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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte recently admitted what has been plain since he took office and the killings started: He’s committing genocide. “Hitler massacred 3 million Jews,” he said. (The actual number is 6 million). “Now . . . there’s 3 million drug addicts . . . I’d be happy to slaughter them,” to “finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”

Nearly 3,000 people have already been gunned down, either by police or vigilante death squads, encouraged by Duterte, who has promised immunity. About 600,000 have also turned themselves in, many now caged in hideously crowded prisons that already look like concentration camps.

And unfortunately, the dehumanization of drug users is not just a thing of the distant past. In the 1980s and ’90s, crack-cocaine users were routinely described as “fiends” — and police described routing users and dealers as a way to “sanitize” a community. In 1990, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, the founder of the DARE anti-drug program, said that users should be “taken out and shot.” Crack was said to “destroy the core of what it is to be human.”

Duterte seems to sense what he considers weakness from the United States. After telling Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. ambassador in Manila was a “gay son of a bitch,” Duterte mocked the Americans’ obsequiousness.

“Kerry came here, we had a meal, and he left me and Delfin $33 million,” Duterte commented. “I said, okay, maybe we should offend them more, so this crazy will just give more money, just to make peace. So, it’s all about the money.”

In 2013, the Philippine government challenged the Chinese government’s territorial claims in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. The tribunal ruled in July 2016 — against the Chinese claim. Beijing had previously stated it would not abide by any ruling.

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Duterte said he wants to strengthen The Philippines’ relationship with China instead of pressing his country’s claims to the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal. This would be inconvenient for the United States.

But does it make sense for The Philippines? Duterte argued that The Philippines would never be able to effectively oppose China, which has 14 times the population and more than twice the per-capita GDP. In the event of war with China, The Philippines would still depend on U.S. naval and air power.

Duterte has expressed his skepticism that Washington would come through in a crisis. “America wasn’t able to do anything” to keep Crimea from being annexed, he argued, ignoring the fact that Ukraine, unlike The Philippines, doesn’t have a mutual defense treaty with the United States.

thibodeaux wrote:Not my circus. Seriously, is there ANY place on Earth that we can not give a shit about?

In his latest controversial statement, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, known for his bloody anti-drug war that has killed thousands, threatened to throw corrupt officials out of a helicopter, saying he has done it before — and won't hesitate to do it again.

“I will pick you up in a helicopter to Manila, and I will throw you out on the way," Duterte said in Tagalog in front of a crowd in the Camarines Sur province on Tuesday, according to GMA News. “I've done it before. Why would I not do it again?"

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday prohibited another key law enforcement agency from carrying out his deadly anti-drug crackdown after banning the national police from the campaign because of corruption, and suggested he will use the military instead.

Alhazad wrote:

thibodeaux wrote:Not my circus. Seriously, is there ANY place on Earth that we can not give a shit about?

Berkeley.

Vince wrote:

Alhazad wrote:

thibodeaux wrote:Not my circus. Seriously, is there ANY place on Earth that we can not give a shit about?

Berkeley.

This made me laugh.

“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Drumpf wrote on Twitter.

Leisher wrote: Fresh off of aligning his country closer to Russia and threatening China, Duterte states he's ready to go to war with a new country...

Canada

Leisher wrote: Fresh off of aligning his country closer to Russia and threatening China, Duterte states he's ready to go to war with a new country...

Canada

Troy wrote:

Leisher wrote: Fresh off of aligning his country closer to Russia and threatening China, Duterte states he's ready to go to war with a new country...

Canada

It’s like one of the shitty kids at the school playground picking a fight with the friendly religious kid whose parents hug him in the carpool line every morning.