US May Strike “ISIS” in the Philippines. Before we get to the very interesting news regarding China/ Philippines Joint South China Sea Development we'll read the news regarding the decision making for the desired attack on the Philippines that may take place as early as tomorrow. And we'll read about the dredging and land creation China & the Philippines have embarked on.UPDATED: Today's news 08/08/17 ( for the numerically interested that is three 8's) has the US airstrikes possibly kicking off next week.
U.S. military was considering launching aerial attacks on the Maute fighters as early as the following week as part of what would be an official, named military operation
Interesting stuff !NBC News: US May Begin Airstrikes Against ISIS in the Philippines
The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News.
The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.
There is a small U.S. military presence on the ground supporting the counter-ISIS fight, called Joint Special Operations Task Force Trident.
If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.
Last month, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs endorsed the idea of naming the mission in the Philippines, saying that naming it would provide more funding.
Speaking/naming the mission into reality- Oh the implications of that, on so many levels.
"In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks," said Gen. Paul Selva in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, "particularly in the fragile areas of the southern Philippines, I think it's worth considering whether or not we reinstate a named operation, not only to provide for the resources that are required, but to give the Pacific Command commander and the field commanders in the Philippines the kinds of authorities they need to work with indigenous Philippine forces to actually help them be successful in that battle space."
Naming the mission will then make it real, official and authoritative in your mind..... Next Big Future- China and the Philippines reclaiming land from the ocean..Imagine the damage to the ocean ecosystem when this type of action is undertaken? Unbelievable. Al Gore should train activists and make a movie about this, rather then continue to work on behalf of big oil as they profit/benefit from the carbon agenda- oh never mind.. that would be real environmental concern.
China and the Philippines were planning to build four artificial islands. The four new artificial islands appear to be planned around Davao. They will be developed for mixed-use, business and residential purposes along the coastline under a P39-billion reclamation project that city government plans to undertake with a major private developer.The joint venture agreement was signed by the city government and Mega Harbour Port and Development Inc. last month.“There will be no relocation because President Duterte does not want to remove the people in the area,” said Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, chair of the city council’s committee on finance and ways and means.
A Chinese state-owned company said to have been involved in Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea signed a deal to construct islands in a mega project in Davao. CCCC Dredging will create four artificial islands totalling 208 hectares of reclaimed land in Davao, the port city on the southern island of Mindanao where Duterte was mayor.
The rates at which land is reclaimed and the technology involved is amazing.
Beijing’s South China Sea land reclamation work has reportedly resulted in 2,900 acres of land reclaimed over a period of roughly 20 months, from early 2014 to August 2015. Here, perspective is important: of the other countries to reclaim land in the South China Sea, Vietnam has reclaimed 80 acres, Malaysia has reclaimed 70, the Philippines has reclaimed 14 and Taiwan has reclaimed approximately eight over various length of time. China has managed to create more than 17 times more land in 20 months than all of the other claimants combined over the past 40 years, accounting for 95 percent of all artificial land in the Spratlys.
The main driving force of China’s reclamation has been a fleet of new dredgers, including the technologically advanced self-propelled cutter-suction dredger (CSD) Tianjing, which is capable of dredging and reclaiming land at a rate of 4,500 cubic meters an hour. These dredgers simply did not exist 15 years ago, yet now China can deploy dozens of them simultaneously in the South China Sea.
China’s largest accomplishment in dredge-building came in 2010, with the launching of Tianjing, China’s first self-propelled CSD, and also Asia’s largest self-propelled CSD and the world’s third largest.
This 120-meter-long ship can dredge up to 4,500 m3/h, more than 100,000 m3 of material a day, at a maximum depth of 30 meters, and travel at speeds of up to 12 knots. Tianjing also boasts a total installed power of 25,760 kilowatts. However, while the large CSD certainly represents a Chinese technological breakthrough, it was not solely the product of Chinese design, but rather the cooperative efforts of SJTU and Vosta LMG, a German company that also built the Ursa, a 115 meter-long self-propelled CSD
Dredging ship- HugeThe dredging ships are mind boggling to consider. Really they are. The Diplomat- The Danger of China-Philippines South China Sea Joint Development"Flashpoints" Yes that is their sub- title!Rodrigo Duterte
As I have noted before, the idea of jointly exploring and exploiting resources is not new to the Sino-Philippine relationship (See: “The Danger of Duterte’s South China Sea Approach”). Indeed, Chinese interlocutors are fond of reminding observers that former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping had wisely proposed this formulation to the Philippine government as early as the 1980s, including during a meeting with then-Philippine President Corazon Aquino back in 1988.There is also no surprise as to why the idea of China-Philippines joint development continues to be periodically resurrected despite the challenges it has confronted, including under the current Duterte government. Simply put, it does offer immediate opportunities that can be seized for both sides.
For the Philippines, it would finally give it a way to secure its energy needs. These needs are especially dire as the Malampaya gas field – which supplies nearly a third of the electricity demand of Luzon, the country’s largest island – will run out in a decade or so, and Manila has been unable to pursue new sources such as in Reed Bank (Recto Bank) unilaterally due to Chinese opposition. Though Duterte has a rather shaky relationship with the truth, his suggestion that Chinese President Xi Jinping had threatened war if the Philippines exploited resources unilaterally tracks with official Chinese rhetoric, which Wang Yi repeated this week.
More broadly, as part of the warming of Sino-Philippine ties underway since Duterte came to office, the Duterte government hopes it could also lead to more Chinese investments into the Philippines to boost the economy, whether these be in a bilateral form or as part of wider initiatives like the much-ballyhooed Belt and Road Initiative (See: “The Real Trouble With China’s Belt and Road”).
For China, in addition to capitalizing on the dramatic turnaround in its ties with a U.S. treaty ally, it also offers a way for Beijing to maintain its uncompromising stance that it still has sovereignty over most of the South China Sea at other claimants’ expense while also securing a partner as well as a market for resource exploitation.
More generally, in China’s eyes, it would also add some credence to the idea – or, as I’ve termed it, the illusion – that there is indeed a cooling down period at play in the South China Sea, which allows Beijing greater room to restrict what other claimants, non-claimants, and other extraregional actors do to counteract its own moves in the South China Sea.
But the trouble with China-Philippines joint development in the South China Sea is not that these immediate opportunities do not exist for these respective parties. Rather, it is that these immediate opportunities mask, and are outweighed by, the massive risks related to the past, current context, and near future, and the Duterte government has not done near enough to prove otherwise.
Put simply the opportunities for China/ Philippines do exist for one another, but, the reward may not be worth the risks.. Which may explain the sudden appearance of ISIS along with the US wanting to bomb the Philippines. That's falls into the risk category.All article can and should be read at the links provided. Lots more information there then posted here.From yesterday and Saturday- enjoy