U.S. sanctions, deals, bombs

The good old US empire was not built in a day. It has sustained its hegemony in nearly all aspects of leadership in world affairs. It imposes sanctions, it brokers deals, it drops bombs. In doing these, the US is not without allies, not without friends, not without vassals.

The Philippines, in every conceivable way, manifests its alliance, friendship and vassalage to the US more than it subscribes to or heeds any request, favor, or advice from China.

The present dispensation exhibits its lack of institutional memory in that it has chosen to forget there was a time the Philippine government abrogated the US military bases on our shores.

Strangely, the President would rather side with the US than with the country’s neighbor, China. In the current Iran War, there have been three serious violations by the US. Not a few legal experts and international observers have identified these violations.

First is the UN Charter on the prohibition of aggression (jus ad bellum). Trump unleashed bombs, missiles, and drones sans UN Security Council authorization; neither was it in self-defense against any real nuclear threat.

Second, against International Humanitarian Law (conduct of hostilities). Pete Hegseth failed to explain why Operation Epic Fury bombed a school, killing over 150 children and destroying civilian infrastructure.

Third, breach of maritime law and ceasefire agreement. The illegal conduct of the US, for instance, consisted of seizing an Iranian commercial vessel, the Touska, in the Sea of Oman and its naval blockade of Iranian ports was a breach of the ceasefire or “fragile peace pact.”

Against this backdrop, it escapes comprehension how mindlessly the Marcos government disregards the request, nay advice, of President Xi Jinping not to forge an agreement with the US on its plan to build in the Philippines a “4,000-acre Economic Security Zone” in Luzon, a strategy premised on a “deepening alliance, the modernization of the AFP and securing supply chains outside of China.”

Whereas on the one hand, China warned the US against interfering in the South China Sea and to stay away from the Spratly Islands dispute, China likewise warned the Philippines that when it forges an agreement with the US, China will waive the supply line for the energy requirements of the Philippines.

Depending on how the administration behaves re these conflicting influences — China on one side and the US on the other — eventually will define whether the West Philippine Sea will be the next theater in a Sino-US war. Truth is, it has always been considered a “flashpoint” given the exchange of opposing narratives on who is bullying whom in the contested maritime domain.

If a global economic fallout is imminent until all these “war games” are over, the Philippines might not be the least affected. On account of its high demand, nay, dependence on overseas-sourced energy, the Philippines is vulnerable to fluctuating oil prices in the global supply chain. That being so, the country’s future may be hanging by a thread, depending on the choice it makes.

At this critical juncture, the Philippine defense secretary must be more circumspect and refrain from issuing statements favoring the US and antagonistic to China.

Did not Chinese leader Xi say this: “A certain country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has done everything possible to cripple emerging markets and developing nations. Whoever progresses rapidly becomes the target of containment; whoever catches up becomes a threat. The world we live in today is a community with a shared future. People do not want a new Cold War, they want a world of lasting peace and universal security?”

Indisputably, China will get hurt if and when Iranian oil disappears. This energy war is practically ranged against Beijing. The US, in taking Venezuela, now sits upon it for its domestic production, insuring itself with its oil reserves and securing the largest oil reserves on the planet.

A US victory over Iran is a grand lottery win for a predatory America.