How many attended? One million? Four Million? there were only 1000 mainly minor injuries, which is a miracle in itself: No terrorist attacks or stampede injuries.
the Black Nazarene is the suffering Christ, and the procession is a way to identify with him, knowing he suffered too. But it is also a way to express one's belief. Rappler gives a cultural explanation.
Dr Jayeel Cornelio of the Ateneo de Manila University said that many believers find solidarity in the image of Christ bearing his cross; it speaks to the hardships of most of the Nazareno’s believers. More than that, they also find solidarity with fellow devotees.
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the Russians are coming! the Russians are coming!
the Russian navy pays a visit.
President Rodrigo Duterte had turned to Russia and China, rivals of the country's closest defense ally the United States, following criticism of his war on drugs by the previous US administration.
Duterte was denied small weapons for the cops when the previous US administration/State Department decided to punish them for the drug war. So Duterte turned to Russia for rifles etc. which came in handy when some Islamic terrorists took over a city in the south.
way to go Barry!
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StrategyPage has a summary of Duterte's war against drugs and corruption that blasts the meme you usually see in the US MSM. The war on drugs and the war on corruption are linked.
The drug gangs, which had become very powerful simply because of the amount of cash they handled and the number of gunmen (and corrupt officials) on their payroll also took heavy losses for the first time when a newly installed president (Duterte) went after the drug gangs in 2016 and is still at it.
The drug gangs, leftist rebels and Islamic terror groups were all major components in the criminal underground provided all manner of essential illegal services (weapons, false documents, smuggling, money laundering, information) that are now much less available and more expensive to use. This sort of thing does not make headlines but the police and military intel analysts can measure the impact and it’s an important factor in the continued decline of all three sources of criminal activity.
one result? crime and corruption is down and the economy is improving.
read the whole thing.
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in a related story, a couple years back there was a hack that diverted 81 million dollars from Bangladesh into the pockets of some Chinese criminals, using the casinos and banks in Manila.
Most of the guilty are still free, but one person did get convicted:
One major problem here is that the courts follow the rule of law, on paper, but often it is easy to make evidence and witnesses disappear (bribes or physically disappear by fleeing or worse) so the courts end up throwing out the case.
In September 2017, former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Deguito was left to face trial alone for the $81-million cyberheist on Bangladesh Bank after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped the complaints against all her coaccused.
Sigh.
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