In a new global environment, centered on a multipolar world order, the Philippines offers a unique perspective for understanding the changes occurring in international relations. With the victory of Rodrigo Duterte in May 2016, many anticipated a major change in Manila’s relations with such countries as the United States and China. The Philippines has always enjoyed a…
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Facts In the United States, facts, an important element of truth, are not important. They are not important in the media, politics, universities, historical explanations, or the courtroom. Non-factual explanations of the collapse of three World Trade Center buildings are served up as the official explanation. Facts have been politicized,…
Last December, in these very pages, I warned that a particular danger the new Trump administration would face in the national security field would be the problem of senior figures issuing “contradictory statements” about U.S. policy, especially in the absence of “effective direction” from the White House. This would lead to uncertainty both within the U.S….
The oil and business press is abuzz with predictions of an imminent Venezuelan financial collapse, as a prelude to its political implosion, which should oust President Maduro and erase the Hugo Chavez ambitious experiment. The country is running out of money, and is unexpected to pay some US$ 3.5 Billion in international loans coming due in…
From somewhere in deep space keen alien observers poke elbows and giggle over the state of humanity on Earth. One tiny nation’s hidden leadership pulling powerful titanium stings to cause ongoing crisis for billions of people, the idiocy of rule by the 0.1% must befuddle even big brained beings from Andromeda. ISIL, Putin the archvillain,…
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declared in June that he was «shocked» upon his return to the Pentagon by the poor state of the US military’s readiness for combat. It was widely believed that the statement was just another attempt to convince lawmakers that the military needed more money. Perhaps, it was one of the reasons,…
