Soon Their Marriage Unraveled, Emotional Expression

 They Poured Their Savings Into Homes That Were Never Built

This is an article about how thousands of Chinese made down payments for their houses but they never got possession of their apartments. 

This post isn't about real estate issues in China. It's about communication, Sophisticated communication. Read the last line in the blocked text in the image above which is taken from the same NY Times article mentioned at the top. 

"Even their marriage unraveled" - I fail to see how that's relevant to the real estate issue being discussed. Bringing very poignant things not directly germane to the main issue seems kosher when we are emotional. And when we want to create a bigger impact on our audience. 

Some of us wouldn't know that this is allowed and wouldn't know how to bring up marriage problems in an article on real estate issues. But those that do know have an edge over those who don't!

Can a husband tell his wife "the breakfast yesterday was burnt and my presentation to the customer yesterday went bust"?

I am not sure. 

What Putin, Xi Want

https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-biden-indonesia-united-states-xi-jinping-3decd48c4d2e01da0008d5148237b28d?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_04

So un-Ayn Rand like. It's not money or business or economics only that drives the end result. It's "my country is great" emotion. Whether MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MACA / MARA (Make China / Russia great again)!

What are we doing while trying to make our country great again? Taiwan, Ukraine are being affected in trying to make our respective countries great. Sad, isn't it?

Norway, Holland, Belgium, UK, Spain, Portugal etc did the same thing few centuries back. Hitler did it 80 years back. 

I guess the same thing may happen in future as well. Lebensraum seems to be crucial for man as it was for animals.

If i can't become uber wealthy by myself, i choose to get married to an Ambani. If my country can't become rich, I take over other countries. If I can't get enough votes in an election, i say that the other guy's votes belong to me, as Trump did.

Rules Based

 A friend sent me this article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/28/united-states-should-practice-the-rules-based-order-it-preaches/. She asked: Why are so many democracies unwilling to condemn Russia?

My response: "A much better way to frame the division in the world is between countries that believe in a rules-based international order and those that don’t. " From the same article. 

If Western democracies were  so rule bound as the author suggests why were UK USA etc in bed with Saudi, China and Russia all these years? Why was uk so cosy with Russian oligarchs until the Ukraine invasion? How did those oligarchs suddenly become persona non grata in Feb this year? 

Why are we still doing business with China or Saudi (despite what we know Saudi did to khashoggi)? 

Are we, Western democracies, so honorable really? Isn't survival the driving force really behind our actions? Do we think the western democracies were ignorant until Feb? 

Why this holier than thou attitude suddenly?

China - Thought Leader

In the last 2 years, China has shown  leadership in 2 very different areas.  Both times it acted in ways that seemed, at the time, strange, gauche to the rest of the world. And within a month, the world was following its footsteps.

Now let's come to the two things. Going in a reverse chronological order, let's point out the way China handled the epidemic Coronavirus.  The West was aghast at China for literally locking up Wuhan province and its citizens. The democratic countries till February 2020 thought that freedom of citizens was an important factor to be considered while fighting the virus.

We now see Italy, Spain, UK, USA Switzerland scrambling while China has finished its show and is watching. The West has started to lock up, doing something that China thought of did much earlier.

The second thing I want to mention is unlike Corona, not many may recall China's contribution to the issue. And this issue is just 1 to 2 years old. 

So let's expand on it.

This is about Boeing 737 Max. (Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAX)
An Indonesian airline flying that aircraft crashed killing everyone in it in Oct 2018. While everyone was scrambling to locate the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) and decode the information, in March 2019 an Ethiopian airlines flying the same Boeing 737 Max aircraft crashed killing everyone in board.

As usual, FAA and various governments were trying to figure out the CVR. 

China was the first country which, out of the blue, took a decision to ground all the 737 Max aircrafts in order to prevent any future accidents. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAX_groundings)

Within a month, most airlines followed China's decision. 

In both cases, Boeing 737 Max and coronavirus (in chronological and alphabetical order) China's decision had been stunning initially and left the world shocked. And within a few weeks to months, others followed suit.

Is China really the place which only makes cheap trinkets?

FATFat Improvement

https://www.dawn.com/news/1511895/fatfs-concerns

The link above acknowledges the grave concern the newspaper sees.

The same newspaper 2 weeks back had mentioned how Pak was largely compliant in 20 out of 27 points. 

What happened in 2 weeks? Does one believe that Pak was largely compliant solely based on friendship with China, Turkey and Malaysia? 

Only a final decision from Paris makes one see reality? 

What exactly is Pak going to do now? How much brainpower is it going to deploy to address it before the next FATF meet in Feb 2020? What will make Pak realize that its obsession with religion is the cause of terrorism?

I understand India isn't much sensible either. But the state of affairs in Pak seems to be so awful it pains. 

After all Pak is just like us. Why CAN'T they improve?

Why can't India and Pak be like Canada and USA or like Ireland and Northern Ireland?

When will we forget religion? Hum bas ek jaise hi toh the?

An article which echoes similar sentiments: https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/fatf-meet-verdict-pakistan-s-people-deserve-better-11571591868763.html

Sense becoming visible: https://www.dawn.com/news/1512237/sensationalism-draws-attention-away-from-what-pakistan-must-do-in-order-to-come-off-the-fatf-list

Wolf Calling The Kettle Black

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/international/rest-of-asia/china-in-touch-with-india-pak-to-bring-down-tensions

China apparently is trying to bring down tension between Pak and India after Indian army supposedly attacked terrorists in POK. The surprising thing is that China does the same thing repeatedly in Arunachal and the last such incident was only a days back. At least Pak can claim it was all terrorists, Inshallah.. 

What excuse does China have for frequent incursions into India? And now, they are planning to mediate? Ain't that something?

The wolf said "Nee illaatta ongappa": https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/158022-China-gives-Modi-shut-up-call

In Tamil there is a saying, "ooru rendu pattaal koothadikku kondaattam".

And I really wish India didn't use the phrase "surgical precision". Such a phrase implies extraordinary accuracy. Perhaps that phrase was appropriate when US marines went inside Pakistan and nabbed Osama and killed him. In the current instance? Hmm.

It is really interesting that all this time India would accuse Pak of firing across the LOC while Pak would deny. And Pak would in turn accuse India of opening firing which India would deny.  Now for a change India is claiming to have attacked (with surgical precision) across the LOC. And guess what? Pak is saying "No, you didn't". 

What's happening? How does India decide whether to claim that Pak attacked India or to claim that India attacked Pakistan? Pakistan doesn't have a problem in this regard. Pak will just deny whatever India claims. It's India that has to decide - whether to whine or roar. 

I have a larger question. Why does Pak consider India its enemy? Is it because of Kashmir? But then Kashmir was never part of Pakistan. Matter of fact, Pak itself is a child born out of India.

God help Islam... If this is how Allah's progeny have turned out...blind fanatical and filled with hatred for anything that's not Islam...

Having said that there is an absolutely cute article, published by Alizay Jaffer a Pakistani lady, which echoes my own sentiments - except I couldn't have written it as well as her. http://scroll.in/article/818069/dear-india-and-pakistan-cant-we-convert-our-grudges-into-love (or this https://m.facebook.com/alizay.jaffer/posts/884096793617: same content in both links - just in case one of the links is removed in future)

Here is another article by another Pakistani who provides another point of view: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/155974-Pathankot



Additional reading: 

• Added on 26th Jun 2017: http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/chinese-troops-enter-india-in-sikkim-sector-jostle-with-army-jawans-destroy-indian-bunkers/736313/
• http://scroll.in/article/818027/the-strange-case-of-the-indian-soldier-captured-by-pakistan

Published on

9/29/16, 4:21 PM

India Standard Time

Damn These Hindus

https://www.dawn.com/news/1506697/trump-modi-show-unity-at-houston-rally-protesters-raise-rights-of-kashmiris-outside-venue

It's sad that we think (maybe it's true also) that Modi dealt with Kashmir because it is a Muslim minority state.

It's equally sad that Pakistan vociferously objects to that act - likely again because it's seen as anti- Muslim. 

Can people think ANYTHING outside of the purview of religion?

Maybe terrorism would cease in the region, maybe pakistan would come out of grey in FATF. 

If only we all treated each other as human beings rather than viewing things though a religious (jaundiced) lens.

Muslims Under Attack

This is an excellent article.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/433106-pulwama-attack-aftermath-muslims-under-attack-in-indian-cities

Throughout the article there is no fact to support the assertion that Muslims are under attack because of the JeM incident in Kashmir. Except this "The shock attack has caused widespread anger across India and a violent backlash against Kashmiris elsewhere in the country."

So we assume anything said about Kashmiri refers to Muslim?

It reminded me of the way many people talk when they make a pointed statement and subsequently there is a lot of other things they say but none of which substantiates the original statement.

Does the person think that a lot of other statements would be construed as proof by the audience of the original allegation?

When one expresses a pain and points a finger at another, perhaps the pain is the proof.

Does the fact that JeM claimed responsibility mean anything to the author of the article?

Additional Reading

1. https://m.economictimes.com/news/defence/financial-action-task-force-to-be-given-dossier-to-blacklist-pakistan-for-terror-links/articleshow/68026309.cms
2. https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pakistan-claims-to-fulfilling-sanctions-obligations-against-jem/articleshow/68036595.cms