Foreign Digest: Syria, the Philippines, Russia, the Czech Republic and Taiwan

Syria: The decade-long Syrian civil war has claimed over a half million lives, as the Syrian people have rebelled against the tyrannical Baathist regime of Bashar Assad. The terrorist sponsor is backed by Iran, Hezbollah (the Lebanese Shi’ite Iranian-backed terrorists) and Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation. Neighboring Turkey and Israel have been drawn into the conflict, at times. The United States led an international coalition of Western and Arab and other Muslim Sates against Islamic State terrorists based in Syria and Iraq, only striking Assad’s forces once for using chemical weapons of mass destruction. The IS is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorists responsible for the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, the bloodiest in history. The U.S. announced last week that it is keeping a contingent of troops in Syria against IS. As I posted recently, the Americans struck some al-Qaeda leaders in Syria. Philippines and Russia: The Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte, who is constitutionally limited to one term, is not seeking election as Vice President. However, he supports his daughter’s candidacy for president. Duterte, known as the “Filipino Trump,” is under an International Criminal Court Investigation for his policy of encouraging the public to murder suspected drug dealers. The gross human rights violation won him public praise from the authoritarian-admiring Trump while the latter was in office. Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Filipino and a Russian journalist who both use the freedom of the press to expose corruption and oppression, which is especially challenging in Russia under tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. Czech Republic: The populist party of the Czech President did not gain the most votes and thus seats in the Parliament, losing to a center-right coalition that won a narrow plurality. The ruling party is anti-migrant and somewhat ambivalent between being pro-European and pro-European Union or Russophile. Its mix of left-wing and far-right populist policies lead some observers to characterize it as centrist, but such a label would make it seem moderate. There have been protests against the President over allegations of corruption and concerns about authoritarianism. The election results suggest, as have others elsewhere, that there is political space for the center-right versus the far-right, without adopting a leftish platform. Taiwan (the Republic of China): The United States has reportedly maintained a small military force since last year on Taiwan, the Republic of China, in the face of increased assertiveness by Communist China. The former Chinese republican government fled to Taiwan and the offshore island groups of Quemoy and Matsu in 1949, following the Chinese Civil War, in which the Communists took over China. Taiwan, where the Chinese republicans set up a national government, is a free, representative republic. The U.S. ended its recognition of the Republic of China on Taiwan in 1979, but pledged by treaty to provide for its defense and maintains commercial ties to the prosperous free State. It has quasi-diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. The Holy See and over a dozen States around the world also recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China. Communist China, which bombed Quemoy and Matsu in the 1950s, objects to any formal diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and even the participation by Taiwan in certain international organizations and has repeatedly been threatening to conquer it. It has increasingly been repeating its threats and has been making incursions into Taiwan’s airspace with warplanes. The American presence will not only help Taiwan defend against Chinese aggression, but perhaps deter Communist China.