3755-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

There is a sense of change in those narrow and desperate alleys of the Baseco slum in the Philippines' capital Manila. For the first time in many years a beautiful, noble lady visited; against all odds she decided to stay. Her name is Hope.

Baseco is a tough, crime-ridden region built from cartons and metal sheets, even rusty containers; everything is thrown together in startling fashion, right near the shipyard.

Here, the lips of the people used to be sealed, expressions on their faces incessantly desperate. Now everyone speaks, some even smile shyly, adults and children, women who look sixty at the age of thirty, as well as tough looking men.

"I support Duterte!" declares Ms. Imelda Rodriguez, who works as a physiotherapist here, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development. "Now children get free education and 'medical missions' provide basic medical care. We also receive allowances, and the government provides jobs. We are still lacking electricity, but at least the municipality is providing free drinking water."

Nearby a teenage girl is washing her hair, using a bucket full of soapy water. It is raining and mud is everywhere. Children are running around barefoot, and some are obviously suffering from malnutrition.

"So much has to be done," concludes Ms. Imelda. "But so much had been done already."

People complain about an extremely high crime rate, about drug-pushing gangs. I visit the slums and vast cemeteries inhabited by the poorest of the poor; I also speak to people in shopping malls and at the office towers.

At the South Cemetery, Mr. Rex, a security guard, explains: "President Duterte is strict on the implementation of the rules. Crime is now going down dramatically."

Self-proclaimed socialist 'Presidente' Rodrigo Duterte is enjoying the staggering support of his people, estimated to be well over 70 percent of the population.

"He reads a lot. He was greatly influenced by Hugo Chavez", explains Roland Simbulan, Professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila. "He is strongly critical of the Western imperialism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and of course in his country... He is outraged by how the West is treating refugees from the countries it destabilized in the Middle East. He is offering to accept them, to welcome them in the Philippines."

Duterte has acquired a reputation for lashing out at everything from Western imperialism to President Obama, to Pope Francis (in this staunchly Catholic country), the EU, and the UN. He has threatened to close down all US military bases and to move his country closer to China and Russia. To emphasize his seriousness, he has canceled all joint US - Philippine military exercises.

President Putin is his hero. He is clearly leaning toward the left, and he despises colonialism. He often speaks about the "genocide" committed by the US against his people during the 'Philippine - American War.'

Comment: It's debatable whether Duterte is 'leaning towards the left'. If Putin is his hero, then Duterte is leaning towards pragmatism in a world where psychopaths have corrupted both 'left' and 'right', rendering the dialectic meaningless.

He refuses to provoke and antagonize China. He is with the poor, introducing and improving social programs. He is gradually releasing political prisoners and actively negotiating peace deals with the Marxist and Muslim guerrillas while seeking peace treaties and territorial compromises with China.

He occasionally explodes, insults, and then backtracks, but he continues to steadily move forward.

"If Duterte moves too fast, he will be overthrown by the military," explains Prof. Simbulan. "He is an 'outsider.' Police and the military are holding grudges against him. Most of the top brass were trained in the US. He tries to keep them engaged, visiting the military camps around the country, explaining why is he releasing political prisoners and why is he inviting left-wing cadres to the government."

Comment: See why 'left-right' is meaningless without context? To the poor of the world, the US represents extreme right; to Americans, their Establishment, which they recently kicked in the teeth by voting in 'the wrong guy', represents 'left', 'communist' even!

After centuries of colonialism, after the disgraceful collaboration of the military and civilian 'elites,' Duterte's revolution has to be measured, changes gradual.

Prof. Simbulan is cautiously optimistic: "I evaluate Duterte positively. Duterte's anti-imperialist policy goes beyond rhetoric; it is real and persistent. Even as mayor of Davao, he banned all US - Philippine military exercises there. The US tried to negotiate; they offered plenty of money. They wanted to build a huge drone base in Mindanao, but Duterte refused, resolutely. His track record shows: if there are irreconcilable differences, he'll always side with the left."

Comment: ...meaning, in this context, 'anti-US'.

In Davao, Ms. Luzviminda Ilagan, a former member of Congress and country's leading feminist, explains: "After Mayor Duterte announced in 2003 that no US military exercises would be allowed in his city, Davao was bombed twice: one bomb exploded at the airport, another at the pier."

Comment: A disgusting 'response', which reveals the true nature of US foreign policy.

The mainstream media abroad and at home is relentlessly attacking Duterte's 'War on crime, drugs, and corruption.' It is also repeating how he 're-buried' former dictator Marcos at the 'Hero Cemetery.'"

"Small pushers are resisting arrests," explains a South Cemetery dweller. "They kill police; they have nothing to lose. It is a real war. Those who keep talking about extra-judiciary killings care only about the criminals, not about us, the citizens."

That's the main sentiment expressed in the slums.

"Duterte encourages police to take action," explains Eduardo Tadem, a leading academic, Professorial Lecturer of Asian Studies (UP). "He is a lawyer, he stays within the legal limits. Some 5,000 were killed so far, but who really does the killing? Vigilantes, motorcycle gangs... The crime rate used to be horrible: killings, kidnapping, petty crime. People are fed-up with the crime. They'd support any action to stop it."

"If we talk about extra-judicial killings, then we have to prove that the authorities are really ordering them," explains Ms. Ilagan. "Duterte came with the names: among them some top military and police generals! Now many are being killed. But the international HRs organizations are totally misinterpreting Duterte's role in all this. Another thing is: the number of people killed in this country is actually decreasing. Before, under Aquino, those murdered were mainly poor farmers, indigenous people, and urban poor; people fighting for their basic human rights. Under Gloria Arroyo, the foreign mining companies were even given permission to kill protesters. All this is over now."

The President is defiant, especially when criticism comes from abroad: "I do not kneel down before anybody else, except the Filipino in Quiapo walking in misery and in extreme poverty and anger."

Eduardo Tadem believes that burying former dictator Marcos at 'Hero's Cemetery' was a gross miscalculation. "Marcos brought this country to ruins." But he says that the act was not ideological; it was about pragmatism and 'personal ties'. Duterte made a promise to the family of Marcos. Before the elections, he didn't accept a member of the Marcos clan as his vice presidential running mate, but he needed the votes of his followers.

"Marshall Law was the US project," exclaims Dr. Reynaldo Ileto, a leading historian. "But now they only talk about Marcos. Under Ramos and others, there were terrible abuses, too. The cemetery carries the 'hero' name, but actually, almost all former presidents are buried there. Focus on Marcos is deliberate: to raise controversy, to discredit Duterte, and to avoid real issues. Many people from the left, even Marxists, were actually working with Marcos. Duterte's father was a minor minister in Marcos' cabinet, but his mother was a resistance figure."

Comment: And to add another layer that confounds the 'left-right' in all this... Marcos sought to ally the Philippines with Communist China, while suppressing indigenous Communist rebels.

"Duterte's mother played an extremely important role in the protest movement against Marcos," confirms Ms. Ilagan. "She was vocal, fearless, and she had great influence on her son. Let's also remember that during Marshall law Duterte served as a prosecutor in Davao, and he saved many prisoners, many activists".

Dr. Ileto's gives a personal 'verdict' on President Duterte: "He is doing a great job. He is being sensible to China, while the West is doing all it can to antagonize China. This is an essential issue. Remember our past: President Arroyo visited China first, before she went to the US. She moved closer to China. She was punished: they got her indicted for 'corruption.'"

We discuss Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine and how the West invents or exaggerates 'human rights' and 'corruption' matters to ostracize, even to overthrow legitimate governments.

Now the process to discredit the rebellious President of the Philippines is already in full swing. Would Duterte's liberal Vice-President Leni Robredo (recently expelled from the cabinet), be elevated by the Western establishment to stardom? She is pro-Washington, she is against all Duterte's 'wars,' and, above all, she is against his increasingly close relationship with China. She could soon join the band of the 'Color Revolutions' leaders, as she leads the "yellow" Liberal Party.

"In Mindanao, people say 'Imperialist Manila,'" explains Ms. Ileto. "Duterte is from the South, he is an anti-imperialist, he defends his people, and the elites in Manila hate him for that. He swears, curses, after all, he is Visaya - we are like that - open and outspoken. First, they thought he was a joke, but he won, he touched the people. He speaks their language; he is real."

"What will happen if he is overthrown or killed?" I ask point blank, here in his city of Davao, on Mindanao Island.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/8/2016 10:13:11 AM
	Next EU Domino Falls As Italy Rejects Renzi DECEMBER 6, 2016 By James Corbett The scene is becoming familiar, even if the actors change from stage to stage: A political establishment is overturned by a wave of populist anger. Markets panic and a sell-off looks imminent. And then…things stabilize. The government changes, but things carry on. The latest version of this performance is taking place in Italy where Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has just been unseated after Italians overwhelmingly voted “No” on a constitutional referendum upon which Renzi had staked his political career. The proposed law would have made a series of changes to the composition of Italy’s government, but it was not the technicalities of the proposed changes themselves that motivated over 65% of registered Italian voters to the public, and it was not some great interest in the composition and role of the Italian senate that led 59% of those voters to reject the new rules. Instead, this was seen as a referendum on Renzi and the political status quo in Italy itself. Renzi’s loss is the end of Renzi’s brief (but not so brief by Italian standards) tenure as prime minister, but it is also a blow to the EUrocats in Brussels, who were hoping that the notoriously recalcitrant Italian public might be persuaded to engage in some mild political reform as an entree to more EU-friendly reforms in the future. The vote is a win for Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement, a non-party party that has rode a wave of populist support to go from a joked about internet-only phenomenon at its founding in 2009 to a growing force in Italian politics today. This is also bad for the EU as both the Five Star Movement and the Lega Nord, an anti-immigration party that also helped spearhead the “No” vote, are very much anti-EU and talk about withdrawing Italy from the eurozone and re-issuing the lira. Market response to the fall of Renzi’s government and the rise of chaos should be familiar to those who watched the same responses play out post-Brexit and post-Trump. Markets panicked and sold off, with the euro hitting a 2-year low as the results poured in, with signs that the contagion would spread to stocks as markets opened Monday morning… …But then, as with Brexit and Trump, the sky failed to fall and the doom-and-gloomers were left scratching their heads. Italy’s FTSI MIB index tumbled 2.0 points on the news and bonds rose slightly, but the market is now exploding back upward. Even Italy’s banking sector — still in a precarious situation, staged a comeback on the Milan exchange. In reality, none of these numbers are important. Markets are responding to perceptions and fancies, not facts, and the fact is that there’s no clear sign yet of what this means for Italy’s political future, its banking crisis, or anything else. What is clear is that yet another populist movement is knocking on the doors of power and preparing to overturn the status quo. The roots of the Italian people’s anger with the EUrocrats can be traced back to the so-called “PIIGS” disgust at the treatment of Greece during the first bailout “negotiations” in 2010 and the silent coup that parachuted Goldman Banker and Bilderberger extraordinaire Mario Monti into the prime minister’s office in 2011 as a sort of fait accompli by Brussels. The Italian people are increasingly fed up with the dictates of the EU and are looking to shake up a political, business and banking establishment that has thoroughly failed them and left the country teetering on a fiscal precipice. Tellingly, the Five Star Movement has now entered the crosshairs of the same establishment media that brought its guns to bear on the Brexiteers and the Trumpeters. Just as Trump’s election was brought to you by #FakeNews and Kremlin propaganda, Buzzfeed has just written an article blaming Grillo’s surging Five Star Movement’s success on…you guessed it, “Fake News and Kremlin propaganda“! Hey, if the talking points work, why not use them again (and again and again and again and again)? It’s still too early to know how this will play out politically, or even when an election is likely to be called. Italians could be heading to the polls right away if a snap election is called; others suggest the election will wait until February. As Bloomberg notes in their own hit piece on Grillo, this biding of time may be necessary to give the establishment time to rig the election against the Five Star Movement: “The current electoral law automatically gives bonus seats to the leading party in the lower house, to boost stability. That’s spooking mainstream parties, which plan to get together and change the rules before Five Star can benefit in the next election. If the next set of rules favors coalitions rather than individual parties, Five Star may struggle to find the allies required to control the legislature.” Whatever the case, Europe continues to be pulled apart at the seams even as it continues to reach toward total centralization. This weekend’s referendum results have only added to that tension. This article first appeared at The International Forecaster and Corbett Report. Subscribe to James Corbett’s YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter. (activistpost.com)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/8/2016 10:38:50 AM
	Israeli rockets strike Damascus military air base - reports Published time: 7 Dec, 2016 14:41 Edited time: 7 Dec, 2016 14:43 © Bassam Khabieh / Reuters A Syrian military source has said Israeli rockets hit an air base near Damascus. No casualties have been reported, however. Reuters reports the Israeli rockets hit the Mezzeh military airport at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday. Syrian state media Syrian Arab News Agency also confirmed the report. View image on Twitter Follow Ivan Sidorenko @IvanSidorenko1 #Syria #Damascus #Mezze #Mezzeh #Mezze_Airport #Mezzeh_Airport tonight 10:13 PM - 6 Dec 2016 18 Retweets 12 likes A source said the attack caused a fire but there were no casualties. Israel “launched a number of surface-to-surface missiles from inside the Occupied Territories,” it said. Follow Sami @Paradoxy13 Large explosions at Mezzeh military airbase in #Damascus this early AM, unconfirmed if targeted by airstrike/rockets or fault 2:29 AM - 7 Dec 2016 82 Retweets 40 likes Mezzeh is close to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s palace. Follow John Arterbury @JohnArterbury Major explosions reported at Mezzeh airport in Damascus 9:42 PM - 6 Dec 2016 68 Retweets 28 likes A number of social media users tweeted footage and images reportedly taken of the attack, and reported hearing a loud explosion. View image on Twitter Follow Abbs Winston @AbbsWinston #Israel helping their Daesh Terrorist friends-Zionist Occupation bombed the Mezzeh Military Airport located in Mezzeh, Damascus, #Syria 3:33 AM - 7 Dec 2016 85 Retweets 29 likes Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports it is the second such incident over the past week. Syria accused Israel of attacking west of Damascus with jets fired from Lebanese airspace. Follow Eva J. Koulouriotis @evacool_f #BREAKING: Explosions and fire inside Al Maza military airport,#Damascus. Looks like a new Israeli attack. #Syria 9:01 PM - 6 Dec 2016 19 Retweets 10 likes Syrian sources, cited by the Times of Israel, report that Israeli fighter planes also struck the nearby town of al-Zabadani, where a number of fighters were allegedly killed. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman commented on the issue at a meeting with European Union envoys in Israel Wednesday, Haaretz reports. View image on Twitter Follow Israel Kurdistan @IsraelKurds #Israel jets strike #Syria Mezzeh military airbase at al Zabadani, destroying #Hezbollah forces and missiles.#Kurdistan #Rojava #PYD #Iran 4:56 AM - 7 Dec 2016 3 Retweets 6 likes "We are first and foremost making efforts to maintain the security of our citizens and protect our sovereignty, and trying to prevent the smuggling of sophisticated weapons, military equipment and weapons of mass destruction from Syria to Hezbollah," he said. In April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Israel struck dozens of weapons shipments in Syria that he claimed were en route to Hezbollah fighters in the region. "We act when we need to act, including here across the border, with dozens of strikes meant to prevent Hezbollah [from obtaining] game-changing weaponry," Netanyahu said. (RT)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/8/2016 11:03:37 AM
	‘Careless & insane airstrike on Iraqi market kills dozens of civilians, probably a few terrorists’ Published time: 8 Dec, 2016 04:28 Edited time: 8 Dec, 2016 04:42 FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi border policeman looks through a pair of binoculars near the Iraqi-Syrian border. © Thaier al-Sudani / Reuters An alleged US-led coalition airstrike on an Iraqi town left numerous civilians dead and injured, but no one wants to take responsibility for careless actions and bad intelligence, which are usually covered up by double standards, an analyst and a former Pentagon official both told RT. Dozens of civilians, including many women and children, were killed in an airstrike on the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)-held town of Qaim in Iraq on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The airstrike reportedly hit a busy market in the small town, which is located in Anbar province, near the Syrian border. The US-led coalition’s joint air force operates in the area, but coalition representatives denied conducting any strikes in Qaim. There’s little-to-no possibility that the coalition will ever acknowledge responsibility for the alleged airstrike, said political analyst Daniel Patrick Welch. “They are not going admit it, because only ‘bad people’ like the Russians carry out airstrikes that hit civilians. But no one else is bombing ISIL in that area, as far as I’m aware, or has the capacity to do so from the air,” Welch told RT. Read more Dozens of civilians killed in air strike near Iraqi border with Syria – reports “It could be that they’re not airstrikes like the attack on the convoy in Syria last month. But the trouble is the discrepancy in accountability and the recording that the US [is doing of] targeting and hitting civilians, or Syrian soldiers, or any of these other things, hospitals, which has been going on for years and years, and is swept under the rug. Whereas everything else done by the Syrian Army or by the Russian air force is highlighted and called a war crime.” The double-standard approach to civilian deaths in the ongoing wars in the Middle East is blatant, all the incidents should be treated the same way, said Welch. “The fact is, you have to condemn all. You know, civilians die in war and it’s unavoidable. The question is that Syria is returning sovereignty to the legitimate government. And that’s not what’s going on around the region. ISIS and all its affiliates are offshoots of a deliberate US and western policy to arm Islamic jihad and use it as a weapon against any of its enemies it sees in the region and around the world.” While one should not jump to conclusions as to the source of the alleged airstrike until “the dust settles,” in general, US policy to nurse jihadists world-wide, and then battle them using rather questionable means must be exposed and condemned, said Welch. “The thing is, there’s no question that the US has targeted hospitals, weddings sometimes by accident, and sometimes not. Counter-terrorism winds up being terrorism ... it’s not excusing any of the devastation or the treachery that’s befallen Syria on behalf of either the Russians or the Syrian Army,” said Welch. “But you have to look at things at their context. And this is the same proliferation of Islamic extremist militarized global jihad, that was loosed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen. This is the same thing that’s happening worldwide and the US has to be held to account. It doesn’t change no matter who’s running the joint. The goals of empire are always the same.” Multiple reports from eyewitnesses of the alleged airstrike indicate that it could have been carried out by the Iraqi air force. If that is really the case, the US-led coalition, of which Iraq is a part, must take full responsibility for the incident, retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski told RT. “It seem like the people there in the city believe that the Iraqi army, Iraqi air force did it. Because of the way that they are reacting to it, they are talking to Baghdad, saying, ‘please don’t do this again.’ If that is true, if the Iraqi army conducted this strike, then the coalition conducted this strike, because the US is the key part of the coalition with the Iraqi army, and the key source of the intelligence that is used in some of the targeting. So, somebody is not telling the truth there,” said Kwiatkowski. The high death toll in the alleged airstrike is most likely the result of “insane” targeting and “bad intelligence.” The strange silence on the part of the Iraqi army only fuels suspicion over their involvement and even signifies a“willingness” to allow civilian casualties. “It’s a market, that’s where people go. Maybe militants go there, and I’m glad they got a few. But it is insane to target like that, and it seems like it was targeted,” Kwiatkowski told RT. Read more 54 civilians 'inadvertently killed' in 7 US-led coalition strikes in Syria, Iraq “I don’t understand why they won’t comment. And it sounds like they are trying to get their story straight, which is another problem, when you have bad intelligence and you… I hate to say this, but they are quite willing to have civilian casualties. I think that’s clear.” The US military has a “long history” of bombing “not proper, by Geneva convention, targets” and might be somewhat accustomed to it, according to Kwiatkowski. However, the coalition will have to take full responsibility, since the “blame Russia” scenario won’t work this time. “I don’t know if they … thought they could get away with it, because it’s a small town, and people are focused on Aleppo, people are focused on Mosul. It seems careless. The fact that some militants are in hospital and possibly dead from this attack kind of suggests that it was done on purpose. You know, to target and ... get a few guys,” said Kwiatkowski. “I think it’s sloppy, it’s inhuman. I’m curious to see how the US and how SATCOM is going answer to this, because they said that the coalition didn’t do it. Unless they are going to pin it on Turkey, or Russia, or Syria which I haven’t seen [that] they are going to do, they going to have to take responsibility for it, the coalition itself is going to have to take responsibility and tighten up their game. And particularly their intelligence game.” The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/8/2016 2:14:35 PM
	Duterte, fighting for his country and his life, enjoys outpouring of support from Filipinos Andre Vltchek RT Wed, 07 Dec 2016 15:59 UTC © AFLO / Global Look Press There is a sense of change in those narrow and desperate alleys of the Baseco slum in the Philippines' capital Manila. For the first time in many years a beautiful, noble lady visited; against all odds she decided to stay. Her name is Hope. Baseco is a tough, crime-ridden region built from cartons and metal sheets, even rusty containers; everything is thrown together in startling fashion, right near the shipyard. Here, the lips of the people used to be sealed, expressions on their faces incessantly desperate. Now everyone speaks, some even smile shyly, adults and children, women who look sixty at the age of thirty, as well as tough looking men. "I support Duterte!" declares Ms. Imelda Rodriguez, who works as a physiotherapist here, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development. "Now children get free education and 'medical missions' provide basic medical care. We also receive allowances, and the government provides jobs. We are still lacking electricity, but at least the municipality is providing free drinking water." Nearby a teenage girl is washing her hair, using a bucket full of soapy water. It is raining and mud is everywhere. Children are running around barefoot, and some are obviously suffering from malnutrition. "So much has to be done," concludes Ms. Imelda. "But so much had been done already." People complain about an extremely high crime rate, about drug-pushing gangs. I visit the slums and vast cemeteries inhabited by the poorest of the poor; I also speak to people in shopping malls and at the office towers. At the South Cemetery, Mr. Rex, a security guard, explains: "President Duterte is strict on the implementation of the rules. Crime is now going down dramatically." Self-proclaimed socialist 'Presidente' Rodrigo Duterte is enjoying the staggering support of his people, estimated to be well over 70 percent of the population. "He reads a lot. He was greatly influenced by Hugo Chavez", explains Roland Simbulan, Professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila. "He is strongly critical of the Western imperialism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and of course in his country... He is outraged by how the West is treating refugees from the countries it destabilized in the Middle East. He is offering to accept them, to welcome them in the Philippines." Duterte has acquired a reputation for lashing out at everything from Western imperialism to President Obama, to Pope Francis (in this staunchly Catholic country), the EU, and the UN. He has threatened to close down all US military bases and to move his country closer to China and Russia. To emphasize his seriousness, he has canceled all joint US - Philippine military exercises. President Putin is his hero. He is clearly leaning toward the left, and he despises colonialism. He often speaks about the "genocide" committed by the US against his people during the 'Philippine - American War.' Comment: It's debatable whether Duterte is 'leaning towards the left'. If Putin is his hero, then Duterte is leaning towards pragmatism in a world where psychopaths have corrupted both 'left' and 'right', rendering the dialectic meaningless. He refuses to provoke and antagonize China. He is with the poor, introducing and improving social programs. He is gradually releasing political prisoners and actively negotiating peace deals with the Marxist and Muslim guerrillas while seeking peace treaties and territorial compromises with China. He occasionally explodes, insults, and then backtracks, but he continues to steadily move forward. "If Duterte moves too fast, he will be overthrown by the military," explains Prof. Simbulan. "He is an 'outsider.' Police and the military are holding grudges against him. Most of the top brass were trained in the US. He tries to keep them engaged, visiting the military camps around the country, explaining why is he releasing political prisoners and why is he inviting left-wing cadres to the government." Comment: See why 'left-right' is meaningless without context? To the poor of the world, the US represents extreme right; to Americans, their Establishment, which they recently kicked in the teeth by voting in 'the wrong guy', represents 'left', 'communist' even! After centuries of colonialism, after the disgraceful collaboration of the military and civilian 'elites,' Duterte's revolution has to be measured, changes gradual. Prof. Simbulan is cautiously optimistic: "I evaluate Duterte positively. Duterte's anti-imperialist policy goes beyond rhetoric; it is real and persistent. Even as mayor of Davao, he banned all US - Philippine military exercises there. The US tried to negotiate; they offered plenty of money. They wanted to build a huge drone base in Mindanao, but Duterte refused, resolutely. His track record shows: if there are irreconcilable differences, he'll always side with the left." Comment: ...meaning, in this context, 'anti-US'. In Davao, Ms. Luzviminda Ilagan, a former member of Congress and country's leading feminist, explains: "After Mayor Duterte announced in 2003 that no US military exercises would be allowed in his city, Davao was bombed twice: one bomb exploded at the airport, another at the pier." Comment: A disgusting 'response', which reveals the true nature of US foreign policy. The mainstream media abroad and at home is relentlessly attacking Duterte's 'War on crime, drugs, and corruption.' It is also repeating how he 're-buried' former dictator Marcos at the 'Hero Cemetery.'" "Small pushers are resisting arrests," explains a South Cemetery dweller. "They kill police; they have nothing to lose. It is a real war. Those who keep talking about extra-judiciary killings care only about the criminals, not about us, the citizens." That's the main sentiment expressed in the slums. "Duterte encourages police to take action," explains Eduardo Tadem, a leading academic, Professorial Lecturer of Asian Studies (UP). "He is a lawyer, he stays within the legal limits. Some 5,000 were killed so far, but who really does the killing? Vigilantes, motorcycle gangs... The crime rate used to be horrible: killings, kidnapping, petty crime. People are fed-up with the crime. They'd support any action to stop it." "If we talk about extra-judicial killings, then we have to prove that the authorities are really ordering them," explains Ms. Ilagan. "Duterte came with the names: among them some top military and police generals! Now many are being killed. But the international HRs organizations are totally misinterpreting Duterte's role in all this. Another thing is: the number of people killed in this country is actually decreasing. Before, under Aquino, those murdered were mainly poor farmers, indigenous people, and urban poor; people fighting for their basic human rights. Under Gloria Arroyo, the foreign mining companies were even given permission to kill protesters. All this is over now." The President is defiant, especially when criticism comes from abroad: "I do not kneel down before anybody else, except the Filipino in Quiapo walking in misery and in extreme poverty and anger." Eduardo Tadem believes that burying former dictator Marcos at 'Hero's Cemetery' was a gross miscalculation. "Marcos brought this country to ruins." But he says that the act was not ideological; it was about pragmatism and 'personal ties'. Duterte made a promise to the family of Marcos. Before the elections, he didn't accept a member of the Marcos clan as his vice presidential running mate, but he needed the votes of his followers. "Marshall Law was the US project," exclaims Dr. Reynaldo Ileto, a leading historian. "But now they only talk about Marcos. Under Ramos and others, there were terrible abuses, too. The cemetery carries the 'hero' name, but actually, almost all former presidents are buried there. Focus on Marcos is deliberate: to raise controversy, to discredit Duterte, and to avoid real issues. Many people from the left, even Marxists, were actually working with Marcos. Duterte's father was a minor minister in Marcos' cabinet, but his mother was a resistance figure." Comment: And to add another layer that confounds the 'left-right' in all this... Marcos sought to ally the Philippines with Communist China, while suppressing indigenous Communist rebels. "Duterte's mother played an extremely important role in the protest movement against Marcos," confirms Ms. Ilagan. "She was vocal, fearless, and she had great influence on her son. Let's also remember that during Marshall law Duterte served as a prosecutor in Davao, and he saved many prisoners, many activists". Dr. Ileto's gives a personal 'verdict' on President Duterte: "He is doing a great job. He is being sensible to China, while the West is doing all it can to antagonize China. This is an essential issue. Remember our past: President Arroyo visited China first, before she went to the US. She moved closer to China. She was punished: they got her indicted for 'corruption.'" We discuss Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine and how the West invents or exaggerates 'human rights' and 'corruption' matters to ostracize, even to overthrow legitimate governments. Now the process to discredit the rebellious President of the Philippines is already in full swing. Would Duterte's liberal Vice-President Leni Robredo (recently expelled from the cabinet), be elevated by the Western establishment to stardom? She is pro-Washington, she is against all Duterte's 'wars,' and, above all, she is against his increasingly close relationship with China. She could soon join the band of the 'Color Revolutions' leaders, as she leads the "yellow" Liberal Party. "In Mindanao, people say 'Imperialist Manila,'" explains Ms. Ileto. "Duterte is from the South, he is an anti-imperialist, he defends his people, and the elites in Manila hate him for that. He swears, curses, after all, he is Visaya - we are like that - open and outspoken. First, they thought he was a joke, but he won, he touched the people. He speaks their language; he is real." "What will happen if he is overthrown or killed?" I ask point blank, here in his city of Davao, on Mindanao Island. "There would be a real danger of explosion; even of a civil war," I am told. "And people of Mindanao would be at the forefront." (sott.net)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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