Friday, March 20, 2009

WHAT A MOCKERY OF LAW!

WHAT A MOCKERY OF LAW!

By Erick San Juan


Nearly everybody got stunned, if not angered by the recantation of Ms. Suzette Nicolas, who, for some time, caused the clock of USMC’s Lance Corporal Daniel Smith to stop dead and destroying his future, even if he did time within the comfortable confines of the US Embassy in Manila.

No doubt, she made a mockery of the Philippines’ justice system. In a way, Suzette’s treasonous caper also exposed the naivety of the entire Filipino nation, which was handily taken for a ride by a lady whose moral reputation is under question.

But if we were to draw any consolation from this malady, her greed for a mere $2,000 and a US visa somehow agitated persistent calls for a serious review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which Filipinos regard as a “treaty”, but is just an “executive agreement” in as far as the United States is concerned.

However, to make the Philippines more relevant to the national interest of the United States in relation to its’ security concerns, our legislators ought to trigger an immediate renegotiation, if not the abrogation of the RP-US Mutual Defense Pact, which exclusively serves our big brothers as a one-way street.

And the time to do it is now.

Friday, March 6, 2009

THE TRUTH HURTS

THE TRUTH HURTS

by ERICK SAN JUAN

What's the fuzz about former Senate President Manny Villar telling the truth that he, who do not have enough money to support his presidential ambition, why run?

Certainly, some presidential wannabe's got irked by Villar's statement at an interview with Reuters recently. In so many ways, Villar's comment unmasked some presidential hopefuls who simply want to run to be in power, or, that some of them merely run for the "fun" or the "the funds" of it. Whatmakes us worry a lot about these type of bets is that they necessarily get beholden to their benefactors, contributors and the vested interests who enabled them to go for it.

What about pay-back time? How will these kind of politicians pay their political debts? Isn't this the reason why graft and corruption persist in the Philippines? "Di pa nag-uumpisa ang (start ng) campaign, ang aga nagpaparamdam." You can already hear from the rumor mill about narco-politicians, candidates funded by gambling lords, smuggling lords, etc. Only in the Philippines!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

DEAL WITH CAUTION!

DEAL WITH CAUTION!

BY ERICK SAN JUAN

There are two schools of thoughts about America and its relationship with the world that emanates from the internet. One is the inevitable decline of America, reputedly the New Roman Empire. But, U.S.A. is now in its economic tailspin. Many finds impossible for her to recover from the various doomsday scenarios that could lead to something more serious.

Political and economic analysts are wondering why the world never learned from the past. Fact is: every time America goes into recession the world follows. American spin masters like writer,Thomas L. Friedman wants us to believe that only an economically revitalized America can save the world from going into a global depression. Friedman added that too little American power is dangerous, just like saying that a U.S. dominated world is better than a world dominated by somebody else.

It seems that Friedman came from the same school of propagandists like Goebbels. I still remember my father telling me that everytime America goes to war, "God is on their side." He even cited some pages of his old history book narrating how then President William Mckinley in 1898 told a group of visiting ministers that he decided to takeover the Philippines after he got down on his knees and God told him to go ahead, "civilize and Christianize" the Filipinos.

But in "Christianizing" the Filipinos, almost half a million Filipinos died in that American civilizing mission. While the US Army was carrying out the massacre of the Filipinos, according to John Tirman, executive director of MIT's Center for International Studies, then Secretary of War, Elihu Root was saying, "The American soldiers are the advance guard of liberty and justice, of law and order, and of peace and happiness." The mind conditioning was so effective during that time that even up until now, most Filipinos have envived a deeply-rooted colonial mentality.

But it seems that there’s a growing anti – American sentiments in the world today. The usual trust is not there anymore. So many nations are now even changing their dollar reserves into a better currency.

In the Philippines, despite the colonial mentality of its leaders and its populace, most Filipinos are now dealing with the Americans and other imperialists with caution. Many Filipinos have learned from history when we entered a world war in the past not of our own liking. Our veterans are even treated like beggars and mendicants. Despite that the U.S. Visa fees revenue can finance an embassy operation, many applicants were not granted Visas to enter the U.S.A. Why do we tolerate to be treated this way?

What was alarming was the latest report by east-asia-intel.com that the People’s Republic of China has introduced multiple new submarines including ballistic missile type 094S. China has allegedly deployed two new ballistic missile submarines and two new attack submarines in the South China Sea.

According to the Annual Military Balance report by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the two Jin class submarines (type 094S) are each equipped with 12 JL-2 missiles.

The main base is near Yulin on Hainan island on the South China Sea and can be seen in a satellite imagery obtained by FAS. The image showed that the submarines moored at a pier close to a large sea entrance to an underground facility. These high tech submarines are believed to be moving around the China seas including the Paracels and the Spratleys.

With this revelation, could this be the reason why the Pentagon chose an early Balikatan joint military exercises that will be held simultaneously in Luzon, Bicol, Visayas and Mindanao instead of the usual one area at a time?

Is the sighting of China’s submarines in San Bernardino Strait and part of the Pacific Ocean real?

San Bernardino Strait is the short cut from China Sea passing Palawan, Sorsogon, Masbate and Samar to the Pacific Ocean.

It seems that we Filipinos are in deep shit, with no functioning sonar and radars, an ill-equipped weaponry, etc. We are again in trouble. Are we for Asia or for the west? Is this the reason why the US forces are building up their military might in disguise as military training, road constructions, building schools, medical and dental missions to win again the hearts and minds of the people? U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and its USIA through it’s amiable spokesperson, Rebecca Thompson are doing a good job for their government. Despite the good leadership of Sec. Gilbert Teodoro at the defense department especially in fighting graft and corruption, our military capability sucks.

Our friend in the military said that since the Americans left the former U.S. bases at Clark and Subic, there was a power vacuum that led to the creeping invasion of China especially near our border.

We hope and pray that what happened in Lusitania before the First World War and at the Pearl Harbor prior to the start of the Second World War will not happen here.

Again, to our leaders, Don't repeat the similar mistakes PLEASE!!!!

WHO’S DECEIVING WHO?

WHO’S DECEIVING WHO?

By Erick San Juan

I just received an intelligencer from a concerned American friend of mine . This, he got from the World Tribune. The piece he sent me was written by Lev Navrozov, who migrated to the United States (from Soviet Union) in 1972. He became a columnist for the New York City Tribune and chaired the “alternative to the New York Times Committee” in 1980.

In his recent article, China’s Liberation Arsenal: Missiles, Strategic Deception and Now – Global Media, he cited the annual report to the U.S. Congress of the office of the Secretary of Defense entitled, “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2008”.

That annual report to the U.S. congress is reportedly based on open Chinese sources. Lev said that the scale and intensity of China’s military development are astonishing. for one, China is expecting an attack. Because of that, she spares no efforts at developing its military might.

Lev asked, “but who is the enemy that is going to attack China?” He answered his own question saying: “the Chinese People”.

The propaganda war between the two elephants has started. The U.S. attacking the human rights atrocities of China’s military force against the dissidents in China and Mongolia, its press freedom, the quality of its exported products, intellectual property rights violations, diseases that could mutate, etc.

While China has been so passive, making policy statements like its soft warning to the U.S. not to sell arms to Taiwan, and secretly telling the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in her recent visit to Beijing, that additional loan from China may be granted to the U.S. if no sale of modern weaponry will be given to Taiwan.

Political pundits are wondering why PROC is worried about the military hardware purchase requirements of Taiwan especially now that the new administration of President Ma is pro-Beijing.

Lev said that the behavior of the leaders of China are totally deceptive. Following Sun Tzu’s Art of War, deception is the key. He added that its Politburo has mastered Deng Xiao Ping’s principle, “hide our capacities and bid our time”.

The annual report to the U.S. Congress, page 2, said that China has the most active ballistic missile program in the world. Page 36 of the same report states that since 2003, China has been pressuring the European Union into lifting the embargo on lethal military sales to China. The embargo was imposed in response to China’s 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators.

The U.S. intelligence and the FBI has allegedly investigated illegal exports of U.S. arms and technologies to China which led to several convictions of U.S. based violators of its Arms Export Control Act.

Lev said that with China’s 1.3 billion population, it makes China the most powerful military entity in the world, creating post nuclear super weapons with the help of recruited foreign scientists.

Lev reiterated that China today is far more dangerous than Hitler’s Germany who has a deeper strategic roots of deception. At Davos, Switzerland's World Economic Forum meeting recently, when the elite club members announced that they will introduce a new global media thru a global TV network that will usher in a state of global governance to educate the global citizens, the globalists were shocked when China conveyed the information that the Chinese media is also going global and will have a 24/7 channel like the CNN. But in his article, Lev said that the PROC, (mainland China’s propaganda machine) will include the inevitability of the advent of the Chinese “system” to the entire world, instead of the recurrent economic depression in the west. China’s global propaganda is allegedly expected to be combined with their global super weapons offensive.

Which is which? Will this be another ploy to push China against the wall? Last time I heard such myth of weapons of mass destruction was during the time of the late dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Could the propaganda war between U.S. and China metamorphose into a shooting war soon? Who will lay the predicate? God forbid!