Tag: Indonesia

Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea + More

Ms. Cat

While reiterating that the arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration exceeded its jurisdiction and made an illegitimate ruling, Chinese experts warned on Monday that the Philippines is scheming for “new arbitration” on the issue, which would undermine regional peace and stability.

Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea

Related:

Philippines should use legal, moral leverage in West Philippine Sea – expert

Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, said China is using an “asymmetrical” strategy through military might in asserting its claims in the region.

…

He also expressed support for the Philippine government’s plan to file another case against China, this time over the environmental destruction that China has caused in the West Philippine Sea.

PH to complete environmental case vs. China in ‘few weeks’- DOJ

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on May 20, 2024

The Office of Naval Research funded Stanford’s GKC

I’m no expert, but I had a feeling that they would back in April, at least:

Philippine Coast Guard clarifies ‘assertive transparency’ tact

Vietnamese Poachers using Cyanide and Dynamite Fishing in the Philippines’ EEZ

Defense Secretary Miller Pledges to Enhance Peace and Stability in the ASEAN Region

Ms. Cat1 Comment

Defense Secretary Miller Pledges to Enhance Peace and Stability in the ASEAN Region

This week, Miller, who was appointed as Pentagon Chief in November, has visited the Philippines and Indonesia during his Asia tour. A transfer of $30 mln in defense articles was announced following the results of the meeting between Miller and his Philippine counterpart on Tuesday. The US also pledged to provide Manila with $23.4 mln in COVID-19 assistance and disaster relief.

It’s just a smokescreen!

Remembering November 11, 1975: Pine Gap, the CIA and the coup to remove Whitlam

Ms. Cat1 Comment

Remembering November 11, 1975: Pine Gap, the CIA and the coup to remove Whitlam

As PM, Whitlam demanded to know if and why the CIA had a spy base at the “Joint Defence Space Research Facility” in Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.

On paper, Pine Gap was meant to be a collaboration between the Australian Department of Defence and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

In Nugan Hand: A tale of drugs, dirty money, the CIA and the ousting of the Whitlam government, activist and former state Labor parliamentarian Joan Coxsedge wrote that Whitlam was considering the idea of not renewing the US-Australia agreement on Pine Gap.

Coxsedge said: “The Pine Gap Treaty signed on December 9, 1966, stated that after an initial nine years, either party could terminate the agreement on one year’s notice, which would determine the fate of the CIA’s most valuable overseas base.

Related:

John Pilger: How Whitlam was brought down

AUSTRALIAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 20, 1986 — GRIEVANCE DEBATE

CIA ISSUE ENTERS AUSTRALIAN CRISIS

China Is a Challenge, But an Asian NATO Is Not the Answer

Ms. Cat

China Is a Challenge, But an Asian NATO Is Not the Answer

First, the US is not threatened militarily by China. No one imagines that a nonexistent Chinese carrier group is going to descend upon Hawaii, conquer the islands, and then head toward the West Coast. There is no evidence that the Chinese Communist Party has such ambitions. Anyway, Beijing would have little success even after an enormous military buildup. Such is the disparity in cost between projecting power across the Pacific and deterring such an attack. Which correspondingly limits Washington’s military options against the PRC.

At stake in East Asia is American influence rather than security. A challenge to the former is not unimportant but is very different than a military threat against the US proper. China poses no meaningful danger to America’s territory, population, prosperity, liberties, or constitutional order. Instead, Beijing is resisting Washington’s attempt to effectively impose the Monroe Doctrine in Asia, that is, to dominate the region up to China’s border.

André Vltchek’s Sudden Death

Ms. Cat1 Comment

André Vltchek’s Sudden Death

EDITOR’S NOTE: CounterPunch received word from Rossi Indira, Andre’s partner who was with him at the time of his death, that Andre died from complications with diabetes. Andre had been very ill for several weeks prior to his death, he could barely walk and one of his legs was paralyzed. Rossi tells us that he also refused medical treatment. Andre’s funeral is being held in Istanbul.

Related:

Telling the Untold: Remembering Andre Vltchek (1963-2020)

In latest US move vs. China, Pompeo stirs up division in Southeast Asia

Ms. Cat

In latest US move vs. China, Pompeo stirs up division in Southeast Asia

Despite its noble-sounding proclamations, the true goal of the U.S. government is to prevent a resolution to the disputes among neighbors in Southeast Asia. Noh highlighted the fact that, “China and all the other ASEAN nations were in the process of negotiating and resolving their disputes amicably, until the US, weaponizing lawfare, concocted with the Philippines in 2015 a fraudulent case about the South China Sea in a paid-for farce of a private tribunal that was later marketed as a UN ruling (it wasn’t).”

Mike Pompeo’s speech to the ASEAN summit was a textbook example of the oldest imperialist trick in the book: divide and conquer. But the reality is clear — the U.S. government is a friend to no one other than Wall Street and the ultra-rich, and causes chaos wherever it intervenes.