re: "Chinese Dragons and Russian Bears"

"Sam Huntington" at Always On Watch ("Semper Vigilans") reviewed strategic issues involving our near-peer competitors.

Money quote(s):

"(A) far more dangerous situation is developing in Asia. No surprise, Americans are not hearing about any of this from the state-run media. Here are a few examples:

· China is claiming island territory within fifty miles of the Philippines.

· Chinese frigates regularly intruded Philippine territorial waters.

· Chinese ships fired upon Philippine fishing boats.

· Chinese naval vessels rammed Vietnamese fishing boats (See Note 1)

· Chinese accost Indian naval vessels operating off the coast of Vietnam, demanding to know why they are operating in Chinese waters.

· Chinese military aircraft intrude into Taiwanese air space.

· China intruded Japanese mainland territorial waters on 14 occasions.

· China intruded Okinawa territorial waters on 10 occasions.

· China created six major incidents with the US Navy at sea.

· Raise your hand if you aren’t aware that North Korea is China’s redheaded stepchild.

Note 1: Vietnam possesses one of the world’s largest armies: (China: 4.5 million, Vietnam: 5.9 million)."

You know the one about amateurs studying tactics and professionals studying logistics?

Well, in terms of international relations, geopolitics, and grand strategy, the professionals are studying China.

"Danger of a regional conflict is real. The consequence to China’s arrogance has been a dramatic increase in military spending among Southeast Asian countries. Australia, Japan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan have all dedicated billions of dollars on new or upgraded military hardware. The United States is upgrading naval facilities in Guam —so much so that Representative Hank Johnson(D-GA) worries the island may capsize. Nevertheless, all of these countries recognize the wisdom of pooling their resources to keep China in check; Japan has taken the lead in establishing mutual defense cooperatives with Australia, South Korea, India, and the United States. Singapore has offered to provide bases for the US Navy."

CAA no longer worries that Guam will become overburdened, over-balanced, and capsize, having received assurances that Guam possesses a sufficiently sturdy keel and gyroscopic stabilizer.

"Owing to the fact that we don’t know what motivates Chinese behavior, the Australian General Staff worries that a mistake could lead to disastrous consequences —particularly when it is likely that China will attempt to use its military to enforce a Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The problem is that while demanding that other nations treat Chinese EEZs as its sovereign territory, China routinely refuses to acknowledge the EEZs of other nations. From the standpoint of international law, EEZs are not sovereign territory. We can therefore see how China might regard the US Navy’s mission to safeguard open sea-lanes as an intolerable trespass —a situation that could lead to deadly confrontation."

It's the old "what's-mine-is-mine-what's-yours-is-negotiable" attitude turned somewhat sideways: China will use existing international norms and fora to its own advantage and ignore those which infringe upon its own interests. That's what one does when one is the center of the Earth, after all.

"Some politicians argue that given China’s dependence on global trade, a deadly confrontation is unlikely. They may have forgotten that economic ties did not hinder German aggression at the beginning of the 20^th Century —a costly mistake for France. ....but here is where we find the real and present danger. Defense cuts may encourage China to challenge allied nations within the region of Southeast Asia —they are that arrogant."

Nor did close economic ties deflect World War I; for that matter, the United States' close economic ties with Saudi Arabia deter the 9/11 attacks.

(Marx notwithstanding, man is not solely, nor even primarily, an economic animal.)

"From Russia’s perspective, there couldn’t be a better time to threaten the United States and NATO with pre-emptive strikes unless we agree to cancel the so-called Missile Defense Shield, designed as a safeguard from Iranian ICBMs."

This seems a little over-the-top; threatening pre-emptive strikes is way more sabre-rattling than is necessary. Russia has far more effective economic and political levers to pull than jacking things up on the defcon meter.

"If one understands international relations, Russia’s timing couldn’t be better. We should anticipate this sort of behavior by an adversary whenever they perceive American leadership as weak, incompetent, ineffective, or confused."

Harsh words, but hardly unwarranted.

The "reset" button must have been like those ones installed near crosswalks: not really wired to anything but they give pedestrians something to do with their hands while waiting for the lights to change.

"This situation should once again remind us that American politicians and diplomats seldom learn important lessons of history. America cannot afford another war right now. Neither can we afford the perception of weakness, incompetence, or abject stupidity. We continue to live in a dangerous world"

Diplomats actually aren't slouches when it comes to learning their history lessons; however if you expand your definition of "diplomat" beyond those actually trained and experienced in it to those who practice it on our behalf at the highest levels....

"Rather than facing a deadly and costly regional conflict in Southeast Asia, it would be far less expensive to deter Chinese aggression vis-à-vis a strong military presence along the Pacific Rim. As for the Russian Bear, they understand but one thing: force or its promise."

5/4

re: "On Jose Antonio Vargas"

Daniel Foster at The Corner ("a web-leading source of real-time conservative opinion") tells the tale of an illegal alien.


Money quote(s):


"Vargas was sent to California by his Filipino mother at age twelve. He was raised there by his (naturalized) grandparents, and did not discover he was in the country illegally until he brought his green card to the DMV at age 16 and was told it was a forgery."

Minor children are victims (at worst) or merely passengers (at best) when it comes to illegal immigration. And under current law no legal penalty (aside from deportation) attaches to them thereby. But read on.


"Vargas entered the country illegally after his grandfather paid a coyote $4,500 to smuggle him in. The grandfather then obtained a fake passport and green card for Vargas, which they used to acquire a valid Social Security card. But that card, which subjected Vargas’ right to work to the approval of the then-INS, was illegally doctored, allowing Vargas to secure job after job for more than a decade by showing nothing more than a photocopy of a fake document."

Grandpa ought to be getting a visit from various federal agencies regarding his multiple crimes in this matter.


"(A) fear- and shame-driven Vargas, with the aid of his family, perpetuated and compounded those crimes (Vargas eventually got around to what you might redundantly call fraudulent tax fraud, repeatedly reporting himself as a citizen rather than a “permanent resident”, when in fact he was neither), elicits from me nothing like the outpouring of support Vargas is already enjoying on the Left.


Punishing a minor by removing him from the culture he’s adopted as his own, for the crimes of his parents, does strike me as fundamentally unfair. But what liberals leave out of this story, time and again, is a competing — and in my view overriding — unfairness. Reihan has argued repeatedly, and effectively, that we should treat access to the U.S. economy, not to mention its extensive welfare state, as a scarce resource. We can debate and debate the best way of distributing this resource– from “not at all” to “come one, come all” and everywhere in between. But distributing it based on who manages most successfully to violate the law, at the expense of would-be immigrants who are honoring the process, is surely not a valid option."

Fear and shame notwithstanding, Mr. Vargas had a choice upon reaching age 18. Actually, he had a six month window at that point where, even though he was accuring unlawful presence in the U.S. for which he, having reached age 18, was now legally responsible, it wasn't until he had reached six months of unlawful presence that he'd even incurred a visa ineligibility!

You understand that correctly: he could have flown back to Manila, turned around and legally submitted an application for a U.S. visa, and there would have been no automatic visa ineligibility for all the years of living illegally in the U.S. right up until he was 18 years and six months of age.

NAM - Family Visa Waits Long

From my archive of press clippings:

New American Media


Family Visa Waits Long

Filipino Express, Posted: Feb 17, 2010

According to a recent report released by the U.S. Department of State, the number of family-based applicants on the waiting list for immigrant visa numbers as of November 2009 was 3,369,455, while the number of employment-based applicants was 130,509.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"These figures include the principal applicants or petition beneficiaries as well as their spouses and children entitled to derivative status. They do not include immediate relatives (spouse, minor unmarried children and parents of U.S. citizens) who are exempted from the numerical limitation."

&

"In some categories, the wait for applicants from the Philippines, India, China and Mexico will be decades.

U.S. immigration laws set an annual worldwide limit as well as a per county limit of immigrant visas issued. There is also a limit on each preference category."

re: "Bert Bank, R.I.P."

George Smiley at In From the Cold ("Musings on Life, Love, Politics, Military Affairs, the Media, the Intelligence Community and Just About Anything Else that Captures Our Interest") had some important news.

Important quote(s):

"We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Major Bert Bank, U.S. Army (Retired). Bank, a World War II veteran, died last month in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the age of 94."

"(H)e survived the Bataan Death March and nearly three years of hellish captivity in a Japanese POW camp. Many of his comrades weren't as fortunate; thousands perished during the march to the camp, or during their years as "guests" of the Emperor."

"Bank joined the Army ROTC program at the University of Alabama. After graduation and commissioning, he spent a brief stint with a coastal artillery unit before transferring to the Air Corps, with an assignment as a B-17 bombardier at Clark Field in the Phillippines. He arrived in the fall of November 1941, just a few weeks before the Japanese attack.

Mr. Bank's flying career was cut short on December 8, 1941, when Japanese aircraft destroyed most of the B-17s at Clark and other airfields in the Philippines. The few surviving bombers--and trained crew members--were dispersed to other bases and eventually moved to Australia. Other personnel (including Bert Bank) were reassigned to the infantry for the defense of Bataan, the narrow peninsula where General Douglas MacArthur planned to fight a holding action against superior Japanese forces.

Working as a G-2 (intelligence officer), then-Lieutenant Bank was given the task of determining the enemy's location. "But that wasn't hard to figure out," Bank later told Hampton Sides, "The enemy was everywhere."

As the battle raged, the situation on Bataan went from bad to desperate. U.S. and Filipino troops were desperately short of food, ammunition and medical supplies--with no hope of resupply from the United States or Australia. Despite exhortations from Washington to "hang on," General Edward King, the senior commander on Bataan, surrendered his forces on April 9, 1942. It was the largest capitulation in U.S. military history.

Mr. Bank was among those Americans who passed into captivity with General King's surrender. A few days later, he became one of the thousands of sick, emaciated men who were force-marched to prison by their enemy."

"Mr. Bank's eyewitness account of the march and the camps affirms all of the atrocities associated with those events. Walking towards Camp O'Donnell--the former U.S. military post that Japan converted into a POW camp--Bank saw the worst of it. A Lieutenant Colonel he had been holding up slipped from his grasp and fell into the road; instantly, a Japanese solider ran him through with his bayonet. He was later forced at gunpoint to bury several Filipino prisoners who were severely wounded, but still alive.

Conditions in the camp were equally grim. Thousands of prisoners died from beatings, illness, malnutrition or a combination of those factors."

&

"Mr. Bank and his fellow POWs were finally liberated in early 1945 during a daring raid by the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Battalion. The story of that mission--and the men who carried it out--form the other half of Ghost Soldiers, and it's a compelling read. The Rangers, led by their charismatic leader, Lt Col Henry Mucci, marched 30 miles into Japanese territory, freed more than 500 Allied POWs, and escorted them back to American lines."

Read the whole post here.

BWO - Foreign employers need to get special visa: DoLE

Business World Online

Foreign employers need to get special visa: DoLE

Vol. XXII, No. 202

Monday, May 18, 2009 MANILA, PHILIPPINES

THE DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said foreign employers must file for a certificate of employment to maintain their legal presence in the country.

Read the whole article here.

re: "Somali Pirates: What about the Filipinos? Piracy focus seen as hypocritical"

Eagle1 at EagleSpeaks ("The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear.") notes that not all those held by the pirates of the Somali coast are American.

Money quote(s):

"Americans tend to focus on Americans. But in my readings of the media of the Philippines, China, India and other countries who have sailors captured by pirates or who have engaged the pirates, I note a strong bias toward covering their own citizens."

&

"(T)he Philippines is free to send its own warships and personnel to do whatever it wants to do to free the Filipino hostages held by the pirates."

S&S - Envoy: Rape case shouldn’t affect Philippines agreement

Stars and Stripes



Envoy: Rape case shouldn’t affect Philippines agreement


By David Allen, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Sunday, March 29, 2009


The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines does not believe the Daniel Smith rape case will affect the Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In a statement reported by media in Manila on Wednesday, Ambassador Kristie Kenney said negotiations regarding where the Marine lance corporal should be held pending his appeal of his December 2006 conviction should not result in any changes to the entire agreement.

The Philippines Supreme Court ruled last month that Smith, who is being held on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Manila pending his appeal, should have been remanded to a Philippines jail. The court ruled the agreement allowing Smith’s transfer to the embassy compound did not follow the guidelines set forth in the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement, known as the VFA."

&

"On March 12, the 25-year-old woman who testified during the trial that Smith raped her, signed an affidavit stating she now doubts Smith actually raped her.

The woman, known publicly as "Nicole," has since moved to the U.S. with her American boyfriend, according to statements made by her mother."

S&S - Alleged Okinawa rape victim’s mother appeals to Philippine government for support

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Alleged Okinawa rape victim’s mother appeals to Philippine government for support

By David Allen, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Sunday, June 22, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The mother of a Filipina allegedly raped by a U.S. soldier on Okinawa in February appealed Thursday for support from the Philippines government for justice.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The mother backed up her daughter’s claim that she went to Okinawa to work as an entertainer to help her family and to raise money for medical treatment for a twin sister injured in a traffic accident.

Her daughter, who uses the alias Hazel, said she came to Okinawa only to find she would be required to do more than dance at a club in an entertainment district of Okinawa City popular with U.S. troops.

She said she was required to mingle with customers and "date" them if they paid a "bar fine" for her company."

&

"Hazel’s cause has been taken up by the Gabriela Women’s Party, which claimed Thursday that the Philippines government is failing to protect citizens who work overseas."

S&S - Backers of rape accuser wanted Japan to prosecute

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Backers of rape accuser wanted Japan to prosecute

Philippines legislator visits Okinawa to highlight handling of alleged sex assault by Kadena sergeant

By David Allen, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Monday, July 21, 2008

GINOWAN, Okinawa — Supporters of the Filipina who claims she was raped by a soldier on Okinawa in February are confident the U.S. Army is serious about investigating the incident. But they wish Japanese prosecutors had gone forward with the case.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Maza is on Okinawa for a five-day mission to lend support to Hazel, not her real name, who said she was raped in an Okinawa City hotel room Feb. 18 by Sgt. Ronald Hopstock Jr., 25.

Hopstock, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment on Kadena Air Base, is restricted to the base pending an investigation initiated by the Army in mid-May, after Japanese prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, declined to indict him."

"Maza said she was also looking into the plight of other young women from the Philippines who, like Hazel, come to Okinawa to work as dancers only to discover they are forced to be bar hostesses and prostitutes."

&

"Lusito "Butch" Pongos, a coordinator for Migrante Japan, an organization supporting the rights of Philippine foreign workers, said the Philippines government often fails to brief its citizens on what to expect when they leave for jobs overseas."

PRWeb - Passport to Paternity: One Man Receives DNA Test, Long-lost Daughter for Father's Day

From my archive of press clippings:

Press Release Newswire

Passport to Paternity: One Man Receives DNA Test, Long-lost Daughter for Father's Day

In 1992, Michael Skipwith fathered a daughter while stationed at Subic Naval Base in the Philippines. He was transferred from the base one month before her birth and never heard from her mother again. Now, he has found Michelle and has been petitioning for her U.S. citizenship over the past five years, but one last step in the process--a DNA test proving their biological relationship--stood in the way. To celebrate Father's Day, DNA Diagnostics Center paid off Michael's DNA testing fees, just days before his daughter's deadline for immigration was up.

Mountain View, CA (PRWEB) June 11, 2008 -- A Mountain View, Calif., man will finally be able to celebrate this Father's Day after a 15-year-long battle to find and secure U.S. citizenship for his long-lost daughter from the Philippines. To celebrate Father's Day, DNA Diagnostics Center paid off Michael's DNA testing fees, just days before his daughter's deadline for immigration was up.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Michael Skipwith knew he had fathered a daughter while stationed at Subic Naval Base in the Philippines in 1992; his child was due to be born in November that year, but in October, Skipwith was transferred from Subic and never heard from the mother of his child again.

He spent ten years searching for his daughter Michelle, and another five years petitioning the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service for her citizenship."

GMA - DFA distances itself from Erap's US visa woes

From my archive of press clippings:

GMA News

DFA distances itself from Erap's US visa woes

05/23/2008 06:42 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday distanced itself from the issue regarding the cancellation of the former President Joseph Estrada's US visa.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"According to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, there was no need to make representations before US embassy officials because the cancellation of visa cancellations are the prerogative of the US State Department."

&

"US Ambassador to Manila Kristie Anne Kenney declined to comment on the issue, saying that, as a rule, the US Embassy does not disclose an individual’s visa status.

“This is an easy answer. We never as a matter of policy and legal requirement comment on the status of anyone’s visa. That’s a private and individual matter. No comment," Kenney said."

ABS-CBN - US State Dept revokes visas of Erap, others in espionage case

From my archive of press clippings:

ABS-CBN News

US State Dept revokes visas of Erap, others in espionage case

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 5:56 PM

By CES DRILON

ABS-CBN News

The US State Department has revoked the US visas of at least six current and former government officials, in connection with the first known case of espionage from within the White House involving naturalized FIlipino American Leandro Aragoncillo last year.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"(A) close Estrada associate, whose visa was cancelled, estimates fifteen to twenty opposition figures suffered the cancellation of their visas, including former President Joseph Estrada and former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella.

In July 2007, a Federal Court in New Jersey sentenced Aragoncillo, a naturalized Filipino-American intelligence analyst who worked for US Vice-President Richard "Dick" Cheney, to ten years imprisonment. He was charged for stealing classified information about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and passing it on to known opposition leaders in the Philippines.

Former member of the Lower House Gilbert Remulla received a letter from the US Embassy in June last year informing him of the cancellation of his US visa. The letter cited the US Immigration and Nationality Act which "prohibits the issuance of a visa to anyone who seeks to engage in espionage against the US, as well as for sabotage and/or illegal export from the US of goods, technology and sensitive information."

Remulla said he has appealed his case and reapplied for a visa but was told by a US consular official that Washington would have to review his application.

In contrast, his children were granted visas valid for ten years."