Philippines set to host second Typhon missile system, signalling Trump’s defence pledge
He added that the Typhon’s presence signalled renewed US commitment to the region, which would be further reinforced by separate visits to the Philippines by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth this week and Secretary of State Marco Rubio next month.
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President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to prepare plans for carrying out his threat to “take back” the Panama Canal, including by military force if needed, two U.S. officials familiar with the situation told NBC News Thursday.
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Trump and foolish old men who redraw maps
Donald Trump
In defiance of UN resolutions and international law, he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognised the Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel, and now wants to turn Gaza into a US real estate development, reconquer Panama, turn Canada into the 51st State of the USA, rename the Gulf of Mexico and seize Greenland, if necessary by force. And it’s only February. The US spent blood, treasure and decades building the Rules-Based International Order. Biden and Trump have left it in tatters.
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Senior Col. Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, accused the Philippines of causing disturbances in various areas with the support and encouragement of the United States.
“From Ren’ai Jiao (Ayungin Shoal) to Xianbin Jiao (Sabina Shoal) and from Houteng Jiao to Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal), such repeated provocations have allowed the international community to see clearly who is undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea and who is fabricating and spreading lies,” Wu said.
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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his nation won’t deploy Navy warships to the South China Sea in response to recent clashes with Beijing in disputed waters.
Marcos Says Philippines Won’t Send Warships After China Clashes
Previously:
Philippines to match China’s gray zone tactics in South China Sea
What’s Really Going On In the South China Sea Between the Philippines and China
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday signed laws declaring the maritime zones under Philippine jurisdiction and designating sea lanes in the country for foreign vessels and aircraft.
Marcos inks laws on PH Maritime Zones, Archipelagic Sea Lanes
Related:
South China Sea: Philippines’ legal moves reveal its expansionist goals
U.S. State Department On the Philippines Maritime Zones Act
Arnaud Bertrand’s Twitter thread (ThreadReader)
Regarding the South China Sea Arbitration:
The South China Sea Arbitration did not rule on sovereignty, and China does not recognize it because the Arbitral Tribunal lacked jurisdiction. “The Arbitral Tribunal violated the principle of state consent, exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and rendered an award in disregard of the law. This is a grave violation of UNCLOS and general international law, Wang said.” The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. The Permanent Court of Arbitration is not an agency of the United Nations. The PCA rents space in the same building as the UN’s International Court of Justice. A Congressional Research Service report, dated August 2023, stated that the U.S. has not declared its position regarding sovereignty over any of the geographical elements that comprise the South China Sea.
Throughout the three-day course, we’ve looked at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. We’ve looked at the operational framework in which both nations work. Some of the considerations that we have to work together with. We’ve looked at media programs and media talent and preparing that talent and facilitating media embed programs. And we also unpacked and looked at photography workshop as well, where we’ve been able to have lots of fun looking at the kits and the tools, and taking some photography and vision in order to amplify key messages into the region.
ADF | Australia-Philippines Military Public Affairs workshop
Related:
Great communication begins with connection
‘The workshop got our nations on one page to deliver the right information and messages that we want to convey across the globe.’
Embedded journalism:
The original purpose of embedding was to control journalists, according to Helen Benedict, a professor at the Columbia Journalism School. Citing award-winning Australian journalist Phillip Knightley’s book “The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Iraq” which describes how the U.S. government invented embedded journalism in response to critical coverage of the Vietnam War. As civilian casualties in Afghanistan reached 5,000, the Pentagon sought a media strategy that would bring attention back to the military’s role in the war, especially the role played by ordinary American service members. This would require bringing war correspondents on side.
What are Information Operations?
To obtain a competitive edge, information operations and warfare entail obtaining intelligence on opponents and disseminating propaganda.
Definition: Information operations are tactics used to sway people’s opinions and affect how decisions are made.
More information:
Embedded Journalism, Media Manipulation & Apathy
After a few cat and mouse days of Defense Secretary Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin’s denials, the Pentagon finally yesterday affirmed that there was evidence of a North Korean military presence in Russia. Asked what they were doing in Russia, Austin replied, “What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out.”
Previously:
Victory Plan (Google Translate)
“We hear the word negotiations from our partners, but the word justice is heard much less often,” Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday in his speech to the Ukrainian Rada. “Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest diplomacy. That is why we have the Peace Formula. It is a guarantee of negotiating without forcing Ukraine to accept injustice. Ukrainians deserve a decent peace,” the Ukrainian president continued in his presentation of the Victory Plan to deputies and other authorities of the country’s political and security apparatus. Kiev’s intentions are clear: to achieve a position of strength in which Ukraine does not have to yield to Russian demands. Nothing indicates that there has been any change in the way of thinking of the Ukrainian leadership, which has always understood justice as something that only the part of the population under its control deserves, without those on the other side of the front and whose territories it aspires to recover having a say in the future of the country.
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Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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