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Why beg for an increase in US military presence?

Monday, January 30, 2012

Why beg for an increase in US military presence?


By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat.com
It has now hit the headlines, the US is negotiating with the Aquino government for an increase in its military presence in the country through more frequent joint military exercises and other military cooperation activities, and an increase in the number of US troops rotating in the country. Recent policy pronouncements and visits by American officials have been leading to this point.

The Obama administration has declared, as part of its spending cuts, that it would move toward refocusing the concentration of its overseas deployment of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific region. Then came the visit of US State Secretary Hillary Clinton, which was followed recently by a delegation of US Senators that included former Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, Senators Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut), Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) and Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire).

Instead of taking a negotiating position, the Aquino government is now practically begging the US to increase the number of rotating troops in the country from the current 600 US Special Forces soldiers at any given time, and to make more frequent the conduct of joint military exercises. The Aquino government is justifying this by raising the specter of a potential conflict with China over the Spratly islands, and declaring that the US would aid the Philippines in case war erupts. The Aquino government practically grabbed the ploy of the US hook, line and sinker.

Is this not true?

First of all, the US would act only according to its own interests. This is clearly stated in US policy documents and was proven, historically, in practice. When the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos asked for US support in the country’s conflict with Malaysia over Sabah, the US did not respond. Likewise, when the conflict over claims to the Spratly islands first erupted, the US likewise clarified that it is not obligated to act in behalf of the Philippines..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/29/why-beg-for-an-increase-in-us-military-presence/

Libya Update: Libyans will not submit

Libya Update: Libyans will not submit

29.01.2012
 
Libya Update: Libyans will not submit. 46479.jpeg
All not well in NATO torture terrorist land
Pravda photo
News of the Libyan resistance:

The National Transitional Council (NTC), Al Qaeda and other NATO backed terrorists are unable to subdue the country. Not only are they incapable of running a country or government, but they can't even agree among themselves and they are eating each other alive..... MORE

SourcePravda.ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/terror/29-01-2012/120355-Libya_Update_Libyans_will_not_submit-0/

‘War in Iran would mean WWIII’



‘War in Iran would mean WWIII’

The military build-up and economic sanctions against Iran are designed to unleash a global war from the Mediterranean to China with unpredictable consequences, warns Michel Chossudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

­Tensions between Iran and the West are close to crisis level. With massive help from the western media, Iran has firmly become embedded as the root of all evil in the minds of many westerners..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/us-iran-ww3-chossudovsky-025/

Stun gun vs Occupy DC: Cops tase protester in pyjamas (VIDEO)



Stun gun vs Occupy DC: Cops tase protester in pyjamas (VIDEO)


US park police have used a stun gun on an Occupy protester, whose only crime was tearing down fliers warning demonstrators about a ban on camping in Washington’s McPherson Square.

­On Sunday afternoon, while arresting a man for the abovementioned activity, the three officers got nervous when he started to cry out repeatedly “I have done nothing wrong!” To cut things short, a police officer shot the man in the back with an electronic stun gun to make handcuffing a smoother process..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/occupy-police-taser-protestor-033/

Occupy Oakland: Cops bend law in brutal arrest wave

Occupy Oakland: Cops bend law in brutal arrest wave


Was police provocation behind the stand-off between law enforcers and Occupy protesters in Oakland, which ended up with a devastating incursion into City Hall and over 400 detainments? Witnesses insist no order to disperse preceded the mass arrests.

­The peaceful rally last Saturday turned into a violent clash, with protesters throwing stones at police and officers answering with tear gas grenades. In the end, law enforcement brutally beat the rioters, with over 400 arrested, on charges of disobeying commands to disperse and vandalism..... MORE
SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/occupy-oakland-police-unlawful-069/

Kabataan Party bucks ROTC reinstatement, says yes to youth social involvement

Kabataan Party bucks ROTC reinstatement, says yes to youth social involvement


By INA ALLECO R. SLVERIO
Bulatlat.com
There’s no way they are going to allow ROTC training become mandatory again.

Kabataan Party-List and the youth and students organization Anakbayan have declared their determination to oppose proposals to once more make ROTC or the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory in all colleges and universities nationwide.

In a hearing of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education in Congress recently, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said he will stand against what he termed were “dangerous proposals to reverse and disregard the gains of students in their fight against an unrightful military training.” The youth lawmaker said that the ROTC has done more evil than good to those who underwent its training program.

The ROTC was mandatory to all college students since World War II but was incorporated into and became just one of the options in the National Service Training Program by virtue of Republic Act No. 9163 in 2001 after strong protests from students, faculty and administrative officials.

“The ROTC has taught its cadets how to become blind and docile servants. With its grim and bloody human rights record, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has no right to meddle with the academic affairs of our youth. A war-mongering and mercenary institution must not be allowed to infiltrate schools and teach students,” he said.

It is well known that the training system of ROTC is essentially lifted from that of the AFP. Palatino blasted the claim that the AFP-run program teaches the students how to be patriotic. Among the main reasons for the protests against the ROTC was the murder of University of Santo Tomas student Mark Chua who exposed irregularities in the ROTC unit of the university.

ROTC threatens academic freedom

“The AFP uses the program in its red-baiting campaign against progressive student groups. In many ROTC lectures, soldier-instructors conveniently tagged student activist groups as affiliated with the New People’s Army. The ROTC is clearly a threat to academic freedom,” Palatino said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/27/kabataan-party-bucks-rotc-reinstatement-says-yes-to-youth-social-involvement/

Beijing appeals for calm after RP offer to US 01/30/2012

Beijing appeals for calm after RP offer to US

01/30/2012
China yesterday called for greater efforts toward “peace and stability” in the region, after the Philippines offered to allow more American troops on its territory.

Manila last Friday said it planned to hold more joint exercises and to let more US troops rotate through the Southeast Asian country — an offer welcomed by the United States as it seeks to expand its military power in Asia.

“We hope that relevant parties will make more effort toward peace and stability in the region,” China’s foreign ministry said in a brief statement faxed to Agence France Presse..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120130hed3.html

Santiago wants to trim long impeachment witness list By Angie M. Rosales 01/30/2012

PROSECUTORS PREPARE FOR TRIAL BEYOND MARCH RECESS

Santiago wants to trim long impeachment witness list

By Angie M. Rosales 01/30/2012

Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago in the impeachment trial said she will move to trim the 100 witnesses the prosecution panel plans to present to the Senate court trying Chief Justice Renato Corona, adding the prosecution would have to justify in including all the names on the list.

Santiago issued the statement even as the prosecution panel said yesterday it is looking at the trial extending beyond the scheduled adjourning of Congress in March.

While indicating that they are willing to expedite the impeachment trial of Corona and to stipulate on facts, the prosecutors said they are also willing to continue with the trial even after Congress adjourns sine die in March..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120130hed1.html

Lawmaker urges Congress to pass oil profit cap bill 01/30/2012

Lawmaker urges Congress to pass oil profit cap bill

01/30/2012
In the midst of the ongoing impeachment trial at the Senate, Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV has reiterated his call for his colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives to immediately pass a bill setting the allowable level of profit for petroleum companies and imposing windfall profit tax on oil firms.

“With the oil prices continuously increasing almost on a weekly basis, the government is virtually helpless in checking the apparent abuses of petroleum industry players in increasing and in refusing to decrease prices of petroleum products even when warranted by market forces..... MORE
SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120130nat6.html

Solon opposes DFA’s planned closure of 10 embassies 01/30/2012

Solon opposes DFA’s planned closure of 10 embassies

01/30/2012
House Assistant Majority Leader and Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles yesterday questioned the plan to shut down at least 10 Philippine embassies and consulates due to alleged budgetary constraints as they noted that all funding for these diplomatic posts are all presumed to have been provided with adequate allocation through the 2012 General Appropriations Act.

Nograles said this plan to shut down diplomatic posts is a move that absolutely puts the country in bad light apart from the fact that it would even make it more difficult for many Filipinos who have problems in their host countries to seek help from the government.

In fact, Nograles said, the country even needs to increase the number of its consular offices to ensure that Filipinos who are in nearly every corner of the globe can easily secure help from the government when necessary..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120130nat4.html

Gov’t owes LGUs P449M in Customs VAT–Teves By Charlie V. Manalo 01/30/2012

Gov’t owes LGUs P449M in Customs VAT–Teves

By Charlie V. Manalo 01/30/2012

Tax wizard and former Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves yesterday bared that the national government owes the country’s local government units over P449 million in internal revenue allotments (IRA) collected by the Bureau of Customs (BoC) but kept out of LGU’s reach since 1989.

Teves, who was chairman of the House committee on ways and means during the 13th Congress, said the unpaid IRA comprised the 40 percent share of LGUs from value added tax collected by the BoC from 1989 to 2009 alone.

The veteran former solon made this revelation as he supported the contention of several incumbent congressmen led by Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas that the value added tax (VAT) collected by the BoC should be considered part of the total collected national taxes to which LGUs have a share under the provisions of the Local Government Code..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120130nat1.html

Installation of CCTVs at car parks pushed 01/30/2012

Installation of CCTVs at car parks pushed

01/30/2012
The alarming rise in crimes committed at car parks has prompted a woman lawmaker to push the enactment of a bill providing for the mandatory installation of security cameras and recording devices and the implementation of ample security measures that would safeguard life and property inside car park facilities.

Filed by Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, House Bill 5718 or the Car Park Security Act of 2012, also prohibits the imposition of blanket and unconditional waivers exempting car park operators from any liability to crimes committed against their patrons..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120130met2.html

Lakeshore open dump in Taytay-Angono poses danger to drinking water 01/30/2012

Lakeshore open dump in Taytay-Angono poses danger to drinking water

01/30/2012
A lakeshore open dumpsite in a locality east of Metro Manila threatens government project that would tap Asia’s second largest freshwater basin as a major source of safe drinking water for the 14 million residents of the National Capital Region (NCR).

The13-hectare dumpsite, located along the Taytay-Angono coastal road in Barangay Muzon is owned and operated by the Taytay local government. It has long been ordered closed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) due the strong clamor of Greenpeace, an international environment activist organization..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120130met3.html

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