news of the day

podcast of the week: The story of Evita's corpse.

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another day, another storm...flooding is expected in some Manila streets.
Time to take down the outdoor ads. Here, the skeleton for huge billboards is left in place, while the tarps with the actual message is removed, so the wind doesn't collapse the signs on the locals (and the power lines)...

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The president is complaining of news bias against him by ABS CBN, who hired the ex Vice president as a reporter.

On the other hand, the network was pretty vigorous at hitting our lovely ex president Gloria, especially Ricky Carandang, who is now working for PNoy.

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China is moving troops into Hong Kong and has started propaganda classes in the schools.

The furor focuses on a Hong Kong government-funded 34-page book titled "The China Model" celebrating China's single party Communist state as a unique political system under which its economy and society have flourished.

Just send it to Tom Friedman of the NYTimes, who is pushing the same propaganda here.


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South Korea holding joint training with the Philippines....hmmm...

and McCain is behind us (and VietNam) against China's attempt to grab our waters...too bad he isn't president, since Obama has told us we are on our own.

"The decision by China's Central Military Commission to deploy troops to islands in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Vietnam, is unnecessarily provocative," the Republican McCain said in a statement.

 

He said other action by China including its appointment of legislators to govern such disputes "only reinforces why many Asian countries are increasingly concerned about China's expansive territorial claims, which have no basis in international law, and the possibility that China will attempt to impose those claims through intimidation and coercion."

Robert Kaplan warned about this last year in the journal Foreign Policy...Strategypage take is here.
and HERE. 

The Chinese strategy is to make it difficult for other nations to fish or search for oil and gas in the disputed waters. China will then offer to negotiate and share the economic benefits. The other nations will probably be offered some fishing rights in waters of the EEZ of each nation neighboring the South China Sea but China will keep all the oil and gas outside each nations territorial waters (22 kilometers from the coast).

China is assuming that no nation, including the United States, will confront China with military force in these matters. China itself will use military force sparingly. "Illegal" oil exploration or fishing, for example, will encounter Chinese civilian ships, and a few small military ships, that "accidently" destroy fishing nets or disrupt oil exploration activities. This will, as it has in the past, involve "accidental" collisions with the offending ships. Any use of force against the offending Chinese civilian ships will be met with force by Chinese warplanes and warships. The Philippines is hoping that the United States will provide the military muscle to make China back off.
The U.S. says it will protect its allies, like the Philippines, but this apparently only extends to direct attack on Filipino land territory, not disputed offshore waters

part of the problem is growing unrest in China over corruption and an economic downturn. A nice little war would distract folks from reality.

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