[The Nation] Thai insurgents gunned down a female gas-station employee in Pattani province yesterday afternoon and then detonated two home-made bombs, injuring seven people, as security forces responded to the shooting.
Twenty minutes after Teerapat Chantharojwong was shot and killed by four gunmen on two motorcycles, police officers were inspecting the scene in Khok Pho district when the bombs went off. The blasts wounded four policemen, two paramilitary ranger volunteers and one civilian.
It was reported that paramilitary rangers arrived at the scene while the suspects were still there and shot and injured one suspect. Pattani police chief Pol Maj-General Thanongsak Wangsupa instructed officers to search medical facilities in nearby areas for the injured suspect.
In another deadly attack in the far South, ten militants opened fire on three defense volunteers in front a school Narathiwat province yesterday morning, killing one person and wounding two others. Police said the militants arrived on five motorcycles. The pillion riders opened fire on the three defense volunteers with AK-47 assault rifles. The insurgents also snatched the volunteers' M16 assault rifle and two AK-47s before fleeing. Police removed 60 spent cartridges from the scene.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan revealed that a list of names for a 13-man "front command Cabinet" to tackle the insurgency in the far South was ready and awaiting the signature of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
In Narathiwat's Muang district, 471 marines from eastern Thailand attended a ceremony to report for duty in the far South after arriving in three landing ships at the beach-front pavilion of Chulaborn Military Camp yesterday morning.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plunged one of the United States' most important Asian alliances deeper into uncertainty on Wednesday by declaring upcoming U.S.-Philippines military exercises "the last," and ruling out any joint navy patrols.
Sure. No problem. We have Guam and more or less have Okinawa. I wonder if Danang is available again?
The firebrand Duterte pledged to honor a longstanding security treaty with the United States, but said China opposed joint marine drills in the Philippines starting next week and there would be no more war games with Washington after that.
"I am serving notice now to the Americans, this will be the last military exercise," Duterte said during a visit to Vietnam. "Jointly, Philippines-U.S.: the last one."
Duterte's remarks gave one of the strongest signs yet of fissures in a historic alliance that Washington has relied upon as it tries to cement its influence in Asia to counterbalance China's rapid rise. Duterte's foreign minister later said his comments had been taken out of context.
The reporter is clueless. We haven't relied on the Philippines since we closed Clark and Subic Bay...
State Department spokesman John Kirby said he was not aware of any official notification from the Philippines about ending joint exercises.
"Our focus is on the relationship today and moving it forward," Kirby told a regular news briefing. "We continue to believe that that's possible. ... (W)e have significant security commitments with the Philippines. We're committed to meeting those commitments and to furthering this relationship."
The Philippines military and U.S. Marines are to hold annual amphibious landing exercises from Oct. 4 to 12. Military leaders from the countries have also started preparing for a new set of exercises next year.
Duterte said he would establish "new alliances for trade and commerce" with Russia and China, but would maintain security agreements with Washington.
What's Chinese for "step into my parlor, says the spider to the fly"?
His near-daily outbursts against the United States began in earnest last month, when he spoke of alleged atrocities a century ago by the United States when it was the Philippines' colonial ruler.
We weren't very good, particularly at the beginning -- we were bad enough that the Europeans mocked us for being the new imperialists. There are some interesting Punch cartoons from the time that pointed out the American hypocrisy on imperialism. We got better as time went on, but one could argue fairly that it was a big mistake for us to stay in the Philippines after we defeated the Spanish. Having said that, it WAS A CENTURY AGO, you moron!
He has called President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch" and said he would order the pullout of the remaining U.S. special forces stationed in the Philippines' restive south.
No need to wait for the order, we can leave today. Tell the sergeant to get his people loaded up and on the bus to the airport...
Duterte told a gathering of the Filipino community in Hanoi there would be no chance of naval patrols with Washington because they risked dragging the Philippines into conflict with China.
That's near John Kerry-class cluelessness right there...
The Philippines and China have long sparred over sovereignty in the South China Sea, and Manila and Washington have shared concerns about China's military clout and pursuit of broad maritime claims.
Asked if Duterte was serious about ending military exercises with the United States, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he was misunderstood and his remarks taken out of context.
"Please stay!"
The only thing Duterte had ruled out were joint patrols beyond the Philippines' 12-nautical mile territorial waters, Yasay said.
"Our agreement, that will be respected and this is what the president clearly meant," Yasay told a scrum of reporters, referring to a 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty.
Despite Yasay's words, Duterte's latest comments add to uncertainty about what his end game is and whether Manila's next moves could complicate regional diplomacy or alter the status quo in the South China Sea.
A U.S. defense official said he had not seen the Philippines make a formal request to stop sea patrols and added that the bar for a "joint patrol" with the Philippines was low.
"If the joint patrols stop, will this have any sort of major impact on the situation in the South China Sea? Most likely not," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that in a sign things were continuing as usual, the landing ship USS Germantown would be making a port call in Manila from Wednesday.
Richard Jacobson, an American security expert, said Duterte's posturing could embolden China to exploit a testy relationship between two old allies.
"The U.S.-Philippines relationship might become strained and even shaken," Jacobson said. "The U.S. geopolitical stakes in the region are much too high to react to his hyperbole. The current attitude in Washington is mature - more of patience than feeling provoked."
The Philippines has not formally committed to joining the United States in patrols beyond its territorial waters in the South China Sea. It has carried out at least two patrols with the United States this year that remained within 12 nautical miles of the Philippine coast.
Even though The Philippines claims part of the Spratly Islands, it has hardly a single major combatant ship to enforce its claims. China has to be enjoying this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/30/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11139 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...Oh, this one's easy: the Chinese offered him enough money.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/30/2016 4:07 Comments ||
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#2
I'm sure Gen. Douglas MacArthur would have something to say about this, if he weren't too busy rolling over in his grave.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/30/2016 5:40 Comments ||
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#3
There are some interesting Punch cartoons from the time that pointed out the American hypocrisy on imperialism.
A lot of Americans felt the same way. And while those Euros were enjoying their colonialism up through the end of WWII, America had already set up the independence of the Philippines, scheduled for 1946, when the Japanese decided to occupy it in 1941. While the Euros spent the post war period desperately trying to hold on to their 'holdings' in the Far East, the Philippine independence date was met.
#4
State Department spokesman John Kirby said he was not aware
could've ended the quote right there
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2016 7:17 Comments ||
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#5
Bribes? Isn't Duterte the iron leader who is pretty much incorruptible?
It's not surprising he wants out of Obama's foreign policy disasters. The State Department are utter assholes and I assume they long since have taken the Filipinos for granted.
Military cooperation with the Philippines is worthless anyway. Their biggest, most capable Navy ship is an old clapped-out Coast Guard cutter.
#6
What was it that Duterte called Obama? I can't remember but is seemed like it was some reference to him and his mom? Or was it that Duterte said he was going to kill all the drug users and Bean took it personally. Oh yeah, over at euronews earlier this year: EuroNews. Ouch, that hurts.
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[The Nation] Thai insurgents gunned down a female gas-station employee in Pattani province yesterday afternoon and then detonated two home-made bombs, injuring seven people, as security forces responded to the shooting.
