I was LOL/mortified at this part where MM basically claimed credit for marketization in China:

When Deng Xiaoping came to Singapore he was amazed at what he saw, as his briefing papers did not tally with his own eyes. That's when he must have concluded the Communist system didn't work.

It'll be interesting if and when one day historians have access to the relevant Chinese state archives and Deng's personal papers to verify (or not) this claim.

Might have been mentioned in his autobiography vol. 2? (Someone with the thing help check?) But like you said, it would be very interesting to see if D's papers say the same.

Hi, interesting article.
The fact that he is a dinosaur from his era shows quite well in all his historical analogies. Other than showing his obvious surplus in general knowledge, generalising 'Mankind' and using 'civilisations' as a category for behavioural patterns doesn't seem to provide much substance for any of his arguments.
Iraq is an 'old' civilisation, so? does it actually prove anything? Is there any correlation between that and the current situation now? Of course one could say that the older a 'civilisation' (or race?) is, the more it resents externally imposed change. But I'd suppose internal religious tensions, local politicking amongst the strongmen and economic dearth are more probable reasons for conflict now, in any given society.

Actually I felt both surprised that he had the guts to speak with such authority and horrified that what he said (with such confidence) didn't really make much sense. Then again, he's been doing this for quite awhile now, so who am I to criticise.

Happy CNY.

Loy, I've had a look at MM's memoirs vol.2 - he didn't make quite the same claim but he did claim that, after Deng's visit to Sg, he read Deng had 'told the Chinese people to do better than Singapore.' (p.695) No citation is provided for the source of this exhortation though.