un peu de connaissance est une chose dangereuse
Likewise with the ability to type, apparently.
Non. En fait.
French lessons?
Drink deep, or taste not the Peorian spring!
Anyway, âdictatorâ is a bit much. Heâs a gangster, in a country with no shortage thereof.
A gangster that is already using death squads to further undermine the judicial branch and threatening to dissolve congress. Those are some scary steps on the path to dictatorship.
Pourquoi pas?
Mais Oui !
Was reading the local rag while waiting for the plane out of Manila last week. Predictably, Duterte is stacking all the important government positions with friends and relations, none of whom seem remotely competent or even qualified for the job at hand. But hey, itâs the Philippines. This is the country that inspired Dunning and Kruger.
One of the more interesting things was a several-page reprint of the CMTA, an Act supposedly aimed at modernizing the Bureau of Customs. The BOC and the BIR compete to outdo each other in pure incompetence and venality. Together they represent one of the top three reasons the country is a shithole: they hamstring anything resembling modern trade, and discourage most people from even trying to start a business.
Unfortunately for Duterte, the CMTA was actually initiated under the Aquino administration, but maybe heâll actually make it happen instead of just signing the piece of paper and pretending the job is done: that was one of his campaign promises. I assume the Act was reprinted for a reason, although none was given.
In other news, Duterte was still spouting his âI kill youâ rhetoric.
Yeah, he recently said people should just kill drug addicts and it would be a mercy killing.
If he is successful then maybe âgovern by death squadâ makes it into the UNâs top ten for good governance recommendations. Letâs see.
Rodrigo Duterte sucking up to China againâŚ
So the reason they are there isnât because thatâs Filipino waters then?
Heâs meeting with Obama (among other leader) in Laos after the Hangzhou G20 summit. Some people arenât too happy about that, I reckon.
Meanwhile, he seems to have toned down the general belligerence toward international partners. Iâm just spit-balling here but having that U.N. bullshit in his pocket gives him a shitload of angles from which to play this. It seems like he might be âfishingâ on that brothers nonsense. Pun definitely intended.
And heâs going to pray for Mary Jane Veloso (OFW on death row in Indonesia for drug smuggling), even though we all know how much good thatâs going to do.
Americans should be watching this cat a lot closer than I believe they are. Even though itâs apples and oranges, weâre seeing what happens when a demagogue moves into power in a so-called democratic state. Heâs kind of a political guinea pig. All this and more can be yours if you simply vote Trump.
[quote=âhansioux, post:31, topic:89625, full:trueâ]âPlease understand the reason why they are there is because they are poorâ
So the reason they are there isnât because thatâs Filipino waters then?
[/quote]
This is exactly what drives me round the fâing bend about this country. The perennial excuse for everything is: âWeâre behaving like fuckwits because weâre poorâ.
No, youâre poor because you behave like fuckwits. Does he not comprehend how hard the Chinese are going to laugh at that comment? Whatever you might think about the Chinese, the fact remains that a country that was at rock bottom in 1970 pulled itself up by its bootstraps, and today has little or no sympathy for people who prefer to just sit around whining that theyâre poor.
I agree. I would not like to play poker with that guy. Much like Trump, I canât figure out whether heâs a very, very clever guy pretending to be an idiot for the benefit of idiot voters, or just an idiot.
I think it works like this:
Theyâre there because theyâre poor.
Theyâre poor because theyâre in Filipino waters.
Theyâre Filipino waters because theyâre there.
Socrates would be proud of this.
If only it were so simple and sound.
I just deleted a reply to @finley because Iâm stupid and havenât figured out how to quote multiple posts without taking an HTML refresher course.
Hereâs the gist of what I wanted to say. Itâs a culture of excuses which dates back 300+ years, and technically isnât the modern Pinoy fault. Thereâs no accountability because it hasnât been a cornerstone of society since, I dunno, 1899? Probably way before that; weâre not here to discuss history, but history is exactly what gives anybody the justification for not taking a hit on anything - if they can avoid it. At the same time, they have what Iâll now call the Finley Out.
If the Philippines had ever been properly governed and if it hadnât been bombed to ashes in World War II, it had the potential to be outrageously lucrative, successful, economically-viable, whatever you want to call it. At the same time, think: volcanoes, typhoons, earthquakes. Paradise has a few thorns.
My question(s) for @finley and anybody else who wants to chime in, pick-nâ-choose:
On China
Could the Chinese pull some of their money out of PH?
How can they leverage economics vs. politics in their favor?
Aside from a military conflict, how do you see the South Asian Sea situation playing out in which they donât get everything they want, and more?
On Philippines
Any idea how many of the uncountable skyscrapers going up from Alabang to Taguig to Quezon are financed by Chinese fun tickets? (P.S. Iâve done a bit of looking and I have an idea, butâŚ)
Do the Japanese and Koreans have enough spare dough to prop up a Chinese âembargoâ of some sorts?
On Duterte
Did you vote for him?
Do you know anybody who did vote for him?
Do you know anybody who still supports him?
Do you know anybody who didnât vote for Duterte and posts shit on Facebook every day about how heâs a monster?
Do you think heâs any better or worse than say, Kris Aquino?
Actually, I think the main reason you wouldnât want to play poker with him is that, even if everyone followed the rules and the game was honest, if he lost fair and square, thereâs an excellent chance that heâd just pull out a Czech surplus Glock 17, double tap you in the melon, and scoop up all the pesos any fuckin ways.
As Snoop would say.
There seem to be different Chinese groups from China involved. Letâs focus on just 2 - the criminal element and the official government. To some extent, these groups could be the same â at least some Filipinos feel or talk this way.
Could they pull their money out? Absolutely! I have lived only about 18 months in the Philippines since I left in the mid-80âs, but compared to other places they could sink their money, the Philippines does not seem to be a place Chinese investors/government/gangsters absolutely have to be. It is relatively convenient because money talks there and it is closer than other places where China could cast its influence.
I believe money goes a long way there, so the primary way they would lever things is economically.
By maintaining the status quo. For the past several years, Chinaâs military gradually built its presence there and continues to do so. Now, we have a decision from The Hague to halt this progress: Arbitration on the South China Sea: Rulings from the Hague â maybe this slows China, maybe it pulls things back a little bit. In a year or so, there will be another thing to keep things muddling along (not forward, not backward).
Could The Hague decision be enforced? We may not find out if Duterte cuts a deal, which from earlier quotes above seems likely to be the case.
I do not have an idea, but my impression is this would be most of them. When I grew up in Manila, I was under the impression that a lot of the infrastructure was financed and equipped by Japan and Korea (well, what infrastructure did go up). Today, with the massive infrastructure building and improvements going on, I assume Chinese suppliers, investors, and vendors are involved, and the people building them are backed by funds from Chinese interests.
I didnât vote for anyone this time.
Yes.
I know activists on the Left who supported him and continue to support him.
Seriously? Kris, once hailed as the most likely among her siblings to pick up where her dad left off, has exhibited remarkably poor judgement in⌠everything about her life?
I think many of us who are watching are still waiting to see how this will play out. That may be irresponsible of us, but donât you feel that the way things have been up until the last administration, how else could things be shaken up?
In Duterte you have an apparent strongman who the military will wait-and-see about and you also have someone who the Left is also supporting. How the heck was THAT pulled off?
Thatâs as maybe, but a lot of countries have been in the exact same boat in recent history. You only get two choices in life: you roll on as you are, or you make the changes.
Taiwan and Korea looked a lot like the Philippines in 1960. I love coming to the Philippines (in small doses) because itâs like visiting 17th-century Britain. Itâs the closest thing Iâll get to time travel. The parallels are astounding, including the fact that the average Englishman 350 years ago was lazy, stupid, dishonest, malnourished, mostly drunk, and lacked any kind of ambition for himself or his country. Some of those âvaluesâ were exported to America, which also looked a lot like the Philippines around 1800-1900. One historical snippet that made me smile was a report of striking workers who were complaining about their ârightâ to steal property from employers being forcibly revoked. That was in the US, IIRC, about 200 years ago.
The arrival of William III in the UK was, I believe, a turning-point in the countryâs history. IMO Britain today would look a lot like Albania if he hadnât been placed on the throne under unorthodox circumstances. He kicked the Catholic Churchâs well-cushioned ass and brought some Dutch probity to the undisciplined British rabble.
As GooseEgg said, it depends what you mean by âChineseâ, but if I were a Legitimate Chinese Businessman, I donât think I wouldnât be that bothered by Duterte. China invests in third world countries, and does well, because theyâre entirely pragmatic about it. Whereas the Europeans do things by the book - utterly failing to realise that the book was written the explicit intent of shafting them - the Chinese know all about corruption. If a Filipino asks for a bribe, they pay it and write it off as a business expense. They have no interest in preaching âvaluesâ to countries that understand only lawyers, guns and money.
So I doubt theyâre interested in pulling out, except possibly the drug factories. They accept that the country has had no functioning government for decades; the people who run the country are the little guys, rubber-stamping endless reams of paper in exchange for backhanders. And I expect the Chinese businessmen have them well and truly in hand.
I think they already did.
Personally, I think the best thing that could ever happen to the Philippines would be occupation by China. The place badly needs a dose of Confucianism, with its focus on responsibilities rather than rights. Theyâll never do that, because nobody in their right mind would want to babysit 100 million squalling Filipinos. They will remain weak and China will keep doing what they always did: paying off the appropriate officials. Start at the bottom and youâll find a Filipino who will happily sell his own daughter; just keep going up the ladder and thereâs someone at every level prepared to do something similar with his country, or bits of it.
Pretty much everybody.
Nope, but I imagine nobodyâs stupid enough to say what they really think.
I doubt thereâs a single person in the country who would be an effective president. Iâm just enjoying the show. Itâs like a really, really bad soap opera.
Wow, a dictator would do what dictators doâŚ
Not exactly martial law, but since thereâs been extra-judicial killings going on, same difference. The drug lords have now teamed up with Muslim rebels, woah, thatâs a concept hard to comprehend, almost as difficult as Hitler signing a peace treaty with the Soviets. Anyway, the enemy of my enemy is my friend thing, so theyâve teamed up to cause Duterte grief.
We really should be preparing for some global event, shouldnât weâŚ
What I find interesting is watching the Left (activists and media) bend over backwards to defend him.