Philippines

The United States has only one move left.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, a man the West tends to mock or underestimate, has just delivered on yet another of his promises: further cooperation and extended relations with Russia.
Two Russian ships, the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Tributs and the sea tanker Boris Butoma, have sailed into Manila harbour on a goodwill visit.
The move is a sign of extended friendship between the two countries and could well be the beginning of ever closer relations.

As Obama accuses Russia of tampering in US elections, the US is accused of the same.

Manila and Davao — When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ascended to power in 1999, almost no one in the West, in Asia and even in most of the Latin American countries knew much about his new militant revolutionary anti-imperialism. From the mass media outlets like CNN and the BBC, to local televisions and newspapers (influenced or directly sponsored by Western sources), the ‘information’ that was flowing was clearly biased, extremely critical, and even derogatory.

Miracle media, death by chocolate and synchromystic awards + this day in history w/Glenn Miller missing and our song of the day by His Name Is Alive on your Morning Monarchy for December 15, 2016.

On November 30th, I walked into the historic building housing the Cuban Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was getting cold and it was drizzling. Several Vietnamese guards stood silently at the entrance. Flowers were everywhere and a big black photo of Comandante Fidel was facing a busy street.
I explained who I was, and an embassy official first let me into a courtyard decorated with more flowers and images, and later into a room with a beautiful book, into which I penned several sentences of grief, but also admiration and hope.

From Manila and Davao — There is a sense of change in those narrow and desperate alleys of the Baseco slum in the Philippines’ capital, Manila. For the first time in many years a beautiful, noble lady visited; against all odds she decided to stay. Her name is Hope.
Baseco Slum

As Official Washington obsesses about Russia, the Obama administration is mounting a similar strategy against China, surrounding it and then accusing it of “aggression,” as John Pilger explains. By John Pilger When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the…Read more →

Common wisdom says that after Donald Trump got elected in the United States, Vietnam should be in panic.
True, there could be some ‘objective’ reasons for alarm, if one is truly obsessed with the ‘free’ trade agreements.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership may soon go to the dogs and at least one sizeable part of the Vietnamese leadership was counting on it, hoping that it would boost the economy, particularly its garment and agricultural sectors.

By Marjorie Cohn | Consortium News | November 25, 2016 In April 2016, Rodrigo Duterte won the Philippine presidential election by a landslide, with more than 6 million votes. He openly declared that he was the nation’s first Left president, calling himself a socialist but not a communist. So far, his regime has been controversial, […]