Philippines (2012 onwards, inc OEF)

[davidbfpo]

This seems to be a clearer and in places different version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5vELx3ie9I

[AdamG]

File this under 'extraordinarily bad ideas'

Malacañang said it sees no problem with the idea of a Chinese firm with proven track record taking over the debt-saddled Hanjin Philippines after a former Navy official warned against the shipyard falling into "wrong hands."

"Kung Chinese company naman na dati na nating ka-deal at wala namang problema eh di walang isyu. Kung hindi natin kilala eh di siyempre we have to vet para malaman natin," presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a news conference.

Panelo also said talks about which company will take over Hanjin Philippines remains a speculation at this point.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/mone...7XVtXCuzNfNltU

[davidbfpo]

A rare UK report on the Philippines, albeit by an academic at Oxford University CCW. In summary:

This blog article presents the latest actor dynamics in the Philippines' Moro conflict where two previously contentious separatist groups, namely MILF and MNLF, are now willing to cooperate. This is a momentum that should be carefully and timely seized by the Philippine government to bring some measure of peace to the country's troubled south.

Link:https://conflictplatform.ox.ac.uk/ar...-moro-conflict

[davidbfpo]

Worth a peek. Two ex-militants who joined ISIS @ Marawi.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/09/they-fooled-us-the-men-who-left-isis-in-the-philippines?

[davidbfpo]

Via an Israeli website:

On March 12, 2019, sources in the Philippines reported on two days of fighting between Philippine army forces and ISIS-affiliated operatives on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. The Philippine government ordered its citizens to evacuate several villages. Nine ISIS operatives and one Filipino soldier were killed (benarnews.org, March 12, 2019). Later in the day four more people were reported dead, as well as an ISIS operative killed in an exchange of fire (Philippine News Agency, March 12, 2019). ISIS’s East Asia Province claimed responsibility for killing 10 Filipino soldiers and wounding 10 others (Shabakat Shumukh, March 12, 2019).

Link:https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en...rch-7-13-2019/