Cannon Fodder: Ukraine In Europe, Philippines In Asia?
WHILE over half of or more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity, and Americans are paying record prices and seeing record homelessness and gun violence, the US denied abetting Ukraine in striking two Russian bases hundreds of miles from the Ukraine-Russia border, which Western media quickly reports were based on domestically-modified Soviet-era drones.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sidestepped media questions asking about the US sending Himars launchers and GMLRS guided missiles to Ukraine only weeks before the drones landed in Russia … only to respond by saying the Pentagon won’t “prevent” Ukraine from developing long-range capabilities.” This is better than the classic reply of “we can neither confirm nor deny” when asked if the US stored nuclear weapons in the Philippines.
While Ukraine and Russia bomb each other, and the US continues supplying deadly weapons to Ukraine, reaching over tens of billions according to some reports, the US quietly instructed its major banks including JP Morgan, Citi and others to continue doing business with Russia, even amid sanctions. When JP Morgan CEO Jaime Dimon tried to explain the situation in a Congressional hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman censored him.
A few days ago, the US and Russia had a partial successful prisoner-swap, which was offered by the Biden administration last July. However, mostly unreported, the US was not able to secure the swap of US Marine Paul Whelan after Germany refused the request of the White House to release a Russian held in Germany.
Whatever one’s view on Putin, no one can deny that he gives advance warnings before he takes action. The Russian “invasion” in February 2022 was warned off by Putin months before when Ukraine actively dangled the prospects of it joining NATO, and NATO and the US refused to give a written guarantee to Moscow. Now, Moscow has promised to respond accordingly to EU and G7 countries enforcing the $60 price cap on Russia oil purchases. The world has been forewarned!
While the US denies involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage, Biden had promised, “We will bring an end to it (Nord Stream),” months before the mysterious Nord Stream explosion. US military helicopters that are typically based in Gdansk, were also circling over the area, as reported by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, which the Bloomberg reporters tried to censor instead of to call for an investigation. Blinken responds after the bombing: “This offers tremendous strategic opportunity for the years to come.” The same opportunities provided when the US abandoned Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. after converting their nations into war zones.
Western media was quick to paint suspicion on Russia after the Nord Stream explosion and the missile strikes on Poland, only to quietly side-step when evidence and logic became too overwhelming to deny. When the incontrovertible evidence revealed that the missiles that struck Poland came from Ukraine, Zelenskyy continued to blame Russia, a desperate attempt to provoke World War 3 and stem the massive losses experienced by Kyiv, no matter how the West attempts to paint the contrary. US Defense Secretary, top general Mark Milley, and NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg had to concede the missiles came from Ukraine but insisted that “whatever the final conclusions may be, the world knows that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for this incident.”
EU countries are getting tired of the war, with several countries quietly easing or removing sanctions against Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is proposing to set up a Special Tribunal backed by the United Nations, to investigate the Ukraine-Russia War, outside the ambit of the International Criminal Court. No mention of the millions that perished under US invasions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc.
Julian Assange said, “Nearly every war was the result of media lies.
Most mainstream western media, including Rappler, Inquirer, Star failed to report that the FBI is forcing telecom companies including Apple, Facebook, etc. to provide backdoor access for the US government to spy on users.
Another web in the Ukraine narrative. Twitter-files exposed Biden and Hunter early involvement with Ukraine, and the intricate conflicts of interests including of Twitter executives linked to the FBI and the suppression of information. Biden’s White House denies involvement in censorship and calls Twittergate “a distraction,” at the same time federal investigations are now underway for Elon Musk’s companies… Can the modern-day Iron Man overcome the tentacles of Uncle Sam?
Coincidence or coordinated?
Meanwhile in the Philippines, most media, pseudoexperts like Richard Heydarian and ex-Justice Antonio Carpio, and even government officials celebrated the US Vice President Kamala’s visit to Palawan and the landing of Japanese jet fighters in the Philippines, the first time since WW2, as a sign of growing “defense-security-cooperation,” failing to point out the US and Japan made the Philippines the most destroyed in Asia in WW2, that led to the useless deaths of over 1 million Filipinos!
Anti-China media headlines again
Another irresponsible and misleading headline by Inquirer says: “China taking position to deny Philippine access to key WPS areas” as if this was already a matter of fact, when in truth, the opinion was based merely on a Facebook post by Jay Batongbcal, who gets his source from US-based Asia Maritime Transparency Institute (AMTI). The so-called deployment of Chinese maritime militia to “key features in the Western Philippines” are so threatening that even the AMTI report says “Most [of the] militia vessels head home for the holidays from December to early February.” Suspiciously, the presence of the vessels, ranging from two to almost 30 vessels, have been spotted since September 2021, but only reported in December 2022. The news article fails to mention that the US is already working on overdrive to build 5 additional military bases in the Philippine mainland, or a total of 10 under EDCA that are off-limits to Filipinos, with most of the selected locations showing a pattern of encircling China.
The world is replete with lessons of what happens to proxy states, and the Philippines has been a direct victim of it.
The geopolitical hotspots and economic headwinds will continue to present immense challenges. We hope our policy leaders and security officials have the strategic foresight and resolve to make decisions that are good for Filipinos and for world peace.
Dr. Mario Ferdinand Pasion is director of Phil-BRICS Strategic Studies and the chairman of Nationalist Filipinos Against Foreign Intervention.
A similar version was published in Manila Times on December 11 2022. We welcome logical feedback and possibly working together with compatible frameworks. (idsicenter@gmail.com)