Philippines bends over and spreads 'em wide

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Re: Re: Philippines bends over and spreads 'em wide

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
And NOOOOOOOO, we should NEVER DEAL WITH TERRORISTS - the good ol' US of A would never stoop to that, oh, um, Col. North, the messenger from the Ayatollah is here to see you, sir.

I guess all the good Amurkins who are condemning the spineless Flips should have similarly harsh opinions for the Reagan administration and Ollie North.

How dare you make this comparison?! The Phils have no good reason for dealing with terrorists, other than to save some guy's life. We, on the other hand, had a very good reason for dealing with terrorists: we had to in order to fund our own terrorists.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Sure.

test

[DanS]

This is no good. What were the Phils thinking? Basically, those with the least to lose have made themselves the weakest link.

[MichaeltheGreat]

You mean like the Spanish?

The Phils had the least to gain from a token involvement in Iraq, and plenty to lose on the domestic political front.

They were acting in their own perceived self-interests. Damn them, they don't realize that their function is to lend a patina legitimacy to the US' pursuit of it's own perceived self-interests.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse




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[GePap]

Again, this is what you get from "coalitions of the willing". When they are no longer willing, they have no reason to stay.

Lets hope the guy gets back home safetly.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by GePap


Lets hope the guy gets back home safetly.

The Phils had 50 guys not just one working the peacekeeping front.

[Bereta_Eder]

Re: Philippines bends over and spreads 'em wide

Philippens

and why not rectify an errour?
is it better to stick being wrong?

besides that was just the pretext
philipines is a muslim nation why should it support the murderers of another muslim nation?

they're also pretty antimerican.
didnt make sense

so the gov simply followed the will of the people.


that's democracy

[DanS]

The Phils had the least to gain from a token involvement in Iraq, and plenty to lose on the domestic political front.

In this situation, the Phil government wouldn't have lost a thing by saying "up yours" to these terrorists. They just had an election.

[MichaeltheGreat]

And they had so much of a stake in Iraq that having their token 45-50 man force there another five weeks was worth this guy losing his life?

Having just had an election is nice, but I doubt that would dissuade the opposition from using the public reaction and fallout from a video of this guy's beheading to embarass and frustrate the Arroyo government.

[DanS]

And they had so much of a stake in Iraq that having their token 45-50 man force there another five weeks was worth this guy losing his life?

Yes, because there is other negative fallout for them (and for us).

Having just had an election is nice, but I doubt that would dissuade the opposition from using the public reaction and fallout from a video of this guy's beheading to embarass and frustrate the Arroyo government.

And instead the Arroyo government is embarassing itself. Governments have to choose least worst policies all of the time. The costs of the Phil's Iraq policy is already sunk.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by DanS


Yes, because there is other negative fallout for them (and for us).

It seems the "concern" is about negative fallout for us. I rather see that as a consequence of relying on a coalition of the barely functional. Let's face it, a 50 man nominal force in a safe area where they won't get shot it is pretty meaningless in itself. It's the symbolism of a "coalition partner" rather than any substance to the deployment that's at issue, and that symbolism is important to the Bush administration far more than it is important to the average Filipino in the street.

And instead the Arroyo government is embarassing itself. Governments have to choose least worst policies all of the time.

Embarassing itself, or embarassing us? I haven't seen any evidence that this decision has substantial opposition in the Phillipines.

[lord of the mark]

Re: Re: Philippines bends over and spreads 'em wide

Originally posted by paiktis22
Philippens

philipines is a muslim nation why should it support the murderers of another muslim nation?

Philipines
Religions:
Roman Catholic 83%
Protestant 9%
Muslim 5%
Buddhist and other 3%

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Re: Re: Philippines bends over and spreads 'em wide

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Philipines
Religions:
Roman Catholic 83%
Protestant 9%
Muslim 5%
Buddhist and other 3%

You're not supposed to interject facts into a paiktis troll.

[lord of the mark]

'The withdrawal of Filipino troops, as announced by the Department of Foreign Affairs, impoverishes the leadership of President Arroyo and the credibility of the Philippines in the world," the Manila Times said in an editorial.

It noted that no other country involved in Iraq had yet yielded to hostage takers -- an act it said would not make Filipinos or Iraqis any safer.

"The repercussions could affect long-term relations between Manila and its allies, in terms of military assistance, security cooperation and trade investments," it said. '