In 2017, the brinkmanship between Kim Jong-Un and President Trump and the looming prospect of conflict drew a great deal of attention to the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, a less dramatic but nonetheless defining geopolitical struggle has been unfolding further south in the East Asia region, in the South China Sea. At the heart of these […]
Tag: The Philippines
Duterte vs. The ICC
An estimated twelve thousand dead; bounties offered for each rebel head; and calls for increased violence, including encouragement to shoot female fighters in the genitals: This is the current state of the Philippines. Since 2016, the nation’s democracy has appeared to be spiraling out of control, as thousands have been slaughtered in President Rodrigo Duterte’s […]
Duterte’s Unlikely Pivot to China
“America has lost,” President Duterte of the Philippines said to China’s top leaders in Beijing this October. As the leader of the oldest American ally in Asia, Rodrigo Duterte’s speech and behavior have been regarded by many as outlandish. Duterte’s anti-American rhetoric has warned international observers about a geopolitical tectonic shift, one in which the Philippines […]