- 21 Oct 2016 14:56
#14728272
History matters, Rugoz. After all, it's what produced the present. The Philippines was brutally invaded by the USA and became a colony of the new American empire. In the aftermath of WWII, the USA could no longer keep the Philippines as an occupied colony, and it became a client state instead. It had its 'independence', but it was independence in name only - the Americans kept a military presence on the Philippines and intimidated or bribed the 'leaders' of the Philippines into obedience to their will. The end of the Cold War diminished the strategic importance of the Philippines, but it has still taken several decades for a political leader who actually possesses a spine to stand up to the Americans and order them out once and for all. This was made possible, of course, by the recent rise of China as a regional and global power.
I repeat: history happened, and history matters. How can you understand the present if you are ignorant of the past?
You realize we're talking about the Philippines today and not back in 1899?
History matters, Rugoz. After all, it's what produced the present. The Philippines was brutally invaded by the USA and became a colony of the new American empire. In the aftermath of WWII, the USA could no longer keep the Philippines as an occupied colony, and it became a client state instead. It had its 'independence', but it was independence in name only - the Americans kept a military presence on the Philippines and intimidated or bribed the 'leaders' of the Philippines into obedience to their will. The end of the Cold War diminished the strategic importance of the Philippines, but it has still taken several decades for a political leader who actually possesses a spine to stand up to the Americans and order them out once and for all. This was made possible, of course, by the recent rise of China as a regional and global power.
I repeat: history happened, and history matters. How can you understand the present if you are ignorant of the past?
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Marx (Groucho)