Invite ye felawes and frendes desirous in gold to enter the gates of Shrewd'm, for they will thanke ye later.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 2
... got messy again. Chinese coast guard rammed Philippine boats, boarded and took guns according to my friends. One Filipino had to be hospitalized and lost a finger. It was just a resupply effort.
No. of Recommendations: 2
A new, and very real, axis of evil: Russia, China, North Korea.
In such perilous times, let's turn our government over to someone who wants to join the axis of evil or at best will respond like the incompetent idiot he is. Trump will be a disaster as POTUS, even worse than v.1.
No. of Recommendations: 1
In such perilous times, let's turn our government over to someone who wants to join the axis of evil or at best will respond like the incompetent idiot he is. Trump will be a disaster as POTUS, even worse than v.1.
And unlike with Trump v.1, he will be sure he is not encumbered by a competent cabinet and advisors. On the contrary he will gut the government, getting rid of anyone who might constrain his worst impulses.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Chinese coast guard boarded PH ship, seized rifles, punctured boats off Ayungin Shoal, says Brawner
PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines – What Chinese coast guard personnel have done in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) on June 17 – boarding a Philippine government ship, wielding machetes and knives to puncture navy boats, and seizing disassembled rifles – constitute “piracy” and Beijing should pay for the damage, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief said on Wednesday, June 19.
Chinese coast guard boarded PH ship, seized rifles, punctured boats off Ayungin Shoal, says Brawner
Visiting the military’s Western Command here which has jurisdiction over the WPS, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner demanded that China return the disassembled rifles it took from Navy personnel and pay for the damage they caused on equipment when they disrupted and harassed a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on June 17.
“We cannot let them just do this and take our [assets]. For me, this is piracy because they boarded [our vessel] illegally, they got our equipment. Again, they acted like pirates,” he told a press conference in a mix of English and Filipino. continued
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/chinese-coast-...
No. of Recommendations: 5
A new, and very real, axis of evil: Russia, China, North Korea. - ges
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You left off our friends in Iran who are funding Hamas and Hezbollah as well as working on their own nuke.
No. of Recommendations: 2
You left off our friends in Iran who are funding Hamas and Hezbollah as well as working on their own nuke.
Have a rec Mike. You and I finally agree on something.
I don’t know about you, but I’m buying a lotto ticket today. 😁
No. of Recommendations: 2
You left off our friends in Iran who are funding Hamas and Hezbollah as well as working on their own nuke.
Iran got the green light from Trump on the nukes. Imagine that - and they didn't have to bribe him.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Marcos has been showing a LOT of restraint. I think he fears a larger conflict with China, even though we would be obligated to side with Manila by treaty.
Were I him, I would say that I will be enforcing our internationally recognized territorial waters, up to and including firing on vessels that do not have permission to be in said waters. If anyone is silly enough to fire back, we (Manila) will invoke the defense treaty with the USA. But I'm not Marcos. Hopefully he'll do something like that soon. Xi is not going to stop until someone stops him. Xi has to be forced to do some math, and figure out the costs of continuing will be far greater than the benefits. Right now, it's costing him nothing.
It's history rhyming again. About 90 years ago a nation started being aggressive in territorial disputes. They ended up occupying the Rhineland, the Ruhr, the Sudetenland (and then the rest of Czechoslovakia), and Austria...all without fire a shot, and all without much more than the nervous wringing of hands by nations that could have stopped it. That autocratic leader didn't stop, and neither will Xi (or Putin, for that matter). Not without some significant push-back.
No. of Recommendations: 3
I read they were armed with swords. Which is kind of weird. How is boarding someone else's boat with a sword any better than boarding it with a gun? You're still trying to intimidate the Filipinos.
I'm not sure why -if they had guns- they didn't shoot the guys with the swords. Unless there was a 50-cal mounted on the Chinese boat, aimed right at them.
No. of Recommendations: 2
It's history rhyming again. About 90 years ago a nation started being aggressive in territorial disputes. They ended up occupying the Rhineland, the Ruhr, the Sudetenland (and then the rest of Czechoslovakia), and Austria...all without fire a shot, and all without much more than the nervous wringing of hands by nations that could have stopped it.
Biden will defend democracy, Trump will NOT.
The choices so simple unless what you really desire is fascism.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Marcos has been showing a LOT of restraint. I think he fears a larger conflict with China, even though we would be obligated to side with Manila by treaty.
Truth. Ninoy got run off by the Chinese when he made a show. Ayungan is just an old boat run on the shore of a tiny island that serves as an outpost for the Filipinos. But it lays claim, and the Chinese lay claim to everything within their nine dash line. The Philippines is allowing the US to gear up their northern islands so the US can protect the rear of Taiwan's island and china doesn't like that.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Of course China doesn't like it. They are accusing us (the US) of elevating tensions. I don't know for a fact, but I doubt Marcos cares much about Taiwan. We do, but why would the Philippines? China (and to a lesser extent, Vietnam) is trying to claim islands that international courts have adjudicated belong to the Philippines.
I think if China weren't trying to assert their control over several Philippine islands, that the US would not now be encouraged by Marcos to set-up shop in the Philippines. Though he may have accepted the anti-ship missiles regardless.
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/06/phili....
I've already said what I think Marcos should do. Xi will not back down. Not until he is forced to. History is rhyming. We might have a chance NOW to stop the madness. At some point, there will be no turning back. I don't claim to know what that is, but it is coming.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Of course China doesn't like it. They are accusing us (the US) of elevating tensions.
Just like Dope, it's backwards.
I don't know for a fact, but I doubt Marcos cares much about Taiwan. We do, but why would the Philippines?
The point is that the Philippines are cooperating in building the defenses in the first island chain, which Taiwan is a part of. Marcos has to know that this is a counter move to China, upsetting them, and if you look, the Philippines gets little benefit from that unless they see the alliance there as being important. I see it as a recognition that the Philippines needs the US and the alliance to counter China.
China (and to a lesser extent, Vietnam) is trying to claim islands that international courts have adjudicated belong to the Philippines.
Yes, the won't recognize it and tout the nine dash line. The Philippine EEZ extends way out due to the underwater shelf.
I think if China weren't trying to assert their control over several Philippine islands, that the US would not now be encouraged by Marcos to set-up shop in the Philippines. Though he may have accepted the anti-ship missiles regardless.
The shift occurred under Duterte. China was going to build a lot of infrastructure - railroads crossing Mindanao Island in the South. A railroad from the top of Luzon island to the bottom. Ports, highways, bridges. All with funds from China. Those funds dried up for Duterte, and I know one bridge was built in Cebu - not sure of anything else. There was a move away from the PHilippines by China, and it isn't clear why - other than Duterte may have finally understood China. Duterte thought he could deal with the NPA. He let NPA rebels and communist rebels out of prison to get the NPA to the table and they never came to the table. So he had a learning process too.
He had the siege in Marawi where the Maute and Abu Sayyaf fought and he declared Martial Law on the island of Mindanao. He flew to Xi in China with a Chinese weapon and pretended that was the weapon that did the trick, when it was Israeli weapons.
So Duterte realized he couldn't deal the the Muslim rebels in Mindanao, and he had been successful in dealing with them previously when he was in Davao. He couldn't deal with the NPA, he released prisoners to no avail. And even if he gave the Chinese what they wanted, they still harassed his fishing boats and would stop buying bananas, etc., from the Philippines on a whim.
