War and Peace

"What have we done to deserve this?" Quote by civillian father, 14 May 2021, whose home in a building was destroyed by superior rockets shot at residential neighbourhood. This man's wife and several children all died in the ensuing carnage. Instincts of human beings, especially with political power, military capability, financial excess and cultural imperatives, have organised strong structured governments which still readily wage destruction and death on fellow beings who belong "to the other side". All the accumulation of knowledge, technology, philosophy, religion and grief in human history has not deterred the uncivillised habit of killing in the name of defence, freedom, conquest, civilisation and more. Increasingly the names and labels quoted and utilised by intolerant and aggressive political leaders to justify war and conflict bear no resemblence to the real and underlying causative reasons. War breaks out because the leaders we have emphasise more on strive, differences and an inability to reconcile. When you are an astronaut and look back at Earth from the darkness of space, all human beings and their affairs seem so small and fragile. And yet when wars are waged, they are killing each other. This rather basic and vile need and act to kill fellow human beings is an insult to the otherwise good progress of Homo Sapiens, who started killing for food - and now continue to kill each other for essentially tribal dominance, economic competition, financial gains from selling arms and misplaced perceived need to be on the top of the hierarchy. When religion is invoked as the rationale to go to war, it becomes more complex. Perhaps religion is misused to rouse the rabble, increase passions and make individuals willingly sacrifice themselves. For war to break out, compromise, communication and negotiation have already been thrown out the window, like the proverbial bath with the baby inside. Political leaders we get stuck with, through elections and whatever means in different societies, have gone radical, form alliances and pyschologically prepare their populace for the war. They deemphasise shared common values between opponents in a conflict - and can weave untruths to prop up the spirit of troops and civillians they will use as the price of war. It is always the older generation who send the younger generation to their demise. Veterans of the last world wide war, in their old age, still mutter " What was all the death and destruction for?". These aging survivors of horror and pain are convinced war is totally meaningless for the foot soldier and civillian. Yet, in the 21st century, threats of war rattling and beating of drums of conflict continue to be heard. Perhaps the damage in future wars can be less of human deaths, but more disabling of supply, energy and cyberspace networks. ICBMs, oh it sounds so 1970s, can now be supplemented by biological warfare - but in the end, it is the score of mass numbers of fatalties of human beings that are key indicators for the eventual victor. Maybe like the effects of a bush fire, human kind needs to be routed in order to grow better again. World wide forums set up for nations to cooperate over and resolve differences can be just money wasted to hold expensive Town Hall meetings. They did help over many matters over the past hundred years, but still were toothless and ineffective to prevent major hostilities. The severity of two intense world wars in the 20th century seem to be forgotten by a new generation of so called "leaders". "Those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat its mistakes." So, as civillians, as most of us are, what did we do to deserve suffering and destruction in the next major conflict? All it takes is for good women and men to do nothing, in the face of being possibly manipulated by egoistic individuals who urge us to go to war. The latter then retreat to their well protected bunkers, when the rest of us are highly likely to be fodder in this game of destructive chess. #yongkevthoughts

In Days of Yore

In days of yore, whenever huge problems like the spread of disease and weather changes swept over the land and the waters, it was deemed that the Heavens were angry and the rulers have not fulfilled their mandate to the people. Pestilence, floods, bush fires, prolonged drought and darkened skies, especially if they occurred one after another, were interpretated as sure signs of the displeasure of universal forces and the inability of the human powers that be in managing the best for society. In Australia, we have had it all except for the extent of Covid 19, which has thankfully not been a pandemic in this Antipodean federation of a nation. When you read the Old Testament, the final days of the Roman Empire, 19th century China, the decline of the Atzecs even before the Europeans arrived and the desertification of the Middle East, natural disasters, corruption, the weakening of moral fibre in society, lack of technological advantage and the delusion of men in power all seem to be common elements contributing to the decline of hitherto well run civilisations, empires or city states. Think of your own society or country where  you live. #yongkevthoughts

Observations on Covid Vaccines

1. Cross infection of Covid has occured before in quarantine hotels in Sydney and Melbourne - when will authorities learn? 2. Covid infected people can show no symptoms until later in the course of the infection. 3. There is no clarity that Covid vaccinated people cannot get infected, only show no or less symptoms of Covid. I reflect - I still can get infected with the common cold even after getting my dose of the related vaccine. 4. Covid contact tracing can be a useful tool, but can trigger sudden lockdowns, border restrictions and a flurry of more testing in Australian states. 5. Travellers can be caught in ensuing logistical consequences if they find themselves on the wrong side of Australian state borders. 6. The long term side effects, if any, of Covid vaccines are still unknown and yet to play out. Any so called medical or scientific interference with our human bodies take a longer time than these current crop of covid vaccines to be tested. So called "medical experts", bless them, have kept changing their advice and opinions on Covid since the pandemic began. 7. Covid vaccines started to be given out in desperation by governments unable to control the infection spread of Covid - and the need to revive the economy, air travel and consumer spending. 8. No liability is given by the Big Pharmas to us as their vaccines are approved by governments under emergency conditions. In Australia, Sco Mo has committed overly to Astra Zeneca vaccines and now seem to be pushing strongly to use millions of such dosages asap. 8. Governments and medical bureaucrats talk of weighing risks vs benefits of using the vaccines, but they may not be referring to our personal risks. 9. Any successful version of vaccines used in the past against a variety of diseases required a minimum of 5 years to mature. Our current arsenal of Covid vaccines require on going modification to tackle new and mutated strains. 10. Vaccine versions work best after the end of an outbreak, not during the course of a pandemic. The latter versions of vaccines do better manage any evolving mutations and strains of Coronavirus. 11. It can be a hard personal call and judgement to decide taking up these current Covid vaccines - preexisting health issues, our lifestyle exposure, whether we are on the frontline mixing with crowds everyday, whether our government restricts our movements if we are not vaccinated, whether we have Covid vulnerable people in our household, whether Covid infections are spreading in our community, etc. 12. At this stage, I would wait and monitor, never say never, never say yes immediately, we keep on thinking for ourselves. 13. And I am one who has been taking the well tried common cold flu jab every year, but more hesitant about the Covid vaccines. #yongkevthoughts

A Pause to Reflect

Covid19 is now spreading, end of April 2021, to even less equipped rural areas of India, after the tragic scenes news media beamed about what is happening in their cities. 

Under reported is the lack of preparedness and recent Covid case spikes in Nepal. The UK, USA, Brazil, Italy, South Africa and France have in the past 16 months experienced various levels of significant waves of infections - with differentiating and commonly shared levels of cause, reaction and management. What has been learnt for effective action to be taken in India, or has the proverbial horse already bolted there? 

A shared causative factor to accelerate the massive spread of Covid 19 is the interference and prioritisation of politics in several nations over sensible public health management.  The utter disregard for social distancing and the obvious lack of using anti-Covid protective gear, seen in masses of people gathering for election rallies, should have spelt the increased likelihood for the endemic disaster that is to come, or already has passed.  

Politically toned rallies driven on by strong societal and religious beliefs can contribute to outbreaks of infection.  Where such clusters have arisen, the ineffectual and untimely fencing of infection hotspots, for whatever reasons, has encouraged this rather infectious Covid 19 to travel to hitherto unaffected regions, for the spiked organism to continue to roam, chomp and mutate on more human hosts.

Local transmission of cases create so many subsequent pathways of infection in a multiplier effect.  

Another observed Canary in the coal mine syndrome, before cities and countries are engulfed in whatever waves of Covid that come and go, is the continuing and unrectified lack of organisation of authorities that oversee and are responsible for management of the pandemic.  Such utter distractions can be in the power driven arguments between individual States in a  Federation  and the central government - as to who is responsible for whom, what and how.  Another debacle can be seen in the Australian Federal Government since Covid 19 began, leaving many tasks to the various Australian state governments  - and when it took on its current responsibility to roll out vaccinations, it has shown its ineffectualness and lack of ability to even do this.

Increasingly there is also the factor of authorities and governments in denial, about facing head on the realities and challenges of Covid infections breaking out in their respective nations.   Some of it can be attributed to the mindsets of their powerful leaders, like in Brazil.  Other kinds of denial which later go on to bite such governments is their emphasis on economic benefits and financial imperatives, which  I also understand and appreciate.   An interesting scenario is faced by the Japanese Government in delaying and still hanging on the holding of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in July this year.   The ever changing of deadlines for enhanced air travel can be a persistent game play, dependent on cluster outbreaks, breaches of Covid contamination when quarantine venues are not handled properly and delays in being able able to vaccinate masses of people.

A no brainer, as to why a society faces a situation like India today, is the overwhelming lack of public infrastructure, supply of anti-Covid health antidotes and trained human resources.  We cannot blame developing countries for being stuck with such serious disadvantages on the cusp of a pandemic, but for so called rich nations to have such problems and not rectify them as soon as possible, is unforgiving.

After around sixteen months of battling Covid 19,  the world seems to be overly relying on newly developed and evolving vaccinations as the primary solution.   Most vaccines, if you want them,  have already become commodities which have supplies manipulated and controlled by manufacturers, the developed nations and the politically connected.   What if mutated strains overcome the efficacy and dependency of such vaccines?  

Many nations are focusing treating symptoms instead of putting more resources to find a cure - that is a big ask which takes more than a few years, I do admit.  

The more wealthy in any society have more means of avoiding infected, but the integrated nature of a powerful Coronavirus spread  can also not discriminate.   In nations such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, migrant workers, paid the lowest possible rates per hour, are employed extensively in households, markets, food stalls and restaurants.  The chain of transmission can be strengthened in connection amongst different activities of a day's routine for anyone, rich, middle class or poor.

So when you reflect on your own community or country, what is the score you will give to sense whether a serious outbreak of Covid is coming upon your horizon?

Politicisation above Health

Denial by Leadership

Cultural Imperatives

Organisational Ineptness

Infrastructural Deficiency

Inherent Lack of Relevant Supplies

Lack of Training for Frontliners

Corruption and misuse of public monies

Religious Imperatives

Inconsistent Exemptions to Rules and Policy

Social Structure and Demographics

Mixed and Changing Messaging by Authorities

IN the Asia-Pacific region, are there couplings of neighbouring nations that can be utilised in a beneficial manner to help each other out?   I am referring to possibly Papua New Guinea-Australia, Japan-China and Malaysia-Singapore.   Effective leadership is the common factor required to resolve this Covid crisis.  A good leader trumps over the worst of home politics, culture, poor bureaucracy, lack of resources, corruption, varying medical advice and geopolitics. 

 #yongkevthoughts

The Bonds That Bind

When we look at the map of the world, at times we can see certain patterns emerging in the affairs of geopolitics and society relationships. Here we look at twinning bondships between entities destined to be related by culture, history and geography. Canada and the USA were born from the age of conquest, colonialism and search for resources. Their borders are almost a straight clean cut line between their two territories. Yet they share a past of intense French and British rivalries, the stampede across Indigenous lands and culture, plus the westward push of settlement by adventurers and economic driven migrants. In the 21st century, Canadians have a distinct character from Americans - and yet they are intertwined on the world stage as part of the Five Eyes Alliance boosted by Washington D.C. to counter the rising powers of Russia and China. Britain oversaw an Empire where the sun did not set, but now has a reduced political, military and economic influence, with only 16 nations still recognising the British Monarch in their governance Constitutions. Its hitherto dominant future with continental Europe has hence changed with Brexit. The English Channel no longer unites but separates. Millennials love the previous rather easy access of entry either way between the EU and the UK, whether for weekend jaunts, jobs or Jamon ham, but alas this is no more. Britain may next have to pay more attention to citizens of other countries still loyal to the Crown, like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and small islands in the South Pacific, Carribean and Indian Oceans. Malaysia and Singapore are siblings who have gone so many separate ways. Both entities were born in the cauldron of colonialism, spice trade and geopolitics. The demographics in both nations consist of similar races but only in different numbers. Singapore is an island republic vulnerable to socio-political developments in constitutional monarchy Malaysia, from which it is separated by two short causeways. One nation has no natural resources but is a key shipping and aviation hub. The other has resources that stretch across Asia's southern most peninsular and the island of Borneo. Their separate histories since political independence is a minefield of contrasts in population management, macro economic dynamics and building of sovereign wealth. Australia and New Zealand continue to be the cradles of unpolluted produce, useful commodities and key minerals in demand. Both nations in the Antipodes still have Governor-Generals representing Queen Elizabeth II. One has a formalised treaty with its Indigenous peoples, the other still has a long road to go. The farmer, the herder and the miner are the heroes who established the foundations of each country. The government of Aetorea positions itself with a more independent stance in world politics, taking care of the unique intetests of an essentially small nation. The governments of Australia has followed the lead of the USA since the Pacific War, although the nation has a land size not much less than America, although hugely underpopulated. The ocean between these two countries is fondly referred to as the Ditch. The population of either Melbourne or Sydney can encompass the whole of New Zealand. Denizens of both nations share many common values and traits, but also differ on finer nuances. Both economies have in the past 20 years built up an inherent over trade and economic dependence on a rising China, but with their government leaders reacting with different sophistication levels. Taiwan lies off the mainland Fujian coast of China. This island was less significant in Chinese imperial history, until the Ming Dynasty and the arrival of the Portugese and Dutch seafarers and missionaries. It was colonised by Japan until the end of the Second World War and the arrival of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang escaping from the Communist victory in China in 1949. The USA has maintained a strong strategic interest in Taiwan as the island industralised and boomed economically as one of the Asian economic tigers. The spectacular financial, trade and economic growth of mainland China has since surpassed that of Taiwan. Pakistan and contemporary India were carved out of bureaucratic decisions made out of London in the late 1940s, but each continue to suffer the religious, social and political consequences to this very day. The land evolved from Hindu traditions and experienced significant Buddhist, Aryan, Persian and Mughal culture before succumbing to British imperialism. A base of a major civilisation, the two countries have been courted by conflicting world powers and each of its governments seem to fortify behind its different primary religious emphasis. Yet it has its people migrated overseas, making discernible and acknowledged impacts on medicine, politics and technology in western countries. #yongkevthoughts