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Ukraine To Be Given an Accelerate Path to Joining the European Union. Ukraine currently has an association agreement with the EU, signed in 2014.But it is not among the five countries Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. That are official candidates to join the EU, and which have all begun accession negotiation. Many Ukrainians wanted to be free to choose the future of their country. They believe and sovereign. This was their only crime. Today, as Putin is invading the entire territory of Ukraine, it is once again, for this crime that many Ukrainians are going to be killed. Putin has invaded Ukraine. If the West especially Germany and France had not looked away in 2014 and stop buying gas and doing business with the Putin, this war might have been averted. For now, all those who love freedom are Ukrainians. There will be bloodshed, Putin might occupy Ukraine, and Ukraine will lose many of its best sons and daughters. But President Putin will not win this war of choice. Vladimir Putin wants to return to the cold war, a time when the superpowers divided the world among themselves to dominate as a global power; however, that era has passed. Dictators do not listen to reason, which is why they often go to war. Dictators, in this case Putin, send young men to die because of a fear of losing power to a democracy, even one desired by the will of their own people. Therefore, the former KGB leader decided to declare war on Ukraine, a war waged against a brother but one he will not win. Instead, Putin is going to make Ukraine his Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue reading →

The West failed present a united front in the face of a Russian power grab in the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. Putin thinks he can get what he wants by showing off his muscles because that is how strongmen did things in the last century with their authoritative political rule, such as Mao Zedong or Fidel Castro. Under Putin’s leadership Russia has expanded from the Baltic states through Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Syria, the Middle East, Venezuela, and now Ukraine  Known primarily for its Kremlin, vodka, rich literature, and Matryoshka dolls, Russia has been rallied to a point where the country has effectively challenged Western and American leadership. This is all happening because of the absence of good leadership in the West,including in the United States. As the United States itself has withdrawn its historical role from some of these regions in the years under the administrations of both Barak Obama and Donald Trump, now Putin is essentially telling the West and NATO that these regions are under his sphere of influence so others should keep their hands off; in other words, I have full authority and capability to intervene here in whatever way I want. President Obama’s pivot to Asia policy and his leaving the Middle East were geopolitical gifts to President Putin. By withdrawing its influence from these areas, Obama left a power vacuum. Continue reading →

“Our life is a gift from God; what we do with our lives is our gift to God.”On Tuesday Mayor Sara Duterte conferred the Datu Bago Award on seven Dabawenyos for their exemplary contributions to Davao City. Given annually during the anniversary of the founding of the city, the Datu Bago Award is the highest award bestowed on Dabawenyos by the City government and is generally celebrated on March 16. For the first time its history, the mayor conferred the awards using a virtual platform after a year of deferment. I would like to congratulate all the Datu Bago Awardees of 2019, namely Tita A. Lacambra-Ayala; she was a multi-awarded poet, author, publisher, and visual artist. Andry K. Lim is an advocate of natural farming and sustainable agricultural and helped Davao adopt organic food production. Arturo M. Milan is a hardworking and trailblazing Davaoeño business leader with a compassionate heart. He credits God for those gifts and uses his vast network of human and material resources to serve the less fortunate in the community. Sir Milan is also connected to College Education Behind Bars (CEEB) and partners with the Davao Light and Power Company to conduct a Basic Electrical Skills Training (BEST) at CEEB. He also works with Davao City and NGOs on housing projects to help the poor. We are grateful to Sir Milan for all his good works. Posthumously, Renato B. Lumawag was recognized for his significant contribution in chronicling the history of Davao and Mindanao and in his photojournalism on its diverse communities and their people. Ruben G. Robillo is a stellar doctor with a special focus on serving indigenous children, those with special needs, and the elderly. Leoncio P. Villa-Abrille is a lawyer, recognized for his significant contribution to the city’s urban shelter program for informal settlers and for his humanitarian contributions to the city, including his championship of the YMCA for its youth leadership programs. Continue reading →

The world we live in is currently facing many challenges ranging from a pandemic, poverty, ignorance, and conflict to climate change, decreasing social solidarity, and globalized economies that are increasingly polarized by income, wealth, stabilization, and mass immigration. A scarcity of great leaders today has intensified the severity of world problems; therefore, we need a leader who is mentally sound, emotionally balanced, physically healthy, socially adjusted, and spiritually alive to deal with global issues. But it is sad to say, no such leader has emerged, so that we live in a world without strong leadership. Our world is in desperate need of principled, strong leaders who base every decision on their values. We have a world divided on many fronts but a paucity of leaders to handle them. Since the end of World War II, the US traditionally led the world, gaining first and foremost the description of “global leadership,” meaning that the United States tended to be the first or most important country for identifying or framing international issues, taking actions to address those issues, setting an example for other countries to follow, organizing and implementing multilateral efforts to address international issues, and enforcing international rules and normatives. But, today this is no longer true because America has lost its moral compass and no longer has the ability to uphold the American values, so that in the face of resistance, it counters with appeasement. For the four years of the Trump Presidency, America spent much of its energy on whether Russia meddled in the US elections, thereby promoting Russia and President Putin while denigrating America‘s leadership role in the world. The more the parties and the media talked about Russia‘s interference in the voting process, the more America lost its luster. Continue reading →