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Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Harris pushes ahead with Vietnam visit; 'lip service in Asia trip can't save US tainted image'

 American rules-based order only serves Washington's hegemony: Chinese diplomat

 

 The Vietnam War 1945–1975: “Napalm Girl”
 
US Vice President Kamala Harris (left) and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hold a joint news conference in Singapore on Monday during Harris' visit to the country. The two sides reached a series of agreements at combating cyberthreats, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating supply chain issues. Photo: VCG
 

https://youtu.be/LT9sv0mEgd0

 
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and experts blasted US Vice President Kamala Harris' remarks which accused China of "intimidation" in the South China Sea and undermining the rules-based order, saying that US rules-based order means "arbitrary intervention" in sovereign countries considering what is happening in Afghanistan.

` Despite intensive visits by senior US officials to Southeast Asia recently, the US "lip service" diplomacy in enhancing the US' presence in the Asia-Pacific region will only end up in vain amid its collapsing image over its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, severely weighing on its "America's back" strategy, which underscores that the US' so-called rules-based order only serves its own hegemony, Chinese experts said.

` Harris rebuked China during a speech in Singapore on Tuesday, accusing the country of coercion and intimidation on the question of the South China Sea, and claiming that the actions of the Chinese government continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations, Bloomberg reported.

` The senior US official also noted that the US engagement in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific is not against any country, nor is it designed to make anyone choose between countries, according to the media report. Harris, eager to woo allies in a bid to counter China, pushed ahead with the trip to Vietnam on Tuesday after a three-hour delay in Singapore due to an unexplained health incident potentially related to the mysterious Havana Syndrome, Reuters reported.

` Southeast Asia has been witnessing an "American comeback" in recent months as several senior officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, paid visits in quick succession to the region. The latest visit of Harris to Singapore and Vietnam is considered US renewed efforts in lobbying Southeast Asian nations in confronting China, playing the role of disrupter in the region for its own security and economic interests.

` "What is happening in Afghanistan clearly demonstrates that the US' so-called 'rules-based order' is a way to arbitrarily intervene militarily in a sovereign country without being held responsible for the suffering of its people," said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday during a routine press conference in response to Harris' remarks.

` The US can come and go whenever it wants without consulting the international community, or even its allies. It can smear, suppress, coerce and bully other countries at will without paying any price just to keep America first - that is the order the US wants, Wang said.

` When many compared the scene in Kabul airport with America's ignominious retreat from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, some experts said that Harris' "lip service" diplomacy in courting Southeast Asian countries will not save the US from its unprecedented crisis of credibility among allies following its Afghan retreat.

`


` When Harris is in Vietnam, the Vietnam people surely will not forget how the US escaped from Saigon, and the Vietnam party and government deeply understand America's conduct and behavior. They will not echo the US call to provoke China and damage Vietnam-China relations, Lü Xiang, a research fellow in US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

` Even before the US fiasco in Afghanistan which has damaged its image, most Southeast Asian countries did not choose sides between China and the US despite the continuous lobbying of US officials in the region, not only because Southeast Asian countries usually adopt more balanced foreign policies regarding major powers, but also many are not convinced by the empty promises made by Washington.

`

` Given the momentum of China-ASEAN trade growth during the pandemic, the US feels anxious. Harris' visit signals a US reiteration of its "promises" to the region in the hope to enhance security cooperation with the region and push Southeast Asia to decouple with China, but Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, questioned to what extent such tactics can work to serve the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy.

` The US sees Singapore and Vietnam as two "partners" that it can work with but the two have close economic connections with China and supply chain decoupling would be very difficult, Xu told the Global Times on Tuesday.

` The US wants to use such high-level visits to pacify its partners and make them believe that the US will not leave the region, but it lacks the resources to achieve its overly ambitious goal, Xu said, noting the chaos in Afghanistan was so vivid that Southeast Asian countries will definitely use that to evaluate how reliable the US' promises are.

` US defense chief Lloyd Austin completed a week-long visit to Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines in late July. Austin started his tour with hard-line remarks against China in Singapore, but this stance was not embraced by leaders of Southeast Asian countries.

` Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned earlier in August over the US against aggressively challenging China, saying Washington's increasingly hard-line views could be "very dangerous," according to the AFP.

` Harris' China-related position has not been openly echoed by leaders in Singapore, which shows that Southeast Asian countries have no intention of being hijacked by US Indo-Pacific strategy in wrestling with China, and some will continue to strike a balance between China and the US, Lü noted.

` "As long as they realize the role of US is not constructive, which only consumes diplomatic resources, they will further understand the US only serves as a regional disrupter rather than a contributor in Southeast Asia," he said.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Open that window! Because fresh air can help lessen the spread of a virus and prevent infections

Fresh air can help stop infection

We need more emphasis on the need for good ventilation to avoid transmitting Covid-19.

 

University Kebangsaan Malaysia researchers have shown that the virus causing Covid-19 can remain in the air for up to eight hours in enclosed, poorly-ventilated spaces. This is why it is so important to open the window and bring in fresh air from outside. — dpa

 WASH your hands. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve heard that constantly. But tell me, how often do you hear: “Open the window”?

` We’ve fussed over sanitising, sterilising and disinfecting to prevent the virus from spreading. But what about ventilation? Where is the fuss to bring fresh air to indoor spaces to clear contaminated air?

` Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much into washing hands – ask my children, who’ve heard that for years. But people get infected with Covid-19 mainly from the air they breathe, so why doesn’t ventilation get greater attention?

` People infected with Covid-19 release the virus when they exhale – and in high concentrations when they hack, cough, sneeze, shout or sing. In a closed room, the concentration of virus particles can build up along with the risk of infection. Covid-19 is said to spread with the “3 Cs” – crowded places, confined spaces and close conversation.

` Air-conditioners that recirculate air may become transmitters of disease. In one well-known case in a restaurant in China, 10 people sitting at three different tables got infected from one person, due to the air flow of the air-con blowing virus particles about.

` Over the last year, experts have hotly contested how Covid-19 spreads, in a debate over big droplets vs aerosols (tiny airborne droplets). Health organisations now increasingly accept the major role of airborne transmission. Such details may seem trifling, but the implications are huge. Droplets fall quickly to surfaces, like raindrops; aerosols can remain suspended in the air for hours and move with air currents, like dust particles. This means that you could walk into a closed room and breathe in virus particles left behind hours ago by an infected person.

` This is why ventilation is so critical – more so with the highly infectious Delta variant raging across the country.

` Studies last year by University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) researchers have shown that the virus causing Covid-19 can remain in the air for up to eight hours in enclosed, poorly-ventilated spaces – and that the virus can also travel as far as 6m in aerosols.

` “This is why it is so important to open the window and bring in fresh air from outside – it will dilute the contaminated indoor air inside,” explains ventilation expert Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Shahrul Mohd Nadzir, from UKM’s Centre for Earth Sciences & Environment, who led the studies.

` Ideally, a cross-breeze is needed, so air moves from a window across the room.

` But what if windows can’t be opened? High-rise buildings and shopping malls have central air-conditioners with a ventilation system bringing air in from outside. But such systems need to be monitored and maintained says Dr Shahrul, adding that servicing may not be as easy as most aircons in homes. And they may be inadequate, for instance in malls during festive seasons.

` Also problematic are offices or restaurants with air-conditioners that recirculate air and have no ventilation systems. These could be potential superspreader sites.

` In May, the Singapore government issued detailed guidelines on ventilation in enclosed spaces. The key takeaway: Open the windows and turn off the aircon as often as possible. Also, run exhaust fans at full capacity in closed areas such as toilets.

` “We need to start monitoring indoor air quality to ensure good ventilation so we can prevent indoor clusters,” Dr Shahrul says, adding that air quality sensors can provide continuous monitoring.

` Clean air matters for Covid-19 – there is a strong correlation between air pollutants and Covid-19, which both cause respiratory problems. Moreover, ultrafine particles in the air can potentially carry SARS-CoV-2, as shown by Dr Shahrul’s UKM team in a study published by the Nature Scientific Reports journal early this year.

` Areas with poor indoor air quality could have more ultrafine particles, increasing the risks of Covid-19 transmission. Attached to these particles, the virus could travel over longer distances, explains Dr Shahrul, adding that this occurs with other respiratory viruses.

` The risks of transmission are also higher if many people are in a confined indoor space with poor ventilation. Indeed, we have seen explosive spread in the cramped conditions in which migrant workers live and work.

` The UKM team aims to do a study on air quality on public transport. Buses and LRT/MRT trains have ventilation systems, but when packed, these may be inadequate.

` Dr Shahrul says air purifiers with true Hepa (high efficiency particulate air) filters can help clean air. But he adds: “I wouldn’t simply trust any air purifier brand, they must use a good, proven filter.”

` The other protective measure is, of course, to wear proper, fitting masks (ideally N95 or FFP2, ie masks that filter particulates).

` The pandemic has highlighted a long-standing problem: the need for better ventilation systems and regulations.

` “Human spend 90% of their lives indoors compared with outdoors. We definitely need much stronger regulations on ventilation,” says Dr Shahrul.

` For now, the best way to protect ourselves from Covid-19 (aside from vaccination) may be what renowned infectious disease expert Dr Michael Osterholm says: “Stop swapping air” with others outside your trusted circle of contacts.

` - Mangai Balasegaram writes mostly on health, but also delves into anything on being human. She has worked with international public health bodies and has a Masters in public health. Write to her at lifestyle@thestar.com.my. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

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Monday, August 23, 2021

WhatsApp, Friends Reunion, missing parcels: Here’s how scammers are stealing money from netizens

 

In its report titled ‘Spam and Phishing in Q2 2021’, researchers from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky have detailed how scammers used WhatsApp for tricking users into giving up their hard-earned money in the past quarter. — AFP

 

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging platforms on the Earth. It is used by over two billion users across the world to send around 100 billion messages every month.

` Unfortunately, its popularity among users also makes it popular among scammers who are constantly looking for new tricks to dupe innocent netizens. Now, a new report by Kaspersky has shed some light on the tricks that the fraudsters have been using to steal users’ money.

` In its report titled ‘Spam and Phishing in Q2 2021’, researchers from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky have detailed how scammers used WhatsApp for tricking users into giving up their hard-earned money in the past quarter.

` “Victims were asked, for example, to take a short survey about WhatsApp and to send messages to several contacts in order to receive a prize. 

Another traditional scam aims to persuade the user that they are the lucky winner of a tidy sum. Both scenarios end the same way: the scammers promise a large payout, but only after receiving a small commission,” the company wrote in its report.

` Another method used is sending messages through email. “Emails with a link pointing to a fake WhatsApp voice message most likely belong to the same category. 

By following it, the recipient risks not only handing over their personal data to the attackers, but also downloading malware to their computer or phone,” the company added.

` Notably, WhatsApp is just one of the many ways that these fraudsters used to defraud innocent users. Yet another method that they used for tricking people is called parcel scam, which was one of the most common tricks that they used in the past quarter. 

They used invoices from mail companies, including custom duties and shipment costs, to make Internet users pay a small sum to get their packages.

` “When trying to pay for the service, as with compensation fraud, victims were taken to a fake website, where they risked not only losing the amount itself (which could be far higher than specified in the email), but also spilling their bank card details,” the cybersecurity experts wrote in the report.

` Fraudsters also used Friends: The Reunion to defraud Internet users. Kaspersky researchers found fake sites supposedly hosting Friends: The Reunion. 

“Fans who tried to watch or download the long-awaited continuation were redirected to a Columbia Pictures splash screen. After a few seconds, the broadcast stopped, replaced by a request to pay a nominal fee,” the report added. – Hindustan Times, New Delhi/Tribune News Service

`
` Source link

 

Spam and phishing in Q2 2021 - Securelist

WhatsApp users’ phone numbers and chats exposed on Google

 

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Saturday, August 21, 2021

The economics of politics: Malaysia's leaders should put the people's interests before their own !

 


THE Sengoku period (also known as the “Warring States period”) of Japan from 1467 to 1615 is a period of great turbulence and unrest due to endless civil war and social upheaval.

` It came about as a result of a political vacuum when the Ashikaga Shogunate collapsed. Advancement of technology during this period also contributed to new warfare. Europeans arriving at the shores of Japan in 1543 introduced the “arquebus”, a type of long gun of its time. It was the same weaponry used by the Portuguese when they invaded the Sultanate of Malacca in 1511.

` I find this period of Japanese history especially fascinating, as this is where samurai warlords such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to prominence. Nobunaga was the leading figure and is recognised as one of the “Three Great Unifiers” of Japan. Coming from a relatively small, Oda clan, he became the most powerful Daimyo (feudal lord) of his time. Due to his adoption of “arquebus” and prowess in war, he was a potent force fighting towards a unification of all of Japan.

` He was succeeded by Hideyoshi, after being forced to commit seppuku in Kyoto when a retainer samurai general, Akechi Mitsushide, launched a coup. Hideyoshi was Nobunaga’s loyal general who rose through the ranks from a foot soldier. He completed Nobunaga’s unification agenda from the existing foundation laid and became the de facto leader of his time.

` Sadly, blinded by his political ambition to expand territories beyond Japan, he launched an ill-fated Korean invasion which damaged Japan’s own domestic economy due to prolonged military stalemate.

` After his death, his five-year-old son, Toyotami Hideyori, succeeded him under the guidance of a Council of Five Regents. It wasn’t until 17 years later before the conflict between Toyotami loyalist supporting Hideyori as a rightful ruler of Japan and Ieyasu, the regent and most influential Daimyo then, imploded leading to the Battle of Sekigahara. Ieyasu won and it ushered 250 years of peace and economic growth known as the Edo Period (Tokugawa Era).

` As our country is in the midst of a second major political impasse after only 18 months and looking to have its third government in three years, this raises the issue of the cost of politics towards our country’s economy and its overall wellbeing.

` Looking back, the Sengoku period was a time of political turmoil where espionage, betrayals and revenge were ordinary course of daily business. It is no different from modern politics today minus the bloodshed. The whole cloak-and-dagger operations beneath the glamorous guise of democracy today hinges on personal interests over the greater good of the people. Hence, almost always the people end up paying the greatest price in the economics of politics.

` The current geopolitical issue in Afghanistan is a clear testament of the cost of politics and poor foreign policy of the United States. After spending US$1 trillion (RM4.2 trillion) of taxpayers’ money, sacrificing 2,448 Americans lives with 20,722 more wounded over 20 years, the longest spanning foreign war in the US’ history is officially drawing to a close. However, at what cost?

` The withdrawal of troops has a left a vacuum in Afghanistan where the “elected” government was overran by armed Taliban. Even president Ashraf Ghani fled the country with cars and choppers filled with cash. The innocent citizens of Afghanistan are left to fend for themselves, while those deemed pro-American are fearing for their lives. Innocent people of both countries paid the ultimate price for US disastrous foreign policy which benefited nobody except weapons manufacturers, arms dealers, pro-war politicians and lobbyist. This is the real cost of politics on full display.

Afghan President Flees with 4 Cars & Helicopter Full of Cash


`
`
` Of course, there are economics positives that comes out from politics too. After all, politicians plays the role of lawmakers of a country and policies crafted will have direct consequences on the economics of a nation (refer to China’s GDP Growth chart below).


` Deng Xiaoping, the de facto paramount leader of China inherited a country when it was suffering from poverty and ill effects of policies such as the “Great Leap Forward” and “Cultural Revolution” implemented during Mao-era. He instituted a series of reforms including the most crucial “Opening Up of China” (Gai Ge Kai Fang) which pivoted China from a planned economy to a socialist market economy (also known as socialist capitalism).

` I remembered asking my economics professor in LSE years ago, “who is your favourite economist of all time?” Without hesitation, he said “Deng Xiaoping. This man may be small in size but he is enormous in stature. He is great because he had the vision to institute economic reforms steering from old ways for the world’s most populous nation. By doing so, he saved countless of lives.”

` Relating to the current political predicament in our country, I realised how Deng Xiaoping was not your ordinary politician. Unknown to many, he did not actually hold official leadership position in Government or the Chinese Communist Party when he was instituting reforms. Yet, his policies from 1978 onwards laid the foundation for what would make China the second largest economy and superpower of the world today. He is a statesman without honorifics, position and title.

` China’s GDP Growth Chart shown in the above

` Economics and politics always go hand in hand. Both cannot be looked at in isolation. While there are many negative economic indicators for our country at present such as Fitch Solution’s latest 2021 GDP growth forecast downgrade to zero or other rankings which point towards our country’s rapid decline in comparison to regional peers, one should not despair and be overly pessimistic.

` Our country was a beacon of democracy in South East Asia when there was a peaceful transfer of power in 2018 from a regime that ruled for 61 years since Merdeka. Of course, today’s political quandary exposes the flaws within the system but fail safes can be implemented if the leaders are willing to put the people’s interests before their own.

` Japan did not get to where they are today overnight. It was a civilization that went through the bloody Sengoku period. It also showed us that before an era of peace and prosperity comes along, there will be times of turbulence.

` Rest assure, history has shown as society progresses through education and learning from the mistakes of the past, it will mature. That is my hope for the country.

` Ng Zhu Hann, is the author of Once Upon A Time In Bursa. He is a lawyer & former Chief Strategist of a Fortune 500 Corporation. The views expressed here are his own.

Hann Ng - Managing Partner - Hann Partnership | LinkedIn

NG ZHU HANN

 

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Friday, August 20, 2021

US virus probe a ‘deflection’, ‘applying presumption of guilt’

 


US lab-leak probe seeks predestined result - Chinadaily.com.cn

 

US COVID-19 origins probe: Chronicle of a political witch-hunt foretold 

 Origin-tracing. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

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Foreign Ministry says Washington ‘applying presumption of guilt’

 BEIJING: Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the United States cares nothing about facts or truth, but only about how to exhaust and smear China by launching an investigation over the so-called “lab leak theory” that presumes China is guilty.

` Zhao made the remark on Wednesday after media reports cited informed sources as saying that the US intelligence agency still intends to release a report that makes up misleading conclusions over Covid-19 origins, despite the lack of concrete proof, and that high-level US officials believe the real purpose is to hype up the origin investigation with the aim of exhausting China’s diplomatic resources and increasing US leverage regarding China.

` “If the media reports are true, the US report will be a statement of confession that shows that Washington is deliberately applying presumption of guilt,” Zhao told reporters in Beijing.

` According to the Global Times, Washington is ramping up pressure to coerce international scientists and to rope in allies and World Health Organisation members to smear China over virus origins to beat the 90-day deadline for intelligence officials set by US President Joe Biden.

` The newspaper said it was told by a source that the US will collude with the European Union, Australia and Japan to issue a statement on the second phase of investigation.

` The spokesman said that by going all out to smear China, the US is trying to deflect the international community’s attention from Fort Detrick in the US and other bio labs it owns abroad.

` “What is the US trying to hide?” Zhao said, while also urging the US to clear suspicion over these bio labs’ relation to outbreaks of such diseases such as plague, anthrax and Middle East respiratory syndrome. — China Daily/ANN , adding that the US should invite the WHO to carry out a COVID-19 origins investigation in the US, particularly at Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina. -- China Daily/ANN

` Source link` ` 

 

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