The NY Times published an editorial titled ”President Duterte, the Wild Card in U.S.-Filipino Relations” about the "volatile" leader. The Editorial Board is aiming for a wide audience with little to moderate knowledge about the current Philippines-U.S. relations. Their knowledge on the subject seems to be inclusive of the latest information, and they provide thoughtful insight into the outcome of the current situations. The article argues that President Duterte is "determined to shake up Filipino foreign policy as well as domestic policy." It provides a comparison to candidate Donald Trump, using adjectives such as "vulgar" and "bullying". It goes on to describe the relations we have with the Asian countries, determining a clear degradation due to Duterte’s threats and human rights violations, as well as his presumed alliances with China and Russia. The editorial board concludes with the hope that the Filipino leader will calm down with his threats, acknowledging that lots of people can get hurt until he does.
The commentary is interestingly including references to the controversial presidential candidate without acknowledging the influence of the elected president if the issue makes any more progress. While I agree with the article’s concentration on the severity of the ultimatum posed by Duterte, I am surprised by the lack of focus on the bigger picture. It seems that the situation is presented by the article as less important than it really is. While the Philippines is busy committing human right abuses, and circumventing the justice system altogether, they are more concerned with comparing the presidential candidate to the Filipino leader with no clear goal other than shining a bad light on Trump. This issue should be instead taken more seriously, and references to US policy should be used to explain future consequences, and how they will interfere with the current world events.
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