Being safer and other war stories

StrategyPage has an excellent summary on what is going on here in the Philippines: we are safer now, and the cries of the SJW against Duterte are not the cries of the normal (working class/farmers) here.

They estimate the drug war has killed 5000: a lot lower than most "human rights" types estimate.

Why the difference? the SJW types blame all murders on Duterte, including types of murders that have been going on for years that have nothing to do with his war on drugs: e.g. Politicians killed rivals, angry folks killed crooked politicians and businessmen, and crooked politicians and businessmen killed reporters who spilled the beans on their corruption; druggies killed girlfriends/family members when they got angry, or killed people when they entered the home to rob them to get drugs.

so why are the "human rights" folks pushing the killer Duterte meme? Uh, because too many of the crooked politicians being jailed are their friends:

In the last few years hundreds of corrupt cops and other officials have been identified and prosecuted or simply expelled from their jobs if there was not enough evidence for prosecution. Many corrupt senior officials were identified and punished. Duterte also promised to do something about the chronic corruption and he did, with the war on drugs leading to the arrests of many current and former government officials who were corrupt, but are now in prison or awaiting trial.

they also note that Duterte finally got the clan behind the Manguindanao massacre convicted, and discusses the ongoing war against private armies, and the history of why they exist in the first place (local protection, to fight terrorists, and alas to intimidate their opponents).

lots of stuff about terrorism in their post, but that is in the south and since the NPA is quiet in our area doesn't affect us.

SP also has an article on the Philippines buying used war equipment.

The Philippines has managed to get a lot done with a miniscule defense budget and the use of second-hand, but still serviceable, aircraft and warships. Because of the problems with China in the South China Sea regional allies like Japan and Australia donated used aircraft and ships. The U.S. had already been doing that and former U.S. Coast Guard cutters, which are the size of frigates, have been upgraded to frigate armament and donated to the Philippines. These are now the largest warships in the Filipino fleet.

Filipinos like Americans a lot more than the Chinese, but are wary about being made a pawn in the China Vs USA trade fight right now.

related item: Strategytalk podcast on Hong Kong MP3link

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not really related, but SP had this article summarizing wound care in modern war: specifically woundstat and Hemecon.

Over 95 percent of the time, the HemCon bandages stopped bleeding, especially in areas where a tourniquet could not be applied. Then came WoundStat powder to deal with bleeding that HemCon could not handle. While medics, and troops, prefer the bandage type device, there are situations where WoundStat (a fine granular substance) is a better solution (especially in the hands of a medic). Only the medics got packets (usually two) of Woundstat powder. That's because this is only needed for deep wounds and has a theoretical risk of causing fatal clots if it gets into the bloodstream.

Medical summary here. another discussion here. 

A lifesaver now being used by your local EMS, and even hunters and hikers are carrying it in their first aid pack.

Ah, but has Hollywood noticed this?

Well, in Mandelorian 7, the drop soldier stopped Carl Weather from bleeding to death from his wound because she carried a med pack with her, (but Baby Yoda saved his life because the wound was complicated by a fast acting toxin).

So yes, she was up to date, (even though she lives in a fantasy future)

But on 6 Underground, the film starts with a car chase where one of them is wounded in the back of the speeding car, and you see the person in the back of the car say the wound is bleeding, so the film shows them pulling out a small hemostat instead of using a clotting bandage. Then to make things (medically) worse they say "we have to get the bullet out". 

Why? If the bullet is in an artery, and you pull it out without proper control, the person will bleed to death in a few minutes. And there is no hurry in removing a bullet: that idea goes back to cowboy movies, in days before antibiotics. And doing it in a car speeding and swerving? Give me a break. You just put on a pressure bandage such as Hemestat, or if you don't have that with you, put a pressure pack on it, or even pack the hole with a tampon to stop the bleeding. In other words, you do first aid and keep them alive until they can get to an experienced surgeon.

at that point, I yelled at the TV and turned it off. and changed to watching cat videos from youtube. Because it might be a good "action" type film, but I have little patience with medical ignorance, and if they get such a basic medical information wrong, the rest of the film is also probably nonsense.