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Southeast Asia
A U.S.-Led Military Coup Could Be Brewing In The Philippines To Oust Duterte
2017-06-18
Rumours? Fake news? Partially true? True? So many weasel words, but a dearth of quoted sources on the record. One begins to suspect someone is trying to cause trouble between allies and within the Philippines.
[MintPressNews] The U.S. is beefing up its military presence in the Philippines, claiming that the Philippines government requested their aid. However, President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Sunday he made no such request, raising concern that the U.S. may have an ulterior motive.

While the Philippine government claims that it did not request U.S. military aid, it remains unconfirmed if the Philippine Army requested the aid independently without consulting the federal government.

Duterte insinuated during Sunday’s press conference that this may be the case, stating that due to years of U.S. training, "our soldiers are pro-American, that I cannot deny." He did not explicitly comment on whether the army had asked for U.S. military aid without his approval.

However, the Philippine military seems to have admitted to asking for the aid. Philippine military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla told the Associated Press: 'We don’t have adequate surveillance equipment, so we asked the U.S. military for assistance. It’s non-combat assistance.'
Posted by:Anomalous Sources

#11  Good question, Joe. We had, as you mentioned, some pretty good assets down there (and elsewhere). It's going to take a decade, probably two, to get things back to near where they were prior to 2008.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-06-18 22:29  

#10  Interesting note is that the Seabees have taken up the heavy lifting for Civil Military Operations in the Southern Philippines. This was once a SF deal, and they are the best in this type of operations here, low key and effective. Now that the powers at be have the purse strings, and what I have seen is the full blown industrial in your face we know how do it better type of Op. When do we stop reinventing the wheel??
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle   2017-06-18 19:54  

#9  Thanks Joe.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-06-18 17:36  

#8  There's nothing in this that remotely points at "A US Led Military Coup". Maybe Duterte's own chiefs are thinking about tossing him, but I'm fairly sure all the US guys understand that getting involved in it would be a no-no.
It's kinda like a dog chasing a car, and the US invading Iraq: OK, now what are you going to do with it?
Posted by: ed in texas   2017-06-18 15:28  

#7  Good gouge. Thanks Joe. Don't be a stranger.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-06-18 13:18  

#6  What would the US have to gain? Put another way, would is a compelling reason?
Posted by: Slereng and Tenille5047   2017-06-18 13:15  

#5  “Duterte ejected U.S. special forces from the southern Philippines last year”. Not exactly true, SOCPAC phased out the Joint Special Operations Task Force- Philippines, (JSOTF-P) and the mission was assumed by Marine Special Operations Command, MARSOC in Zamboanga. Despite the scale down the Marines have been engaged down there, at one point a few months ago they got into a firefight and the whole squad had to leave the country prior to the news reports came out that they were involved in direct action. Duterte has been on kidney dialysis and has been absent due to “illness”, yes there maybe something afoot going on but to the extent that the US is plotting a coup is doubtful. We have lost contact over the last eight years under the prior administration of all our well-groomed assets. Now you do have some players that are vested in that rice bowl down there and they may seize this window of opportunity to take advantage of the current weakness by using the US as a smokescreen take action…….
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle   2017-06-18 12:43  

#4  jungle
Posted by: 746   2017-06-18 11:02  

#3  Joe of the Jun
gle is one hell of a guy
Posted by: 746   2017-06-18 11:01  

#2  Wonder if Joe of the Jungle is still out in the world?
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-06-18 10:48  

#1  The fact that Mindanao is the very region now threatened by Daesh suggests that documented U.S. intelligence plans to use the terror group as a tool to destabilize and overthrow democratically-elected presidents may now be coming to fruition in the Philippines.

An entirely understandable train of thought, desperately flawed nonetheless. Could a Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones segment be pulled together to further explore ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-06-18 04:57  

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