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| Southeast Asia |
| Catholic bishop opposes return of US military bases to Philippines |
| 2011-01-17 |
 The United States is working on re-establishing its military bases in the Philippines, a Filipino bishop said today. He said the Philippine government must be careful in dealing with the US, especially now that the issue of amending the [Philippines] Constitution is being pushed in Congress. The bishop is probably putting his concerns about US sailors' injections into the economy over the economy itself. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #13 Well Cam Ranh Bay has been mentioned as well as a site on the PI. PI logistics might be a bit less complex, physically and politically. Still the irony of having Vietnam invite us back is pretty rich. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-17 17:52 |
| #12 Don't forget Vietnam's offer of docking facilities for 'friendly nations' : NO ship inspections, and NO demands as far as not bringing nukes in with you. And that is definitely aimed at the Chinese. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-01-17 16:33 |
| #11 I suspect that the US would have to move there, if for no other reason than to keep the Chinese, or a proxy, from trying to get a deep water port there. However, the US might get crafty and go in for "halfsies" with other interested Asian and Oceanic nations, creating an international, non-Chinese, military port. I know, the Japanese, sigh. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-17 15:14 |
| #10 Do not look for the resurrection of Subic Bay, Cubi Point of Clark; not when we could spend LOTS more developing a completely new bunch of sites for MORE money. I am sure that there is some value left to the three mentioned, not counting all the short time girls, and jeepneys in Olongapo....... ( sure do miss Jolo's) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2011-01-17 14:25 |
| #9 Somewhere, buried in the reasoning behind this, is a memory of O'Longapo (sp?) and the navy bar with carrier quals. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2011-01-17 14:09 |
| #8 We're broke. We can't afford more 'bases' .... Sure we can. We can just get rid of some extra-constitutional federal agency to pay for them. I nominate the EPA. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2011-01-17 11:59 |
| #7 Its mainly about military port facilities and an airfield with that - aimed at China, strategically (look at the Spratleys for instance). We are already unofficially supporting a lot of the PI's actions against the Islamics there, ask around the Army, if you know the right people you'll find quite a few that have been there as "Advisers", as well as other US overt and other assets involved. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-17 11:33 |
| #6 Catholic bishop opposes return of US military bases to Philippines Not your damn business, you deal with the afterlife, not with The Military Keeping people safe from Murderous thugs. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-01-17 10:42 |
| #5 General Santos is on the Souther tip of Mindanao, so it's actually pretty close to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2011-01-17 09:24 |
| #4 OS, where is General Santos? Also, Marbel? |
| Posted by: Grutch White5326 2011-01-17 09:02 |
| #3 We're broke. We can't afford more 'bases' to prop up those who won't/can't fix their own internal problems. The problem with bases is that the boys in the Pentagon drag their feet in leaving them with hand wringing and dire portents. Go back and read all the end of the world predictions when we last left PI. Keeping bases means over stretching reduced resources even more just to keep stuff in place. If they can't be assisted with a force no bigger than what we can park on amphibious assault ship parked off shore or in the port, negotiations need to stop. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-17 08:50 |
| #2 US-ROK-JAPAN [+ Russia = former Japanese Kuriles], versus US-TAIWAN in Center, versus US-PHIL-VIETNAM[+ Russia, India, Japan = GULF OF TONKIN/SEA OF VIETNAM] in South China Sea. Iff true,, just more MORE BOTTLENECK(S) for CHINA + PLAN in EAST ASIA = "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-01-17 04:37 |
| #1 PI and US have had a very long history together. Lots of folks in the PI love the US (and there are a number of large ex-pat PI folks here). This bishop sounds like a liberation theology knee-jerk anti-military type. Send him down into Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory for a while, see if the opinion is the same, if he lives. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-17 02:07 |