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China Steps In as World's New Bank

Article here

Thanks to China, Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund, Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank and Takehiko Nakao of the Asian Development Bank may no longer have much meaningful work to do.

Beijing's move to bail out Russia, on top of its recent aid for Venezuela and Argentina, signals the death of the post-war Bretton Woods world. It’s also marks the beginning of the end for America's linchpin role in the global economy and Japan's influence in Asia.

What is China's new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank if not an ADB killer? If Japan, ADB's main benefactor, won't share the presidency with Asian peers, Beijing will just use its deep pockets to overpower it. Lagarde's and Kim’s shops also are looking at a future in which crisis-wracked governments call Beijing before Washington. 

China stepping up its role as lender of last resort upends an economic development game that's been decades in the making. The IMF, World Bank and ADB are bloated, change-adverse institutions.  When Ukraine received a $17 billion IMF-led bailout this year it was about shoring up a geopolitically important economy, not geopolitical blackmail.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's government doesn't care about upgrading economies, the health of tax regimes or central bank reserves. It cares about loyalty. The quid pro quo: For our generous assistance we expect your full support on everything from Taiwan to territorial disputes to deadening the West’s pesky focus on human rights.

This may sound hyperbolic; Russia, Argentina and Venezuela are already at odds with the U.S. and its allies. But what about Europe? In 2011 and 2012, it looked to Beijing to save euro bond markets through massive purchases. Expect more of this dynamic in 2015 should fresh turmoil hit the euro zone, at which time Beijing will expect European leaders to pull their diplomatic punches. What happens if the Federal Reserve’s tapering slams economies from India to Indonesia and governments look to China for help? Why would Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam bother with the IMF’s conditions when China writes big checks with few strings attached?

Beijing’s $24 billion currency swap program to help Russia is a sign of things to come. Russia, it's often said, is too nuclear to fail. As Moscow weathers the worst crisis since the 1998 default, it’s tempting to view China as a good global citizen. But Beijing is just enabling President Vladimir Putin, who’s now under zero pressure to diversify his economy away from oil. The same goes for China’s $2.3 billion currency swap with Argentina and its $4 billion loan to Venezuela. In the Chinese century, bad behavior has its rewards.

If ever there were a time for President Barack Obama to accelerate his "pivot" to Asia it's now. There's plenty to worry about as China tosses money at rogue governments like Sudan and Zimbabwe. But there’s also lots at stake for Asia's budding democracies. The so-called Washington consensus on economic policies isn't perfect, but is Beijing's model of autocratic state capitalism with scant press freedom really a better option? With China becoming Asia's sugar daddy, the temptation in, say, Myanmar might be to avoid the difficult process of creating credible institutions to oversee the economy.

There could be a silver lining to China lavishing its nearly $4 trillion of currency reserves on crisis-plagued nations: It might force the IMF, World Bank and ADB to raise their games. Competition, as Lagarde, Kim and Nakao would agree, is a good thing. But more likely, China's largess will encourage bad policy habits and impede development in ways that leave the global economy worse off.

Pray for Malaysia, Any kind of help is needed

Updated :

Major states in Malaysia have been hit with severe floods as high as 3 to 4 storey's high.

The latest news is GH (General Hospital) in Kuala Krai is running out of diesel and the hospital is in dire straits. Help cannot reach upon the site and the hospital is really running on whatever is left. 

The update can be read here

Here is an update from a quite desperate Doctor Nur Izzati direct from Kuala Krai Hospital. I am getting this info relayed through people in Pahang and Putrajaya. 

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[20:11, 25/12/2014] Dr Nur Izzati: Bismillah..
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Sekarang generator sudah kehabisan minyak. Seluruh hospital bergelap, lampu kecemasan menyala di sesetengah bilik. Tadi kami incubate baby dalam gelap...SpO2 drop sampai 18, bradycardia, Anaest specialist sendiri datang menyelamatkan keadaan. Pesakit icu dan ccu bernafas dengan mesin yang dijana kuasa bateri. Kalau bekalan tak pulih, kami akan bergilir2 manual bagging ...sampai..?
..
Minyak diesel utk generator dijanjikan sampai pukul 8.30 malam. Akan dihantar dengan helikopter.Masalah yg sedang dibincangkan; kami gelap gelita, flare gun tak ada, we need lights to show them where we are. 

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Kuala Krai has become a huge river, and our hospital is one of the few islands, which unfortunately doesnt glow in the dark. .

Petang tadi kami semua excited. Helikopter datang with all the pomp, flair and machismo of Hollywood action movies. Everyone - who could make it, were out in the parking lot, waving, taking photos, wiping tears of joy, finally we were going to be saved. But were we? NO.
 
They weren't able to land. No space wide enough. No heli pad (duh of course). The rotor whirled so hard water splashed from the flooded area, debris flew up, and they said the roofs would detach if the heli came closer. The only way to rescue patients is by hoisting them up, airlift them - like in the movies. From the boats, or from a clearing very near the water edge.

We're talking about ill patients here. Yang bernafas dengan mesin, bayi2 baru lahir, orang tua patah tulang..
Mereka pergi. They departed and left us wondering. Kami terpinga2..
Kemudian  kami diarahkan utk bersedia semula utk evacuation. Able bodied patients, those few who are well enough to do a Schwarzenegger up a helicopter, were rounded up. Kami keluar ramai2 dan menunggu - tak tahu tunggu apa.
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Helikopter berlegar2...dan tidak menghantar apa2. Kenderaan amfibia milik bomba datang. Kemudian ia pergi semula. 

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Matron mengumumkan "tak jadi pindah, sila pulang ke wad masing2." Dan kerana lif tidak berfungsi (menggunakan lif dalam keadaan elektrik on-off begini pun adalah tindakan amat bahaya), pesakit2 ini beramai2 mengheret badan menaiki tangga.
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Kami kecewa. Kecewa, dan takut..
Seorang kanak2 bertanya bapanya, as he saw the amphibian vehicle left us..deserted us.

"Abah, bakpo diorg datang?"

Entah. Kenapa kalian datang? Pusing2, tengok2 keadaan, kemudian bye bye good luck? .

• Kami dengar khabar ada pasukan bantuan di Pejabat Tanah, di Wisma. 
• Kami dengar khabar kanak2  yg berlindung di SMKSYP tak ada makanan. 
• Kami dengar khabar kampung2 masih terpisah drpd bantuan kerana 'arus deras, tak cukup bot, bahaya'.

Khabarnya minyak diesel utk generator akan sampai sekejap lagi. Kami menunggu. 

Khabarnya persediaan sedang dibuat utk memindahkan pesakit, for real this time. Kami menunggu.

Seorang doktor tentera vv LUAR YANG BARU SAMPAI SETAKAT INI) baru tiba, dan kami harap ketibaannya will mean a difference.

Kami menunggu.

• .Mak ayah dan adik2 saya masih terperangkap entah atas bukit mana di Kuala Nal.
• Orang2 kampung Kuala Nal bertarung nyawa dengan arus deras, rumah2 telah hanyut. 
• Bagaimana dengan orang Kampung Bahagia, 
• orang2 di kampung2 seberang Sg Kelantan? 
• Saya tak tahu apa nak dibuat.

Khabarnya pagi tadi tv menyiarkan isu perkahwinan semasa banjir.

SHAME ON YOU, MALAYSIA. SHAME ON YOU..
Kami menunggu.

[20:12, 25/12/2014] Dr Nur Izzati: -Update dari hospital kuala kerai-

Ends.

Earlier update here

For more updates and photo aid, you may click here

Meanwhile the Malaysian PM seems to be having a GOLFING time in Hawaii with Barak Obama.