ISIS terror leader seriously injured in airstrike

One of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was seriously wounded and an Indonesian militant was blown to smithereens by a Philippine airstrike using South Korean-made fighter jets for the first time in combat.

Philippine military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected militant, known as Mohisen (which means "I wish my name was Mohammad") was recovered by troops as were three dead Filipino followers of leader Isnilon Hapilon (aka Hopalong Isnalon) who was seriously wounded in the assault on the Butig town in Lanao del Sur province.

An additional eleven scumcrumpets were sent to their virgins, but their bodies haven't been found, said Gen. Ano, as they were torn to little bite-size pieces from the explosions.

Hapilon had a serious arm wound and was losing blood after the FA-50 jet fighters dropped 500-pound ordnance Wednesday and Thursday on an encampment as part of an ongoing offensive, Ano said.

The FA-50s were acquired from South Korea in late 2015 as their only jet fighters and were deployed in combat sorties.

Four FA-50s were delivered and eight more are to be delivered by July. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte criticized the FA-50s as being inadequate for counterinsurgency and good only as flyby aircraft for ceremonies.

But we all know the real reason he doesn't like them is because he cannot throw drug dealers and users from them in flight.


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Vladimir and Rodrigo hand-in-hand

Maybe it's the crafty way Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte throws folks out of helicopters, or the way he gets rid of the drug problem by killing users and dealers. Whatever it may be, it has caught the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders are quickly becoming BFFs.

While Vladimir eyes Rodrigo, the Russian navy is eyeing exercises with the Philippines. They have deployed two ship for a goodwill visit to Manila on Tuesday as Moscow cuddles up to Duterte and expand its defense ties with him now that he has become hostile toward the U.S.

Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov (aka 'the Mik'), deputy commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet, led the fleet in the five days of military foreplay, a fleet that included an anti-submarine ship. Russia basically showboated their boats to illustrate to the Philippines what they can offer and thus flip off the USA. 

"You can choose . . . to cooperate with the United States of America or to cooperate with Russia," Mikhailov said through an interpreter at the Manila harbor. "But from our side we can help you in every way that you need."

The Rear Admiral smiled his best rear admiral smile and continued: "We are sure that in the future we'll have exercises with you. Maybe, just maneuvering or maybe use of combat systems and so on."

The anti-submarine ship Admiral Katchurnatzoff and sea tanker Boris Buttrollah have a wide range of combat features. Filipinos may tour the ships for a nominal fee, but they must not touch anything. Russian marines will demonstrate their combat capability during the high profile visit.

Mmmmmwah!

Currently, the Philippine military is under-equipped and under-funded (which may be the reason they're under-equipped) and have been busting their butts trying to deal with attacks by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen who face Mecca when they pray five times a day. These militants have kidnapped crewmen of tugboats and ships from Malaysia and Indonesia in the Sulu Sea (named after a Star Trek character) and outlying waters.

In a show of macho strength and severe mental illness, before coming into his current office, President Duterte literally threw a kidnapper out of a helicopter just to see the splash.

"Russia can help through future combat drills," 'the Mik' said. "We have an experience in fighting these  (threats). We will share to you our knowledge on these problems, how to solve piracy and terrorism."

President Duterte plans to visit Russia in April and plans to sign a defense cooperation accord while he and Putin ride horses while shirtless.

Duterte has repeatedly threatened to push our troops out of his country and scale back exercises with us in the future.

This is why he has no true friends.

That and the fact that he often kills the ones he had.


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Duterte backing off from US relations, cozying up to China

Manila -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (aka "The Killah in Manila") has threatened to terminate the decades-long alliance with the U.S.  after we criticized his bloody war on drugs that killed more than 5,000 people since he became president in June.

Now the island nation is moving towards China in an attempt to "normalize" relations after a territorial dispute, the country's ambassador to Beijing said Monday.

Duterte doesn't seem to like us very much, but he doesn't seem to like anyone very much. He has even gone so far as to throw a guy out of a helicopter because he was accused of kidnapping and Duterte thought it would be fun. But while yelling at the USA, he has been making overtures to China.

The new Philippine ambassador to China, Jose "Chito" Sta. Romana told the AFP the move represented a "strategic shift in our foreign policy. We were one-sidedly imbalanced in favor of the U.S.," Chito said.

"We are not abandoning our alliance with the U.S. . . . We are basically trying to normalize our relations with China."

Actually, they are trying to have it both ways, but once Trump takes office, things may change.

Beijing is claiming most of the South China Sea for themselves, despite competing claims from the Philippines and other Asian countries. However, a UN-backed tribunal ruled over the summer that China's claims have no legal standing--a strong victory for Manila, if you take anything the UN decides seriously.

But with Duterte's decision to set aside the territorial conflict in exchange for Chinese investment and aid, it gave Beijing a boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital waters.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with the Philippines and our relationship with their lunatic of a leader.



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U.S. warships challenge China's South China Sea claims

Beijing continues to try limiting freedom of navigation in the strategic waters of the South China Sea, a sea-lane that traffics about five trillion dollars in trade each year and has what is believed to be billions of dollars in oil deposits beneath its sea bed. The U.S. is making efforts to counter Beijing's efforts.

A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China and drew a warning from the Chinese warships to leave the area. China called the move "illegal" and "provocative," and reported that two of their warships had warned the U.S. to leave.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur challenged the "excessive maritime claims" near the Paracel Islands, a string of islands that China and its neighbors have been disputing over.

According to an anonymous source, this latest U.S. patrol has angered Beijing and could further increase tensions over the South China Sea. The Decatur did not sail within the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits of the island, said the anonymous official.

The Pentagon said the Decatur "conducted this transit in a routing, lawful manner without ship escorts and without incident." The ship sailed near Triton and Woody Islands and was shadowed by three Chinese ships, according to the official, and all interactions between the vessels involved was safe, Reuters reported.

The White House confirmed the Reuters report.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing that "This operation demonstrated that coastal states may not lawfully restrict the navigation rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise under international law." 

This is the U.S.'s fourth challenge this year to China's overreaching maritime claims, and the first challenge since May.

China said it declared its "baseline" for the Paracel Islands in 1996 and that the U.S. was aware of this claim. Despite that, China said the U.S. had sent a ship into Chinese "territorial waters."

That would be true if we sailed within the 12-mile territorial waters, but we didn't.

China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. ship did not ask for permission to enter Chinese territorial waters, and had broken both Chinese and international law. They say that the U.S. is deliberately creating tensions.

They are full of wonton soup.

The latest U.S. operation comes soon after Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June, visited China and announced his "separation" from Washington and his love for Beijing. (Duterte is the guy who's executing drug addicts and dealers, carte blanche.)

A government official in Washington said that our latest operation had nothing to do with Duterte's visit and that the patrol had been planned for weeks. Other officials say they will continue such operations despite Beijing's objections.

"The U.S. Navy will continue to conduct routine and lawful operations around the world, including in the South China Sea, in order to protect the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of sea and airspace guaranteed to all. This will not change," said Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson.

Although U.S. officials have said the operations will continue despite Beijing's protests, the Obama administration has been criticized in Congress for conducting them haphazardly, slapdash, and in a somewhat creampuff fashion.




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Philippines President Duterte wants US out

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte donned his Costco shirt and spoke to a crowd on Monday, telling the crowd that he wants U.S. Special Forces out of his country's south. He blamed the U.S. for angering Muslim insurgencies in the region.

Washington said it hasn't yet received a formal request from the Philippine president, a man who called Obama a "son of a whore," to remove our personnel. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Duterte has a history of making "colorful comments" and compared him with Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump compared Josh Earnest to Richard Simmons in Boy's Town.

Earnest was asked in earnest whether he was trying to warn Americans about the dangers of Trump as president and the Obama mouthpiece said, 'I guess some people could draw that analogy."

Since becoming president, Duterte hasn't had the best relationship with the U.S. and has shown a great deal of disrespect to our so-called president. He has also been critical of American security policies and aims to create a foreign policy that wouldn't depend on us.

Instead of the Obama administration taking responsibility for the deteriorating global relationships he has created through his lack of strength, his boy Earnest warns us that Donald Trump would make matters worse. 

It cannot get any worse.

Our military sent troops to train and advise Filipino troops fighting Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines in 2002. We also provided them with weapons. 

State Department spokes-puppet John Kirby said that the U.S. was aware of Duterte's comments but "not aware of any official communication by the Philippine government to that effect and to seek that result." Kirby reaffirmed the U.S.'s commitment to our ally.

Duterte spoke of the killing of Muslims in the Mindanao region during a U.S. pacification campaign in the early 1900s. He blamed that as the root of the long period of opposition of minority Muslims in the predominantly Catholic south.

Many Moro Muslims were killed by American forces in March 1906 "because you were here as imperialists, you wanted to colonize my country and because you had a hard time pacifying the Moro people," Duterte said in the speech.

"For as long as we stay with America, we will never have peace in that land," the naive Duterte said, obviously unaware of Islamic scripture and their goals of forming a global caliphate.

Duterte wants an independent foreign policy but apparently has no clear plans to realize it.

The Philippines president showed the crowd photos of slain Filipino Muslims by U.S. forces at Bud Dajo. It was described by some as a massacre and a moment of embarrassment in American history. 

"The special forces, they have to go. They have to go in Mindanao, there are many whites there, they have to go," Duterte said, adding that he was reorienting the country's foreign policy. "I do not want a rift with America, but they have to go."

He sounded like he really wanted U.S. special forces to go.

Duterte's potty mouth regarding Obama has sparked controversy. Calling our lead-from-behind-commander-in-chief a "son of a bitch" and warning him that he wasn't going to accept being lectured by him on human rights, forced Obama to cancel the meeting they had planned.

Later, they shook hands and spoke briefly in a holding room where Duterte said that when he called Obama a "son of a bitch," he didn't mean our Obama, or something like that.

In spite of the handshake and sardonic smiles, Duterte continues to criticize Obama and is moving to repair relations with China that had been strained under his predecessor over disputes in the South China Sea.

If the Philippines becomes buddies with China, that may become a problem for us in the future.


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