[Cid_Yama]

Blah, blah, blah. I told you back in the 1st week of July what the real deal was. And here it is in your face.

Duterte's election was a mandate to kick the US back out and continue the pivot to China, began during the Arroyo Administration.

The little nations of the world have had enough of being ripped off and abused by the US and the West, and now that they have another choice in the China-Russia Co-Prosperity Sphere, they are taking it. In droves.

The Western global Banking racket is at an end. It is the end of Western Empire.

[Ibon]

Blah, blah, blah. I told you back in the 1st week of July what the real deal was. And here it is in your face.

Duterte's election was a mandate to kick the US back out and continue the pivot to China, began during the Arroyo Administration.

The little nations of the world have had enough of being ripped off and abused by the US and the West, and now that they have another choice in the China-Russia Co-Prosperity Sphere, they are taking it. In droves.

The Western global Banking racket is at an end. It is the end of Western Empire.

And your political orientation doesn't cloud your climate change narrative?????

[ROCKMAN]

Perhaps I skimmed the posts to quickly looking for details on exactly what the US has "lost". What have we lost?

[Ibon]

Corazon Aquino's worst mistake was bowing to the bishops & banning birth control, one of few decent policies Marcos had put in place being that it was free in every municipal health center.

Cardinal Sin, the head bishop of the Philippines in the 80's, pledged his support to Aquino and the People's power revolution based on her commitment to dismantle the rural family planning centers throughout the provinces which was indeed one of the few positives of the Marcos era. This was a back room deal.

[Plantagenet]

Obama won't do anything significant about the Philippines situation, will let the toxic ferment.

I agree 100%

Obama started this tiff with the Philippines by running his mouth and insulting Duterte right before a meeting of all the Asian leaders. What was Duterte supposed to do....meekly assent to being dressed down in front of all his peers? Obama's poor timing left Duterte no choice but to insult Obama right back and make it clear the Phillipines were no longer a US colony

All is forgiven now. Obama sent a special envoy to grovel and say the US actually supports and is cooperating with the Phillipines on drug policy.

Cheers!

[SeaGypsy]

Duterte deserves insults, so big woop to that one. As for Cid's definition of a mandate, he either is using is own or didn't follow the election campaign of either Arroyo or Duterte. BTW the former was a diplomatic genius compared the latter, who would be kicked off a high school debating team lickety split.

[ralfy]

Cid got it right. For decades, the Philippines was under the neo-colonial rule of the U.S., specifically through support of a right-wing dictatorship, low intensity conflict, and neo-liberalism through labor-intensive export-oriented industries and structural adjustment policies, which in turn led to agricultural subsistence, high taxes, and control of the economy by foreigners, the local landed or financial elite partners which welcomed foreign investment and security from the U.S., and technocrat partners in government.

The result was exclusive growth, with the bulk of income going to only a few powerful families, low real wages and a high cost of living (some of the highest rates for fuel, telecomm services, medicine, and electricity in the region), some of the highest tax rates and fees (up to 45 pct of revenues used to pay them), one of the worst ratings in doing business (weeks to open or close businesses, multiple signatures to import goods, and all sorts of red tape), very poor government services (some of the weakest public health care and education systems in the region), and a very weak military.

The last point is notable, because that partly involved "rent" from the U.S. in the form of over-valued, surplus Vietnam-era equipment for some of its largest overseas military bases.

This is the first time in many decades that an administration is answering back at the U.S. and the EU and insisting on a nationalist framework very similar to that of neighboring Asian countries. Given that, the response from China and even Japan, not to mention the U.S. and its allies, is not surprising.

[SeaGypsy]

BS. All Duterte said against the US in China has since been redacted. He is President, not the administration & he has no public mandate to be carrying on the way he did in China.

[SeaGypsy]

What a flip flopper. Every second day this idiot contradicts himself. Seriously the least competent leader of any country anywhere.

[dissident]

So let me get this straight. When the president of the Philippines sucks Uncle Scumbags schlong that is a good thing and there is no fuss and "concern". But when he tells Obomber and his neo-imperialist, jihadi-sponsoring agenda off that makes him bad, bad, bad.

What a bloody hypocritical joke.

Everything Duterte has said has been right on the money. America really is the Great Satan and Obama is no better than Killary, a lying, trash-talking, terrorist-supporting scumbag.

[ralfy]

"Duterte’s historic, mind-boggling break from the past"

Magsaysay. The Marcos dictatorship. EDSA I and Cory Aquino. Our heroic, David versus Goliath fight against China. All American projects, with us being so gullible.

http://www.manilatimes.net/dutertes-his ... st/292779/

[Sixstrings]

Rodrigo Duterte, in Japan, Calls for U.S. Troops to Exit Philippines in 2 Years

“I want them out,” Mr. Duterte said of the American troops in his country, adding that he was willing to “revise or abrogate agreements.”

He also repeated a recent assertion that he would withdraw from any joint military exercises with the United States, a treaty ally. “This will be the last maneuver, war games, between the United States and the Philippine military,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/world/asia/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-japan.html

And then, right after that, he re-affirms the alliance again:

Duterte affirms US alliance despite tough talk
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/27/1637862/duterte-affirms-us-alliance-despite-tough-talk

And then, he tells foreign business to get out:

Duterte tells worried foreign businesses to go

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged foreign businesses in the Philippines worried about his deadly drug war to "pack up and leave", as he launched another anti-American tirade ...

"These Americans are really crazy," Duterte said, as he held up a newspaper with headlines reporting criticism from US assistant secretary of state Daniel Russel.

"Russel says 'Duterte comments causing worries in business communities'. Then you pack up and leave. We will recover, I assure you."
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/26/16/duterte-tells-worried-foreign-businesses-to-go

He says Americans are "bullies" and "pests:"

"I do not want to fight," he said. "But these stupid Americans, you know the Americans are really a bully... they are bullies, these pests."

Philippines' Duterte to US: 'Do not make us your dogs'

"You know I didn't start this fight. They started it," he said, referring to comments about his human rights record, made by US Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg.
"They started it, then came out the issue of human rights, the State Department, Obama, EU.

They did this to me. Then they said, we will cut our assistance. So I said to them, 'son of a bitch, do not make us your dogs, as if I am a dog with a leash, and you throw some bread, where I can't reach.'
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/25/asia/duterte-us-comments/

[SeaGypsy]

So let me get this straight. When the president of the Philippines sucks Uncle Scumbags schlong that is a good thing and there is no fuss and "concern". But when he tells Obomber and his neo-imperialist, jihadi-sponsoring agenda off that makes him bad, bad, bad.

What a bloody hypocritical joke.

Everything Duterte has said has been right on the money. America really is the Great Satan and Obama is no better than Killary, a lying, trash-talking, terrorist-supporting scumbag.

You can't have been paying much attention. Unless his anti American rhetoric pleases you so much you are happy to ignore everything else. The guy can't lie straight in bed. If he was somewhat consistent & had a mandate for his foreign affairs positions, that would be a different story. He is not & has not. I read every speech he makes, my wife is Filipino & can interpret anything I can't. He is completely incompetent.

I am certainly not biased pro American, but I am biased pro Filipino & there are swathes of Philippines Law which could be made much fairer, catch a lot of corrupt officials, make the employment market fair, improve overseas investor opportunity, make the court system far more efficient & get most of the people in jail out while getting a lot who should be in, in. Ibon knows the reality there as I do, I'm not aware of other posters here with our depth of understanding of the situation.

[SeaGypsy]

"Duterte’s historic, mind-boggling break from the past"

Magsaysay. The Marcos dictatorship. EDSA I and Cory Aquino. Our heroic, David versus Goliath fight against China. All American projects, with us being so gullible.

http://www.manilatimes.net/dutertes-his ... st/292779/

An article completely ignoring the fact that the 'Filipino ruling class', which it barely mentions but once, is an utterly despotic & criminal monster which has designed the rules & norms of the society to benefit & prosper none other than themselves. It also ignores the fact Duterte was elected with only 3 mandates- end the drug fueled crime epidemic, end corruption, kick China out of the West Philippines Sea. He has had a pretty solid go at one, brought in a corruption hotline otherwise done nothing about two, completely reversed his position & contradicted his mandate on three. All of which in fact has almost nothing to do with the USA.

[Ibon]

So let me get this straight. When the president of the Philippines sucks Uncle Scumbags schlong that is a good thing and there is no fuss and "concern". But when he tells Obomber and his neo-imperialist, jihadi-sponsoring agenda off that makes him bad, bad, bad

Unless his anti American rhetoric pleases you so much you are happy to ignore everything else.

It's like Pavlov's dog...... Anti-American rhetoric leads you to automatically salivate..

I certainly hope he doesn't interpret climate change science through the same lens

[vox_mundi]

Philippine Mayor Accused of Drug Links by Duterte Is Killed by Police

MANILA — After President Rodrigo Duterte publicly named him as a drug suspect last summer, the mayor of a small Philippine town said he was not worried.

“If you are not guilty, why should you be afraid?” the mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, told The New York Times in August.

On Friday, he and nine other men were shot dead at a highway police checkpoint, in what the police described as an antidrug operation. ...

Mr. Dimaukom and his companions are among about 2,000 people who have been killed in Mr. Duterte’s campaign against drugs since he took office on June 30.

Kinda sounds like NJ Gov. Chris Christie - with a gun

[ralfy]

"IN NUMBERS: The Philippines' 'war on drugs'"

http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145 ... -war-drugs

Including more than 700,000 who surrendered.

[ralfy]

"Big holes in the Philippines-US defense treaty"

http://www.manilatimes.net/big-holes-in ... aty/84117/

[SeaGypsy]

"IN NUMBERS: The Philippines' 'war on drugs'"

http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145 ... -war-drugs

Including more than 700,000 who surrendered.

Operation tokhang is- somebody tells the Barangay Captains a person is involved with drugs. That person is presumed guilty, receives a tokhang which amounts to being told they must surrender, confess, sign a sworn admission & promise to quit, else they go on a list for arrest & or liquidation. There's no bail so expect to spend 5-7 years in a sardine can jail just waiting to have your case heard. That's not justice, it's a travesty.

[SeaGypsy]

"Big holes in the Philippines-US defense treaty"

http://www.manilatimes.net/big-holes-in ... aty/84117/

So what? Most of SE Asia & Oceania is in a similar situation, yet China is effectively restrained. Arroyo is/was bent, got shafted on the joint exploration contract Duterte is in the process of extending. This is what muddies the waters around the shoals, not the nature of US defense agreements.