Rule No 1: Big dogs set the other rules?

I do not know why Singapore is pushing so hard for a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, which -- because such a code has to be rules-based and even may need to provide for dispute resolution -- will only anger China, which has no interest in such a code, apart from likely imposing further strains on Asean's fragile cohesion:

I am sure Lee Kuan Yew's influence on Singapore's strategic thinking and foreign policy positions -- including his projections about China's international behaviour -- remains undiminished. So, I wish someone would ask him, "Do you think a Code of Conduct can be achieved in the South China Sea, one that imposes rules and punishments, not one that is just an exercise in diplomacy with escape clauses?" The Financial Times op-ed below, while providing insights into Lee's thinking, gives no clue as to his views on such a code:

Beijing Still Prefers Diplomacy Over Force
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/22702/beijing_still_prefers_diplomacy_over_force.html?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BIN%2001.28.13%20(1)&utm_content=

Lee did, in 1995 in the aftermath of the Mischief Reef incidents in the Spratlys (part of the South China Sea), make this comment: "[China was more] like a big dog going up against a tree, lifting his leg to mark the tree, so that smaller dogs will know that a big dog has been there, and to take note of that".

Perhaps that particular dynamic has changed since 1995. If so, how?

But one dynamic still seems relevant, at least for the immediate if not longer-term future: the US is still welcome in the region, and moves are being stepped up to get China into the equation:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of rules -- and the breaking of rules -- motorists in Singapore can expect to see more traffic cops on the prowl and up (and concealed) at pedestrian overpasses. So, don't be so quick on the draw at the traffic lights, hor:

 

----------------------------------------------------

Sure, quick on the draw, but...

Finally, I wonder how do cowboys "do it" when they "gotta go"?

I mean, yeah, they all looked -- in the movies -- like they were the fastest gun-slingers in the west. But if you have to keep looking over your shoulder all the time in the bad, bad, wild,wild west, in case a baddie comes up and shoots you in the back, how do you take a leak and still keep that shooter handy? Hmmm, a weekend poser... but don't expect the movies to clue us in.