In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce a "reputable" Singaporean diplomat, academic, and former UNSC president, Kishore Mahbubani (@mahbubani_k).
He's known for "academically-acclaimed" works containing anti-West, pro-China, and pro-Russia peepotalking.
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From the 1970s to the 1990s, Mahbubani served in Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a foreign service officer and then as a permanent secretary.
He worked in the UN as Singapore's Permanent Representative in 1984-89 and 1998-2004, serving in the UNSC from 2001-02.
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Mahbubani is also known for writing academic literature, including his famous books like "Has China Won?", "Has the West Lost It?", "Can Asians Think", and "The Great Convergence".
His works became Pokimane-level famous among IR academics, but they have an ugly face.
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Mahbubani's stance has been somewhere along the lines of "the West is complacent x spoiled cuz they bomb stuff, while India x China are good cuz they develop stuff" and "we should embrace multipolarity", culminating to his anti-West, pro-China, and pro-Russia peepotalking.
4/26
In many of Mahbubani's works, he engaged in pessimistic anti-West peepotalking that are something like "even if the West changed world history for the good, it has been intervening too much and it is losing touch in int'l institutions, so multipolarity...
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...and non-interventionism is the answer".
However, an article written by someone else suggested that "...readers in less advantaged countries should carefully check whether everything he writes is really accurate".
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In early 2014, during the Maidan Revolution x the Russian theft of Crimea, Mahbubani bought into the "NATO-eastward-expansion-is-provoking-Russia" peepotalk, predicting that "the West would accept Russia's occupation of Crimea".
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In reality, even Wikipedia stated that Ukraine and the majority of the international community (well, except for Russia and a few of its allies) have not recognised the validity of the "Crimea annexation" referendum and the "accession of Crimea to Russia".
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Less than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 24, 2022, an article from Mahbubani ended up containing a pro-Russia peepotalking point, which is: "The Russian invasion of Ukraine is illegal, but NATO and the West were the ones who started it".
9/26
Mahbubani cited Henry Kissinger's claims that "Ukraine is always a part of Russia cuz Russian history started in the Kievan Rus" and "Ukraine should not join NATO".
Mahbubani suggested that "if Obama followed Kissinger's advice, then the war in Ukraine could be avoided".
10/26
During a seminar at the LKY School of Public Policy in early 2023, Mahbubani peepotalked about how "the Russian invasion of Ukraine was caused by the Europeans' lack of pragmatism and compromise", adding that "the West is acting like a spoilt child".
11/26
In an article about a G-20 meeting in Indonesia, Mahbubani suggested that "the solution to the war in Ukraine is through a ceasefire and negotiations", peepotalking about "the West stabbing itself in the foot cuz they didn't invite Putin and they wanted to defeat Russia".
12/26
Mahbubani engaged in more pro-Russia peepotalking when he said "a Russian defeat will make the West more arrogant and it will not be good for the Global South".
In reality, if Russia wins, it would spread a culture of authoritarianism and disinfo, which would not be good.
13/26
In reality, a couple of #vatniksoup entries from @P_Kallioniemi provide info debunking Mahbubani's pro-Russia peepotalking remarks, especially the "NATO expansion" remark.
NATO expansion -
NATO is not fighting Russia - https://t.co/gZm9tN0V48
14/26
In his book "Has the West Lost It?", and its seminars, Mahbubani said something like "Do you want to know why Trump happened...it is because the West didn't pay attention to China's admission into WTO..."
He failed to mention a factor that led to Trump's victory in 2016.
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An important factor leading to Trump's victory in 2016 was Russia's interference in the 2016 US elections. Mahbubani stated in an interview that "...Americans are outraged...[even if] reports of Russian interference are not confirmed". He injected whataboutism by...
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...peepotalking about "US administrations interfering in many elections in the world".
These entries from #vatniksoup contain info about Russia's interference in the 2016 US elections:
2016 Trump campaign -
Russiagate - https://t.co/xZKXGHEsuV
17/26
In a seminar about "Has the West Lost It?", Mahbubani labelled the West as "arrogant", and he suggested that "The West should adapt a minimalist diplomacy and accept a multilateral world with a rising China".
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Then, Mahbubani criticised the West for "being too complacent after the Cold War while distracted by wars in the Middle East", adding that "the West got too distracted with Iraq and Afghanistan while China was raising its military power at the SCS".
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In an interview between Mahbubani and the infamous Global Times, Mahbubani peepotalked about how "the US is using the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests as a weapon to provoke China", adding that "HKers are just pawns by the US".
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Then, Mahbubani engaged in peepotalking about "justifications of the infamous National Security Law", stating that "every country has their own versions of the NSL for protection from foreign interference" and "It's right for the HK police to clamp down demonstrators".
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During Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Mahbubani peepotalked about an "analogy of a 4,000-year old dragon with its eye poked by the US". After "Century of National Humiliation" peepotalks, he added that "US can't stop China".
He suggested that "Taiwan should join China".
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Mahbubani claimed that "Xinjiang is a different case and China has taken extreme measures to control the population of Xinjiang". It got worse when he said "If China were an oppressive state, people would run away". He then claimed that "criticising Beijing's...
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...acts in Xinjiang is a political step by the West to embarrass China".
During one seminar, Mahbubani called out a participant in public for "providing a distorted, Anglo-Saxon view of reality". This was shared by someone from China's MFA.
24/26
Mahbubani attended a Global Times seminar with two academic vatniks x wumaos mentioned in previous entries, George Yeo and Martin Jacques, and one from @P_Kallioniemi's #vatniksoup, Mick Wallace.
He called the CCP as "one of the most meritocratic parties in the world."
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Kishore Mahbubani is always in "most recommended lists" amongst IR experts, making him look like a Michellin-class academic.
However, when we look at the inside, he is just spreading pro-Russia and pro-China peepotalking, so better take his works with a grain of salt.
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Support my work:
Related entries:
Pro-CCP peepotalking points - https://t.co/0UwyfHrhZn
George Yeo - https://t.co/yhjawJ6ziK
Martin Jacques - https://t.co/xF6b2uWOVm
Mick Wallace (from #vatniksoup) - https://t.co/EbrzWCnnIgbuymeacoffee.com/olliekarp
Similar entries:
Connie Bakrie -
Bobby Tuazon - https://t.co/RoVkvR1RHz
Shoutouts: @P_Kallioniemi, @Aaron_MatthewIL, @FMangosingINQ, @St_Anarchistus, @LukeShiga
This is Entry #74 of the #dailysoup. Feel free to read the previous entries here 👇
bit.ly/thedailysoup
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