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| Southeast Asia |
| The Dragon Comes With a Suitcase |
| 2016-09-06 |
| If you listen to Rodrigo Duterte's now infamous rant against president Obama (start a minute 6) you might be forgiven for thinking it was Howard Zinn or Bill Ayers speaking, allowing for the accent. He spoke of the "lapdogs of America" who forget that "America has one too many [offenses] to answer for". He argued that the Philippines "inherited the [Muslim] problem from the United States" and since "everyone has a terrible record of extrajudicial killing ... why make an issue of it." He describes the massacre of the Indians, the oppression of migrants etc. as reasons for ordering the deaths of thousands proving, if there was any remaining doubt, that he learned the lesson of moral equivalence well. From this Duterte concluded that he wouldn't listen to lectures from the SOB leader of such a country. It's almost as if he's been listening to Obama and Obama was hoist on his own petard. The Western left has the habit of preaching from a moral height while simultaneously describing its history as one unending crime. You've heard the teaching moments. "I live in a house built by slaves." "You didn't build that!" This whole country is stolen! Say it often enough and someone will believe you. Somebody did. The trouble is you can't rise from the toilet to suddenly preach from a great moral height. It's possible to do one but not both simultaneously. Of course the liberal left can context shift and switch between sackcloth and ashes and the throne of moral superiority with the alacrity of Dr. Who. But Durterte isn't that nimble. The clash between the two is tragi-comedy. Obama's planned teaching moment has complicated the problem of holding the Philippines against an expansionary China. The stark reality is that Duterte's Philippines is almost totally helpless against the Chinese military power and extremely vulnerable to Islamic terrorism. Who does Duterte think is keeping the Chinese away? The Philippine Navy? Nor will his hometown of Davao last very long against Islamic rebels without intelligence support and Sigint from the United States. Maybe Durterte believes that USA and Obama are two different things - I know, I do. ...The Era of Hope and Change has been one prolonged act of suicide. If anyone had said that Obama would manage to alienate Israel and the Philippines, lose Turkey, pay Iran a hundred billion dollars, preside over the loss of a won war in Afghanistan, lose billions of dollars in military equipment to ISIS, watch a consulate burn, restart the Cold War with Russia, cause Japan to re-arm and go the knife's edge with China would you have believed it? If someone had told you in 2008 millions of refugees would be heading for Europe and that the UK would leave the EU after Obama went there to campaign for them to remain would you not have laughed? |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #3 Richard Fernandez (the article above) seems to be at odds with the "hired-tagalog-speaker's interpretation. Interesting... Posted by Fred in Politics\2016-09-06\Southeast Asia Philippines' Duterte calls Obama 'son of a whore' comment #8 http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/09/05/we-hired-a-native-tagalog-speaker-heres-what-the-filipino-prez-really-said/ Posted by 746 2016-09-06 12:29|| 2016-09-06 12:29| |
| Posted by: magpie 2016-09-06 18:48 |
| #2 As long as it somebody else's baby. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-09-06 14:25 |
| #1 A foundational tenet of leftism is that the scorpion, the black widow and the cobra have as much right to be in the crib as the baby. Then they are surprised when that gets turned back on them... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2016-09-06 14:16 |