profiles, the F-16 is unable to carry as much air to ground ordinance, thereby reducing the amount of firepower it is able to deliver. The F-15SG will serve to bolster this capability with its ability to fly long distances without refueling. The F-15SG Strike Eagle is manufactured by Boeing, the same manufacturers of the AH-64D Apache helicopters the RSAF currently operates as well. A few interesting ways to combat inflation. No.  Wages are not likely to increase since it’s feared to cause a 2nd round of inflation.  It sounds logical at first since wage increases will increase the cost of final products or services.  So far so good until one starts counting the number of types of consumer products an average Singaporean buys thats actually made in Singapore. A large number of consumer products Singaporeans uses are imports eg. Food. Products that probably incur warehousing and transport as Singaporean costs.  The rest of the costs are incurred by the exporters, and hence, Singaporean wage increase “probably” may be manageable afterall? On the other hand, it would cause our export products, such as some electronics and such, to cost more.  And with that, we might experience in a dip in export sales simply cause our produce aren’t as cheap anymore.  In other words, it affects our competitiveness (Remember, the finance minister said, ‘competitiveness’ ) with other exporters.  Less money is gonna roll into Singapore companies, and again, the employees are gonna be affected.  But wait!  In light of US’s slow down, higher fuel prices and inflation thats taking place everywhere, chances are, we are STILL gonna experience a dip in export sales.  http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080618/article_363587.htm SINGAPORE’S exports fell the most in 17 months in May as the island’s manufacturers shipped fewer electronics and other goods to the United States and Europe. Non-oil domestic exports dropped 10.5 percent from a year earlier following a revised 5.3 percent gain in April, the government’s trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. Economists expected a 2.1-percent increase. Manufacturers across Asia face easing demand amid slowing growth in the US, the region’s largest overseas market. Singapore’s trade promotion body last month lowered its forecast for export growth this year to between 2 percent to 4 percent, from an earlier estimate of 4 percent to 6 percent. So maybe raising wages won’t be such a bad thing after all?  Problem is, where are companies going to get the money to do so when they are experiencing dip in Sales?  Since we are at it, where did all the money go? Likely, the money was the contributing factor in the income divide as mentioned in a previous writing about poverty in Singapore.  Companies valued their middle and higher management people more, and forgot to raise the salaries of those who did the real hands on work.  Perhaps… Just a guess. Back to the main problem, combating inflation.  Currently, the government has been urging Singaporeans to reduce their expenditures in light of this 7.5% inflation level.  All in all, a very sound and wise advice and encouragement which should be heeded.  Use your air conditioners less, buy fans, go topless more often (I’d love this one ), take more cold showers instead of heated ones, switch off your power sockets when not in use and even buying cheaper locally made stuff helps. Thats about all a Singaporean can do in order to play their part in encouraging “deflation.” Maybe the Government isn’t about to help increase wages.  What about declaring the rest of 2008 to be a GST free year?  Thats gonna decrease cost by 7% almost instananeously!  Perhaps this will encourage the richer folks to spend more and encourage better monetary circulation.  The chances of them doing that, is equal to that of a flying pig.  The author is just day-dreaming… again. Pole dancers and pole huggers on the MRT… There are a lot of tired people on the MRTs these days.  Especially during the peak hours where people are still drowsy from the early morning, or just dead tired after a long day of slogging.  With trains filled to more than full capacity, tired people have no place to sit and or even lean.  Sometimes, leaning on the poles found just in front of the train doors can be very very appealing. Unfortunately, it’s just not a very good idea to do that on a very crowded train.  People need things to hold on to when the train is moving off, stopping or just running into the occasional bumpy tracks.   Without something to hold, people could fall down or get injured, or grab on to the wrong appendages of other people.  It’s simply an inconvenience and nuisance to other passengers. There are people who are magnetically drawn to the poles.  I’ve seen it for myself!  Then again, I’m also one of those when the trains aren’t packed… (the closet pole dancer *grin* ) I was standing in front of the pole once when a middle aged lady got on board the train.  I usually have a good sense of balance, so I stood just about half a foot in front of the pole without having to hold on to it.  The train was a lil packed, but it wasn’t a sardine can yet.  I noticed the auntie start inching back slowly until she was almost leaning on me.  I wasn’t exactly very comfortable with that, and I started inching back and to the side.  Still, she inched back and pressed against a leather file I was clutching on to.  Very annoyed, I inched and squirmed away to see what else she was trying to do.  I was THIS | When I moved away fully from that position, I finally understood what she was trying to do.  There she was, happily leaning against the pole and the other folks holding on to it, had to let got and grab other higher or unreachable portions.  Before I could look away, she struck a pretty dramatic pose by cushioning her head against the pole with her forearm while leaning her side on it.  This lady was just but an example of the numerous pole dancers (really, they really have some pole-dance poses) and pole huggers (people who literally hug the poles)  that I’ve seen. It wasn’t sardine can kinda packed, but nevertheless still pretty packed. Lets be a bit more civic minded in a packed train and give space for others to grab something to steady themselves. Its bad enough that some of the older aunties and uncles have no place to sit, but worse when they don’t even have something firm to hold on to. Do you earn more or less than $1200 a month? The Star ran an interesting article on Singapore’s income divide recently.  In one part of the article, the author quoted an Asian Newsweek correspondent asking, “If the island’s economy is booming, why are so many citizens worse off than they were 10 years ago?” Despite our economic boom, why is the income gap between the lower middle class and the rest increasing? The Star didn’t just pluck this out of the air to misdirect the current political drama away from home.  These are real issues that Singapore is facing, issues that are acknowledged by our finance minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam. “Last year, managers – the best-paid group – earned 4.86 times more than cleaners and labourers. The gap has widened in 10 years. It was 4.13 times in 1997.” The Star. Why are we looking at a growing income gap?  Why won’t it stop growing?  Why particularly the lower-middle class?  What can we do about? What is it that happened approximately 10 years ago that seemed to have caused this situation?  Brief recollections would point to the beginning of all the Free Trade Agreements.  If the Total Trade numbers listed in wikipedia are indeed accurate, the various FTAs indeed boosted the volumes of import-export trade.  But what does FTA have to do with our income gap? In a recent review of International Economics by Foreign Policy, it points out, “As for whether free trade is beneficial for the poorest in the society, even economists are divided.  Competition drives down wages and makes companies cut corners on  health care for their poorest workers.“  While the review was mainly directed at health-care, it very poignantly pointed out that competition drove down the wages, while companies sought short term contract staff to avoid providing health benefits. Currently working as a short-term contract staff, I see these exact trends taking place in the IT industry that I am in.  The already competitive IT industry in Singapore is flooded by foreign talents ( yes, they are indeed talented… most of them), making wages in technical positions highly competitive, all thanks to globalization.  At the same time, I’ve observed growing trends of more short-term contracts as well, especially in larger companies.  Very importantly, I need to point out that this is happening in the > $1200 income bracket (after CPF). When times are good, companies are more willing to hire and acquire additional resources and services.  They are abundantly staffed, and often well facilitated with welfare bonuses.  But when competition stiffens, they will begin to cut cost in order to remain competitive.  The middle or higher managements would decide to start restructuring companies to lay off non-essential positions and provide interim temp staff cover when needed.  Needless to say, welfare bonuses are reduced.  Employees are expected to take care of their own “area-cleaning” instead of engaging cleaning services or aunties.  All these snowball down to those in the lower income groups, when they are unable to find work where they used to.  No wonder there is a growing income divide! Why won’t this income gap stop growing?  As mentioned before, we have to consider the effects of globalization as part of the problem.  As more and more skilled and unskilled foreign nationals enter Singapore in search of new hopes and dreams, their arrival also bring about fierce competition with the local skilled workers.  Oddly, strange immigration laws have also allowed unskilled foreign nationals (esp China) into Singapore that found employments in the many foodcourts around Singapore. (This I’m sure everyone noticed!) Secondly, there is the matter of inflation, high oil and food prices.  From a company’s perspective, they will have to operate at higher costs (eg. energy, raw materials etc), which leads to higher costs of their products and services.  In most conservative Singaporean companies, they would seek to reduce costs operationally in order to keep their prices competitive.  The methods and effects as mentioned in the above paragraph about FTA. Therefore,  MM Lee was right on the money (pardon the pun) when he said that the income gap is not likely to narrow in the near term term. Why particularly the lower-middle income bracket?  This is largely my perspective.  Because the decisions and methods to lower costs are decided and formulated by those managers and business owners residing in the higher income brackets. Finally, what are the alternatives and options to address these problems?  This is no doubt a challenging problem even for Singapore’s World Class ministers.  Singapore needs to stay globally competitive through FTAs, and neither can we isolate ourselves from the effects of globalization.   Inflation and high energy and food prices is a world wide phenomenon that the World needs to get collectively get their act together and address.  In the meantime, Singapore can only symptomatically address its poverty problem. It is time the Singapore government reviews its welfare policies and begin to subsidise those who are currently living in streets, collecting / cutting cardboards, those who are having trouble with three meals a day.  It will be a shame if the Singapore does not begin to look in providing further food, health-care and energy subsidies to those in the lower income bracket given its economic success.  Looking at it regionally, Singapore is in a stronger position to help its citizenry when compared with Indonesia and Malaysia. While soaring energy prices predicts greater political turmoil in South East Asia, Singapore’s tight authoritarian democracy looks to be in a firmer position to face a potentially oil-induced global economic slowdown. Personal Notes: The author is currently taking home slightly more than $1200 a month, but is about to be relegated to the lower or zero-dollar income group in the month ahead due to commencement of university education.  Tough times are ahead, and the author would welcome any reccommendations for part-time positions with flexible commitments and hopefully some fixed income. The author is IT trained, familiar with JSP and Java technologies, PHP, SQL, and web-design/deployment.  He has a good command of English, and able to handle clients well with a subtle touch of salesmanship.  He also enjoys researching and writing articles across a broad spectrum of interests. Again, all recommendations for part-time positions will be well-appreciated.  Many thanks, kumsiahs and arigatos! He can be reached via email, exo_desertfox@hotmail.com.  Macross Frontier I loved Macross as a kid and I still love this cartoon series today.  To me, transformers are nothing but emo-tin-cans fighting each other, one side led by a baffoon, the other led by a suicidal truck.  No, StarScream’s not half as cool as a veritech fighter piloted by Roy Fokker. Macross is back with its latest season, “Macross Frontier”. Coupled the latest CG animation and special effects seen in its last movie, Macross Zero, “Frontier” immersed me back into the Macross universe of transforming fighters, fast paced action sequences, and great music; trademarks of a Macross production. “Frontier” features the “latest” of Veritech fighter design, the VF-25. In frontier, it comes in 4 cool flavors, the ‘Standard’ fighter, the ‘Sniper’ variant, the “Squad Leader variant’ and finally the coolest of all, ‘Electronic Warfare and Recon’ variant. Twice the previous Macross series, Frontier features 2 Songbirds, Sheryl Nome ( an established galactic songstress) and Ranka Lee. ( a fan of Sheryl who shoots into stardom) And true to Macross tradition, this anime features some of the coolest OSTs (IMO), my particular favorite being Sheryl Nome’s Don’t Be Late.  There’s just something special about hear a really well arranged piece of music in the thick of action. Sometimes, I just wish they made a full-length space-shooter or sim out of this genre. I almost wish my F-16 can go into some “Gerwalk” mode whenever those damn MiG-29s try to bring the fight low n slow. That’ll show them! Oh, did I mention the new VF-25 looks like a F-14 and Sukhoi-30 hybrid. Both the Sukhoi forward fuselage design, and the F-14’s variable geometry wing (this feature has been around for the past few macrosses) are prominently seen. http://macrossf.com Macross Frontier can be seen on Crunchyroll.com, but do support the box sets when they are out too! The OSTs are a must grab too! Political Comparison Analysis of Online Communities Case Study: Ping.sg Many bloggers from Ping.sg are in a state of disagreement and discontent over the banning of blogger. The blogger by the user handle of “dk” had recently critically commented a recent personal blog entry made by the Community Manager, Daphne. In it, he had expressed disagreement over the classification of popular cliques within the Ping.sg’s community. Following that, the user “dk” was banned from the online community, leaving many bloggers discontented over his banning. Most believe that he had expressed a fair opinion, and had been unfairly banned. Daphne’s Post dk’s Post In a recent statement, the manager of ping.sg stated: @dhope Yup. dk99 was banned due to his recent actions of trying to destroy the site and the community. Anyway, the user was just shown the door for he has self-declared to have given up on the community. The decision was nothing personal and not due to what the user claimed to be - disagreeing with the community manager nor for difference of opinion. The criticisms and views that followed were largely against the decision to ban the user, with a handful of other bloggers supporting the ban. Even in an online community, many political theories can be seen in practice. Firstly, the Elite theory parallels the administration community of Ping.sg to the “administered” community of the web- blogging community. The administrative community consisting of the Community Manager as well as the founder of Ping.sg can be thus considered as the “Ruling Class” as defined in Elite theory. They represent the governing Elites of the community as they are position of authority or power, and are capable of making unilateral decisions examplified by the banning of “dk.” Standing in contrast with the Elite theory, is the theory of Pluralism. Pluralists believe that the actual power, even those available to Elites, are converted from potential power in the form or resources such as finances. In the example of an online community, it can be observed that, the potential power the administrators have, originates from the blogging community itself. Without the bloggers, there would be no one to administrate, nor would there be any possible revenue from advertisings. While Daphne’s personal blog entry has refers to some elements closely resembling “non-governing” elites, it can hardly be referred to as “Elitism” or “Elite” theory as dk did. It did, however, point to an aspect of a community, where certain groups or lobbies tend to be more influential or powerful. However, like real world influential lobby groups, even the “in-group” (as referred to by Daphne), has limited influence over any of the Ping.sg policies. For example, the National Rifle Association can be influential over proposed legislation changes to firearms control in the US, yet it has very little influence in any, over oil or economic policies. dk critiques in his post, what he perceived to be the encouragement of “elitism” by Daphne. In his posts, he held ideals that can be considered mildly populist. Populism is a political discourse of “people” vs “elites.” Populists first define a community or group into 2 distinct groups, the “people,” and the governing “elites.” However, it’s noted that this definition was first established by Daphne. In his criticisms, he argues against the “elitist” statements from Daphne’s blog, and expresses altruistic disappointment over what he suggests to be an unofficial establishment of the “elite” group. Whether his criticisms are indeed capable of “destroying” the community as suggested is dubious due to his lack of clout within the community. Populists often carry anti-establishment values in real world politics, and generally seek a catch-all approach to garnering popular support from the less-privileged majority. Their aggressive brand of criticism coupled with nationalism often cause them to appear as the champion of the under privileged majority in political arenas (esp that of Latin America). Some of the notable populists of recent time are Rafale Correa of Ecuador, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. However, populists are also recognized to play an important part in the democratic process as a counter-balance towards authoritarian political developments. Populists would find themselves very much at home in new web communities such as ping.sg and forums. Nationalism in online communities would probably refer to a “patriotism” towards the community. Building a strong sense of communal identity, would correspond to developing a “patriotic” passion to the country. Modern populism would find nationalism to be an ideal mix to establish a strong base of support by the population. A mix like cappuccino and mocha. In the example of ping.sg, it can be observed that there is a sense of communal identity, as many of the user often refer to themselves as “pingsters.” In conclusion, it has been observed that online communities can spin intricate political webs. In an environment where free speech meets moderation, and communities administered by single or a small group of individuals, many principles of real-world political science can be observed and inferred in various forms. While the entire new media trend purportedly promotes individuality and freedom of speech, its communities inevitably subdivides itself into various groups and lobbies of likeminded people. Each of these lobbies often vie to influence those in administrative positions, and without fail, spark off e-controversies. Indeed, where there are people, there will be politics. The author hopes to be able to experiment with online communities to observe and study politics in future. NOTES This article is based on the author’s recent observations after being away from the ping.sg community for a short period. If there are any inaccuracies in the facts initially presented, please do comment and inform the author. Thanks! Thanks for pointing out that dk was not actually dark knight. Corrections much appreciated! =) Political Comparison Analysis of Online Communities is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall! Haven’t updated for quite some time, better do it now or I’d keep forgetting. The past few weeks went by in a swirl.  Series of small events at work flew past just like that.  It didn’t keep me very busy, but it sure confused me and tired me out for a while.  Sometimes, its not just the volume or workload that tires me out, just things coming in from different directions rather quickly.  Yes, I guess I’m sorta dazed… The upcoming weeks promise to be equally messy and fast paced.  Planning to standby a few packs of panadols.  I have no doubt my series of headaches is gonna revisit me. Fortunately, the “light” at the end of the tunnel is finally visible.  My contract with them ends 31st of July.  After which, I have about a week to rest and start moving stuff over to NUS’s student residence.  To say that I’m “excited” to start school is a mild understatement.   Maybe I’m being overly enthusiastic? Was at Mind’s cafe @ Boat Quay earlier for a little gathering planned by my elder sis.  Met a LOT of people I never knew existed in church.  Our group started of playing some “Saboteur” game initially.  Not very exciting but still pretty fun.  The 2nd game was something called QuestIS… While it was very very exciting game to begin with, all its forfeits and “Roolz” started to take a toil in our energy level by mid game.  It really really requires a very “high-energy” crowd.  I had to sing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” for almost 2/3 of the game and speak like a pirate for 1/3. I did learn something new today though.  That is, there is such a thing as animal hybrids.  I was mildly surprised.  It asked, which of the 2 hybrids actually existed?  A: Zedonk (Zebra-donkey), B: Gir-something (Giraffe and Something…) , C: Alligurtle (Alligator - Turtle), and D: Liger (Tiger - Lion). After realising that it really wasn’t a trick questiong, I started thinking of reasons that would make each combination possible or impossible.  I think I first considered the physical characteristics.  The Zebra and the Donkey had very similar characteristics, eg hooved horse like animals, I figured the genetics might actually allow cross breeding.  The Giraffe and Some buffalo like animal was a little tough since they were so different physically, and I figured that it was a lil tough for them to be naturally attracted to each other. The Alligator and Turtle was easier.  The whole reason was that they were reptiles that laid eggs that lived in generally different habitats. The Tiger and Lion I thought was possible since they both belonged to the family of large cats.  And hence my answer was rightly A and D.  Besides, one of the other players did slip something about hearing of “Ligers.” I think most of the players figured I guessed it by luck.  One of them did impress me by asking why I came up with that conclusion.  At least I had the benefit of the doubt from ONE person. *Laughs*  In any case, I didn’t explain myself and just smiled instead.  I figured a social gathering should be plagued by a nerdy thought process and returned to the “hee-hee-haa-haa” of “QuestIS.” It was fun for a while, but all of us looked totally zonked out after the game.  It was mentally and physically taxing…  Thank God Joanna was able to reach the finishing line and end my misery. Achievement of the day:  I Sang “99 bottles of beer on the wall”… from 99 to 1! Remember the poor? I’m an avid forum surfer and frequents sgforums pretty often.  I’ve found most of the discussions there very interesting.  Some are entertaining, some emotionally gripping, some thoughtful, few thoughtless, many random, and alot politically charged.  In that forum, they discuss almost everything from ERP gantries, to foreign talents.  Laments that there is no freedom of speech in Singapore come up very now and then ( a little ironic ).  Some are good reads, and some are revolting.  But most of them, largely missed out the issue of poverty. Poverty in Singapore?   There ARE poor people in Singapore.  People who live in the streets, pick up valuable trash such as drink cans, cut paper and cardboard boxes for a few dollars.  They live by each day, with just enough.  Sometimes, they go hungry when they can’t find much.   Sometimes, they are hard pressed to find even a shelter to lay their heads.  Singapore, a country described in the CIA factbook as, “with per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe.”  A country that is striving to be the Switzerland of Asia, to attract wealth through banking. Yet, there are the homeless and the hungry. And when these armchair politicians who openly and sometimes hatefully criticise government policies lament about freedom of speech, do they remember the poor?    They “care” about ”freedom of speech”, which they already have by large.  Instead of exercising this freedom to speak up for the needy, the unseen, some of them have abused it to slander, resulting in unnecessary political drama. They “care” about when Lee Kuan Yew is gonna die.  They “care” for LKY’s wife’s condition with poisonous words. There are people not as well off as us.  They don’t HAVE the freedom of speech.  They don’t have blogs to log on to and bitch about stuff or tell about the lives they are leading.  They don’t have a ‘voice’ and are often unheard.  I think we need to open our eyes and see them and recognize their existence.  I think we need to remind the politicians that there are a group of very under-privileged people out there, barely living from hand to mouth that needs to be taken care of.  I am not exaggerating this.  If your food went up by 50cts, you’re gonna have to pick that many Coke Cans. I think there is a worthier cause to what we can use our blogs and forums for.  If people could sudden open their eyes and see the less privileged amongst through blogs and forums, they might be able to recieve more help from one of the wealthiest governments in South East Asia. Even if they don’t, perhaps some of the better off people would be able to offer them more when they see them.  Buy them lunch, dinner or a drink.  Give them some money.  Give them somebody to talk to, and hear them.  Direct them to NGOs that can help them, or NGOs to them.  These people can have a better life at their age if more people heard about them, and start seeing them. Lets talk about poverty.   I got lost in Macritchie… nearly… A long time ago, some time in 2006, a friend and I took a lil walk into the depths of MacRitchie reservoir.  It was an adventure to search for the famous Syonan-Jinja that was buried luscious green vegetation of the reserve. Unfortunately, both my friend and I underestimated the hike in, and in our own capabilities.  We went into the weeds,armed with some photos and a “general” direction off a map we had  gotten of google earth of where the shrine was.  We didn’t pack a GPS, or even a compass.  Just us, the trees and more trees. Things seemed a little odd on the way in.  The path in was supposed to be well-hiked by uncles and aunties who frequently made the pilgrimage to pray for 4D and To-To numbers ( in sandals, shorts and singlets…). Strangely, the vegetation looked deliberately covered and messed up as though people didn’t want us there. Sensing the “disturbance”, I took out my handy roll of white-tape and started tying strips to the trees as we proceeded.  I guess that was why we didn’t get lost after all.  I figured the rain somehow changed the environment, and that was why everything looked a little strange. 15mins later, we found out why.  A whole bunch of kids from some JC’s ODAC club were in the weeds ahead of us.  We surprised their “rear guard” a little as we suddenly popped out from behind them.  After speaking to their teacher / guide, we realised that they were as lost and disoriented as we were.  Putting our stuff together ( our foreknowledge of the area ), and started locating where we were and how to get to where we wanna go.  After a brief look at the surrounding terrain and features, we scouted ahead of the entire group and discovered that all our access routes were blocked off by a number of large fallen trees.  Turning around, we briefed their group about it and advised them to return instead.  The students were there in T-shirts shorts and track-shoes.  The route that was required of them would leave them badly scratched by thorny vegetation.  They followed our trail out, while we ended walking around a bit before deciding to call it a day before it started raining. For a brief moment, we got seperated.  It was amazing how we were less than 50meters apart and yet unable to see each other.  We managed to regroup after calling out to each other.  Looking at our cellphones, we realised that there was actually coverage even within the forests of Macritchie.  Singtel totally rawks!  Picking up our white-tape trails, we managed to “find” our way out before the rain came in.  We’d have gotten lost if we didn’t realise that we had good chance of getting lost.