This entry was all brought to mind by my postponing with several a-bloating entries still in draft form, and taking time off to read article by Lei Feng in the Asia Sentinel, China’s Disasters by the Number:
Like the US post-9/11 and my fellow office workers, many of China’s Netizens have been trying to find meaning in what it is being called the worst year in the country’s history – though none mention the famines in the late ’50s or the Cultural Revolution years.
There were the crippling snowstorms of January, unrest in Tibet followed by what is widely perceived here as international insult and humiliation heaped on the “sacred flame” of the Olympic torch while it made its journey outside the Middle Kingdom. A horrific train crash came next and now the earthquake the Internet is abuzz with material that is familiar in its own way to Americans who have pondered the coincidences of the John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln assassinations (“Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy, Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln; both had vice presidents from southern states named Johnson…”).
It is also reminiscent of the weird idea that a Nostradamus couplet foretold the attack on the Twin Towers, or that the word “Satan” could be seen in the smoke that rose above the collapsed building on 9/11.
In China, it’s about numbers: add up the dates of the snowstorm (1-25), the Tibet riots (3-14) and the earthquake (5-12) individually and you get “8” normally an unusually auspicious number and the reason the Olympics will kick off on 8-8-08 (and why it costs significantly more to get a phone number with multiple 8’s).
The five tooth-achingly cute cartoon character Olympic mascots called ” — I think of them as exotic, colorful Smurfs are also now seen by some to be harbingers of China’s recent miseries. Representing a fish, panda, swallow, Tibetan antelope and the Olympic flame, those seeking coincidence see the panda as an earthquake warning, since the ravaged area is also home to China’s endangered giant panda; the Tibetan antelope well, you can figure that out; ditto for the Olympic flame; the swallow is seen as emblematic for the “kite city” of Weifang in Shandong province where China experienced a deadly train crash last month.
The remaining one is a fish symbol, representing water, which online doomsayers suggest could indicate pending horror in the Yangtze River.
Some Taiwanese TV stations are also blaming the feng shui of Beijing’s massive new “Bird Nest” Olympic stadium, saying it has “interrupted the pulse” of a giant dragon said to lie beneath the country.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt died, Josef Goebbels whipped out an astrological chart and confidently informed Hitler that the tide had finally turned in favor of the Third Reich. Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers. Aguinaldo supposedly had a potent anting-anting, Time Magazine reported in 1944 that Quezon was somehow convinced he would never die in the daytime (he died in the morning) and of course Ferdinand Marcos adorned his room with mystical pentagrams and had a great faith in the significance of the number seven. President Arroyo has had the presidential palace exorcised several times, she consults mystical nuns (one independence day celebration involved little flags adorned with some sort of slogan being dropped from a helicopter, apparently upon the prophetic exhortation of one such nun), while Feng Shui principles are applied to the layout of the Palace and so forth. Former Speaker de Venecia decided to support the last impeachment because he was receiving letters dictated by his dead daughter from beyond the grave. And Romulo Neri, apparently, does nothing without consulting the I Ching.
If, as Randy David says, the real crisis confronting our country is what he calls A Crisis of Modernity, then you have to despair of a political class that determines its political actions not according to a pragmatic cost-benefit analysis or anything else, but according to omens and other efforts at divination. Not least because this prevents any real, rational, analysis of political events and trends. Or then again, if numerology and divination helps us cope with an increasingly complex world, maybe it’s no big deal?
I don’t believe the conflicts in Mindanao can be settled by Force. It had been done before, being done now and it can only grew worse, unless both parties, the National Government and the Muslims Leaders sit down and Thresh out all the issues with the Give and Take negotiations.
The armed segments of the Muslim “separatists” are not substantial and even defeating them can not assure the complete victory against the movement. There had been grievances that were not fully addressed and leaders on both sides are up to this point have their own self interests to protect to even contemplate a negotiated settlement.
There are many politicians and Big Time business people in the South who profited from the Status Quo and most of them will be doing their darnedest best to see that the Status Quo remains..
i don’t need to be patronized by the likes of you, kg, or whatever you are. if you have any problem with my comment, you address it to me. if not an “all out war” what do you have in mind? do you have a better idea that will work?
do you know how long have they been “negotiating”, vic? isn’t there an end to this moro-moro? when a secessionist group wants to grab a portion of a State’s territory (under whatever claim) literally the old-fashioned way, the only answer is FORCE. the alternative is surrender, with or without peace.
“I don’t believe the conflicts in Mindanao can be settled by Force”
“There are many politicians and Big Time business people in the South who profited from the Status Quo and most of them will be doing their darnedest best to see that the Status Quo remains” – vic
you are correct, vic. in fact, the conflict cannot be settled by anything. and some people are profitting from the endless negotiations.
mindanaon, very obvious, isn’t it? but we can only wish that time will come that there will be a “real” leaders that will rise above all these to finally resolve the centuries of conflicts.
well, even up here in the North, there are still pockets of ongoing negotiations with our First Nations issues. And there are hundred of Tribes and that is not easy, but most been settled long time ago.
i mean, is there a place anywhere in the world with a muslim minority which doesn’t have some kind of conflict?
“i doubt the dispute will ever be settled by other than a decisive armed conflict similar to the u.s. civil war between the union forces and the confederates.” – Bencard
Very different times, very different circumstances from an American Civil War scenario. As KG points out, our armed forces aren’t ready for protracted war. They can’t even finish off the Abu Sayyaf. And if it comes to all-out war, what assurance is there that Malaysia or Indonesia will not give aid and comfort to their fellow Muslims? Not to mention involvement by JI and Al Quaida. Furthermore, I don’t think our fragile economy can take the burden of a civil war.
Civil-war era U.S.A. was not as susceptible to intervention from outside forces because of its inaccessibility and because modern methods of transport were not available. There was also no reason for major players to intervene because the issues did not affect them, the war being more of a struggle for supremacy between the industrialized Northern States and the agricultural Southern States.
If the purpose for going to war is in order not to “appease†the Muslims in Mindanao, there are better ways of dealing with that problem. We cannot compare the Philippines with the U.S., which is not only the world’s biggest superpower, it is presently the world’s only superpower. Only the U.S. can afford the arrogance of demanding contrite behavior from rivals or adversaries without dialogue or consultations.
The U.S. boasts of the world’s largest and most modern stockpile of weapons of mass destructions and it has demonstrated its willingness to use these weapons, not only to eliminate opposition to its goals, but for no other reason than to take over the assets and resources of another country, as it did with Iraq. Of course, several justifications were made including the now-proven lies that Iraq was itself stockpiling WMD’s.
Because of the U.S.’s vast and superior arsenal, it is easy for right-wing American politicians to “walk the walk†and “talk the talk†of all-out war. Threatening the world by proclaiming that “you are either for us, or against usâ€Â, as George Bush did, is the arrogant attitude of an aggressor who wants to intimidate the world into submission. And with the specter of “preemptive strike†(another buzzword in fashion with the right) hovering any country who disagrees with the U.S., it is actually the entire world who has to “appease†the American bully.
The American far-right has brought out the word “appeasement†from the dictionary and made it the dirtiest word in the lexicon of political jargon. They have buried “diplomacy†far from public consciousness and made it synonymous with the horrible “A†word, which has currently surpassed the “L†word as the most repulsive word in right-wing vocabulary. Conveniently forgetting that diplomacy was once practiced with great skill by distinguished conservative Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon (his legacy as President may be have been doomed, but his diplomatic contributions, such as rapprochement with China, were seminal and remain to this day), Gen. Alexander Haig and George Schultz.
Bebcard,
I say this in your face.
I never doubted whatever you are, I take your word that you are an immigration lawyer,who left bicol before martial law.
That’s all I have and i need to know.
siguro, dahil minsan nababanggit ko si erpat, sabagay dapat hindi, he is a nobody compared to you, pero he does not mind being a nobody. Ang akin naman sino pa ba ang maipagmamalaki kundi ang magulang natin.
ako wala I am just an ordinary schmoe,no credentials and resumes to brag about.
I tried my best not to lock horns with you. Ikaw what are you? Ang sama pakinggan di ba?
Kahit na nong suggestion natin tungkol sa war and peace and appeasement, in the end it does not even matter.
Ps
call it patronizing, I call it coming to my senses that you may have a point,afterall.
Karl Garcia
The Philippines can use more soldiers — hopefully 20,000 but at least 5,000 additional soldiers in Mindanao to crush the MILF.
For every additional 5,000 soldiers (privates, m/sgts, lieutenants, captains and other officers), the yearly salary cost will be approximately be P1.3Billion. LOgistics and operational costs (transport, food/medicine, ammunition, weaponry) can easily exceed P2Billion a year (especially with extensive use of helicopters).
Nominally, the Philippines can “afford” more soldiers for counter-insurgency. The Philippines spends 0.9% of GDP for its armed forces compared to Cambodia (3%), Thailand(1.8%), Indonesia (3%), Argentina (1.4%), Bangladesh(1.5%), Cuba(3.8%), India(2.5%) or Malaysia(2.03%). Unfortunately, the Philippines underspends for its military despite active combat against separatists and bandits.
3 x 250 x 3 = 2,200 x 1000 = $2.2Mil
5000 x 100 x 50 = 30mil = $12M
$30Mil = 1200
Ok, Cat is right that this not a mutual admiration club.This is not a friendster social network forum as well.
If one gets in your nerves,get into their nerves as well.
That I learned from..ay di bale na baka sabihin nagpapatronize lang ako.Gusto daw nya direchahan e di kay bencard.
Ok going by Bencard point of an all out war and going by UPN’s chart above.
An all out war is not feasible as of now.
What’s the solution,then.
Concentrate on defense spending???
What model shall we follow, The north Korean’s and let their people starve?
Or the US Model? A seemingly spread out budget with taking a look at it ,you will find out that trillions are spent for defense.
or just fllow UPNs chart and just be at par with the countries mentioned?
This I know is being studied periodically,having witnessed by being a miron a multisectoral meeting.
On what to do with our budget,maybe it’s time we go to those budget workshops, para malaman naman ng mga tao kung pano nagbubudget at di na lang palagi sa pork barrel ang blame.
Siguro dito din mag allocate ng time ang media,I saw one above in MLQ3’s post.
This would never happened, Christians grabbing land from the Muslims.
It was not a policy, it was the land for the landless program of Ra mon Magsaysay which drove several settlers to Mindanao. When I was a kid, we had a neighbor in QC who left his 16 hectare land in Mindanao after risking his family to the danger of the wilds while clearing the area to prepare it for farming.
According to him the neighbor Muslims did not disturb them while they were doing the cleaning but once the land was productive, the stalking started until they left everything for fear of their lives. They never recovered the land. And the old man said that it happened to almost all those who like them also responded to the call of the government to develop Mindanao. The Muslims claimed that it is their land. The lands were untitled because they were actually forests.
Christians grabbing the land? Gusto ba nilang mamatay ang buong pamilya nila.
The Ca t, it only happened to those who made the mistake of occupying lands near predominantly muslim areas.
Possible reasons why the pickpocket is pinagbabatukan.
1. the pickpocket is invading the territory of the pickpockets under someone’s protection.
2. to comply to the order of the boss of the syndicate of the pickpockets to punish guys who are caught.
3. to show the people that they have already punished the culprit before they are released when the pickpocket’s patron orders them.
When I lost my 24 karat baht necklace from a snatcher, I contacted a friend who contacted also a friend. The friend asked the place where it was snatched.
So they knew who is in “charge” of that territory.
When a friend was pickpocketed and he was able to catch the thief, the friend-police asked him to punch the guy all his might. The cop said that the pickpocket will be out in just a few hours courtesy of the “ninongs”. Do you think these people are freelancers? Nope.
These are things that you do not read from links.
Oh btw, the torture is not Filipino’s. It is a prison culture everywhere and anywhere.
HINDI TITIGIL ANG GULO SA MINDANAO KASI AYAW NG AFP, WALA NA SILANG BUDGET KUNG WALA NANG GUERRA .
And the arms dealers would lose a lot of business both from the military and the rebels/terrorists.
And the corrupt military officers will lose sideline selling
ammunitions and weaponry to their enemies. Whoa…
And the foreign contractors/builders will lose business of there are no more roads and buildings to be reconstructed after bombing.
Hohoho, according to my friend, an international consultant who frequently travel to
mindanao and other wartorn countries, his escorts in visiting their projects are the rebels themselves.
“the pickpocket will be out in just a few hours courtesy of the “ninongsâ€Â. Do you think these people are freelancers? Nope. ”
same thing with car nappers.pero di nga lang nakukuyog ang mga ito .suggestion to others, kahit na makita mo pabayaan mo na kahit auto mo ,mabaril ka pa.driver nga namin sinabihan pa namin wag ng magsorry tapos namin macarnappan dahil kahit sa amin mangyari yun,bibigay din namin,we had to let go of the driver of course ,wala na syang idradrive.
speaking of crimes.
Me nakuha akong chain letter, pero from a classmate,kaya di ko binura.
For guys with children studying in DLSU, the cops are praying on those open cars and plant drugs,then take you to an atm to avoid jail time.
Copy furnished na yung mga manila politician classmates namin pero alam namin wala ding magyayari,sabi lang nila they will look into it.
jude, diplomacy is not appeasement, never has been, never will be. while the latter is a dubious tool of diplomacy, i see it as nothing but giving in to extortion or blackmail. and you know how blackmails go – they never end.
the last i checked, the u.s. civil war happened almost 200 years age when the federalist union did not have “vast and superior arsenal” or weapons of mass destruction which they have never even imagined at the time. they suffered many defeats before they triumphed in the end.
foreign intervention from other muslim nations, particularly in the immediate neighborhood, is a possibility but highly unlikely. malaysia and indonesia have their own housekeeping to do, and they are not exactly wallowing in wealth. the last thing they need is invite our non-muslim allies, e.g anzus, u.k., japan. sokor, etc. to the fray. the mindanao conflict is purely a domestic affair which the philippines has a right not to be interfered with. external attack could trigger actions under mutual defense treaties with the west, who themselves have axes to grind, and interests to protect, against violent muslim regimes.
left-wing policies of appeasement and surrender must be rejected at all cost.
btw, i don’t think think america needs “appeasement” from the rest of the world. just live and let live and follow the “rule of law” and i bet it won’t bother anyone.
kg, i now see where you’re coming from. sorry if i sounded a bit belligerent. i know we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things but i never see you disrespectful of others in any sense of the word.
ColdKing: Really, you should train yourself to respond to information to be more goal-seeking and less a defeatist. The Philippine military is seriously underfunded (0.9% of GDP versus our immediate neighbors — Thailand 1.8%, Indonesia 3%, Malaysia 2%) and needs more headcount and resources.
A much more disciplined and professional police and military that responds positively to the chain of command AND the constitutional process (i.e. human rights, rule-of-law) does the country good. Professionalization of the police and military (not just helicopters, trucks, weapons but more importantly in community action, information gathering, crowd-control) can be achieved with better training, more funding. I doubt Pinas will ever “do a Castro” (3% of Cuba-GDP for military) but the desire of our soldiers to serve the country well should be matched by the willingness of the Filipino citizens to pony up the money to better fund the military and police.
It is easy to compute the salary-cost, but think the value — less threat of a terrorist attack in GenSan city — with 5,000 additional soldiers put against the MILF. Think of the value if, before getting sent out into the field (and then every 2 years thereafter) every soldier (and CAFGU) receives an extra 4 weeks of education and training in crowd-control/ community-action/ human-rights.
typo — not ” 4 weeks” but “4 days educ/training in community action and civics (rights and duties of citizens)” for every soldier (and CAFGU) every 2 years.
great ideas, upnstudent. every pinoy should think along that line. all candidates for national office should be required to make a personal commitment to work for it, and renegades should be politically ostracized, and socially shunned like a leper. a tall order, but we can do it in progression starting with the present administration. let’s put the pressure where it is most needed – not the counterproductive “patalsikin” mantra at the first sign of possible political wrongdoing.
UPn, here I found a nice web site where there are different ways to measure the defence expenditures and one just may not give the true picture of the real “thingâ€Â.
NATO itself uses three different measurements in its annual report on members’ military expenditures:1: defence expenditures in national and U.S. currencies, 2: defence expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP),3: and defence expenditures per capita.
Among analysts, the least common comparison is based on per capita because the military spending of countries with large populations is understated. A per capita comparison for China or India, for example, is not very helpful because of their large populations.
The two most common measurements are real dollars, usually converted and expressed in U.S. dollar amounts, and defence spending as a percentage of the country’s GDP, which measures the output of its entire economy.
The first method, comparing spending in real dollars, is the best method to determine the overall strength and capability of a nation’s military. Real dollars deliver real firepower on the battlefield, especially given that the cost of military equipment has skyrocketed as systems have become increasingly complex.
The second method, the percentage of GDP, assumes that there is a connection between defence spending and the size of the economy in determining how much a government should spend on its military. That is, the government taxes its economy and should devote a certain percentage of the revenue on military spending
Using the percentage of GDP measurement is rather murky. What is the appropriate amount to spend on defence relative to the economy? If your economy grows because of an increase in the price of oil,
for instance, and your security situation remains unchanged, should military spending suddenly climb as well?
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2007/More_Than_the_Cold_War.pdf
“HINDI TITIGIL ANG GULO SA MINDANAO KASI AYAW NG AFP, WALA NA SILANG BUDGET KUNG WALA NANG GUERRA.” – TheColdKing
Warlords serving as de facto local officials also want hot peace to ensure their grip on controlled territories. They are threading the thin line between the national agenda and local autonomous aspirations.
UPn (at 10:56 pm), a good start would be to not use them in election cheating operations.
On ‘appeasement’ versus ‘all out war’, this is what Machiavelli said:
So if you’re gung-ho on a decisive ‘all out war’ against someone you define as your ‘enemy’, this should be the aim and for that, your numbers above (at 1:02pm) won’t suffice. Military doctrine recommends having at least a ten to one advantage against the guerilla forces so to handle Mindanao alone would need 300K fighters (not including support personnel). That would require a military draft. That’s just a start. As a guideline, here’s an equivalent set of ratios (as discussed in the context of America’s invasion of Iraq).
http://www.fpif.org/papers/quagmire2003.html
We don’t want to repeat the mistake of underestimation that the US Military commmitted in Iraq.
“It is easy to compute the salary-cost, but think the value  less threat of a terrorist attack in GenSan city  with 5,000 additional soldiers put against the MILF. Think of the value if, before getting sent out into the field (and then every 2 years thereafter) every soldier (and CAFGU) receives an extra 4 weeks of education and training in crowd-control/ community-action/ human-rights.”
this paragraph make sense the most. an investment for long term peace
nicolo machiavelli wasn’t wrong all the time. extreme situations need extreme measures. the only good terrorists (which i define as individuals or groups who aim to kill innocent civilians indiscriminately to advance their cause, whether or not legitimate) are DEAD terrorists. turning the other cheek is not feasible with this forces of evil. they not only want to just slap you, they want you kill you or blow you up to smithereens.
btw, comparing the cost of armaments and personnel we need with that of the u.s. and other world powers (including rogue countries like iran, syria, nokor, or even red china) loses sight of the fact that our immediate need is purely for defense and preservation of our integrity as a nation, including enforcement of our laws against lawbreakers inside our borders, whether homegrown or not.
i don’t think we will ever have the ambition of becoming an aggressor against any other State. we are not, and we cannot be, that pretentious, i think.
edit: 1. not feasible with THESE forces of evil…
2.they want TO kill you or blow you up to smithereens.
this is a load of crap if i ever read one. the U.S. has been bothering everyone ever since it won WWII and became the lone world superpower after the disintegration of the USSR. the only rule america recognizes is the rule of force. fuck the rule of law if that law is inimical to US interests.
—
an all out war realizes nothing but making your enemies fight to the death. this has been a proven fact. armies known to be merciful to their enemies would take lesser losses as enemy armies would be much willing to surrender than cruel armies known for their butchery. citizens of cities besieged fought fiercely when they know no quarters will be given, hence dealing more losses to the invading force.
—
there is only one way to defeat insurgencies: go to their birthing grounds. foil them before the seed is planted. if no fresh warriors will replace the old, insurgencies will never last for long.
unless we are willing to commit the same genocide the Americans did when they conquered the Indians.
it isn’t all out war when you don’t kill them all.
and i don’t think we can wage an all out war against the whole islamic world.
Bencard,
Sir, It is Ok.
Number of personnel,funding.
Eto madaming napataas kilay ang tatay ko.
he sis that we have too many generals.Way back having a colonel to command a batallion(?) is a big thing already.
Ngayon padamihan ng stars.
Tapos depleted na ang pension fund, ang tataas ng mga retirement fund nang mga yan ah.
How can you remove all those star ranks and positions nasa plantilla na yan kumbaga, at sa tingin ng lahat incentive ang promotion(syempre naman).
medyo outside the box kahit ako naweirdohan pero it makes sense.
UPNs,
mabilis ka mag research,you can look up the number of generals sa Pilipinas and other countries. I wont be surprised if you will find out that we have a ridiculously high number of generals.
Sa ngayon, wala tayong magagawa kahit mangisay pa si jamby sa commission of appointments, well she is not barking up the wrong tree when she questioned the commission on appointments.
correction na na naman
from He sis to he says or he said
sa ang tataas ng mga retirement fund to ang tataas ng mga retirement benefit.
you are seeing loads of crap from all directions, devilsadvo. it could be in your brain. what you observed about desperate enemies is a sad fact of life but better them than you, ain’t it so? as long as you didn’t initiate the bloodbath, i guess you can end it by eliminating the perps. and how do you propose to “foil them before the seed is planted” at their “birthing grounds”? by bringing the whole wowowee crew and exterminate them by sheer annoyance?
300 or so spartans stopped over a million muslims in their tracks and save the greco-roman civilization, including democracy, that is now a part of our heritage. who said the whole muslim world will intervene just because we are trying to enforce the rule of law on our renegade citizens?
What the..!?!…i can’t believe even you can be so ignorant..the Persians depicted in that movie could not have been Muslims because there was no Islam at that time. BTW, the 300 Spartans were likewise not Christians.
btw, devils, can you name one State that was invaded by the u.s. and still holding now? how does americans “bother” them? by insisting that they live in a civilized way?
in our country, our rule of law is not as systematic as it should. we are limited in terms of implementation management not only by the lack of continuing education and learning from others but simply because we lack the financial resources to maintain such an investment for long term. we are still considered poor and highly corrupt.
i do agree with bencard: “preservation of our integrity as a nation, including enforcement of our laws against lawbreakers inside our borders, whether homegrown or not.
i don’t think we will ever have the ambition of becoming an aggressor against any other State. we are not, and we cannot be”
“i don’t think we will ever have the ambition of becoming an aggressor against any other State. we are not, and we cannot be, that pretentious, i think.” – Bencard
The facts have spoken for themselves that George Bush and Dick Cheney spun a web of lies and intrigue in order to justify to the world the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The attempt to subjugate Iraq was and continues to be an act of aggression by the U.S. aimed purely to take over the resources (oil) of this country.
The whole world knows that the neocons now in control of the U.S. government blatantly aspire for dominate and dictate to the world. George Bush and Dick Cheney have repeatedly threatened the world that “either you are with us, or you are against us”. That’s unequivocably telling the rest of the world that they’ll get their asses whipped if they don’t toe the U.S. line, never mind if it involves aggression and corruption (oil and service companies, which have close ties to the White House, have exceedingly enriched themselves in the aftermath of Iraq).
“foreign intervention from other muslim nations, particularly in the immediate neighborhood, is a possibility but highly unlikely. malaysia and indonesia have their own housekeeping to do, and they are not exactly wallowing in wealth. the last thing they need is invite our non-muslim allies, e.g anzus, u.k., japan. sokor, etc. to the fray. the mindanao conflict is purely a domestic affair which the philippines has a right not to be interfered with. external attack could trigger actions under mutual defense treaties with the west, who themselves have axes to grind, and interests to protect, against violent muslim regimes. “ – Bencard
There is no need for our neighbors to openly intervene. All they have to do is contribute funds to belligerent Filipino Muslim groups, which they did in the 1970’s, when Ferdinand Marcos took the offensive against the Muslims. Our neighbors can also turn a blind eye to training of Filipino Muslim combatants in their soil (in the same way JI terrorists were being trained in Mindanao) and to smuggling of arms from their territory. As for not exactly wallowing in wealth, they may not be first world countries, but they are certainly wealthier than the Philippines. Malaysia aspires for newly-developed status and its per capita income is much higher than the Philippines. Indonesia has a booming agriculture and mining industry cashing in on the present high prices. Besides that, there is nothing that can galvanize their people more than a cause for Islam.
As for “anzus, u.k., japan. sokor†coming to the Philippines’ rescue, relying on something like that would prove to be nothing but wishful thinking.
the great “master” of wikipedia strikes again, calling me “ignorant” as if by doing that he becomes any smarter, hah!
if persia under xerxes should have overrun the city states that comprise what is now known as greece, there would not have been a roman empire that had been the catalyst for the spread of christianity. persian domination of the known world, including all of the populated areas of europe, would have led to the islamization of all that conquered territories when the muslim caliphate took over the persian empire. who said the spartans that fought off xerxes were christians, and xerxes’ forces were muslims?
i think you are too “smart” for your little brain, mr. cvj.
…so that justifies categorizing the ‘Persians’ (who fought the Spartans) as ‘Muslims’ more than a thousand years before that religion was established? Hanep sa palusot..
jude, believe whatever pleases you but by “we”, i was referring to we, filipinos – not we, americans. so your lament about americans being aggressors is irrelevant to my comment that you are taking issue with. in any event, bush and cheney may be the highest executive authorities right now but they are not america. soon they will be replaced, most likely by mccain and his running mate, and their successors may pursue a different approach on how to deal with rogue antagonists who want to kill us “infidels” and “great satans” of the world.
o.k., smart boy, i should have said “would-be muslims”, what the f…, now you can celebrate and pat yourself on the back, as if the existence of the whole universe depended on it.
there’s always a conflict when there’s a muslim minority, so both expensive all-out war and “appeasement”, solves nothing. we have been living in this situation for as long as i can remember, so what’s the big fuss?
“relying on something like that would be nothing but wishful thinking.” jude
so you don’t believe in binding treaties among nations, huh?
i think most nations of the free world are more honorable and law-abiding than you believe. what basis do you have to make that kind of assessment, other than downright presumptuousness?
Bencard, thanks that’s an improvement, but concluding that a victory for the Ancient Persians in Thermopylae would lead to Muslim hegemony in Western Civilization requires speculation of a chain of cause and effect that spans a Millenium. It also ignores the historical fact that the Persians were more benevolent to their conquered peoples (e.g. Cyrus the Great allowed the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to their homeland) than the Romans who annhilated the Jewish rebels and fed the Christians to the lions for their entertainment.
While we’re at it, here’s some information to help set the record straight:
Read the whole thing below:
http://www.spentaproductions.com/300themovie_the_truth_behind_300.htm
ngayon sa panahon na ito, di na masyado kailangan ang Sobrang Lakas o Armas para maging epektibo ang Labanan. Propaganda, katulad ni Bin Laden, at isang dozena na handang mamatay na tauhan, ay makaapekto nang boung “policy” nang isang pinakamapangyarihan Bansa sa boung Mundo. At sa haanggang ngayon di pa matalo…
All Out war na nga ito, pero magsampong ta-on na at ilang Trillion dolyares, balik sa simula…
“so you don’t believe in binding treaties among nations, huh?
i think most nations of the free world are more honorable and law-abiding than you believe. what basis do you have to make that kind of assessment, other than downright presumptuousness?” – Bencard
Because it has happened before and nobody, most especially the Americans who then had their bases in Clark and Subic, intervened. Experience is the best teacher, presumptuousness has nothing to do with it.
Those treaties don’t call for intervention on internal matters. If there is no open intervention by other countries, those treaties cannot be invoked.
i guess i should’ve elaborated. it’s quite simple really, if you think about it. extremism grows because new blood is infused to it everytime. that’s why it can never be killed. fighting terrorism is like fighting ghosts. it will never end unless you cut to the heart of the matter. and that is islamic indoctrination. it’s how the spaniards conquered us and we shuda learned from them.
no, i’m not proposing a religious indoctrination of Mindanao. just quite the opposite.
uhh, can you spell I-R-A-Q?