Politics is ...

Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Problem

"The problem with our Government in this country is that they are in this country. Can we ship them somewhere? Like Christmas Islands or something?"

- Unknown Author

A Special Report for School

Son: "Dad, I have to write a special report for school, but I don't know what Politics is."

Father: "Well, let's take our home as an example. I am the bread-winner, so let's call me Capitalism. Your mom is the administrator of money, so we'll call her Government. We take care of your needs, so let's call you the People. We'll call the maid the Working Class, & your younger brother we can call the Future. Do you understand, son?"

Son: "I'm not really sure, Dad. I'll have to think about it."

That night, awakened by his younger brother's crying, the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering that the baby had seriously soiled his diaper, the boy went to his parent's room & found his mother sound asleep. He went to the maid's room, where, peeking through the keyhole, he saw his father in bed with the maid. The boy's knocking went totally unheeded by his father & the maid. So the boy returned to his room & went back to sleep.

The next morning he reported to his father.

Son: "Dad, now I think I understand what Politics is."

Father: "Good son! Can you explain it to me in your own words?"

Son: "Well Dad, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, Government is sound asleep, the People are being completely ignored & the Future is full of shit."

The AK-47 Submachine Gun

The AK-47 (Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года, Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947; English: Kalashnikov's assault rifle, model of the year 1947) is a gas-operated assault rifle that was used in many Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War. Adopted & standardized in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov & produced by Russian manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works. Compared with the auto-loading rifles used in World War II, the AK-47 was generally more compact, with a shorter range, a smaller 7.62 × 39 mm cartridge, & was capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used and known. More AK-47 rifles have been produced than any other assault rifle; production continues to this day.

Mikhail Kalashnikov began imagining his weapon while still in the hospital, after being wounded in the Battle of Bryansk. He had been informed that a new weapon was required for the 7.62 x 41mm cartridge developed by Elisarov and Semin in 1943. The genius in the design of the Kalashnikov rifle is in the simplification of those contributing designs & adaptation to mass production. The AK-47 can be seen as a fusion of the best that the M1 Garand offered combined with the best aspects of the StG44 made by the best processes was in the recombination of known elements into a compact, reliable & durable package.

Throughout the world, the AK-47 is among the plethora of commonly smuggled small arms that are sold to governments, rebels, criminals & civilians alike, with little international oversight. This trade ensures a ready supply of inexpensive weapons to a number of conflicts, including the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, & Somalia. In some countries that are recovering from war or that are at war, prices for AKs are very low, between $30–$125. After the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan, the Soviet Army left huge bulks of weapons including AK-47s which were used in its civil war between Taliban and Northern Alliance. Now, it is used a lot by tribes in Africa.

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During the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Communist China & the US supplied arms & technical knowledge to numerous client-state countries & rebel forces to promote their interests. This period saw the proliferation, sometimes free of charge, of AK-47s by the Soviet Union & Communist China to pro-communist countries and groups such as the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and Vietcong. The AK-47 design was spread to a total of 55 national armies.

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In the U.S., movie makers often arm criminals, gang members and terrorist characters with AK-47s. However, not all influences of the AK-47 have been violent. In 2006, Colombian musician & peace activist César López devised the escopetarra, an AK-47 converted into a guitar. One sold for US$17,000 in a fundraiser held to benefit the victims of anti-personnel mines, while another was exhibited at the United Nations' Conference on Disarmament.

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(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

United States Arms Trade

The U.S. is by far the largest exporter of weapons in the world, with a sales volume that exceeds the next 14 countries combined! Military sales equate to about 18 percent of the Federal budget, far & away the greatest proportion of any nation. John Ralston Saul states that the American government cannot reduce arms sales because of the consequent fall in GDP. (See John Ralston Saul's The Collapse of Globalism, 2005)

U.S. arms are sold either as Foreign Military Sales (FMS), in which The Pentagon is an intermediate negotiator, or as Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), where a company directly negotiates with its buyer. Many sales require a license from the State Department. The Defense Department manages the Excess Defense Articles (EDA), weapons from the US military given away or sold at bargain prices, emergency drawdowns, assistance provided at the discretion of the President, and International Military Education and Training (IMET).

From 1989 to 1996, the global value of DCS was US$257 billion, of which 45% was exported from the US. According to the 2005 annual US congress reports, 58% of all US arms trade contracts are made with developing countries. The most recent World Policy Report, an annual update issued by the Arms Trade Research Center, a more detailed breakdown of US military spending is offered.

In it, it was stated that "In 2003, the US transferred weaponry to 18 of the 25 countries involved in active conflicts. From Angola, Chad & Ethiopia, to Colombia, Pakistan and the Philippines, transfers through the two largest U.S. arms sales programs (Foreign Military Sales & Direct Commercial Sales) to these conflict nations totaled nearly $1 billion in 2003, with the vast bulk of the dollar volume going to Israel ($845.6 million).

In 2003, more than half of the top 25 recipients of U.S. arms transfers in the developing world were defined as undemocratic by the U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report: in the sense that "citizens do not have the right to change their own government" or that right was seriously abridged. These nations received over $2.7 billion in U.S. arms transfers under the FMS & DCS programs in 2003, with the top recipients including Saudi Arabia ($1.1 billion), Egypt ($1.0 billion), Kuwait ($153 million), the UAE ($110 million) & Uzbekistan ($33 million)."

In fiscal year 2002, $70 million USD was spent on International Military Education & Training (IMET) for 113 countries. During this same year, $46 million worth of drawdowns were provided to Nigeria ($4 million), Afghanistan ($2 million), Georgia ($25 million), the Philippines ($10 million) & Tunisia ($5 million).

Defense contractors are weapon manufacturers or companies participating in weapon research & warfare simulation. A list of major weapon manufacturers are given below:

AAI Corporation
BAE Systems Inc.
Boeing
Carlyle Group
Colt's Manufacturing Company
General Atomics
General Electric
General Dynamics
Honeywell
Lockheed-Martin
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Raytheon Corporation
United Defense (now BAE Systems Land and Armaments)

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Politics is ...

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.
- Mao Tse-Tung








I just recieved a letter stating that I am officially assigned out of my Division under the Guards Formation.
Which means I am now under the "MR", shortform for "Mindef Reserve".
Hor ehh...!
No more in camps!
No more recalls!!
No more IPPTs!!! No more, no more, no more... :)
Probably also no more NSmen tax relief next year ... :(

No more disturbances, nor overseas assignment (like the photos attached).
Btw, that was taken in Australia, in their botanical garden, size about 3 times Singapore. (And they call it a garden!!!)

Definition of a Politician

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
- Winston Churchill

Collection for a Good Cause

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on Benjamin Sheares Bridge.
Its absolute gridlock... nothing is moving.
Suddenly someone knocks his window. The driver rolls down the window and asks "What's going on?"
"Terrorists are holding MM Lee, SM Goh, and PM Lee to ransom. They're asking for $10 million cash, otherwise they're going to douse them with petrol and set them on fire. We're going from car to car, taking up a collection."
The driver asks, "How much is everyone giving, on average?"
"About a litre" .

What Politics really is.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
- Paul Valery

One last one...this one is on politics!

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
- Groucho Marx