why am i not suprised

It's uninhabited territory. If the Philippines wanted it, they should have planted a presence there. If they are not ready to shed Filipino blood for it, nobody else should either. I don't think anyone could be convinced that the US or anyone opposing China would be doing more than saving the islands and the mineral wealth under it for the wealthy and political Filipino elite to plunder at a later date. It certainly wouldn't be for the Filipino man on the street as they have no stake in this.

 

Dave, I vote to let them all go back if they wish, sorry but they will not be allowed to take weapons, fighter jets aircraft carriers, submarines or missile frigates with them. The Philippines doesn't need more bodies, they need 500 billion dollars worth of military hardware and those trained and experienced in it's use. When I was in the army, we had one Filipino guy in our platoon, company, possibly battalion. We probably had at least as many Ukrainians, should we have committed the entire United States to war for them too?

 

I don't have your personal experience to know that. I only have anecdotal stories from a friend who was in the US Navy for 20 years and talks about many filipinos serving on the ship. And please keep in mind that all I was saying is that there are individual filipinos who 'give back' by joining the US Military. And I'm not saying the US should go to war for the Ukrainians but we both know they would, and indeed did in 1945 so that was a bad example to give

 

I was speaking of the little proxy war the Ukrainians are having with Russia right now, not the slight tiff they had with the Germans so long ago. We enlisted a lot of Germans too.

The US did lend a hand for the Philippines too, against as they say, " Those nice people who brought you Pearl Harbor", in that little thing called WW2. I seem to recall that we were on the same side as China in that one also, maybe that is the best reason not to play favorites now?

How many Filipinos do you reckon there are in the US Navy Dave? 1k- 5k- 10k? Shall we have a google? The numbers I'm looking at say 34,620 between 1952 and 1990 it doesn't sound like that many to me. A lot of them were probably because of active recruitment. 3 years service granted them residency in the US. They were paid. They were granted residency, what more do we owe them Dave? Other than their pension if they retired? Not a thing.

If there are that many Filipinos in the US navy, then the Philippines should have no trouble building a navy and chasing China off. That is a load off my mind.

 

Nothing is owed. But if we are asking rhetorical questions, who took on the role of being the world's police force and why, and if it was a good idea then, why isn't it a good idea now?

 

Dave, I think it was a bad idea from the beginning to become policeman for the world. All things have a beginning and an end. Certainly acting as the worlds police has not brought us love, do we need a better excuse than that to stop? Maybe the colonial period ends when a country kicks out their perceived oppressors as India did Britain? Did India within a couple of decades ask Britain to fight their battles for them?

Maybe the reason is as I stated before, because we would not be doing it for the Filipino in the street but for his wealthy and politically powerful I hesitate to say Masters but it's too apt to not say it. If one was a fool for a period of time? Must one always remain a fool thereafter? Are we not allowed to learn from our mistakes and act accordingly?

 

It most people minds it probably still is a good idea, including mine. I really hate drawing red lines in the sand and then going out to the golf coarse as people are getting killed behind those red lines drawn. . We obviously have a President in the US today, that feels that being a world leader (both as Country and President) is not a role he wants either the office of the President or the county to be involved in.
Vote buying is not limited to the Philippines, you give enough to the poor in the US and they will vote for you, ( President Lyndon Baines Johnson who stated, “I'll have those n***ers voting Democrat for the next 200 years"... there is still about 150 years left to that story). Those paid for voters are giving President Obama his power over 50 years after Presidents Johnson's statement, to put the US out of the role of world leader. World policemen may be a totally different role, as many segments of society are now very much against the law and order concepts that the police are enlisted to implement.

 

My main issue isn't about the minerals and resources and such which the Philippines couldn't develop and would just sell off in corruption to make some politicians even more rich while nothing for the country. My issue is China establishing a much closer military presence to neighboring non threatening countries (intimidation) and also working on blocking off trade route's through the area to control trade of other countries in the region and also blocking of neighboring countries fishing in those area's while China will devastate the fishing with its massive fleets in the area rather quickly harming many simple people all around.

 

Actually, the Philippines could have exploited the minerals. Most people think of oil and gas as the old timey wildcatters. Today it is mostly a no touch business run by accountants. A company is hired to obtain the lease rights. Then surveyers are hired to determine the best place to drill. Lawyers are hired to keep it all legal. Drillers are hired to drill the well, possibly yet another company will be hired to case the raw drilled well. Another completion specialist company will be hired to complete the well, with casing perforations and possibly chemical treatment or fracturing. An "Oil" company may own nothing but cash and the deeds/leases. The Philippines could have entered into a partnership and put not a dime into it and received 20-25% of the profits. I figure the only reason they did not was because of greed. When approached probably insisted on 60% ownership and were probably told to take a flying **** at a rolling donut. China has been participating in US joint ventures for oil and natural gas trying to learn how to make their own wells. They are not being too successful to date. The US can do business with China, as soon as they secure the fields. Oil men are accountants these days, not Daniel Day Lewis in the movie There Will be Blood. I like to p*ss oil people off when I quote "I like to consider myself an oil man" when they question my qualifications as they consider me totally unimportant as just the guy who owns the oil.