Month: March 2024

Philippines’ ‘assertive transparency’ strategy is causing them to miss out economically

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Philippines is going all in with the United States and bracing itself against lost Chinese largesse. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr will fly to Washington next month to attend the US-Japan-Philippines trilateral leaders’ summit. It will be his fourth visit to the US since taking office as president less than two years ago.

South China Sea: Philippines must softly manage disputes or miss out economically

Previously:

PH: Compared To China, US Trade, Investment Offers Laughable + More

SCS: The Office of Naval Research funded Stanford’s GKC

Baltimore Bridge Fallout to Extend Coast-to-Coast in Cargo Shift

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The bridge collapse Tuesday that shut the Port of Baltimore and closed a major highway will cause weeks or months of transportation disruptions in the Mid-Atlantic region and accelerate a shift of cargo to the US West Coast as importers and exporters try to avoid potential bottlenecks at trade gateways from Boston to Miami.

Baltimore Bridge Fallout to Extend Coast-to-Coast in Cargo Shift

The Growing Weakness of Western Artillery Capabilities

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

After decades of waging war against impoverished nations with destitute armies, or no standing armies at all, the US has suddenly found itself in a rapidly changing world where peer and near-peer competitors are outpacing it in military capabilities. Many of these capabilities are showing up on the battlefield in places the US has until recently enjoyed relative military superiority.

The Growing Weakness of Western Artillery Capabilities

DRC: Inside Kinshasa’s plan to hire American mercenaries to fight M23

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

In 2023, DR Congo’s authorities sought to hire 2,500 military contractors from Latin America to fight in North Kivu province, where a government-led coalition is pitted against the M23 rebels, a UN Group of Experts report indicates.

Led by Erik Prince, the founder of former security company Blackwater and current head of Frontier Resources Group (FSG), the plan to deploy mercenaries from Columbia, Mexico and Argentina “was reinitiated” in June and mid-July 2023, the UN report of December 2023 says.

Inside Kinshasa’s plan to hire American mercenaries to fight M23

China blames Philippines for ship collision in waters near Ren’ai Jiao + Notes

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

China on Tuesday accused the Philippines of deliberately ramming a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel in disregard of China’s repeated warnings, as four Philippine vessels illegally entered the waters adjacent to the Ren’ai Jiao of China’s Nansha Qundao.

CCG spokesman Gan Yu made the remark after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said one of its ships was damaged on Tuesday in a collision with a CCG vessel and four Filipino crew were injured. 

China blames Philippines for ship collision in waters near Ren’ai Jiao

Related:

The Philippines has been chartering civilian vessels for their resupply missions.

Source

A Philippine civilian boat, escorted by two navy ships and two coast guard vessels, was on a monthly supply run to a small number of Filipino marines stationed on the ‘Sierra Madre’ – a warship intentionally run aground on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 in order to reinforce The Philippines’ territorial claims in the area.

Source

I suspect that this incident was staged. Powell, from the DoD-funded Stanford GKC’s SeaLight (Project Myoushu), said that it was the same vessel that was damaged last time. FYI, I clipped this video before he started talking about the upcoming US-Philippine-Japan meeting to ‘strengthen military ties’.

Source

Powell whining, on X, for ‘international support’.

Source

FDA Settles Lawsuit over Ivermectin Social Media Posts

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

FDA Settles Lawsuit over Ivermectin Social Media Posts

The FDA has agreed to delete and never republish several social-media posts suggesting that ivermectin, a drug that some doctors used to treat COVID-19, is for animals and not humans.

While the FDA still does not approve of using ivermectin to treat COVID, it settled Thursday a lawsuit brought by three doctors who sued it, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Xavier Becerra, and FDA secretary Robert Califf. All parties have settled.

…

At its website as of Friday, the FDA still is not recommending it for COVID and says large doses are dangerous and that prescriptions should be filled by a pharmacy and taken exactly as prescribed.

The FDA declined to respond to Kennedy’s assertion, though it reiterated that it “has not changed its position that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19.”

I honestly don’t know what difference this’ll make. 🤷🏼‍♀️