Philippine President Duterte announces 'separation' from United States

[jimboa24]

of course they do since international trade is important for a functioning society in today's modern world.

Well I know that; my point was that Duterte apparently ISN'T aware of that.

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Too bad for him that things like treaties aren't so easily broken, like the ones that give us our military bases. His comments are definitely bad news, because they represent a definite negative trend in Philippine-U.S. relations, but he can't just kick us out and cut ties with us all on his lonesome. If he can convince the legislature (and I'm not that familiar with the structure of the government of the Phillippines, but I believe they have a similar Congressional setup to the U.S.) to revoke the treaty, then I'll be very surprised.

Even if he wanted to, he would have to be insane and stupid to actually go through with it. The Philippines' economy is HEAVILY dependent on the U.S. not just because so many of our businesses outsource work to them, but military bases also provide good economic boosts to all areas that they're located. The Philippines need the U.S. a LOT more than the U.S. needs them, and at the very least Duterte's economic adviser is aware of that considering he immediately went on record to downplay Duterte's rhetoric.

[Ghaleon]

I do not see things ending well for him.

Philippines a bunch of islands, that correct me if i'm wrong are majority in favor of the USA.

This will be funny, if anything comes of his rambling.

[Blobfish]

Hes looking for Chinese investment. That's why he is sucking up to them.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/2...dutertes-pivot

Duterte said in China's Great Hall of the People. "I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe
I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are
three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way"

[Alydael]

So China has found another puppet..... I wonder how long before they give him nukes like N Korea. Or maybe he could go the Iran route, swindle Obama, kidnap some US soldiers and Obama will send him millions in cold hard cash to avoid the whole embarassing hostage thing. Then Hillary can call him "hitler" (like she did to Putin) and go ahead and start another Cold War (because we all want that now).

[jimboa24]

Hes looking for Chinese investment. That's why he is sucking up to them.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/2...dutertes-pivot

Duterte said in China's Great Hall of the People. "I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe
I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are
three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way"

He's a fucking idiot. The man makes Donald Trump look like the greatest and most brilliant political and diplomatic mind that ever lived.

[May90]

He's a fucking idiot. The man makes Donald Trump look like the greatest and most brilliant political and diplomatic mind that ever lived.

Imagine if the US election was between Trump and Duterte... Horror in the flesh.

[Slant]

What will we do without Philippines?! Quickly, we need a new friend... Say, Ivory Coast!

Did you like that quote, too? "It's three against the world! Russia, Phillipines and China!"

I thought "Hmm... one of the 3 doesn't fit the other two, which could it be?"

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@Skroe

We need you!

Seconded. @Skroe, where are you? :P

[madethisfor1post]

@Skroe My body is ready for infographs.

[dextersmith]

Now where will we get our baseball players!?

I'm more concerned about cassava cake....oh wait.....

Would he reject American aid for their next natural disaster?

[Traveler Voltin]

Out of all the countries, he picks china.
Lol

[Easo]

So, to sum it up:
1. He literally just wasted decades of what USA (and others) have invested in them. One more reason single person should have limited power.
2. He decided to suck it up to a country which is agressively trying to steal their land.

Dark times indeed.

[Wells]

I'd be surprised if this lasts. He might hate the US, but the Philippines don't.

[starlord]

cool, have fun with that. im sure china will be as good at managing their fisheries as well as the -
hahahahahahaha sorry couldnt finish.

[Skroe]

@Skroe

We need you!

Here I am!

Well, there isn't much too this. There is much less than meets the eye to this. Let's put this in context.

The is not the first time an ally country has had a change in leadership whose leader, sometimes (oftentimes) populist wants to institute a fundamental policy shift away from the United States and fills up their oratory with anti-American or anti-alliance rhetoric. It happens a couple of times a decade.

Rarely does anything come of it though despite public pronouncements. The economic, cultural, security and political links that bind partner countries are too deep for one man, or any oratory to do much more than just put some stress on. That is doubly true of the Philippines, which despite Duterte's ranting, has taken essentially no steps to dramatically redefining the relationship. Canceling military exercises that involve small numbers of troops, don't mean anything.

So what is Duterte doing? In one sense, this is a free lunch for him.

He got to be President at a time the Obama Administration was on it's way out the door. He has absolutely nothing to lose by poking it in the eye and building up his "I'm an independent actor" cred. The people who would take that personally and institute a policy shift from our end, will be gone in 4 months. Similarly he can leverage that to get a good trade deal with his country with China, which we must remember, is his neighbor, and who trade with is a reality. The rhetoric about "the US lost" and rebalancing towards China is just playing on American anxiety about the Pacific Pivot and Chinese expansionism. The truth us, the past 6 years have been an utter fiasco for China in terms of making friends in it's near abroad and it's been an overwhelming victory for the US-Pacific Rim alliance. Xi Jinping has been a utterly hopeless advocate for China's "peaceful rise" and it's neighbors, despite Duterete's stunts, are all preparing for substantial Chinese aggression.

So what Duterte gets to do, next year, is forge a new relationship with a new Administration that will be around for 4-8 years and look like a tough and capable negotiator against the world's only superpower at home... probably getting some more economic aid and weapon systems. And nothing much will change.

As I said, it's a free lunch for him.

This is an old act and US allies have done it before. The US is very adept at going into "management mode" whereas we just kind of let the country in question do its thing and play its games, because we know that the worst thing we could do is "do harm" and actually (and self deafeningly) create the grounds for an enduring change when these statements are largely harmless. To the United States, it's doesn't matter that Duterte speaks glowingly if in the end, he does most of what we want and the majority of our interests converge, and that seems to be the case. Policy matters, not public oratory.

It's worth reminding ourselves how we got here. The Obama Administration's Second Term Bizarro Foreign Policy Muppet Squad, which loves to talk about principles, made a needly enemy of Duterte by being public about their discomfort with his campaign against drug dealers. Human rights are important and the US image as a defend of human rights is an important source of our moral authority. But superpowers MUST pick their battles. It is the freedom OF a superpower to pick fights of its choosing. Obama, who has never appreciated the power and unique position of the country he leads, has allowed a foreign policy where the US get's to make a needless enemy, and then pat itself on the back for standing up for what is right. As if running the country's foreign affairs is the same as being a College Debate Club. Human rights for drug dealers is not a winning political line, period, even if it is ethically and legally one. There is a way to handle something like that and a way not to.

If it had a problem with Duterte, the way to do it was back channels, and not call him out publicly, which is what the US did. It should have said "We respect the democratic process of our partners and the right for them to carry out policies their leaders ran on and will enthusiastically assist the Philippines with it's drug problem." It should not have said, publicly it was concerned about human rights violations, even if it was.

What is the US objective in Asia Pacific? To build a barrier of nations to host bases and forge economic and security links keep China penned up. Is there anything more important than that as far as our interests go in Asia-Pacifc? No. Then what in God's name is the Obama Administration doing by pissing off the newly elected firebrand leader of a key country in that arrangement in a way that does not serve our grand plan?

This is why you don't put people who did tours at Human Rights Watch in your administration. Because they're incapable of dealing with the world as it is, rather than as they would like it to be.

The good news is, this Foreign Policy is about 4 months from being sunk and turned into a reef. Like a rusted old ship. Maybe we'll learn something. But this is just like the latest episode of Obama stupidly putting principle over interests. Barack Obama: your principles don't matter for shit in the face of our wider objectives. They never have, and they never will. The end. I hope patting yourself on the back was worth creating a problem that didn't need to happen.

In any event, I wouldn't be overly concerned about Duterte . We're about to have our own change of government. The Filipino population and government is both broadly pro-American. The links are extremely deep. In the end, talk, showmanship and all that stuff is cheap. It would take decades for China to supplant the US in that relationship. It just isn't going to happen.

But the US needs to do better with future Dutertes. Because as mostly-harmless as this is, we totally shot ourselves in the foot. We need to focus on our core interest in this (or any) region, and work backwards from that.

[THE Bigzoman]

Isn't China bullying them in territorial and trade disputes? Seems like that's much more hate worthy than Obama Drama wagging his finger at campaign rhetoric.

[GennGreymane]

ty @Skroe

btw

you may get many giggles from this

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/1...162912041.html

President Rodrigo Duterte has backtracked on his comments about the Philippines' "separation" from the United States, saying severing of ties was not in the best interest of his country.

Following a meeting between Duterte and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, the tough-talking president announced "separation from the United States, both in military but economics also".

"America has lost it," Duterte was quoted as saying in a transcript of his speech released by the Philippine Presidential Communications Office on Friday.


The Philippines' Duterte inches away from US and closer to China
"I mean, I realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia."

However, following his return from China on Friday, he announced that the statement meant Philippines' foreign policy "need not dovetail" with that of the US.

"It's not severance of ties. Severance is to cut diplomatic relations. I cannot do that. Why? It's in the best interests of my country that I don't do that," Duterte said in his hometown of Davao.

Duterte's visit to Beijing capped a series of recent declarations blasting the United States and President Barack Obama.

Duterte was quoted by the Manila-based website Rappler calling Americans "loud, sometimes rowdy. Their larynx is not adjusted to civility".

In response, the White House said Duterte has made too many troubling statements recently that lend uncertainty over its ties with the US and are at odds with their alliance.

"We've seen too many troubling public statements from President Duterte over the last several months," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

"And the frequency of that rhetoric has added an element of unnecessary uncertainty into our relationship that doesn't advance the interests of either country."

Duterte has also repeated his denunciation of Obama on Thursday as a "son of a whore".

[Tennis]

Every time a country does this within a year they are begging to reestablish a great relationship with the U.S.

Ok. Proof of this?

[Blobfish]

Now the Dickhead is off to Japan

He is a senile Phillipino Pres

(P.s) I will call him a Dickhead after what he say to US Pres OBAMA

[Shadowferal]

Duterte visited Beijing last week and has increasingly spoken about friendly ties with China after years of antagonism over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Observers say Duterte is looking to China to take over from the US as a major ally for the Philippines.

But Russel said it was a mistake to think improved relations between Manila and Beijing “somehow come at the expense of the United States … This should be addition and not subtraction”.

[Krigaren]

It's so funny that he keeps calling Obama "son of a whore". This guy really isn't gonna last long.

Calling Obama a "son of a whore" while also saying, "{An American's} larynx is not adjusted to civility".

This guy is an unhinged psychopath. Kinda reminds me of someone else, though he just prefers to call people "losers".