This Is the Future of U.S. Foreign Aid Under Trump
Read More »Tag: Southeast Asia
Manila Recovers Chinese Underwater Drone Operating in Philippine Waters
[Aaron-Matthew Lariosa, 10-01-2025] Manila Recovers Chinese Underwater Drone Operating in Philippine Waters
Read More »Political West’s “Divide And Rule” Strategy of Destabilizing China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most ambitious infrastructure and economic integration project ever devised, linking over 140 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe. Much unlike the political West, Beijing is trying to project power through economic means, a starkly different approach to that of the most aggressive power pole in human history.
Political West’s “Divide And Rule” Strategy of Destabilizing China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (archived)
Iran Isn’t Just a Transit Hub
SOFREP: Thailand on the Brink: Protests Erupt, Coup Rumors Swirl After Leaked Call Scandal
“Dark Indonesia” and Astroturfed Subversion + More
21-04-2025: Since February, Indonesia has been beset by protests largely led by students, so-called civil society organisations, some labour unions and K-pop fans. Protests emerged in many cities throughout the Indonesian archipelago including Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Solo, Semarang, Bali, Samarinda, Banjarmasin and South Sumatra. The protestors were reportedly delivering a “red report card” on the first 100 days of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. They also condemned Prabowo’s “Ndasmu!” remark towards critics of the Free Nutritious Meal program.[1] “Ndasmu” is an impolite Javanese word meaning “your head”, which perhaps implies that the protestors’ actions were the result of something that existed in their heads only. The slogan “Dark Indonesia” under which the protests took place, is a stab at Prabowo’s election slogan of “Golden Indonesia” (Indonesia Emas), which aims to advance the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) to a sovereign, prosperous nation by 2045, the centennial of its independence won in 1945.[2]
Related:
Read More »US focusing on PH over rest of Southeast Asia – expert
US focusing on PH over rest of Southeast Asia – expert
Speaking at a Stratbase Forum in Makati City, Gregory Poling, senior fellow and director of the Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the collaboration extends to Japan trilateral and bilateral partnerships.
Poling noted the exemption of military aid for the Philippines, along with Taiwan and Ukraine.
“The Philippines is the only country in Asia that explicitly had its military assistance unlocked as a result of Secretary [Enrique] Manalo’s meeting with Secretary [Marco] Rubio. That’s a pretty good sign.
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Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China
The Pentagon official tasked with overseeing U.S. defense policy toward Southeast Asia recently advised against pursuing hawkish defense policies and a major trade war against China, a marked contrast with top Trump appointees.
John Andrew Byers, a longtime history professor who oversaw the Charles Koch philanthropic network’s grants promoting libertarian foreign policy stances at universities, was sworn in this week as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia — a role that immediately thrusts him to the center of America’s response to China’s ongoing military pressure campaign targeting the Philippines, with which Washington holds a mutual defense treaty.
Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China
Related:
Lowy Institute: Trump’s grand bargain? The Philippines caught between US and China by Richard Heydarian
CGS non-resident fellow Andrew Byers co-authors article with The American Conservative
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia: Andrew Byers
Rant 02-10-2025: Doveryai, No Proveryai

Pascal did it again! He keeps bringing on David Pyne, without disclosing that he’s a member of the hawkish group, Committee on the Present Danger: China. Pyne is far from neutral on the issue of China!
Related:
The US Scare Campaign Against China (History of the Committee on the Present Danger)
The following statistics are from the Cato Institute, which is affiliated with the Atlas Network via the Koch Network.
Cato Scholar Debunks Trump’s Fentanyl Figures amid Tariff Talk
Decades of drug war tactics have failed, merely shifting production of fentanyl precursors from China to India, Myanmar, other parts of Southeast Asia, and even Canada. Canadian authorities report “superlabs” are shipping fentanyl to drug dealers in Australia and New Zealand and, to a lesser amount, to the US.
Canadian-made fentanyl is an international problem, RCMP says
86.4% were United States citizens
U.S. Citizens Were 89% of Convicted Fentanyl Traffickers in 2022
Fentanyl Is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens By U.S. Citizens, Not Asylum Seekers
The Dark Alliance (PDF)
The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia (PDF)
Internet Archive: Barry & ‘the boys’ : the CIA, the Mob and America’s secret history
Chinese Military Might vs Washington’s Asymmetrical Tools of Empire
China continues to strengthen its military capabilities, combining rapid growth in conventional power with readiness to counter U.S. asymmetrical strategies.
Chinese Military Might vs Washington’s Asymmetrical Tools of Empire (archived)
Previously:
US proxy groups capture Rakhine State in Myanmar
US Greenland-Panama Ambitions Aimed at War with Russia-China
Hot spots where war may break out or escalate in 2025: Balochistan
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