How the US media have been taking liberties at bashing President Rodrigo Duterte is an attack not only on the Philippine president but also on the Filipino people.
A news article in Washington Times last week said that “the future of the once-solid US-Philippine defense alliance is uncertain as Duterte cozies up to China and a coup may be on the horizon.” The article went on to quote John Blaxland, a former Australian military intelligence official, as saying: “The question is, will the Philippine military, which is pro-American and already wary of Mr. Duterte’s flirtations with China, allow that and whether a Trump presidency would perhaps condone a coup to overthrow Duterte, if things turn so drastic.”
The US media are clueless about, or pretend not to know, the reality in Philippine setting. They think that the Philippine military is blindly pro-US and will not hesitate to stage a coup d’etat against the president because of his “flirtations” with China. The most recent survey by SWS says that despite a drop in President Duterte’s popularity (as he used to have a 99-percent popularity rating) he still enjoys a good rating of 83 percent. The reality is, Filipinos are now more aware of how the US really treats its so-called allies. To recall history, General Emilio Aguinaldo was made to believe that the US was the Philippines’ ally, coming to the Philippines to wage a war against Spain to liberate us. What turned out was a betrayal. We were subjugated and occupied by the US for 50 years; massive war atrocities were committed against the Filipino soldiers and civilians. Samar, in particular, was turned into a howling wilderness while Manila was burned to the ground. Manila was the second most devastated city next to Warsaw but the US paid higher war reparations to Japan—its enemy—than to the Philippines.
But let us check recent events around the globe showing how the US treats its allies. In an article, Francois Godement said that France under its last two presidents has been America’s staunchest ally on many fronts. No other country, he said, is closer to US views on Iran or Russia than France, even if French policymakers are fully aware of the untalented, sometimes hectoring, and sometimes compromising diplomacy in which the US now specializes. Yet, a New York-based court slapped a crushing fine on France’s and Europe’s leading bank, BNP Paribas, for dealing with countries under US embargo and of using remittances in US dollars in the process. The only legal ground for the bank’s prosecution was that it traded in US dollars. Yet, America’s non-ally, China, which is the biggest international holder of dollar reserves, of which two thirds flow through off-shore capital markets, was never the subject of any prosecution by the US, Godement said. He added, the US’s loyal and naïve allies need to learn a lesson about the US: it is more attentive to foes and to coalition partners than it is to its allies whom it takes for granted.
Rakesh Krishnan Simha said in a 29 March 2016 article: “It wasn’t long ago when the US secretary of State Henry Kissinger viewed Indians as ‘such bastards’ and President Richard Nixon described Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as ‘that bitch.’ Again, it wasn’t a long time ago when an American diplomat described Indians in a speech as ‘dirty and dark.” But now, the US wants to bring India on par with its Nato allies, passing a bill to expedite arms trade and technology with India. The real aim of the US, the author writes, is to end Russia’s dominance in India’s defense sector.
In another article, Henry Kamens writes that the US has now voted to take direct military action against the ISIS which it created and trained. All American allies will be obliged to play a part in this. Regardless of their feelings on the matter, the US will invoke existing defense agreements to ensure they play a full part. If that fails, other means will be used. The war against the US’s own allies, designed to make them bow to its will, will also be conducted on several fronts, Kamens said. The US makes great play out of being part of “allied forces” and “coalitions,” implying that the free world is voluntarily uniting against the bad apples threatening it, he added.
President Duterte, it seems to me, has every reason to start disengagement from the US. Perhaps then we would be treated better. Let us just hope that the US would not instead use its long arm to cause the ouster of the president elected by the Filipino people.
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