So much for the consoling because of the typhoon....
"Military pact gives US more access to bases in Philippines" by Jim Gomez | Associated Press April 28, 2014
MANILA — The US military will have greater access to bases across the Philippines under a new 10-year agreement to be signed Monday in conjunction with President Obama’s visit and viewed as an effort by Washington to counter Chinese aggression in the region.
The whole premise of that first paragraph is nothing but pure war-promoting propaganda. US is sending forces all over the world right now (Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa) and it's the Chinese who are being aggressive. So who have they invaded since 1959, huh?
And this choreographed signing full of imagery and narrative? Sick of the propaganda pre$$ version, sorry.
US and Philippine officials confirmed the deal ahead of Obama’s stop and portrayed it is as a central part of his weeklong Asia swing.
That's odd because I was told it was going to be a consoler-in-chief and trade tour and it turned into something completely different.
The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement would give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to pre-position fighter jets and ships.
Well, it SURE LOOKS LIKE the UNITED STATES is PREPARING for WAR!
It is to be signed Monday at the main military camp in the Philippine capital, Manila, before Obama arrives on the last leg of a four-country Asian tour, following stops in Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia.
How appropriate.
Now about the ongoing disaster at Fukushima, the South Korean ferry crisis, and the missing airliner (still missing today)....
A Philippine government primer on the defense accord that was seen by the Associated Press did not indicate how many additional US troops would be deployed ‘‘on temporary and rotational basis.’’ It said that the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in the camps.
The size and duration of that presence has to be worked out with the Philippine government, said Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House’s National Security Council.
Medeiros declined to say which specific areas in the Philippines are being considered under the agreement, but said the long-shuttered US facility at Subic Bay could be one of the locations.
So SUBIC BAY is to be reopened!!? After such a tussle it was with the public which WANTED IT CLOSED?? Think Japanese citizens and Okinawa, folks; they don';t want the foot print of empire there, either.
Two Philippine officials confirmed the accord to the AP before the White House announcement. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the pact before it was signed.
In Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, Obama pressed the Malaysian government to improve its human rights record and appealed to Southeast Asia’s youth to stand up for the rights of minorities and the rule of law.
Un-flipping-real!
He's a real piece of work. The hypocritical denial is delusionary.
Yet Obama skipped a golden chance to promote that human rights agenda, declining to meet with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Instead, he directed national security adviser Susan Rice to see Anwar on Monday.
I'm wondering how many drone strikes Malaysia has signed off on, although I saw that they do torture. Human rights coming from him.
Obama said his decision was ‘‘not indicative of our lack of concern’’ about the former deputy prime minister who recently was convicted for the second time on sodomy charges, which the US and international human rights groups contend are politically motivated.
Obama said he had raised his concerns about Malaysia’s restrictions on political freedoms in meetings with Prime Minister Najib Razak. He called the prime minister a ‘‘reformer’’ committed to addressing human rights issues.
To his critics, Najib said: ‘‘Don’t underestimate or diminish whatever we have done.’’
Any mention of the MISSING JET PLANE?
The defense accord between the United States and the Philippines would help the allies achieve different goals.
With its anemic military, the Philippines has struggled to bolster its territorial defense amid China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the disputed South China Sea.
Manila’s effort has dovetailed with Washington’s intention to pivot away from years of heavy military engagement in the Middle East to Asia, partly as a counterweight to China’s rising clout.
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"Obama vigorously defends foreign policy record" by Julie Pace | Associated Press April 29, 2014
MANILA — President Obama vigorously defended his foreign policy record Monday, arguing that his cautious approach to global problems has avoided the type of missteps that contributed to a ‘‘disastrous’’ decade of war for the United States.
Obama’s expansive comments came at the end of a weeklong Asia trip that exposed growing White House frustration with critics who cast the president as weak and ineffectual on the world stage.
Look at where the debate is. It's between his covert approach to empire-building versus the overt method of mass-murdering assaults and invasions. The retraction of empire or a reversing of the course of war is not even a thought, and peace is out of the equation entirely.
The president and his advisers get particularly irked by those who seize on Obama’s decision to pull back from a military strike in Syria and link it with virtually every other foreign policy challenge, from Russia’s threatening moves in Ukraine to China’s increasing assertiveness in Asia’s territorial disputes.
He had to be pulled back from airstrikes by a public calling Congre$$, and was saved by an unscripted Kerry comment upon which the Russians seized.
‘‘Why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget?’’ Obama said during a news conference in the Philippines.
We know why, don't you?
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White House advisers argue in part that Obama’s approach puts him on the side of a conflict-weary American public, some of whom voted for him in the 2008 election because of his early opposition to the Iraq war. Yet the president’s foreign policy record of late has provided plenty of fodder for his critics.
I'm not going to rehash the past; however, I find Obama far from being on the public's side here. He's Johnny-come-lately to it (everyone forget Libya?), and the truth of the statement is the "war-weary" -- means war-hating -- public is the one forestalling additional moves by the empire.
That's why the risk of a false flag is so high.
It was Obama’s own declaration that Syria’s chemical weapons use would cross his ‘‘red line’’ that raised the stakes for a US response when Syrian leader Bashar Assad launched an attack last summer.
First of all, of the several reported attacks that one was a hoax; as for the others, they appear to have been U.S-supported insurgents that initiated the attacks -- if they occurred at all. The Assad government is least likely to have used them, if for no other reason than the lying, war-promoting, propaganda pre$$ assigning of blame.
The Obama administration’s own drumbeat toward a US strike only fueled the narrative that the president was indecisive or did not have the stomach for an attack when he abruptly pulled back, first in favor of a vote in Congress, then to strike a deal with Syria and Russia that aimed to rid the Assad regime of its chemical weapons stockpiles.
I already discussed that.
The Syria scenario has trickled into Obama’s relationship with Asia, where anxious allies spent much of the last week seeking assurances from the president that he would have their back if China used military force to take the advantage in the region’s numerous territorial disputes.
Narratives and scenarios.... sigh.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin’s flouting of Western sanctions in response to his alleged provocations in Ukraine has stirred fresh criticism that the president’s strategy lacks teeth.
That line of thinking was evident Monday after the Obama administration announced new sanctions on seven Russian officials, as well 17 companies with ties to Putin.
Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican who has been a frequent Obama foreign policy critic, called the measures “tepid,” “incremental,” and “insufficient.” Other GOP lawmakers have called on Obama to provide lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military, a prospect he roundly rejected once again Monday.
‘‘Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army?’’ Obama said....
Yeah, let's just do it on the sly with covert actions and keep Russia's immediate frontier destabilized. All part of the plan.
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And look what the Globe saw out the window of Air Force One upon its return:
"The sputtering search for a missing Malaysian airliner will be expanded to include a much larger swath of the Indian Ocean floor, Australia’s prime minister said Monday, signaling a daunting new phase in the bid to find the aircraft’s wreckage. The next stage in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 -- a broader underwater search requiring robotic miniature submarines trawling the depths at walking speed — casts doubt about the chances of ever unraveling a confounding aviation mystery. It also drastically increases the cost and expands the timetable. Hopes for finding the plane picked up earlier this month, but the search hit a wall. The process of organizing contracts with private companies could take several weeks in the next phase of the search."
Increases the costs for already impoverished and austerity-laden citizens in so many countries so $earch contracts can be issued to private companies?
Could this whole thing -- hoax or hijacking -- all be ANOTHER GOVERNMENTAL CASH GRAB for well-connected concerns?
One thing is clear from the article: it assures that the story will continue to intermittently appear in my printed paper.
