Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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Singapore’s former prime minister critical of “extreme Western woke culture”

Published 25 May 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Lee Hsien Loong hopes that the Western "woke culture" does not reach Singapore.

Singapore’s recently resigned Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, has expressed concern over the Western “woke” culture, and supports the resistance of Indian tech executives in particular to what they see as culturally imposed ideology by Western tech companies, reports Business Today India.

Lee Hsien Loong, in a recent interview with Channel News Asia, commented on the “Western woke culture”, which he says undermines community solidarity, according to Business India Today.

In the West they’ve got a movement called Wokeness where you are super sensitive about other peoples issues… It leads to very extreme attitudes and social norms particularly in some academic institutions, universities, Lee Hsien Loong said.

Lee highlighted the problem with concepts such as creating safe environments, respecting preferred pronouns, and giving warnings before potentially offensive comments. He said that this movement can have a negative domino effect and lead to hypersensitivity.

You become hypersensitive when others say things or mention things or refer to you, without the respect which you or your super subgroup feel you are entitled to.

Concerns about the power of tech giants

His comments coincided with Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs, criticizing LinkedIn and Microsoft for their woke policies.

Aggarwal has announced on social media that he plans to develop an Indian technology platform and move Ola’s operations away from Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, following a row over pronoun options on the politically correct job community LinkedIn.

 


Bhavish Aggarwal expressed concern that Western tech companies could dominate and culturally influence India.

“I’m not against global tech companies. But as an Indian citizen, I feel concerned that my life will be governed by western Big Tech monopolies and we will be culturally subsumed as the above experience shows…I want to confront this forced ideology as a free-thinking Indian”, Aggarwal wrote on X.

Lee Hsien Loong concluded the interview by emphasizing the importance of continuing to attract foreign talent to Singapore, especially from prominent Indian institutions like IITs and IIMs.

If I can get such a pool, come here and work here, it is a tremendous plus for us, he highlighted.

Facts about Ola Cabs

Ola Cabs (stylized as OLΛ) is an Indian transportation company that offers ridesharing services and operates other business lines such as financial services and virtual restaurants. The company is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka and operates in over 250 Indian cities.

A host of venture capitalists, including Softbank, have large stakes in the company. In January 2018, Ola expanded to its first overseas market, Australia, and launched in New Zealand in September 2018.

In March 2019, Ola began operations in the UK. In April 2024, it was announced that the company is exiting all international markets to focus on the Indian market.

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Top EU court rules on von der Leyen’s secret Pfizer messages

The criticized covid vaccinations

Published yesterday 12:10
– By Editorial Staff
According to critics, transparency in the EU has decreased significantly under von der Leyen's rule.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s handling of secret text messages with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is now under scrutiny in a court case that threatens to destroy her political legacy and further erode confidence in the EU’s decision-making process.

Tomorrow, the EU General Court will rule on whether the European Commission broke the law by refusing to release text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Bourla during negotiations on a controversial COVID-19 vaccine deal worth billions.

The ruling is expected to further undermine confidence in von der Leyen’s leadership, which is already heavily criticized for its abuse of power and centralization of decision-making. Among other things, the case concerns whether text messages should be classified as official documents and thus subject to EU transparency rules.

The case was initiated by The New York Times and its former Brussels correspondent, who took the matter to court after the Commission’s decision to refuse to publish the text messages in 2022.

In an interview with the NYT in 2021, Bourla revealed that he and von der Leyen had built up a “deep trust” through their text message negotiations. The agreement, which was concluded in May 2021, meant that the EU purchased up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID vaccine – the largest single vaccine purchase during the COVID crisis.

– This court ruling could mark a turning point for transparency in the EU. When it comes to key decisions, particularly those affecting public health, secrecy should be avoided, said Shari Hinds, EU policy director at Transparency International.

“The elephant who wasn’t in the room”

In 2022, EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly (2013–2025) ruled that the Commission had committed serious administrative errors by not even searching for the text messages. She called it a “wake-up call” for the EU institutions and said that transparency had declined during von der Leyen’s tenure.

– Information is being held back for political reasons and that culture comes from the top, O’Reilly told Politico in 2023, also criticizing von der Leyen’s absence during the trial:

– The elephant who wasn’t in the room. The one person who could tell us everything wasn’t there.

The European Commission has repeatedly refused to comment on the case, but an official claimed at a press conference that the vaccine agreements were negotiated with the full support of the member states.

“Transparency must be a priority”

The court has previously criticized the Commission’s censorship of the vaccine contracts, large parts of which have been classified as confidential on the grounds of commercial interests.

Tilly Metz, a Green MEP, was one of many who soon wondered who or what was behind von der Leyen’s reluctance to share the information.

– She gets bad advice there. If you want the public to be confident and trust the politicians and what they do – and the contacts they do with industry – you have to put the focus on transparency.

“Confused” dossier

During a hearing in November 2023, judges expressed skepticism about the Commission’s refusal to hand over the text messages. When the Commission’s lawyers finally acknowledged that the messages existed, they were met with laughter in the courtroom.

– We do not deny that they exist, said Commission lawyer Paolo Stancanelli during the hearing. He defended the Commission’s actions by arguing that the text messages were not relevant to the contract negotiations – a claim that the judges sharply questioned.

One judge, José Martín y Pérez de Nanclares, ruled that the Commission had not taken “adequate and diligent measures” to justify the secrecy, while another, Paul Nihoul, criticized the “relatively confused” dossier.

The pressure on von der Leyen is increasing further through an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which is looking into how the vaccine purchases were handled. In March, EPPO chief Laura Codruța Kövesi also confirmed that Commission officials had been questioned.

The EPPO is refraining from commenting on ongoing investigations, but the case risks further increasing mistrust in von der Leyen’s leadership and is expected to make it even more difficult for her to hold together an already deeply divided EU alliance.

PKK disbands after decades of armed conflict

Published yesterday 7:11
– By Editorial Staff
A group of female Kurdish rebel fighters.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has announced that the organization will be dissolved. This would mark the end of an armed conflict with Turkey that has lasted for almost five decades and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In a statement on Monday, the Kurdish group said that “all activities” under the PKK’s name have ceased. According to the statement, the Kurdish issue has come “to a point where it can be resolved through democratic politics“.

The decision was taken at the PKK’s twelfth congress – a high-level meeting of the organisation’s decision-makers – where it was agreed to “dissolve the PKK’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle”. The implementation will be led by the imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan.

It is unclear whether the decision applies to all PKK-related groups operating in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, or how any disarmament will be carried out. Nor is it clear what will happen to the armed members at this stage.

The PKK emphasizes in its statement that “rebuilding Turkish-Kurdish relations is inevitable” and points out that the decision has also been influenced by “current developments in the Middle East”. The group calls on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government, as well as all political parties, to “assume responsibility and join the peace and democratic society process.

Reactions from Turkey have not been long in coming. Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AKP party, called the announcement an important step.

– If terrorism is completely ended, the door to a new era will open, Celik said, but at the same time emphasized that “this decision must be implemented in practice and realized in all its dimensions”.

Armed conflict since 1978

The PKK was founded by Abdullah Öcalan in 1978 as a Marxist-Leninist and Kurdish nationalist movement, and has since waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state. Originally, the goal was to create an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey, but in recent years the movement has instead demanded greater autonomy within the country’s borders.

In March this year, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire after Öcalan called on its members to lay down their arms and disband the organization. According to various estimates, the conflict between the PKK and Turkey has led to at least 40,000 deaths.

Relations between Turkey and the Kurds have been complex under President Erdoğan’s leadership. In previous years, Erdoğan attempted to win over Kurdish voters by expanding rights and easing restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language.

Photo: Chris Sang-hwan Jung/CC BY-SA 2.0

Largest minority

In 2013, cooperation began between the government and the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP) with the aim of reaching a peaceful solution with the PKK. However, negotiations broke down in 2015, and relations have deteriorated significantly since then.

In recent years, Turkey has carried out harsh repression against Kurdish parties and groups, which are often accused of having ties to the PKK.

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey and are estimated to make up between 15 and 20 percent of the population, according to Minority Rights Group International. They also have a strong presence in northern Syria, northern Iraq, and parts of Iran.

American cardinal becomes Pope Leo XIV

Published 9 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff

American Robert Francis Prevost will now take over the leadership of Vatican City and the Catholic Church. Prevost has been elected Pope Leo XIV during the conclave in the Sistine Chapel on May 8, 2025, making him the first American-born pope in the history of the Church.

The conclave began on May 7, when 133 cardinals under the age of 80 gathered in the Sistine Chapel to vote for the new pope. On the second day of the conclave, the characteristic white smoke appeared, signaling a successful election.

Robert Francis Prevost, now Leo XIV, was born in Chicago in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1982 after studying canon law in Rome. He served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, where he worked closely with poor communities for several years.

Leo XIV is expected to build on Francis’ so-called progressive line, focusing on migration, aid and support for marginalized groups. He has previously criticized Trump’s migration policy on social media and advocated “urgent action” on the alleged climate crisis.

In the context of his new ministry, Leo XIV has been accused of ignoring child sexual abuse by priests in his former churches, but these allegations have not been confirmed.

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, emerged with the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the first centuries AD, but survived the fall of both the Roman Empire and later the Western Roman Empire.

Russia celebrates 80 years since victory in World War II

Published 9 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Lula da Silva are among a number of other world leaders in Moscow to celebrate Victory Day.

Today marks 80 years since Germany was officially defeated by the Allies, led by the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front and the US and Britain on the Western Front. In Russia, World War II is known as the Great Patriotic War, while the Patriotic War refers to Napoleon’s invasion of the country in the early 1800s.

– Russia has been and will remain an impenetrable barrier to Nazism, Russophobia, and anti-Semitism, declared Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech.

We must remain united and stand firm for our national interests, our thousand-year history, culture, and values, Putin added, promising that the country would continue to uphold these principles.

Among the European dignitaries visiting Moscow to take part in the celebrations are Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić, alongside Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, and around 25 other heads of state, mainly from BRICS countries.