Duterte's Intentions

[Bruce]

9 hours ago, scott h said:

You mean we aren't 

That is a very telling statement. Forget about the term 'Americans' itself and look at the meaning... White male. The reality is that with all the anti-white male bashing and strong efforts to de-masculinize the male kids of today, when it is all over and done.... then the world will wonder what happened when there is no one to stand up for people. Stand up for what is right. Does not matter what country you are from, historically it has been the white male, good or bad, opportunist or not, that has come to the defense of those attacked. Look at what is ongoing in Europe today and see major efforts to not stop it, but to suppress white males from defending women and their respective countries.

When the end comes for 'white males'.... the world will have suffered a true loss and there is no substitute. But then it will not be recognized until it is too late....  Without going too far off topic.... Most of the world is unaware that the vast number of medical advances including penicillin and insulin were made by Jewish men.... Where would the world be today if Jews were wiped out 1400 years ago? Sadly, people seem to collect anti-white male stories instead of positive ones...

The current Philippine president, like Trump, is just willing to accept going down in history as 'the bad guy', however their efforts to clean up the mess(es) and make the hard decisions, will in the coming years make things better for their people and future leaders will have something to build on.

The Philippine president and Trump, are simply being 'real men' as were leaders of 50+ years ago. Perhaps more vocal and outspoken then past leaders, but basically, they are exhibiting leadership traits. A president that is always negotiating and compromising gets little done, no one is happy, and the end result is a diluted product.  

[Reboot]

Y'all should be damned happy to be called 'Murican even though y'all don't deserve it!

 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Reboot

[johnbarley]

Might as well give my take on Duterte's intentions:

1. Disputed territories: He prevents the Philippines from becoming the battlefield in a war between the US and China. Currently the Chinese de facto own the area anyway. The international ruling, i.e. the decision of the US and its allies, is meaningless. The only way for the Philippines to gain control would be by China giving it up in exchange for some some big diplomatic prize (maybe a free hand in Taiwan?) which seems unlikely or WW3. This way maybe China throws the Philippines a bone under the pretense of "joint development."

2. Economic: Gain economic cooperation from China, e.g. loans from AIIB, good deals on infrastructure developments. China might already be the largest economy in the world. They almost certainly will be the largest in a few more years and for the foreseeable long-run. They definitely are already more influential in Asia. Increase tourism from China. Currently Phil gets a total of 4M tourists per year. 1M come from Korea and about 500k from each of the US and China. It seems reasonable that China's tourism could dwarf that of Korea's if they're catered to. Highly probable it should as least surpass American tourism. 

3. Political: Keep the US from interfering in domestic affairs, namely the war on drugs. Allow Duterte to run it as he sees fit, i.e. as he did effectively and to popular acclaim in Davao. But his most pragmatic concern might be preventing the US from toppling his own presidency. Is this far-fetched? Not really, considering all the leaders the US has toppled on grounds of "human rights." They've already initiated a media campaign against him and likely fund his opponents via NGOs. Let's not forget that the US was instrumental in toppling Marcos. By allying himself closely with China he gets protection from a US fomented coup. One drawback is loss of support from the large Fil-Am community but I think they never really supported him anyway.

4. Cultural: Weaken the influence of America's toxic culture on the Philippines. I suspect he thinks the modern US culture is pretty disgusting. Personal preference I suppose.

5. Historical: He seems to know his history. The idea that the US and the Philippines are great and natural friends is very debatable. 

All in all seems like a brilliant, unexpected pivot. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2016 by johnbarley

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, johnbarley said:

1. Disputed territories: He prevents the Philippines from becoming the battlefield in a war between the US and China

About those disputed territories, I'm starting to wonder if Duterte is not a smarter man than he is given credit for.  He pisses off people like the US, who can take it without flying off the handle, and he allows people like China to save face, which they need to do if he is going to get any concessions from them.  Could he be a better diplomat than it seems on the surface?

[Snowy79]

On 10/26/2016 at 2:37 PM, Reboot said:

Y'all should be damned happy to be called 'Murican even though y'all don't deserve it!

 

You are aware that Duterte has given the green light to killing those taking drugs 

[Guy F.]

I don't see any downside for expats coming from Duterte. I see quite a lot of upside, what with no loud videoke after 10PM, no public drinking or smoking and so on. As you can guess, I don't smoke and I don't drink much.

BTW, I'm looking for a guy who is really trusting and healthy. You must have both kidneys, be a non smoker, and not be a big drinker or take any drugs that could damage the liver. Type O negative blood a plus.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Guy F.
How do I get my sig to show?

[RBM]

15 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

You are aware that Duterte has given the green light to killing those taking drugs 

Be great if you could post the link to this.  

[Gerald Glatt]

On 10/31/2016 at 8:43 AM, Snowy79 said:

You are aware that Duterte has given the green light to killing those taking drugs 

Goes to show God made more mistakes then just giraffe

[Gerald Glatt]

at least Fil is winning it's war on drugs, nd not spending a fortune on prisons full of users.

[Hey Steve]

5 hours ago, Gerald Glatt said:

at least Fil is winning it's war on drugs, nd not spending a fortune on prisons full of users.

I'm wondering if that trend will continue as the US sent a somewhat subtle message to Duterte by recently cancelling an order of 26m assault rifles earmarked for the PNP. (Maybe our gov't could not justify spending the money in light of how Duterte has chosen to handle this).