Thursday, December 6, 2018

Foreign Digest: Updates on Venezuela, Russia and the Philippines


Venezuela
            There were more protests against the tyrannical Socialist Venezuelan regime late last month.  Meanwhile, the United States Department of State is reportedly considering listing Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism, something I called for in a post to this blog from February of 2012, Designate Venezuela a State Sponsor of Terrorism, http://williamcinfici.blogspot.com/2012/02/designate-venezuela-state-sponsor-of.html.

Russia
            Russian Federation warships attacked Ukrainian naval boats last week in international waters in the Kerch Strait in an unprovoked attack in which the Russian naval forces fired shots at the Ukrainian vessels and rammed one of them, capturing the Ukrainian boats and their crew and refusing to release them.  Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, in violation of a treaty between the two former Soviet Republics in which Russia agreed to recognize Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea, where Russia was permitted to retain a naval base.  The Kerch strait, which leads from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, is between Russian and Crimea.  The tyrannical regime of Vladimir Putin also militarily backs Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.  Over ten thousand Ukrainians have been killed in the Russian-led war.

Philippines
           The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, the “Filipino Trump,” has threatened critics, including Catholic Bishops, of his overt policy of encouraging Filipinos to kill suspected drug dealers.  Thousands of Filipinos have been murdered without trial.  Donald Trump, the pretender to the American presidency, praised Duterte for his policy.  Duterte has admitted to the “sin of extrajudicial killings.”

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