GAZA AID CONVOY

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on June 3, 2010 11:30 AM

1. The Israelis claim that the activists on the M.V. Mavi Marmara had attacked their commandos with guns, iron rods, scissors and pointed sticks.

2. The last time Free Gaza sent a small boat to take relief supplies to Gaza, Israeli commandos boarded it and towed it to Ashdod.

3. The activists must know that the same thing might happen to them. But it is ridiculous to suggest that the civilian activists planned to fight against the well-armed and well-trained Israelis.

4. Claiming that the activists attacked the commandos first is equally ridiculous. The forces ranged against them were powerful and enormous, capable of sinking their boats. The Israelis have been known to ram supply boats with their armoured naval vessels. What is clear is that the Israeli's were the ones to attack first by dropping their commandos from the helicopter.

5. The Israelis claim that the activists seized the pistols belonging to the commandos. Again this is ridiculous. These are trained soldiers, wearing protective armour and most certainly skilled in unarmed combat. It is most unlikely that raw activists can disarm and seize the guns of the black-suited commandos.

6. In any case, shooting with live bullets against a group of civilians probably armed with wooden sticks is unjustified. The hazy pictures shown by the Israel propagandist of rods being used may not be iron rods at all. They could be wooden sticks as the pictures are dark silhouettes which cannot be identified as activists or soldiers.

7. Our Malaysian reporter who has been released and is in Jordan tells of wooden sticks and water jets from fire-hoseswhich were used by the activists. His story is much more credible. But knowing the Israelis, they will continue to lie about their criminal acts even if they are seen to be committing them by the whole world.

8. Incidentally, the Rachel Corrie is named after a brave 23 year old American girl who stood in front of a bulldozer which was about to destroy a Palestinian house. The Israeli operator of the bulldozer simply ran over her and killed her. This is the standard behaviour of Israelis. The much condemned Chinese faced with the same situation, stopped his tank.

9. It is no surprise that the Israeli commandos would readily kill unarmed civilians. This is the degree of their arrogance. Their sufferings during the holocaust has not made them better humans. They are worse than the Nazis.

SHORT SELLING

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on June 1, 2010 3:55 PM

1. Some people in Malaysia particularly those involved with the stock markets seem keen to legalise what is called "short selling". Basically short selling is about selling shares or currencies or other assets that the seller does not have with the expectation that the sale would push the prices down. Once the price is down the seller would then buy to deliver to the earlier buyers he had sold to at a higher price.

2. Short selling is not speculation. It is manipulation of the market with almost certain success to be had. Other investors or buyers would lose money as they would be left holding the devalued shares or money or whatever.

3. Malaysia had banned short selling in the past. We regarded it as unfair and damaging to genuine investors.

4. I read in the Financial Times of 24th May that "Europe plans ban on naked short selling". Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor has unilaterally banned "naked shorting of Eurozone sovereign debt instruments and shares of 10 German banks". This has caused a "financial turmoil" meaning the short sellers are unhappy that they cannot manipulate the market anymore. Merkel asked how people can sell something they don't have.

5. The Europeans and the Americans are still hoping to keep all the "financial products" which they must know are what precipitated the current crisis. They are still refusing to review, modify or discard the monetary, banking and financial systems that they had devised and which they abused in order to get rich quick.

6. If we in Malaysia or other developing countries were to have this state of mind, then they would say that we are in a state of denial. And some locals will also echo their words.

7. I have no say in the Government but I think Governments should take note that not copying the West is not a sure recipe for failure.

8. In fact we should not consult Western people in the running of our country. They don't know our situation and their advice would not be good for us.

9. And we should note that even when they know a lot about the affairs of their own countries, they often bungle things. It is they who messed up the world's finances.

10. We are not always right of course. But I think we know our situation better than foreign consultants. We know our situation and the character of our prople. What may be good for the West may not necessarily be goof for us. Besides we know now that the very developed west can make very many horrible mistakes.

11. I will leave it at that.