With the disputes over the unpopulated Spratly Islands continuing to grow, the Obama Administration has announced that it is preparing a major increase in arms shipments to the Philippines to prepare the nation to fight a war with China.
The announcement came at a meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Philippines Foreign Secsretary Albert del Rosario, who is pressing for the US to lease equipment to allow them to modernize their navy.
The islands have historically been irrelevant, but are believed to contain large amounts of oil and natural gas. They also are viewed as strategically valuable for both China and the US, as the South China Seas are heavily trafficked.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged “restraint” on all sides over the region, but the promise of more equipment and “defensive” help for Philippines troops to back up claims in the region are likely going to convince all sides that the issue is getting more serious.
Once again Washington uses its tried and failed strategy of sticking its nose into other countries business. Nothing good will come of this.
War mongering has reached down to the tiniest little blots on the map! What's next.. arming the world street by street, house by house, perhaps room by room? Arm Mom to fight Pop? DU munitions to Junior to fight Sis for control of the TV remote?
And what exactly would be the objective of a Philippine war against China? To sink their ships? To invade the mainland and capture Beijing? And if they get into trouble, would they call on the U. S. to rescue them? And if the U. S.. got into a war with China, would the Chinese pay for it? I think our "leaders" have slipped the surly bonds of earth and are currently floating around in some distant galaxy.
Making a deal with the devil when you side with DC
"" The islands have historically been irrelevant, but are believed to contain large amounts of oil and natural gas. ""
And that last portion of the sentence makes the Spratlys VERY relevant in today's world. So relevant to us, in fact, that we're willing to risk war with the nation that holds our economy in its hands.
Good going team- now we can get young Filipino men and women killed for oil, too.
Clinton urges restraint but at the same time the US is arming one side. This is the sick manipulation the USG uses in its dealings with those it believes are its pawns.
Dont you think this interpretation is a bit of a stretch? The RTT News writes its interpretation of events, and you write your interpretation of their article. Here we see the compounding effect of bias.
This made me laugh – in a sad kind of way. The US is now resorting to arming the Philippines in order to start a war by proxy with China because the brains in Washington think that this is the way to get out of the debt the owe China. Seriously! They must be much more desperate than we give them credit for. And the mere thought of the Philippines going to war with China. ROFL! Seriously! How long would it take China to wipe them off the map? The US is afflicted by collective mad cow disease.
The US would lose fighting China all they will get is many dead people in the Philippines.Ungratfull scumbags China holds more US dept than anyone else nice way to say thanks.No more money from one of the 2 most corrupt coutrys in the world the secound being Israel.
Sounds ominous, considering the US has been arming (and advising and mentoring, etc) the Philippines to fight a communist/Moslem rebellion for the last 15 years. What are they going to need to fight China? A fleet of B1's and another 30 divisions?
Or perhaps it has something to do with cozying-up to the Vietnamese in the hope they'll want to take a poke at China for us. That would be quite the revenge.
Vietnamese and Filipinos should stop encroaching on thousand-year-old Chinese territory in the South China Sea.
[Source: Wikipedia article on Paracel Islands with primary sources listed in footnotes]
"The coast belonged to the Kingdom of Cauchi China."
"China
618~1279
* There are some Chinese cultural relics in the Paracel islands dating from the Tang and Song dynasty eras[12][note 1], and there is some evidence of Chinese habitation on the islands in these periods.[13]."
That is bullshit!!! No one can own the world! It is the greediness and arrogance that make the people think that such Land or country belongs to them, claiming their nautral resources, plunderring and treating the others without respect! That is Evil!!! The time wil come, the nature will punch you back….
When Bush II was president and visited Nestor Kirschner of Argentina, he told his host that the US escaped the Great Depression not because of the New Deal but because of World War II.
Isn´t that nice! The Philippines will get to fight a world power for another world power, while this world power continues to fight unwinnable wars with the poorest, smallest nations of the world.
We need to own up to the fact that our economic system requires continual conquest. Most Americans would prefer to do that without war, but the fact is we will not prevent our government from invading small countries, if our attempts to co-opt their governments fail. Think about the way our government is now treating American workers & citizens: we are now expendable, much like third-world workers. (Governors in Michigan, Wisconsin and New Jersey are refusing to honor contracts, and trying to bust unions.) According to the pundits, the economy must "grow". No discussion of how it should grow, what is of value to the citizens of this country. Growth for its own sake. (Or for the sake of corporations.) We've come to the end of that road. We cannot expand without coming into conflict with other peoples or nations. We need a new path.
US would be neutral but it still ships all around the Pacific Ocean which is easy to collide with China.
If China sink one of US ship like German sank US ship, US is not neutral anymore. This problem is inevitable because the US ship is around the Pacific Ocean.This is issue just like US ensnare China to do something stupidly then US take opportunity to fight China. China is should be very careful about this matter please do not step on footprint of German who sank US ship.