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In the past few years, the Philippines have emerged as one of the greatest critics of China. Under the Aquino administration, the Southeast Asian countries tried security alliances with America and Japan, sought to mobilize ASEAN against China, and made the unprecedented decision to take Beijing to international court in order to settle the maritime disputes. However, with the Duterte administration rapidly consolidating its position at the center of the Philippine political system, President Duterte is also introducing a significant foreign policy shift, especially with the United States and China. Unlike the previous administration of Aquino, he has deployed former president Fidel Ramos to conduct negotitiations with China. There is reason to expect a big reset in the Philippines’ foreign policy under this President’s administration because he had a history of good relations with the Chinese community when he was in mayor of Davao. In fact, one of Duterte‘s right-hand men is a Chinese himself.With respect to relations with the United States President Duterte did not have a very good history especially when it comes to fighting insurgents in the Mindanao region or to the war on terrorists. The President welcomed massive Chinese investments in the realm of public infrastructure and downplayed territorial disputes in the South China Sea, emphasizing the necessity of separating areas of conflict from zones of convergence in mutual interest. Continue reading →

For decades Turkey was a dutiful ally that mostly followed America’s lead, but the nations today does not much like its 20^th. That is because Turkish President Erdogan and his government, led by the governing Islamic AKP, has asserted a more independent foreign policy in the Middle East, which often puts it at odds with the EU and in Washington. The crisis in the Turkish and U.S relationship goes much deeper than the issue of the cult leader Gulen’s alleged role in the recent coup and the demand for his extradition. Turkey and America sharply disagree over the strategy for how to bring peace in Syria and to stop ISIS. President Erdogan argues that the United States has allied with a Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPG or People’s Protection Units, which Turkey wrongly accuses of being a terrorist group. For its part Turkey has been shelling both Kurdish fighters of the popular protection units (YPG) and ISIS. The YPG is one of the most effective forces in the fight against ISIS. Turkey is wrongfully accusing the YPG of being an extension of the Kurdish Worker Party (PKK), a Kurdish rebel group that has been fighting for basic rights for more than four decades. The ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK ended last year and clashes have since claimed hundreds of lives on both sides. Turkey is fighting against the Kurds inside Turkey, as Syrian Kurds continue to try to have a self-declared autonomous region known as Rojava. There have been disagreements over the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Turkey’s relations with Iran and, among other things. Critics of Turkey have questioned Turkey’s sincerity as a NATO ally including its refusal to fight against ISIS in the past. Continue reading →

President Rodrigo Duterte harshly criticized the United Nations after it demanded an end to the wave of killings unleashed by his war on drugs, saying he might leave the organization. The UN human rights experts last week urged Duterte to stop the extra-judicial executions and slayings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency by promising a drug free Philippines. Speaking of the UN, Duterte retorted, “I will prove to the world that you are a very stupid expert,” urging it to count not just the number of drug-related deaths but also the innocent lives lost to drugs.Dealing with the drug users and protecting human rights are two aspects of one problem. His dealing with drug dealers safeguards human rights. The UN human rights expert failed to understand that the Philippine Constitution and laws clearly stipulate that citizens enjoy freedom of speech, assembly, and belief, and they are protected while exercising these rights, but Philippine law also stipulates that when citizens are enjoying their rights of freedom, they must not harm society or the rights of other citizens. Freedom cannot undermine Philippine public security, safety, order, health, or morality. Continue reading →

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Multiculturalism has become a challenge for most countries with fragmented societies. In a global village with international order, many countries are now confronted with the task of bringing together and holding together multicultural societies. One of the classic challenges of political organizations is the decision regarding territorial or divisional power. There are three ways to organize power among national, state, and local governments: unitary, confederal, and federal. Unitary government concentrates almost all government power into a single national government; a confederal system disperses government power to regional or local governments. The federal system, also known as federalism, divides power between national and state governments. Under federalism, each level of government is independent and has its own powers and responsibilities. Often it is not clear whether a state or national government has jurisdiction on a particular matter because at times the national and state governments alternate between cooperating and competing with each other.Under the unitary systems are those in which sovereignty, decision-making authority, and revenue raising powers are solely vested in a single central government. Sub-national units may exist in unitary systems of government, but they can be revoked by the central government. A majority of countries around the world have unitary systems of government. For example, France, Japan, and China have unitary governments, but Great Britain is an example of a unitary state that has devolved its limited powers to a series of regional assemblies, such as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, three countries that exist without being coalesced into a federation. Continue reading →

According to estimates, more than 4 million people gathered in the Yeni Kapi area of Istanbul, making August 7, 2016, a historic date for the Turkish people. The President, leaders of the opposition political parties, the Speaker of the Parliament, top generals, senior judges, non-governmental organizations, and celebrities were all at Yeni Kapi Square to stand united for democracy, freedom, and rule of law and against theocracy. Ultimately, they were protesting the July 15th coup attempt by the religion cult leader Fetullah Gulen. This rally put an end to three weeks of demonstrations following the failed takeover. In this rare event the highest number of participants and the leaders of three political parties responded to a call made by President Erdogan by leaving their political differences and taking the stage. Thus, July 15th was a milestone for Turkey because of the Turkish people’s strong stance against the coup in which soldiers paid with the cost of their lives.No party flags or banners were present except the Turkish flag. It was not a picture that perpetrators of the failed coup attempt--members of religious cult of Fethullah Gulen--wanted to see. It was not a good picture for Gulenists’ Terror Organization (FETO) because the failed coup attempt unified a polarized Turkey. Before the coup Turkish society was completely polarized, but Gulen’s terror organization unified the nation. The Turkish government was surrounded by the two failed states of Iraq and Syria, and was fighting a war with the Kurdish guerillas, ISIS, and the cult religion of the Fethullah Gulen movement. Continue reading →

On July 15^th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against the Turkish people. The Turkish people have known military coups, and they have known the casualties of freedom, but never has the Parliament been bombed, fighter jets flown low over Turkish cities to intimidate its citizens, and never before have hundreds of people been killed. The night fell on a different Turkey where freedom itself was under attack. The Turkish people have many questions. They are asking who is behind the failed coup in their country and who killed more than 245 innocents. All the evidence that the Turkish government has gathered points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as the Fethullah Gulen movement. They are the same murderers indicted for their involvement in many other criminal acts in Turkey, and the ones who have had the secular military as well as Kurds imprisoned.Gulen is a terrorist; what the mafia is to crime, his organization is to terrorism. But his goal is remaking the world and imposing his cultic beliefs on people around the world. The Gulenist cult movement perverts the teaching of Islam to fit his way of Islam. According to the Turkish government, Gulen’s directive commanded his infiltrators to kill President Erdogan and those closely associated with him. This group and its leader, a imam named Fethullah Gulen who resides in Pennsylvania in the US, are linked to many other organizations around the world, including some in the Philippines. There are thousands of these groups in more than 163 countries. They opened schools, universities, NGOs, business establishments, sport clubs, media outlets that they use to disseminate his cult ideology. The followers are sent back to their home countries or sent to hide in foreign countries around the globe to plot evil and destruction, if necessary to achieve his end. Continue reading →