(ANTIMEDIA) — U.S. special forces are now assisting the Philippines’ military to quash an ISIS-inspired movement in the Pacific nation as government forces are struggling to make significant headway against the militants.
From the Manila Times:
Today, Philippines celebrates 199 years of independence from Spain, but it was during that fateful year of 1898 that the country switched one colonial master for another.
Yesterday, Reuters broke a story calming that the US has agreed to a Philippine request to assist Philippines in the war against ISIS, a story confirmed by both a military spokesman for Philippines and the United States. The story has now been directly contradicted by Philippines President Duterte, also according to Reuters. Duterte claims that he “never approached U.S”.
Duterte further stated,
“I am not aware of that (any request for US assistance) until they (US forces) arrived”.
What does one call a style of doing politics that only allows a state to interact with, engage in diplomacy with and have normal business relations with states which exhibit beliefs, lifestyle and cultural norms that are the same as yours, even when this has no impact on the daily business of commerce and cooperation?
The answer is: SECTARIAN POLITICS.
The Philippine military has confirmed that the United States has started to offer limited support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s battle with ISIS.
Duterte had said that the US is unreliable as an ally insofar as they impose ideological conditions as a prerequisite for any kind of assistance. Duterte contrasted this with Russia and China which operate in a more straightforward and businesslike manner.
Poster of radical FPI in Jakarta. (Photo: Andre Vltchek)
Andre Vltchek
21st Century Wire
It was late at night but the new Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport outside Jakarta was still bustling with families and friends waiting for their loved ones returning from abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Astana along with the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in a ceremony and conference welcoming India and Pakistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Putin spoke of the need for further cooperation on all matters of mutual interest ranging from trade to anti-terrorism measures. Putin’s speech which emphasised the need for unity between Asia and Eurasia and spoke of using the SCO as a means to help and better coordinate China’s One Belt–One Road trade project.
It was late at night but the new Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport outside Jakarta was still bustling with families and friends waiting for their loved ones returning from abroad.
My friend Noor Huda Ismail was just arriving from Singapore, and I decided to pick him up and discuss ‘certain issues’ with him in the car, on the way to the capital. Lately he and I were busy, awfully busy, and a one-hour journey seemed to be the most appropriate setting for the exchange of at least some essential ideas and information.
If an ordinary person had a penny for every time a western politician spoke about the pressing need to ‘combat international terrorism’, that ordinary person could likely afford to live in the kind of highly secure housing that generally affords protection against terrorism.
In reality, people around the world are increasingly subject to the kind of Salafist terrorism that the west has spent decades cultivating, funding, arming and politically supporting.
