The US is cultivating an antagonist to China in Beijing’s own backyard

Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2024 in Melbourne.
©Penny STEPHENS / ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2024 / AFP

The Philippines has been a treaty ally of the United States since 1951, almost as long as it’s been an independent country. Before that, it was a colony of the US, which had won it as spoils of war from Spain. Because of this, it is hard to characterise the Philippines as anything but an unabashedly pro-American nation.

In the past few years however, it took a different line. Under the presidency of the very blunt and frank Rodrigo Duterte, the archipelago became more geopolitically ambiguous in its foreign affairs, pursuing closer relationships with Russia and China, while still being cordial to the US.

This unusual “hedging” was part of Duterte’s strategy to adopt a more centralised approach to governing the country, which suffers from high levels of poverty, crime and disorder. Duterte was a hardliner, and also saw economic opportunity in getting closer to Beijing, despite highly contentious disputes over the South China Sea. His relationship with Washington suffered during this period, as it effectively contributed nothing to the development of the country despite the US post-colonial “overlordship”. Instead, Duterte opted for the Belt and Road initiative and sought to turbocharge the islands with Chinese investment.

Yet, just a year or so after Duterte’s departure, the return to power of the Marcos family has seen Manilla do an effective 180° turn in its foreign policy, and go from being pro-Beijing to an effective antagonist of the country in favour of the US again. Ferdinand Macros Jr, also known as “Bongbong,” is the son of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines as a right-wing, anti-Communist dictator from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. The family was notorious for its corruption and theft of national assets for its own personal gain, but got away with it precisely because it was unequivocally pro-US. For during the Cold War, Washington would support figures of any brutality on the condition that they were anti-Communist.

Bongbong, like is father, is not innocent, and was elected president of the Philippines as a compromised man who is at the mercy of the US. Ironically, he faces prosecution in the US as a court order requires him to pay $353 million to victims of his father’s regime, thus he cannot enter the country. What does this translate to in political terms?

Leverage, on Washington’s behalf. Noticeably, the American authorities do little to enforce the ruling or seize assets pertaining to Marcos or his family, for diplomatic reasons. What is the quid pro quo here? It is clear that as long as Bongbong steers the Philippines' foreign policy where the US wants it, Washington will look the other way when it comes to the court order against him.

And it is absolutely no surprise that on attaining office, Marcos Jr initiated a U-turn on the country’s stance regarding China, and has dramatically escalated tensions with Beijing. While the Duterte administration sought to keep matters cool over the South China Sea territorial dispute, Marcos Jr has deliberately antagonised Beijing, pushing boundaries, and drawing international attention to the situation, provoking the US to say it will defend the Philippines in the event of conflict. Similarly, dozens of senior US officials have visited the country as part of a sweeping US charm offensive.

But not only that, he has agreed to increase the number of bases the US can access in the Philippines, has congratulated Taiwan’s president-elect, actively scaled back Manila's participation in the Belt and Road initiative by cancelling a number of projects, and has instead sought to court a relationship with Japan as an alternative to China, with the US, Japan and the Philippines set to have a trilateral leaders’ summit for the first time.

In a nutshell, the Philippines has gone from being a China-friendly state in Southeast Asia to easily the most antagonistic, a difficult position to take, due to the relative economic weakness of the country and its trade dependence on China.

For China, this situation is a headache and there are no easy answers. This is because Beijing has a resolute and uncompromising position on the South China Sea, most of which it claims as its own. The rigidity of this position not only clashes with Southeast Asian states but creates an easy political wedge for the US to exploit.

China makes itself look weak if it backs down, and US policy of course is to incentivise such countries to actively resist Beijing and give them the military backing to do so. So how can China mend its relations with the Philippines? It may simply have to avoid creating a crisis and wait until a more Beijing-friendly president is voted into office, because quite clearly, Marcos Jr is a compromised politician, with Washington being able to exploit his weakness and disastrous family legacy to its own advantage.

Moscow concert hall terror attack suspects brought before court- Video

A Moscow court has convened late on Sunday to hear prosecutors demands on pre-trial detention for a group of men detained in the aftermath of Friday’s Crocus City Hall attack, which claimed lives of over 130 people.

The suspects, all of whom are nationals of Tajikistan, have appeared before court individually. Thus far, it has placed terrorism charges on 32-year-old Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, with the man facing a life sentence if found guilty. Prosecutors told Judge Timur Vakhrameev that he had admitted his guilt.

The court has opted to rule behind closed doors.

Footage from the scene shows the suspect confined to a glass cage in the courtroom.

It has emerged that Mirzoyev is the father of four children. He has been placed in two-month pre-trial detention, which is standard practice in Russia in cases of this nature.

The second man, Saidakrami Rachabalizod, has also reportedly pleaded guilty. He has one child and appeared with his right ear bandaged, having sustained an injury to it during his arrest. He has also been remanded in custody for two months.

The court has also received petitions for the arrest of two more defendants – Muhammadsobir Fayzov and Shamsidin Fariduni.

The suspects, who are also facing terrorism charges, have been already transferred to the court.

Smoke bombs, Israeli military bulldozers target Gaza’s al-Amal Hospital

Witnesses Describe Fear and Deprivation at Besieged Hospital in Gaza

A young Palestinian man awaiting medical attention at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City this month. Israel’s assault on the complex has been one of the longest hospital raids of the war.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israeli forces have launched “violent” ground and air attacks on Khan Younis and bombed homes in Rafah and Deir el-Balah, killing at least 14 Palestinians, according to media reports.

Palestinian Red Crescent says smoke bombs launched at the hospital to force staff, wounded and displaced individuals to evacuate.

Residents nearby described a relentless daily soundtrack of gunshots, airstrikes and explosions. A surgeon spoke of doctors and patients corralled in the emergency ward while Israeli forces took control of the complex outside. A Palestinian teenager who spent four days sheltering in the hospital described the bodies she saw piled up outside the entrance.

“They had put the bodies on the side and thrown blankets over them,” said Alaa Abu Al-Kaaf, 18, who said she and her family were at Al-Shifa for days before leaving on Thursday. It was not immediately clear when or how the bodies were brought there.

Interviews with other witnesses in the hospital, residents in or near the facility and the Gazan authorities in recent days, as well as with others who have left the complex over the past week, described a situation of fear and deprivation, interrogations and detentions of Palestinian men by Israeli forces, and a persistent lack of food and water.

The assault on Al-Shifa, one of Israel’s longest hospital raids of the war in Gaza, began on Monday with tanks, bulldozers and airstrikes. The military said it was aimed at senior officials of Hamas, the armed group that led an attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel began a war on Gaza in response to that assault, with intense aerial bombardments and a ground offensive.

A week after the raid on Al-Shifa began, communications with those living in and around the sprawling hospital complex have been almost entirely cut off. Many of the 30,000 Palestinians whom the Gaza Health Ministry said had been sheltering at Al-Shifa were displaced once again by the raid. The Gazan authorities said that at least 13 patients had died as a result of the raid because they were deprived of medicine and treatment, or when their ventilators stopped working after the Israelis cut the electricity. Those claims could not be verified. The Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that patients still in Al-Shifa were in critical condition, with maggots beginning to infect wounds. The director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, posted a report on social media on Friday from a doctor in Al-Shifa, as relayed by a colleague from the United Nations. Two patients on life support died because of a lack of electricity, and there were no medicines or basic medical supplies, he wrote. Many patients in critical condition were lying on the floor. In one building, 50 medical workers and more than 140 patients have been kept since the second day of the raid, with extremely limited food, water and one nonfunctional toilet, Dr. Tedros wrote.

“Health workers are worried about their own and their patients’ safety,” Dr. Tedros wrote. “These conditions are utterly inhumane. We call for an immediate end to the siege and appeal for safe access to ensure patients get the care they need.”

Dr. Tayseer al-Tanna, 54, a vascular surgeon, said he finally fled the Al-Shifa complex on Thursday after days of hearing gunfire outside the ward where he was positioned. Dr. Al-Tanna said Israeli forces had gathered doctors and patients in the complex’s emergency room while they swept the grounds outside.

“The Israeli military didn’t treat us violently,” Dr. Al-Tanna said. “But we had almost no food and water” during the incursion, he added.

He declined to comment on whether Palestinian fighters had fortified themselves in the medical complex.

The media office for the territory’s government, which is run by Hamas, said in a statement on Saturday that the Israeli military was threatening the medical staff and people sheltering inside to either leave the hospital — and risk being interrogated, tortured or executed — or the military would bomb and destroy the buildings over their heads. The media office said it was in touch with people inside the complex.

The Israeli military did not address specific questions about whether it had threatened people inside the medical complex. But on Saturday it said it was operating in the area of the hospital “while avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment.”

The military said it had killed more than 170 fighters in the area of the hospital and detained and questioned more than 800 people.

The New York Times could not verify either the Hamas or Israeli military accounts.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza as command centers and of concealing weapons in underground tunnels beneath them, a claim that the armed Palestinian group and hospital administrators have previously denied.

In a statement on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that Israeli forces were “besieging” two more hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, Al-Amal and Nasser.

The Israeli military was targeting Al-Amal with smoke bombs, and military vehicles were barricading the entrances of the compound, the Red Crescent said.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said an Israeli assault on Nasser Hospital had been “violent and bloody” and accused the military of trying to incapacitate all the hospitals in Gaza.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that it had started an operation in the Al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis overnight. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment further when asked whether Israeli troops were currently encircling Al-Amal and Nasser Hospitals.

In statements regarding the Al-Shifa raid, Hamas confirmed that its fighters were engaged in clashes with Israeli forces near the hospital. In one statement on Saturday, Hamas said members of its Qassam Brigades had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces near Al-Shifa.

Ms. Al-Kaaf and other Palestinians who have left the complex over the past week also described scenes in which groups of men were detained, stripped and questioned by Israeli soldiers. Women and children were separated from the men, Ms. Al-Kaaf said, and others — including members of the hospital’s medical staff, doctors and nurses — were kept in a large pit, sitting on the ground. Some were blindfolded and handcuffed.

The Israeli military said “individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity” were being detained and questioned in accordance with international law and released if “found not to be taking part in terrorist activities.” It added: “It is often necessary for terror suspects to hand over their clothes such that their clothes can be searched and to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry.”

For those in the al-Rimal neighborhood, which surrounds Al-Shifa, the siege on the hospital has trapped residents in their homes. Several said snipers had been shooting into the surrounding streets; residents were fearful they could be dragged from their homes by Israeli forces, stripped and interrogated, as they said dozens had been over the past week.

“The situation is really bad,” said Mohammed Haddad, 25, who lives about a half-mile from the hospital. “For more than five days, we haven’t been able to go out and move around. We haven’t been able to get water, get food. And it’s Ramadan,” he said, referring to the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Airstrikes and random cannon fire have hit multiple homes in the immediate neighborhood, demolishing them, Mr. Haddad said.

“There are snipers, shelling, surveillance drones and armed drones,” he added, the buzzing of a drone audible as he spoke on the phone.

Israeli forces appeared to be destroying the entire area, he said, “not just the hospital.”

Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

Raja Abdulrahim is a Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem covering the Levant. More about Raja Abdulrahim

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Russian MiG-31 fighter intercepts US bombers over Barents Sea

©Lev Fedoseyev/TASS

A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet was scrambled to intercept a pair of US strategic bombers approaching Russia’s state border over the Barents Sea, the Defense Ministry of Russia reported.

"On March 24, 2024, Russian airspace control capabilities spotted an aerial target over the Barents Sea approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. A MiG-31 fighter jet from air defense quick reaction alert forces was scrambled to identify the aerial target and prevent it from violating Russia’s state border," the ministry said. "The fighter’s crew identified the aerial targets as a pair of B-1B strategic bombers of the US Air Force, it said.

"As the Russian fighter approached it, the US bombers U-turn from the state border of the Russian Federation," it said, adding that the Russian aircraft safely returned to its home airbase, preventing the violation of Russia’s state border.

The Russian fighter jet strictly followed the international rules of using the airspace over neutral waters, complying with safety measures, the ministry added.

Russian Forces Carry Out Strike Against Ukrainian Energy Facilities

Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the progress of special military operation.

The Russian aerospace forces carried out high-precision missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian power facilities over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"Tonight, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched a group strike with long-range airborne precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against electric power facilities, gas production facilities, and assembly and testing sites for unmanned boats," the ministry said.

All of the targets were hit, the ministry added.

"As a result of the strike, the work of industrial enterprises for the production and repair of weapons, military equipment and ammunition was disorganized, and foreign military equipment and means of destruction transferred to Ukraine by NATO countries were destroyed," the ministry said.

At the same time, Russian air defense systems destroyed 172 Ukrainian drones, 11 Storm Shadow cruise missiles and three Neptun anti-ship missiles, as well as 22 multiple launch rocket system shells and other targets, the military said.

Russian Airstrikes on Kharkov Eradicate Roughly 30 Ukrainian Servicemen

Around 30 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in an attack by Russian forces on targets in the city of Kharkov, including the location of the Lyut assault brigade, Nikolaev underground network coordinator Sergei Lebedev told Sputnik.

"On March 23, there was a series of attacks on military facilities in Kharkov, which hit the dormitories of the Kharkov National University of Internal Affairs, known in Kharkov as the Interior Ministry's school Bandurki," Lebedev said.

Neo-nazis from various regiments resided in the dormitory and the university itself, Lebedev said, adding that it the presence of foreign servicepeople was being verified. On Saturday night, a sanatorium in the Herzen settlement in Kharkov, where Ukrainian soldiers were stationed, was also hit, Lebedev added.

"Kharkov residents say that there was a military camp in the sanatorium. Whether it was the Ukrainian armed forces or the national battalions is still unclear. What is known is that the military who were in the sanatorium had a lot of weapons and equipment. Our agents say that the number of deaths is approximately 30," Lebedev added.

Putin - 1999 NATO Bombing of Serbia is ‘Great Tragedy’ War Launched by West

©Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Go to the mediabank

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia a great tragedy, adding that the West, in fact, launched a war in Europe at that time.

In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army and police led to the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO forces, which started on March 24 and lasted for over two months. The Serbian authorities say that about 2,500 people, including 89 children, were killed and about 12,500 people were injured in the bombings. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the use of depleted uranium weapons caused an increase in the number of cancer patients in the country.

"A great tragedy. What the West has done is unacceptable. Without any resolution of the UN Security Council they started direct military actions, in fact, a war in the center of Europe," Putin said in an interview for a documentary that was broadcast by Russia's TV channel on Sunday, on the 25th anniversary of the start of the NATO bombing.

25 Years Since NATO Bombing of Sovereign Yugoslavia

The world learned that the US and NATO see the globe as their own playground where they do as they please a quarter of a century ago. On March 24, 1999, Western nations started bombing the city of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, under the far-fetched pretext of "protecting" Kosovars.

Despite the NATO bloc not having any mandate from the United Nations, Western countries saw no problem in carrying out the bombing.

Czech leader Vaclav Havel – who recently dragged his nation into NATO despite negative public opinion – coined the term of “humanitarian intervention” and penned an article where he justified Western aggression against the sovereign European state.

“The air attacks, the bombs, are not caused by a material interest. Their character is exclusively humanitarian: What is at stake here are the principles, human rights which have priority above state sovereignty," Havel wrote.

In reality, the bombing of Yugoslavia caused a humanitarian catastrophe with over one thousand killed and national infrastructure being damaged. The list of destroyed "military objects" included hospitals, schools and kindergartens. Yugoslavia collapsed as a nation into several states and the Balkans became a foothold for NATO forces.

Explore Sputnik’s infographic to learn about this aggression:

Suspects behind Moscow terrorist attack - What we know so far

©Telegram/Margarita Simonyan

Russia’s law enforcement and security services have detained a total of 11 suspects following Friday’s terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the outskirts of Moscow. The detainees include the four alleged perpetrators of the massacre that has claimed the lives of more than 130 and left over 150 injured, according to Russian domestic security service the FSB.

Details about the suspects’ identities and the circumstances of the attack are still emerging. According to the FSB, the assault was carefully planned and designed to maximize casualties. An investigation into the incident is underway. Here is what is known so far:

Detention

The four primary suspects were detained in the early hours of Saturday in Russia’s Bryansk Region, bordering Ukraine, an FSB statement said. The alleged perpetrators were traveling in a white Renault Symbol/Clio car they used to flee the scene, according to the 78.ru news media outlet.

Following a brief chase by Russian law enforcement officials, the suspects abandoned the car. One of them was detained at that scene while three others sought to hide in woods, prompting a large-scale manhunt, media are reporting.

Later, several videos showing the detention and interrogation of the alleged perpetrators surfaced online. Two of the videos were published by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, with another one released by journalist Aleksandr Kots. At least one suspect was injured during a standoff with law enforcement officers and was hospitalized, the Mash Telegram channel reported.

Russian officials have not commented on the information about the alleged hospitalization of one of the suspects. On Saturday, the FSB released a statement in which it said that a total of 11 people had been detained in connection with the incident, including four alleged attackers.

“The criminals intended to cross the Russia-Ukraine border and had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side,” it added, referring to the four primary suspects. The other seven detentions took place in Moscow and the Moscow region, according to Russian media.

Identity of the suspects

Russian law enforcement officials have not released any data on the names or nationalities of the eleven being held. The Russian Interior Ministry only confirmed that none of the primary suspects had Russian citizenship.

“The Interior Ministry’s migration department, together with our FSB colleagues, is carefully studying the grounds for stay and the length of stay on Russian territory for each of those detained,” ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said.

Footage of the questioning of the suspected perpetrators shows one of them speaking in broken Russian and another talking to officers through an interpreter. One of the suspects claimed he had been to Türkiye and had only come to Russia in early March. No information has been made public about the identities of their seven alleged accomplices.

Weapons and equipment

Footage taken at the scene and released by the Russian Investigative Committee shows that the attackers were armed with what appeared to be assault rifles and were equipped with a large number of ammunition rounds. At least one such weapon resembling an AK assault rifle can be seen in the clip, along with almost a dozen dispenser magazines still loaded with ammunition rounds.

Russia’s Lenta news outlet also reported that a Saiga hunting rifle had also been found at that scene. A Makarov handgun and one more dispenser magazine were also discovered in the suspects’ car during their detention in the Bryansk region, according to Russian media.

One of the suspects claimed during questioning that a weapons cache had been arranged for them by curators they did not know personally and only contacted via Telegram. A vehicle they’d used in the attack was also allegedly bought from one of the suspects’ relatives shortly before the terrorist act.

Motives

One of the suspects filmed during his interrogation by law enforcement officers claimed that he had committed the crime “for money.” The man stated he had been promised 500,000 rubles ($5,418) and had half of this transferred to his debit card before the attack.

The alleged perpetrator also said he had been “listening to sermons… by a preacher” on Telegram for some time before being approached by the supposed masterminds of Friday’s attack “around a month ago.” When further pressed about what he did in Crocus City Hall on Friday, the man said that he “shot down … people,” adding that he was just tasked with killing people and it “did not matter,” whom he would kill.

None of the suspects explicitly pledged allegiance to any extremist group during the questioning that was made public.

Possible masterminds

The Russian investigative authorities did not name any suspected organizers behind the attack. Neither have they signaled any links between the primary suspects and any extremist groups or outside forces, except for some Ukrainian “contacts” that were supposedly ready to aid them with crossing into Ukraine, according to the FSB.

Some Western media, including Reuters and CNN, reported that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist group also allegedly published a photo of the four suspects posing against the backdrop of an IS flag. The photo, which has since been shared by some media, shows four men wearing baseball caps with their faces covered. Moscow has not commented on the IS claims.

In this way, it can be said that the perpetrators conspired with some western media, because the western media knows the perpetrators, while there has been no official statement from the Russian authorities who made the arrests.

First interrogation of Moscow terrorist attack suspect

RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has posted a video clip of the interrogation of one of the suspected terrorists behind Friday’s shooting spree at Crocus City concert hall near Moscow. Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s FSB security service confirmed that eleven suspects, including four of the alleged perpetrators, had been detained in Bryansk Region, not far from the Ukrainian border.

The footage shows a bearded man lying on the ground and describing in broken Russian how he’d been paid to commit the terrorist attack.

The man says that before committing Friday’s atrocity, he had been to Türkiye. When asked what he did at the Crocus City concert venue on Friday evening, he replied: “I shot down... people.” The suspect added that he had committed the crime “for money,” detailing that he had been promised 500,000 rubles ($5,418).

The alleged perpetrator claimed that half the sum had already been transferred to his debit card.

The man also said that the curators, whom he supposedly does not know personally, had contacted him via Telegram messaging app, and arranged an arms cache for the assailants.

According to the suspect, he had been “listening to sermons… by a preacher” on Telegram for some time before being approached by the supposed masterminds of Friday’s attack “around a month ago.”

Shortly after publishing the first video clip, Simonyan posted more footage, in this instance depicting another suspected terrorist speaking through an interpreter.

The man describes how an acquaintance who he'd befriended on Telegram “ten to twelve days ago” had purchased a car, presumably with a view to using it as a taxi.

The terrorist attack, which, according to estimates, has left 133 dead and over 120 injured, occurred on Friday evening at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, on the western outskirts of the Russian capital. The concert venue, with an estimated capacity of 7,500, was nearly full when the terrorists burst into the building.

After gunning down dozens of fleeing patrons, the assailants then set fire to rows of chairs inside the hall. The blaze quickly engulfed much of the building, including its roof.

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