Posted on 11/21/2022 1:25:36 AM PST by blueplum
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States is seeking an expansion of its military presence in the Philippines under a 2014 defense pact....
...The Philippines, a former American colony, used to host one of the largest U.S. Navy and Air Force bases outside the American mainland. The bases were shut down in the early 1990s,...
...Philippine military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro told reporters last week that the U.S. wanted to construct military facilities in five more areas in the northern Philippines.
Two of the new areas proposed by the Americans were in northern Cagayan province, Bacarro said. Cagayan is across a strait from Taiwan and could serve as a crucial outpost in case tensions worsen between China and the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own....
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I wonder how long a nation, that has a growing beyond unsustainable national debt, can continue to stock the fires of world crisis after world crisis before desperation leads to taking the entire world down with it?
You got it bro. I was driving through that area, some time ago. My friend said, you see that small stream over there? She said, before Pinatubo, that was a deep, raging river.
Maybe that’s the deliberate intent.
A few years ago, I read a similar analysis of Greece. Since independence from Turkey, Greece has been dependent on the support of the Great Powers. After the Cold War, that support evaporated. Whence Greece?
That's doesn't reflect what he said. I don't have the link but what he said was the Americans could station troops and supplies on existing Philippine bases.
In this case, the crisis is of Chinese manufacture. A. The Taiwan issue. B. The ownership of the South China Sea (or the “West Philippine Sea” according to Filipinos).
Either goal will lead to global disruption of trade and a Chinese throttling power over all the states of the area. These will not go down without a fight. This is on its own a recipe for world War.
That is not correct. The US Government and the Philippine Government could not agree on the new lease amount so agreed the Americans would close the base and leave. Most personnel had already left when Pinatubo blew up. Those that remained helped to clean up the mess before departing.
I agree. I often read comments from people who think the US shouldn’t be spending a dime outside of our borders. But US policy is oriented towards stopping any global wars and this means keeping expansionist powers like China and Russia from gaining hegemon that enables them to isolate and threaten the US. By and large I think the smaller world powers, the Vietnams and Taiwans, prefer a distant and mostly absent hegemon like the US over a close-up and personal bully like China. It has been a good policy and has kept global order and trade working and has been responsible for the largest expansion of the human genome in the history of the world. Fewer people by percentage are poor and starving today than at any other time. Of course, the Ukraine war will affect that and possibly, just because of that one conflict millions may die from starvation. This is what the US was trying to stop. Amazing the failure to stop it comes under a Democrat...they are in all the biggest wars.
Yes, the Philippine government wanted too much money, but I think Pinatubo was part of it. It also, would have taken a ton of money to clean it up. I was at Clark in 87. Fortunately, they were able to get all the aircraft out of of there, before it went off.
Wasting money we don’t have
Oh, yeah, the Deep State is a real force for world peace...:-( Poor Philippines and poor American military and American tax payer. The world anxiously awaits the defeat of U.S. hegemony and the development of multipolarity.
Collins dictionary: multipolarity
1. the state or quality of being multipolar
2. a distribution of power between three or more countries, alliances, parties, etc
As long as the international economic system remains an open one and countries work within the existing pattern of interdependence, multipolarity serves all participants quite well.
“The Chinese Embassy has published a list of states that were bombed by the United States after World War II:
- Korea and China 1950-53 (Korean War)
- Guatemala 1954
- Indonesia (1958)
- Cuba (1959-1961)
- Guatemala (1960)
- Congo (1964)
- Laos (1964-1973)
- Vietnam (1961-1973)
- Cambodia (1969-1970)
- Guatemala (1967-1969)
- Grenada (1983)
- Lebanon (1983, 1984) (hitting targets in Lebanese and Syrian territory)
- Libya (1986)
- El Salvador (1980)
- Nicaragua (1980)
- Iran (1987)
- Panama (1989)
- Iraq (1991) (Gulf War)
- Kuwait (1991)
- Somalia (1993)
- Bosnia (1994, 1995)
- Sudan (1998)
- Afghanistan (1998)
- Yugoslavia (1999)
- Yemen (2002)
- Iraq (1991-2003) (U.S. and British troops together)
- Iraq (2003-2015)
- Afghanistan (2001-2015)
- Pakistan (2007-2015)
- Somalia (2007-2008, 2011)
- Yemen (2009, 2011)
- Libya (2011, 2015)
- Syria (2014-2015)
There are more than 20 states on the list. China urged to “never forget who the real threats to peace are.”
This list should be broadcast on every possible channel 24 hours a day, uninterrupted.”
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🇷🇺🇺🇦🏳️⚧️ NATO regular forces are in Donbas under the guise of private military companies (PMCs), of which there are up to ten.
Such data was announced on the TV channel “Russia-24” by an officer of the people’s militia of the LPR Andrei Marochko.
Yep. The US is rare because we are a benevolent hegemon. We are interested in preserving the global order and that's important because right now we have the freedom of the seas. That's important for trade.
The reality:
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Vietnam reassures China: no foreign military bases will be hosted on its territory
Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
China and Vietnam are strengthening their partnership to resist Western interference in their internal and regional affairs. Although the two Asian countries have major issues between them and centuries worth of historical animosity, Hanoi will never allow the US to use Vietnam to fight or pressure China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) Central Committee General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Beijing on October 31. Xi Jinping emphazised in their meeting that the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam should not allow anyone to interfere in the sustainable progress of their respective countries.
For his part, Phu Trong clarified that China has the right to count on Vietnamese support in sensitive issues of regional security. Specifically, the Vietnamese leader assured that his country would maintain peace and stability at the land and sea border and not let issues over territorial waters hinder overall bilateral relations. He assured that Hanoi would not develop any official relations with Taiwan, and significantly, that no foreign country will be allowed to set up military bases on Vietnamese territory.
Reaffirming Vietnam’s position on issues that are sensitive and critical to regional security was one of the important outcomes of the high-level talks in Beijing. As Vietnam is the biggest country in Southeast Asia which borders China, in terms of economic power, the US hoped to use Vietnam as a tool of pressure against China. For Washington, it would be ideal if Vietnam and China clashed in the South China Sea so Hanoi could pivot towards AUKUS and/or QUAD.
To Washington’s disappointment though, Hanoi made it clear that is shares Beijing’s position on no foreign military bases and military alliances. At the same time, Vietnam maintains its position against Beijing on the South China Sea issue. Although this could be an issue for the US to exploit, Hanoi has stated that it will not use military force to solve it. Effectively, Vietnam signalled to the US that it will not be a tool to confront China.
At the meeting in Beijing, Xi Jinping noted that development between China and Vietnam faces serious risks and challenges. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has further highlighted the geopolitical issue between great powers, which has contributed to the multitude of challenges that developing countries are facing. Specifically, the energy and food crises are issues that deeply concern Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam.
According to the World Bank, Vietnam is projected to become the fastest growing economy in Asia this year despite a regional downturn caused by China’s sharp economic deceleration. In its most recent economic outlook report for East Asia and the Pacific, the World Bank forecast these regions to grow by 3.2% in 2022, down from 7.2% in 2021, before accelerating to 4.6% in 2023. The projected growth rate for this year marked a significant reduction on the 5% that the World Bank forecast for the year in its last outlook report in April.
Vietnam appears to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this growth, with the World Bank estimating the country’s economy to grow by 7.2% in 2022, up from its projection of 5.3% in April. The World Bank then projects it to grow by a further 6.7% in 2023. Impressively, Vietnam was one of the few countries whose economy grew during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This comes as there is also a continuing trend to move high-tech production from China to Vietnam.
Given Vietnam’s growing importance in the region, the US hoped to exploit the historical animosity the Southeast Asian country has with Beijing and differences over the South China Sea. However, this has failed.
In fact, the two countries, along with several ASEAN countries, are working on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, something that Washington opposes. The Americans want to tighten pressure on China, but the successful visit of Phu Trong to Beijing has ended any thoughts of the US using Vietnam to pressure China. In this way, the US is finding it extremely difficult to find Southeast Asian allies to oppose China.
Source: InfoBrics
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Currently there are 750 United States military bases in 80 countries.
Rabid dogs don’t care who they bite, neo-Nazi supporter and sympathizer, they just bite.
The matter of Taiwan is a matter between China and Taiwan.
As par, the US has NO business whatsoever being involved or turning Taiwan into a Ukraine 2.0.
I am in agreement with the humor of this British TV presenter who solves all the world’s problems in one moment....
https://twitter.com/Nikolai11449196/status/1593885106653077504
Didn’t we give back Subic Bay?
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