War in Bolihland

Day in day out we hear, read and talk about 1MDB and its attackers and defenders. It's obviously war, and war of the dirtiest kind.

Now, we even read about DAP's Tony Pua being stopped from going abroad, and of an ex DAP member (stress on 'ex'), Tony Tan, alleging that Pua has put (Tan used the word 'parked) RM3 million in the overseas account of Tan's wife.

Incidentally the bloke who had arranged for Tony Tan to speak out against Tony Pua is Ramesh Rao Krishnan Naidu, the same bloke who had brought Lester Melanyi out with the latter's stories and videos against Clare Rewcastle-Brown behind the recent controversial 1MDB-Sarawak Report.

Maybe Ramesh is Najib's answer to The Black Ninja of Dr Mahathir?

Meanwhile Rewcastle-Brown has described herself as a 'do-gooder' who has got a bit between her teeth (meaning she's doing what she needs to be done in a forceful and energetic way) and who's being oppressed by rich, powerful and very ruthless people in Malaysia whom she has crossed with her exposures on 1MDB.

No, she didn't say that one of the rich, powerful and very ruthless people had spoken to her, wakakaka. And I have to say I am very much astonished by her description of herself as a 'do-gooder' which, incidentally I might have agreed to if she had been doing her reporting on Sarawak and the state's forest management, the raison d'etre for her Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak.

But her change from reporting on Sarawak and its beautiful forests to 1MDB came uncomfortably with her seen association with you-know-who wakakaka who has said quite openly he wants to depose Najib from the PM's position, so I still have some questions as to her motive. RPK wrote a piece on that (allegedly her motives) in his CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN: THE PROBER NOW BEING PROBED.

We no longer knows who's lying, fabricating and manipulating what, or who's really telling the truth, or who's somewhere in between, wakakaka? And even if we think we do, we sometimes wonder whether our own beliefs are well founded and not biased and influenced by our own political inclinations.

In fact I had a post on this, our own prejudiced weakness, published on 17 June 2015 but titled cryptically as Wasting precious pearls - 'cryptically' because I fear some didn't understand what I had meant, wakakaka. Let me provide one example about what 'casting pearls before swine' means.

About a month back there was a report of a Chinese naval vessel parked for apparently 2 years at James Shoal which is 50 nautical miles (nm) off the Sarawakian coast. I saw some media interactive forums populated with deprecating comments about the hopeless Malaysian government and useless Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) for not taking action against the Chinese naval vessel stationed there.

OK, fair enough on those comments as most initially didn't know what was involved. BUT then, a few commentators joined in to point out that while the Malaysian EEZ was 200 nm off our coast, Malaysian territorial waters only extend to 12 nm off our national shores, and that James Shoal (at 50 nm from the Sarawakian coast) was outside Malaysian territorial waters. They even explained the difference between EEZ and territorial waters, saying that our navy couldn't do anything because the Chinese vessel was in international waters, provided of course the Chinese sailors didn't dig up our oil, gas, ore, bullshit and sheer muddy ignorance from the sea and seabed around James Shoal.

But golly be, even after those few commentators pointed out that that James Shoal was outside Malaysian territorial waters, and the difference between EEZ and territorial waters, those feral commentators continued their tirade against the Malaysian government and RMN as if those notes on why our navy or government couldn't do anything didn't exist. Yea, no one nor facts were going to stop them from a bloody good rant against our government and navy. Of course their vile rants included the to-be-expected raves about our unsinkable submarines, wakakaka.

That's what's meant by 'casting pearls (of good explanatory information) before (unappreciative moronic) swines'.

Okay back to our issues - Maybe it's worthwhile examining the actions of the two warring parties, wakakaka, against the principles of war and how well each has been applying them. For today we'll examine just the first and MOST important principle:

Selection and Maintenance of the Aim

A single, unambiguous aim is the keystone of successful military operations. Selection and maintenance of the aim is regarded as the master principle of war.

During WWII, Hitler balls-ed it up when he (personally and interferingly) turned the Luftwaffe's primary aim of destroying the RAF's radar and fighter bases towards bombing London and its civilian population instead, just because a RAF bomber had accidentally bombed Berlin.

By his silly hubristic vengeance he f*-up the Luftwaffe's 'selection and maintenance of aim', thus allowing the RAF to not only recover and regroup its fighter squadrons and pilots and return them to full strength but more importantly, to save its vital and crucial radar network. These subsequently won the Battle of Britain for them.

And Winston Churchill would then not have the occasion to say his immortal words of "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", eulogising the RAF fighter pilots which included many foreign (non-British non-Commonwealth) pilots especially the Poles.

A salutary lesson to never let forget the primary war principle of 'selection and maintenance of the aim'.

Well, obviously Team M (wakakaka) has selected as its aim the exposure of 1MDB to defeat Najib, but I sometimes wonder whether it is still maintaining this aim as I could from time to time read Team M going off in different directions, like accusing Najib for being a proxy of the Singaporeans, wakakaka. But WTF has Sing got to do with 1MDB?

Aiyoyo, has he allowed his personal prejudice against the lil' red dot to divert his selected war aim against Najib?

Thus it's not only about selecting a war aim (which I think Team M has done well) but also maintaining that aim (which is another story altogether).

What about Team N then? wakakaka.

It appears its selected aim is to discredit its accusers on 1MDB. Team N has been slow off the mark and it has only done its counter-attack recently so we need to wait a while to see whether it'll maintain its aim steadfastly (unless it's defeated before that).

We now have Rewcastle-Brown on the defensive. I'm sure you can make out the rest's actions and make some conclusions or at least primary assessments on them, wakakaka.

As I said earlier, we no longer knows who's lying, fabricating and manipulating what, or who's really telling the truth, or who's somewhere in between, wakakaka?

And it won't necessarily be the truthful ones who will win. War is such a bitch!