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Philippines' Duterte is a bloody tyrant in the mold of Stalin

It is fair to call Rodrigo Duterte a bloody tyrant

By JIM PURCELL

To be clear, the president of the Philippine Islands, Rodrigo Duterte, will not give up power in five years -- or 50 years. The reason is plain: As part of his "War on Drugs," the Philippine president is sending death squads out to kill anyone even suspected of drug trafficking. It just so happens that many of those suspected of such a thing are mayors and public officials who disagree with him.

Should Rodrigo Duterte ever leave the office of the president, he will likely face criminal prosecution in the Philippines, if not in a world court.

Do not get me wrong, everyone wants the 'good guys' to win the War on Drugs. However, when the Magnetic North of trial by jury is lost then that means anyone can be accused, anyone can be murdered for the sake of what could very well be a trumped up charge. These Duterte death squads have even gone so far as to kill the wives and family members of suspected "drug kingpins."

This sounds an awful lot like a bloody purge, ala Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The Philippine Supreme Court has even endorsed this total lack of due process, meaning one of two things: 1. The judges of the court and their families will, themselves, be executed for a ruling against Duterte; or 2. There was never any actual juris prudence happening in the Philippines at any time in its history.

I do not care how 'conservative' someone is in their politics. When it comes to the day when death squads are randomly moving throughout the public murdering suspected drug dealers and drug users at large, without any due process, then that is the day when government has become an evil entity that requires removing.

The fact that the current U.S. Government has endorsed this way of doing things is nothing short of chilling. Have people become so cowed by technology and self-involvement that they cannot even recognize the indecency of murder in the name of accusation? I will say this, at least at the Salem Witch Trials there was a semblance of order with mock trials. Even that terrible practice has not been afforded those on Duterte's 'enemies list.'

Is Duterte ready to hand over the Philippines to China?

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made his break with the U.S.

SPECIAL EDITORIAL

By JIM PURCELL

The Philippine Islands is one of the most tactical locations in the Pacific Ocean. During World War II, it was a strategic linchpin to recapturing the Pacific from the Japanese Navy. Whomever has control of the Philippines has a lot to say about what happens throughout the entire theater. Now to the point: Is Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte planning to allow the occupation of the Philippines by the Chinese military?

It's a good question, and here are some of the reasons to consider it: 1. Duterte rejected new grants from the European Union to protest its alleged interference with Philippine affairs, after he received more than $1 billion in pledges for development from China; 2. Inclusive of his newly minted deal with Beijing is the establishment of significant Chinese contruction and hydro companies throughout the Philippines; 3. While Duterte has scaled back U.S. military involvement in the Philippines, he has welcomed joint naval expercises between China and the Philippines, even personally welcoming a Chinese flotilla of warships to Davao, in May; 4. After saying "goodbye" to U.S. involvement in the Philippines post his landmark trade deal with China, the Philippine president welcomed both U.S. and Chinese military assistance in defeating Abu Sayef (the Chinese now being a player in the Philippines); and 5. Duterte stated decisively that it is "time to say goodbye" to the US during an October, 2016 visit to China.

Duterte has created a new era of cooperation with Beijing.

Duterte characterized the U.S. relationship with the Philippines as for the benefit of the U.S. entirely and derided former U.S. President Barack Obama as the "son of a whore." It is Duterte's position that, for too long, Philippine political decisions have been made in the West. He added, "What kept us from China was not our own making. I will charter a new course." Duterte, who is himself of Chinese extraction, also recently ceded ownership of the South China Sea to China, even after an international tribuneral found for retention of the seaway. However, Duterte stated the international tribuneral was a Western puppet of the United States. He then went on to say that the Chinese are the most powerful military and economic force in the theater.

With more than $1 billion in Chinese investment, besides from the establishment of many Chinese companies in the Philippines now, can it be believed that China would not secure its investments with military power?

Duterte has made it his practice to have long, extended periods of martial law to combat the uprising in the country's Mindinao Province. Yes, this is understandable, to an extent, because of the uprising. Yet, Duterte has, truly, chartered a new course; a course that could easily be undone by a successor in five years, though. In truth, most Filipinos would rather do business with Americans rather than the Chinese. So, the way to guard China's investment into the Philippines, and for Duterte to protect his legacy, is for him to simply not give up power at the time of the next election....maybe because of Abu Sayef...or some other group that may or may not exist.

Can the United States afford to have a Chinese-controlled Philippines?

Bear in mind, with what has already been signed between China and the Philippines, it would be perfectly legal for the Chinese military to show up to 'protect the freedoms' of the Filipinos. They could protect the investment of China and Chinese companies...and the Filipino president who opened the door for China.

Yes, the Filipino people are well known for their love of freedom and willingness to fight oppression. However, against the weight of the Chinese and Filipino military, a Filipino resistance would fail. And, let us face the fact that, unable to either pacify or extract itself from wars in Southwest Asia after more than 12 years, the U.S. military is far from the defense heavyweight it once was. No amount of wishful thinking -- or maybe even throwing money at it -- will recreate an American military that was prepared to fight and win wars. Today, the American military offers excuses about why it has not won and optimism about the future of failed campaigns -- not results. In light of that, the chances of an American military unilaterally displacing the invited Chinese military in the Philippines is small.

Perhaps the United States would have the 'legal' right to wage war should the Chinese military occupy the Philippines or become a satellite of Beijing's -- but lawyers never took an inch of ground.
Perhaps only the United States, with Russia by its side, could actually perform the miracle of beating the Chinese back from the Philippines -- except for the fact that Duterte has already made a peace treaty with Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, which is a telling move.
I think Americans and Filipinos need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Jim Purcell is an award-winning journalist who has been recognized by, among other groups, the United States Congress and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He is a graduate of the New York Theological Seminary and is a former U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst at the XVIII Airborne Corps.

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In Contemplating the Civil War Today

Perhaps it is time to revisit the Civil War.

By JIM PURCELL

I studied history at Georgian Court College during my bachelor's years. It was a passion of mine. The field was a study of discipline, delayed judgment, analysis and there was strict methodology to it, as it was taught to me by my professors, Dr. Claribel Young (chair of the History Department during the early 1990s) most notable among them.

As I learned it, no judgment could reasonably be made about a war or some pivotal event without the distance of years and study. I had thought the history of the Civil War was a finished portrait, completed many years before I began my studies. The war was, to my understanding, an unfortunate collision of states' rights on one hand, on the other it was a redemptive moment of American history where -- finally -- slavery was abolished from our national conventions. The Civil War's soldiers of the North were not avenging angels of the ultimate justice, but they were ordinary men who erased the stain of slavery from the American future. The Confederate soldiers of the South were not monsters, but common men who fought to protect their "country," as they saw it, which were the states they were from, largely.

The bravery and skill of the Southern armies were commended, and monuments were constructed for them, they were buried with dignity and their devotion to their cause was celebrated in history books, on video and on film. Yet, I thought it was an apparent judgment of history that slavery was wrong and the fundamental flaw that up-ended any hope of righteousness on the part of the South. The Confederate States of America could not be just or right because it ultimately supported the enslavement of races, and advocated every form of violence against those races.

Well, in the days we live in now, the Confederate cause is being lionized by some reactionary elements of white society. To put it simply, there are voices that are calling for the destruction of peace between races, which advocate an America before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and even the sexual liberation of the Women's Movement of the 1970s. And, the vehicle that is being used to hide these arguments lay in the proponents of "American history," as defined by the ill-fated Confederate cause between 1861-1865. Perhaps it is white supremacy in its death throes amid an ever-changing, ever-more diverse America; maybe it is a racism inspired by an economy that lay in embers from its heyday 30 years ago. Whatever the cause, one thing is clear -- we are a nation unprepared for the 21st century and everything it will bring.

So now, I will give my estimation of the Civil War, being someone who is white, served in the Army and whose family arrived to the shores of New Jersey from Europe a half-century after the Civil War was settled. I see the Civil War as being a conflict where the purest face of evil was defended by a loose confederation of so-called Christians from the South, who had no idea what that word meant. In fact, the root cause of the Southern effort was profane, not just against man but God, in my estimation. If ever there was an army that represented God's adversary on earth, among those ranks was the German Army, under Hitler, and the Army of the Confederate States of America, under President Jefferson Davis.

There should never have been recognition of the Confederate States of America as a civilized army. They were, by definition, traitors to their own country, in the worst ways. The names of their officers should have, rightfully, been stricken from any place of honor in history and they should have been rewarded only by long imprisonment and personal ruin for their efforts. I have always believed, quietly, that the practice of naming United States installations and equipment after this group of profane men was a great mark of disrespect to the actual soldiers of the Union who donned their uniforms and served a legitimate nation -- the United States.

If history is to move over time, and give way to fashion, then I suppose that my take on it is as fair as the next person's. The rebellion by the Confederate States of America was the greatest act of depravity in American history. It is a time when an army, as ill-meaning as those under Hitler or Mussolini, Tojo or Stalin, rose up to defend what was wrong in the world -- with a terrible zeal. Far from heroes, perhaps it is the greatest mistake ever made by this republic to seek reconciliation with the South by not saying it like it was. Clearly, that reconciliation has led to later generations brandishing the Stars and Bars in a new war cry. Thus, it was a mistake.

I submit that no cause ever crafted, with its intention being the debasement and enslavement of another people or group, has ever deserved a place of honor in this republic's history. In the case of the American republic, the Confederate States of America was a time when the teachings of Christianity were proven to be unteachable to the vast majority of Southern States and, as a consequence, 620,000 people perished. No stirring song or parade of garish uniforms, no solemn moments fecklessly given treasonous Confederate icons, will abolish the fact that the only differences between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Nazi Third Reich were a few shades of gray and several thousand miles.

There should never have been monuments to these confederates, nor tolerance of their icons. Today, in placating the South in defeat so long ago, it has stirred bitter embers invoked by the hideous relics of their failed and ungodly cause. Far from being a voice to save such monuments and remembrances, I do say plainly that I cannot imagine what mad thought ever allowed the sanction of such reminders of terribly mutiny.

America has been a diverse nation since it began. So many of our Founders believed at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that it was a mistake to omit the abolishment of slavery right then and there. Well, it was settled in due course. How could they have known that the retraction of slavery would bring so many alleged "godly" people to riot and murder for the sake of that institution?

It is time to fold the Stars and Bars and throw it in some back alley somewhere for cats to make a home from, not to continue as emblems within legitimate flags and symbols of office within the nation that these colors rebuked. Slavery was a horror, nothing else. It was not romantic and it was not some secondary issue. People are entitled to be treated equally, according to the content of their character, and not the color of their skin.

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Politics Is Interfering With Our Nation's Progress

OPINION & EDITORIAL

By JIM PURCELL

Politics has become such a flashpoint in the United States. I am not saying 'government,' but rather 'politics.'

Let me be very clear that politics is a necessary evil. In a democratic republic, there are parties and they vie for power during the election season. However, once elected, the ruling party must, by logical course of reason, become the party to rule over all of the people -- not some of the people. American citizenship is, after all, the gold standard of the American republic.

Well, we have a situation in this country where the new "Trump Conservatives" and, to a lesser extent, more traditional Conservatives, are actively demonizing not only the rival Democratic Party but also anyone who thinks liberally or progressively. This is a very dangerous trend.

People of science and technology are, by and large, liberal-minded thinkers. People who are educated are, mostly, liberal-minded thinkers, with some exception.

I think it is bad precedent for one half of the country to go around spewing extreme hate-speech against the other half of the country. This is a bad road and there is no good at the end of it.

Citizens possessing differing political ideologies is essential to the democratic process, and I do not believe anyone is saying otherwise. Yet Conservatives must realize that alienating the poorest, most vulnerable elements of our society, while embracing America's traditional enemies (Chine and Russia), while at the same time keeping our traditional Allies at arm's length (Great Britain, France and Germany) is a recipe for disaster.

Religious fundamentalism of any kind, be it Islamic fundamentalism overseas or Christian fundamentalism domestically, brings inherent dangers. 'Fundamentalism' is a term that amounts to radicalism. The vast majority of people on the earth are not radical about anything more than keeping their families together, making a living, having work and relative safety for themselves and those they love.

At no point in the history of the United States, beginning with the Revolutionary Period, has our nation ever been a fundamentalist Christian nation. Has God of the Christian Bible been our guiding light? Of course! Have we offered burnt offerings and adopted wool clothes and gone about scourging ourselves? No.

Conservatives are attempting to re-write American history in a ridiculous manner. The greatest achievements in our nation's history, ranging from the Revolution to the Civil War and both World Wars have come about as an extension of liberality and progress, not as some hallmark of repression and hard-line Christian angst.

In due course, modern liberality and its sensibility has led some traditional people to be terribly confused and angry about the way things are changing. Well, stopping change in society or the tides of an ocean cannot be done. Nevertheless, stopping change is tried.

Still, the rights of a peaceful, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen must out-weigh the collective self-righteousness of the minority of people. It is the way of things.

In America, most people do not vote. This is no great announcement. This is not 'secret knowledge.' Most people do not care about who sits in the White House or the Congress, so long as they can go about their daily lives uninterrupted. If there is anything traditional, the idea that people want to be left alone by their lawmakers is it.

I do not believe that Conservative hate-mongering or Liberal retaliation in-kind is going to amount to much except for a great deal of trouble for everyone. At this point in our nation's history, we should be aspiring to greater things than we have achieved. However, today we are at a virtual stand-still in many respects because of this political digression into the absurd.

When I was a child, I thought that by 2017 my nation would have been further along in many respects than we are right now.

Dialing It Back for a Few Months

Dear Readers,

You guys are the straw that stirs the ice for me. But, I am going through a new phase and am retiring entirely from working at the end of this month, July, 2017. So, I will be putting up content but it will not be things written by me specifically until probably October or so. 

In the meantime, I will be posting what I believe are interesting pieces from YouTube. If anyone is interested in putting any of their original work on the site, please e-mail me at thepurcellchronicles@gmail.com. 

Thanks,

Jim Purcell

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