JANUARY 2017

CHINA.

I have always had the greatest respect for the political nous of the Chinese.  Donald seems equally adept.

China has got Donald's unspoken message. As follows:

"I am of the opinion that the artificial islands were always intended as research bases.  Probably China will offer space on them to world scientists as "research facilities" to study fish habitats and weather patterns etc.  They could also serve commercial purposes such as holiday stops, gambling havens, and "safe havens" for fishermen of all nations that are exposed to tropical cyclones.  Maybe even a university?  To suggest that they might stake a claim to exclusive rights over the South China sea and it's resources is surely a misinterpretation of their intent.

Taiwan is to blame for the Trump conversation."

Under the above scenario, nobody loses face.

Despite his near absolute powers, Engineer Xi must tread carefully.

The Chinese people have a different way way of changing regimes to our western Democracies.  In China a leader is considered to have "The Mandate of Heaven".  When a leader loses the mandate of heaven he will face the combined revolutionary force of the Chinese people.

And losing "face" is quite often an indication of a loss of the mandate of heaven.

COUNCIL MERGERS..

In November 2015 I wrote a long letter to Mike Baird objecting to council mergers.

My local Woollahra Mayor, Toni Meltzer, has taken the matter to the NSW court of appeal and lost, and is now taking the matter to the High Court,  Pity the Privy Council is not available.

I see merging as nothing more than a political power grab by the major parties.  At the moment local government is dominated by local personalities.  Make the council voting pool bigger, and logic suggests that organized party structures will come to dominate.

Mike is probably still smarting from his failed takeover of Clover country.  (snigger).

My suggestion to Toni is that

• Council organize some sort of poll (maybe "online") using rate notice numbers or somesuch as passwords. With reasonable security such a poll might be admissible evidence at the High Court.
  
• Toni encourage somebody to start a new political party with the aim of "incorporating" NSW councils along the US model.

ABC.

I was a welded on watcher of the early (5AM-9AM) 24hr news ABC. Then Virginia arrived, and I switched to Allan Jones.  Recently Allan has been unwell (This is your get well card Allan) and I have been forced to rely on Murdoch and Drudge.

Then Virginia went off air.  (Maybe it is only for the Christmas - NY break.  Hopefully it's forever!).  In which latter case TY to Michelle Guthrie & Malcolm Turnbull. Or perhaps thanks should go to that person whom she has at least twice denigrated on air (once was by questioning the IQ of his followers) since his election?

27/1 Well Virginia is back. Let us hope the new ABC director will move her. And maybe he/she will stop concentrating overseas news input away from liberal bias AlJazeera and CNN networks.  At the very least, take equal time from FOX, which had a larger prime time cable rating audience in US than CNN + MSNBC in August 2016. (or is it that CNN and AlJazeera charge less?)

NSW POWER PRICES.

Our neighbouring states SA and Victoria have mostly closed their (brown) coal fired power stations. Queensland is set to close coal/gas fired power stations.

So where do our neighbours plan to get their power when it's dark and there is no wind?  I think you might have guessed it.

As a NSW resident that is OK by me. Except I am a tiny bit worried.  I hope that the power companies do not turn on consumers in NSW and boost our coal fired power prices because of the increased out of state demand.  If those outlying states want to have cleaner air and hear the dulcet sound of windmills (well away from their population centres I assume) then that is their choice.  But if they want our power at the cost of our clean air, and their demand raises our prices, then I would like our state government to regulate the local price of electricity so NSW consumers are not disadvantaged (i.e. made to pay more) so that Vic & SA & Qld users can feel virtuous and have cleaner air (according to 97% of climate scientists).

Call it a "pollution" tax which compensates NSW residents for the extra pollution generated in our state so that SA, Vic & Qld residents can live in a less polluted environment.

INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES.

Donald has chosen "Mad Dog" Mattis for defence.  Mattis found symmetry in the situations in Crimea and the South China sea.

The situations are totally different.  The S. China sea is a territorial matter.  Crimea is a people matter.

People matters can be settled by a plebiscite.  If a majority of citizens want to be independent, or allied to another state, then the question should be put.  Preferably by an independent arbitrator.  The Crimeans were given a plebiscite and overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.  If the issue becomes heated, Russia should permit an international observer for a second plebiscite.

Territorial matters over empty (but resource rich) oceans are more complicated.  Ownership used to be "continental shelf" determined.  Now it is the halfway point between settled land.  That is why the Chinese are building artificial islands.  They can then claim resources to the midpoint between that island and surrounding nations.  Under the Obama administration no objections were raised.  Trump is made of different stuff.

SOLUTIONS

People matters or independence movements appear all over the world, and are a major cause of terrorism.  My suggestion is that the UN provide an online "plebiscite" service so that minorities who want a partition can get online and make a case for independence.  Sure, no national government wants to control a shrinking state, but really it should be about human rights, not who owns more peasants.

States where a partition has occurred are East Timor, Sudan, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Singapore, Israel, Crimea, Ireland.  States where a partition would probably stop or greatly reduce terrorism are Turkey, Myanmar, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kashmir, Nigeria and various African states to the north.

Territorial matters are more complex.  A legal sharing solution should perhaps involve historical precedent, continental shelves, distance from coast, median distance, weighted median distance (where population centre is a factor.)

MEDIA.

Donald accused the CIA of disclosing the content of briefings when a file, purporting to be about Russian blackmail material, was shown to him. He said that he had kept his staff unaware of that briefing, so the CIA must have leaked it.

The Media (who published the report, including the information that the CIA had shown it to Trump) claimed that the file was "in the public domain anyway".

Does the media think I am stupid or something?  Anybody (even I) can make up a report with dirty pix and all.  So what?

But if I could persuade the CIA to show it to the prez, and knew that had happened, hey that is NEWS.

As for the pix showing crowds at the inauguration.  Really shows the Media attitude doesn't it?  "Trump had smallest crowd at inauguration".  Not something you say about someone you like.

Then there is Trump's plan to probe voter fraud.  All that we in Australia hear is CNN who only quote those who say there was no evidence.

We in Australia have a federally controlled voting system.  We must vote by law, and will be fined if we do not vote.  When I was travelling in California, I was approached by a lady who was at a voting booth.  "Would you like to vote?" she asked.  "I am not a citizen. I am Australian" I responded.  She did not seem to think that mattered,  "Vote anyhow" was her response.

So no. I think the US system could do with a bit of a cleanup.  Maybe have everybody identified before voting with facial recognition technology.

The Elite do like their secrets.  On Manning and Wikileaks they hated the hacking.  No matter that the secrets revealed were undeniable truths.  When it comes to the TPP they enforced secrecy (That is why I am so against the TPP.  Why couldn't they negotiate that treaty openly so we could see what was being negotiated real time?).  When it comes to Brexit the Elitists who control the UK parliament say they want a white paper before enabling article 50 (Brexit).  Sounds like a plan to stop Brexit to me.

And the Chinese elite are just as bad, except the poor citizens are even more under the thumb of engineer Xi.  News is the great firewall is being strengthened, and independent journalists are being jailed.

Government.

NSW Premier Mike Baird has quit. Let us hope Gladys (the new premieress) cancels amalgamations.

Not that I expect it.  Our Elite does not want to surrender power.

I guess I will just vote for Pauline and preference everyone else, Labour and Liberal and Nats last.

I will not be at all surprised when Labour makes a coalition with Liberal.  It's logical. Because both Labour and the Liberal-Nationals are controlled by the Elite.

Power at any cost.

Australia Day is now a dead loss.  Aboriginals hate it (Invasion Day) and a whole lot of money is spent by Politicians honouring themselves as the most important contributors to our nation, followed by very badly researched honours to scientists (good idea, badly done) and various people from so called "disadvantaged" groups.(not good).

And all of this is done on our ABC where various politicians extol themselves and bore the s**t out of anybody who has the TV on waiting for something of interest to be broadcast (which is a disappearing quality on the Australian Broadcasting Commission).  Fact is, SBS is a better provider of news than the ABC which seems to concentrate on left wing opinionistas.

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