Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has responded to the ISIS beheading of two Vietnamese civilian sailors captured off the cost of the Philippine island of Sibago.
The identities of the sailors has been confirmed as Hoang Trung Thong and Hoang Va Hai.
China and Russia have long urged North Korea to put its weapons programme on hold and come to the negotiating table. This was reiterated yesterday at the joint meeting between the Presidents of Russia and China.
China and Russia have also asked the United States to put the delivery of missiles to the Korean peninsula on hold and refrain from conducting provocative military drills with its South Korean partners in the region.
Neither side has listened.
Of course the US and North Korea approach their similar “Fu*k you” attitude from a different perspective.
Many in Philippines saw President Rodrigo Duterte’s overtures to China as a gamble, some called it foolish, but the reality is that sooner or later all nations of the region will have to acknowledge that there is a global super-power at their back door and that super-power is not the United States.
With all the fuss over Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump meeting later this week at the G20 summit, many have conspicuously failed to grasp that the monumental task ahead of both leaders has little to do with their own period in government and even less to do with their personalities. These things of course do matter, but their importance is dwarfed by larger historical and present economic and geo-strategic concerns.
With that in mind, here are the giant obstacles that both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will be faced with when they meet.
China has scrambled a fleet of maritime vessels and fighter jets to intercept the American aircraft carrier USS Stethem which illegally sailed into Chinese waters.
Protesters are blocked by police as they attempt to march closer to the U.S. Embassy to denounce the U.S. military’s role in the ongoing battle between Government forces and ISIS militants who laid siege to Marawi city in southern Philippines, June 12, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. (AP/Bullit Marquez)
The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.
— Vergil, The Aeneid
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has sent a message to his soldiers that they should not hold back when fighting ISIS, not under any circumstances.
He told soldiers to,
“…not hesitate to engage just because there are civilians. It is the duty of the civilians to flee or seek cover. We will face charges, sometimes massacre, you know a bullet hits through and through, one squeeze of the Armalite, it bursts out about three, four. Keep on pressing”.
Duterte continued,
(ANTIMEDIA) — New legislation that would make enthusiastic singing of the national anthem mandatory in the Philippines has been approved by the Philippine House of Representatives. The act, known as the “Revised Flag and Heraldic Code” is a revision of an existing bill that will require all persons to stand, salute, and sing when the national anthem is played at a public event.
