Phone Calls!

So Donald Trump called the President of China last week, spoke to him.  Outrageous!

He called Putin!  Scandalous.

He called the Philippine President!   Oh My God.  What has he done!

He spoke to the President of Taiwan!

Liberals are going bat-shit crazy.  They are out of their minds!

My prediction - we will develop a better relationship with Russia than any re-set button accomplished, than any diplomacy by the Secretary of State ever accomplished.  We will have a better relationship with the Philippines (no more son of a bitch comments).  The Chinese will, respect us.  And we will stop pretending about so many things in the world.  Refreshing.

On January 21, 2009, at approximately 12:45-1:00 pm, Barack Hussein Obama made his first phone call as President of the United States.  In the decades past, that phone call had ALWAYS AND EVERY SINGLE TIME been to the Prime Minister of Canada.  Mr. Obama changed all that.  I am sure he consulted with the State Department as has become such an issue, and suggestion to Trump, recently, given that Trump did not ... Obama called ... the leader of the Fatah political party in the West Bank - Mahmoud Abbas.


Yep.

So, liberals, go bat-shit crazy over this, just remember ... Obama had 8 years of phone calls, and none of his foreign policy has worked out well.

The books will be written and will not all be kind.

It looks like Abbas / Palestinians are the last piece of foreign policy Obama works on as he leaves the White House.  Interesting.

Bat-shit crazy.  Off you go.

The Philippines: Another One of those Nations We are Supposed to Pay Attention to.

Prime suspect in Philippine massacre surrenders



By AARON FAVILA and JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writers
November 25, 2009


AMPATUAN, Philippines – A scion of a powerful clan suspected in the massacre of 57 people in an election caravan in the southern Philippines turned himself in Wednesday amid mounting pressure on the government to crack down on lawlessness and warlords.

The dead from Monday's massacre include the wife, family and dozens of journalists and supporters of a gubernatorial candidate who wanted to challenge the rival Ampatuan clan, which has ruled Maguindanao province unopposed for years.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., a town mayor who allegedly stopped the convoy with dozens of police and pro-government militiamen, surrendered to presidential adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak, said military commander Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer.

He boarded a military helicopter to a nearby city, from where he will be flown to the capital, Manila, for investigation, Ferrer said.

"The family voluntarily surrendered him and they agreed that he will be investigated," he said.

Ampatuan's family denied the allegations of his involvement in the slayings.

The military deployed tanks and truckloads of troops throughout the province under a state of emergency to hunt down the attackers and prevent retaliatory violence from the victims' clan.

Police and soldiers on Wednesday found 11 more bodies at the site of the attack, bringing the death toll to 57. Six of the bodies were discovered in a large pit buried alongside three vehicles, and five were found in a mass grave a few miles (kilometers) off the main highway.

The vehicles — a sedan and two vans — were crushed by a large backhoe that ran over and buried them, investigator Jose Garcia said.

Ampatuan's surrender followed days of negotiations between his family and Dureza, apparently in a bid to prevent hostilities between the clan's followers and government forces.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he had warned the Ampatuan family they risked a military attack unless they turned over Ampatuan Jr. by midday Thursday.

Ferrer said the area around the provincial capital was tense after troops disarmed about 350 pro-government militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans. The militia is meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as a politician's private army.

The clan, which has ruled the province since 2001, helped President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes.

Arroyo came under intense pressure at home and abroad to seek justice for the victims of the massacre, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and media and human rights watchdogs voicing their concern over the scale of the killings.

The vice Mayor of Buluan township, Ismael Mangudadatu, after receiving death threats, sent his wife and relatives to submit his candidacy Monday when the convoy, including at least 18 journalists, was ambushed.

Mangudadatu said four people whom he refused to identify told him Ampatuan Jr. was seen with the gunmen.

Five police officers, including one provincial police chief, were relieved of duty and will be brought to Manila to face the investigation together with Ampatuan Jr., Ferrer said.

Arroyo vowed justice for the victims and declared a national day of mourning.

"This is a supreme act of inhumanity that is a blight on our nation," she said in a statement. "The perpetrators will not escape justice. The law will haunt them until they are caught."

Few think she will be able to restore the rule of law in the impoverished region that has been outside the central government's reach for generations, and where warlords backed by private armies go by their own rules. Maguindanao's acting governor is Sajid Ampatuan, another son of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan's patriarch.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the administration's relationship with the family would hinder an impartial investigation. Arroyo's ruling party, in an emergency meeting late Wednesday, expelled Ampatuan Sr. and his two sons.

Among the 18 dead journalists — the highest number of reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world — was Alejandro "Bong" Reblando, 53, a former Associated Press stringer. He was the most senior in the group of reporters. Reblando, who was based in General Santos City, was a staffer for the Manila Bulletin daily newspaper.

He covered the southern Philippines for the AP from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, reporting on the Muslim separatist insurgency as well as local politics.

He is survived by his wife and seven children.

***************************************

It is what is not written that makes this story more interesting.

Otherwise you simply regard it as a family of murderers without details you should have to make a full and reasonable observation of the facts.



So I looked up: Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. on the Philipine wikipedia:  
    http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Andal_Ampatuan



I saw a couple sentences of some interest:
1) Andal Ampatuan Sr. and son Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan ordered the massacre ….


2) The honorable Datu Ampatuan is a prominent citizen of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).




So I clicked on the ARMM link:  This family is a powerful Muslim family in the area, an area the government has not had control over for generations, having its own government. 

Yet we get none of that from the AP or Reuters stories. 

Why?  It IS relevant.






 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 
Islam

The Philippines: One of the Worst Massacres

I completely understand now - the US should treat every nation the same, whether they behead people in the jungles or the town square, whether they hang gays from cranes and bridges, or simply shoot them in the streets.  We should sit down and talk to every nation whether or not they engage in human slavery, the trafficking of children, the kidnappings of innocents, the murder of opposition ... I understand, we are all equal.



At least 30 killed in 'gruesome massacre of civilians' in the Philippines

The victims -- many of them beheaded -- include 13 women, one of whom was an official's wife carrying papers to nominate him for governor.



By Al Jacinto and John M. Glionna
November 23, 2009
The Los Angeles Times



Reporting from Seoul and Zamboanga City, Philippines -- Authorities discovered the bodies of at least 30 people who had been kidnapped early today in the southern Philippines and called the incident politically motivated slaughter.

The victims -- at least 13 of them women -- reportedly included a dozen journalists as well as lawyers and a woman who had planned to file her husband's nomination for elections next year.

Many victims had been beheaded and buried, authorities said.

"This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequaled in recent history," said Jesus Dureza, a Maguindanao province official. "There must be a total stop to this senseless violence and carnage."

The convoy of political activists was hijacked by an estimated 100 gunmen as they rode in several vans near the town of Ampatuan, said Army Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division. Ampatuan is a city in Maguindanao province, on the island of Mindanao.

The bodies were later found about three miles away. Philippine military troops were searching for at least a dozen more victims who also had been among the group.

"Many of them [were] beheaded, including probably journalists," Ponce said. "Troops are in the area and tracking down those responsible in these killings."

The group included the wife of Buluan township Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu, along with his two sisters, supporters and local journalists.

Officials say they were en route to nearby Shariff Aguak township to file Mangudadatu's nomination papers for the position of governor of Maguindanao province.

In a statement, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo condemned the violence.

"Civilized society has no place for this kind of violence," she said. "No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable to the full limit of the law." Eid Kabalu, a leader of the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, called the attacks "gruesome."

"What we learned is that at least 41 people were seized in Ampatuan town," he said, "and many of these were reported killed, including women."



Late today, the Philippines National Press Club criticized what officials called the withholding of information by authorities on the fate of the journalists.



"We were shocked and grieved to hear what happened to our colleagues," said club President Benny Antiporda.



He said the group would hold a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening at the headquarters of the National Police and the Armed Forces to protest what he suggested was government stonewalling.



"We appeal to the police, the military, the public officials to forget their friendships and other relationships with others and give priority to the search for justice for our brothers," Antiporda said.



Human-rights activists said they believed a dozen journalists had been killed. "The Philippines is a very dangerous place for reporters, especially in the south," said Vincent Brossel, head of the Asia desk for the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.



"There is a large culture of violence, nepotism and impunity to law and order," Brossel said. "There are influential rich and powerful people who do whatever they want. But if this number is confirmed, it will be the biggest slaughter in this country in many years."



Philippines deputy presidential advisor Lorelei Fajardo said authorities "should immediately identify whoever are responsible for this, in order for the government to show the people that we will not allow this kind of violence."

Elections in the Philippines are traditionally violent, especially in the southern provinces.

On May 14, more than 45 million Filipinos will go to the polls to choose among 87,000 candidates vying for 17,000 national and local positions -- including 268 House seats and half of the 24 currently seated in the country's Senate.

Mindanao is home to numerous armed groups, including Muslim rebels fighting for self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, and political warlords and gangs who wage war against one another.

Col. Romeo Brawner, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said authorities were still identifying the dead using identification cards and other documents found at the scene.

Troops have been sent to the scene to prevent retaliation.

"We launched rescue operations at 11:30 this morning," he said. "Unfortunately, it turned out to be a recovery operation."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
murder