No. of Recommendations: 3
Yes, Duterte didn't like us, whether or not it was justified (I had heard it was an actual operative that was removed from custody while he was mayor or governor, but your story seems more reasonable).
If you go back and read the stories in the newspapers, the further you get away from the time of the bombing the more inaccurate it gets. But one journo actually put together an article on all of his treasure hunting.
Plus, Trump basically dumped the Asia/Pacific region. China was the only one that could step into the void, and they did so with relish. I believe it was during the Trump years that China drew their dotted line (similar to Libya back in the 80s...their "line of death"), and the US did little to oppose it because Trump didn't care.
Yep. If Trump was what he said he was, he would've renegotiated the TPP and we would be looking good in Asia right now/
However, it was about the time that they lost the ruling in international court that they started building their artificial islands (2013). Obama (then POTUS) did nothing. So now they have several outposts in international waters (and I think one in Philippine waters) that they have to right to, and dislodging them would involve blood. Not a great option.
There was a standoff between the Phils and China at Scarborough Shoal. Kerry went out there and negotiated it down, China reneged on leaving Scarborough, it looked bad, so we helped take it to the International Court, won, but China ignored it and insists on 9 dash line. The fisherman shelter shacks became artificial islands, but we did manager to head of the third one. So we did FONOPs and wanted to build radar on the China side of Palowan, so we're arming the Phils better, they got Israeli weapons :) , and have more bases there now.
Our Senators grandstanded on human rights, stopped a sale of M4s to the police, Duterte got pissd called Obama a "son of a whore" told EU "fuck you" and went after the opposition and vocal critics. Operation Tokhang was a success on drugs because, unkoown to us, The Phils had become the spot to manufacture and ship elsewhere, so they found enough labs to service more than the Philippines. But murder went up from 9.5 to 11.5 per 100k and that doesn't count those "resisting arrest". Me personally? Most people would claim they knew how to get shabu(meth) in 20 minutes. During Duterte - stopped. It came back, but no where near as strong.
Marcos isn't well liked and is perceived as weak, they're waiting for Sarah, Duterte's daughter.
