ASIA: India, China, and the United States.

Response to Facebook posts by friends. 

FB Friend: President Bongbong Marcos is due to visit India, a rising power in the region and a huge market of more than 1 billion people. India can be a natural ally, like the U.S. and Japan because of its conflict with China

ME: Other than the media drama that U.S. journalism narrates, I don't think India has conflicts with its BRICS partner China. But the Philippines can trade with both giants and the U.S. sans intrigues. Just do business. The Philippines' relatively fine 5+ percent economic growth will carry on if Manila doesn't contaminate its trade relations with political asides.

FB Friend: India and China have border disputes in the Himalayas and occasionally exchanged artillery. India resented Chinese Navy presence in the Indian Ocean through a base and presence in rival Pakistan. China does not welcome Indian Navy presence in the South China Sea, criticizing naval drills with the Philippines. 

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ME: These border disputes date back years, mostly rooted in British colonial era demarcations: 1962 Sino-Indian War, 1967 Nathu La and Cho La, 1987 Sumdorong Chu standoff etc etcetera. Even dating back to the Opium Wars of the 17th century or when the British meddled in the region via the British East Indian Company. There was a quarrel in 2020-2021. Yet, at least from the time both countries forged a trade alliance via BRIC in 2001 (with Brazil and Russia), growth in diplomatic and economic influence has increased the significance of their bilateral relationship. Between 2008 and 2021, China has been India's largest trading partner, and the two countries have also extended their strategic and military relations. But true animosities happen but unless the West meddles and trouble-mongers, these guys stay relatively cool.

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Note that Mr Trump shuffles Washington's hawkish girth via slick trade pitch: He sold arms in the Middle East as he forges peace and de-escalated the Iran/Israel tempest, sold arms to EU/NATO instead of sending what US Congress last approved in Ukraine aid last year, and of course, he sent his Defense chief Pete Hegseth to sell arms in Asia. (Japan was an early taker, hence PM Ishiba's party lost.) What I see in this rehashed (military) brinkmanship is more arms sales. With or without wars, or during little wars, arms are sold. Meanwhile, why not try to create a fissure between China and India? Trump is amidst trade negotiations with China as he plans to visit Beijing by the end of the year, possibly for a second trade pact with Xi Jinping. 

       So he looks at India as a variation in his chess game; he can also look at Indonesia, actually. But I don't think China and India are that dumb not to know about the rabble-rouse. Indonesia is also BRICS). Sure, these giants can always parade their military machismo; that's always been the case in the South China Sea in the advent of China. But the shudder didn't explode as what normally happens in and around the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf. ☮️☮️☮️

Ukraine War. President Trump and the European Union.

Response/s to a Facebook chat on the subject of Mr Trump “losing” the war.

FOR now, I believe, the real battle is between Mr Trump and the EU or European powers in NATO. A continuing war means the EU's recent pledge to increase their share of NATO funding (esp. Germany's 16 percent or more) will be tested.

       Or The D's decision to resume sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine (after Russia stepped up strikes) would be via NATO. Germany, France, UK et al will have to foot most of the bill. POTUS previously held or delayed arms aid to Kyiv as he resumed talks with Vladimir Putin. 

       Of course, Don's negotiations with Vlad were rendered useless after Europe decided to keep on sending weapons to Volodymyr Zelensky; the EU opted to keep the war raging. ☮️☮️☮️

LAST year or during Joe Biden's time, the U.S. Congress appropriated a new $174 billion aid to Ukraine; the House approved $61 billion. So this means that this money will only be partially sent or not at all since Mr Trump has urged NATO to take full/more responsibility this time. Of course, the military alliance was active since the war started in February 2022 but it was the U.S. or President Biden taking the lead.

       So the chess game is now within the West. Anyhow, the question here, as President Trump's dove gasps, is whether NATO or EU back down from sending more arms to Ukraine (regardless that they increased their share of NATO budget per POTUS prodding). An end to the war serves Mr Trump's playbook. That'd mean he can resume his trade talks with Kyiv. 

No more war means an election happens in Ukraine. Which also means “Goodbye, Zelensky!” So would Z refuse EU's aid? Nope. He wants to stay. But the Ukrainian people already suffered so much. They are the real ones who "lost." 

       And why would Donald Trump be the POTUS who lost this war when he only inherited it from Joe Biden? Even if Donald is able to end this war, he didn't win--he just ended it. Already, the people lost. Not just the Ukrainians and Russians, but also American taxpayers who had to watch U.S. money get wasted in wars instead of funding gut-level imperatives such as FEMA. 

       FEMA had a budget deficit of $7.4 billion in 2024; The D lowered it to $2.9 billion. Still, that is huge money. You see, Mr Biden's government has handed Z billions$ since 2022 (apart from aid during the 2014 revolution) yet FEMA stayed bankrupt. 

       Oh well.

       The other issue: If Mr Trump disregards what Congress decided last year (new aid to Ukraine(, expect another impeachment move. With Israel, it's "easier." Whether there is an Israel war or not, Tel Aviv will still get the annual $3+ billion military aid from the US. For Z, "no war = no more aid." ☮️☮️☮️

Immigration. Migrants. And the in-betweens.

Previously posted on my Facebook page. 

JOE Biden erased the The Mérida Initiative right after he sat in White House in 2021. Formed in 2007, the program was a security cooperation agreement between the United States, Mexico, and other countries of Central America aimed at combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime etcetera. In 2021, the number of illegal migrants in the U.S. was 11.2 million; by the end of 2024, the figure soared to 14 million to 15.8 million. No brainer? 

OTHER THOUGHTS. Wild and whacked ICE/anti-Trump memes flood my Homepage. Ponder these: Record number of crossings from 2021 to 2024 weakened the U.S. southern border. So sending them back is no brainer. Could be record numbers, too. So far Mr Trump has deported 140,000. In the first years of Mr Obama, deportations averaged 400,000 a year. Yet border breaches then weren’t as high as recent years. But did people howl this much? Nope. 

       There are 14.8 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Many are quietly “working” under the table. America let them be. They work in farms, factories, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and as househelps. They could be the landscaper, roofer, or tree cutter that you just hired. They don’t commit crimes like they sold fentanyls, burned a car in a rally, or trafficked children. They are NOT the objects of President Trump’s deportation. 

       When deportations abound in Barack Obama’s first four years (400,000 average) or in Joe Biden’s last year, almost 300,000, we didn’t see the Left screaming like they do now. True, ICE raids businesses with illegal migrants but that is not new. Yet despite those removals, many are untouched. Repeat: There are 14.8 million undocumented people in the U.S. This: 70 percent of U.S. farmworkers are illegals. Deport them? No way. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

INITIAL THOUGHTS. U.S. Hits Iran’s Suspected Nuclear Arms Sites.

Response to Facebook Chats: “The U.S. is at war!” 

THE truth is, the U.S. is never being "at war." Proxy wars, actual participation, invasion, and stuff. The Afghanistan war was U.S. vs the Taliban. The Ukraine war from Feb 2022 is U.S. war vs. Russia. U.S. arms have been used for Israel's war with everybody in the Middle East since 1948. And remember, in Trump I, he dropped MOABs in Afghanistan and Syria (2017) then he took out Islamic State's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (2019) and Qasem Soleimani (2020).

The media didn't declare those as "the U.S. joined the war." Difference with Trump with other POTUSes is he tries to balance Washington's traditional or historical hawkish foreign policy with his trade talks and obvious thumbs-down of NATO and he's not so hot with military aid unlike the other prez’es. 

       But the cold fact remains: No U.S. president ever ignored the hawks of Washington who stay as the strongest power in America. Then they were pretty much Republicans; these days, many Democrats joined them to uphold America's military brinkmanship. The closest POTUS that we'd say is anti-war or pro-peace (besides Trump) is Jimmy Carter. But Jimmy armed the muhajideen and started the long Afghanistan war, which Barack Obama heightened with more military aid and the installation of a U.S.-educated prez (Ashraf Ghani). Mr Obama also upgraded U.S. military aid to Israel in 2016. BTW, Mr Carter also upped the anti-war rage in Iran in the 1970s by coddling the fallen dictator Shah Pahlavi. Of course both Jimmy and Barack got the Nobel Prize for Peace. 

       Anyways, I hope that this Israel/Iran war ends per U.S. strikes at the latter's alleged nuke weaponry plants. (Hey, 9 countries--including the US and Israel--have their own warheads or nuclear weapons. But those can't be touched?) If this is 2016, things would have been different per Iran. 

       Iran is now a member of BRICS, had normalized relations with Saudi Arabia, and Tehran's top trade partner is now China. Iran's friend Syria has also rejoined the Arab League. Also, expect the hardliners of Iran to pump up Hamas, Houthis and Hezbollah. Hoping though, with China's intercession, this war will not escalate. Or Trump totally loses his leverage with his trade talks with China as he wastes his other economic deals with Saudi Arabia et al as well as his trade projects in the new post-Assad Syria. Bibi? He is nothing but the bogeyman and he just put his people in more danger. ☮️☮️☮️

The Undocumented as a Taxpayer?

Responses to Facebook chats.

TRUE, the "undocumented" paying taxes is a fact but that requires a longer discussion than a meme. (Memes simplify, trivialize, or distort facts, mostly.) 

       The migrants: <>Those who cross the border and go straight to a farm or factory, a set-up that is mostly arranged by business owners and coyotes. These migrants (many are kids) are maybe paid $2 to $4 a week but fed via rations and housed in trailer homes (12 in a trailer for 4). 

       <>Those who get here sans cartel/human smuggling facilitation or those who escaped from them--to join kin here who are legal or were taken in by nonprofits or churches which provide them shelter and paralegal aid somehow are entered into the system, declared to DOJ or ICE but with lawyers. Most are not arrested because their relatives or church foster or accept them. 

       The latter “pay” taxes if they stay and work while awaiting legal status or some kind of paper. Yet there are those who are maintained and "kept" by human smugglers and drug cartels somewhere and used for the obvious. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

THE real discussion here are federal benefits. The undocumented don't really get any regardless although via intricate procedures, they pay taxes, including from buying stuff at Walmart. Yet, for example, when calamities hit, they are mostly not counted, they are ghosts or too scared to show up. 

       Discussion of the undocumented isn't this simple though. There are also millions of "visa overstays" who are more active in other workplaces, pay taxes (mostly via "fake" Green Card or SS number) but don't get benefits or paid the deserved pay. 

       And they couldn't visit home or country of origin because they can't. Many have been here for decades. This truth or fact of “visa overstays” has been going on in the U.S. for many, many years. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

IT is sad that the (new) Left is talking about these migrant deportations now as President Trump sends back thousands that Joe Biden let in in record numbers, from 2021 to 2024. The asylum program has been bankrupt for years.   

       Mr Biden erased the Merida Initiative in 2021 which cut funding in law enforcement in Central America. The D of course is set to break Barack Obama's 4-year record of the most deportations. Of course! 

       Meanwhile, Europe is also facing a similar migrant problem since the creation of the Schengen Area in the 1990s. Laxity in their borders paved the way for a migrant crisis that they haven't solved yet as human smugglers continually took advantage big time. Etc etcetera. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

FEMA and President Trump. And Stuff. Or the subject of The D allegedly “canceling” relief aid funding.

Responses to Facebook chats.

LAST year FEMA experienced a significant backlog in processing disaster declarations. The total amount of backlog was $9 billion or more. Also in 2024, the U.S. allocated $66.9 billion to Ukraine (figure out how much was military aid, and add those from Feb 2022). To Israel's war, between 2023 and 2024: $17.9 billion. This: The cost of each F16 fighter jet sent to wars in Joe Biden's time? $25 million to $70 million. 

       Three days ago, after shuffling money from elsewhere, Mr Trump approved the release of FEMA funds to 8 states. Repeat: Budget deficit last year was $9 billion. A report says he "canceled" FEMA funding in some communities. Nope. 

       Reorganizing, reviewing, and redirecting funding or even delaying them is NOT “canceling” as Left-wing media narrates it. Meanwhile, there is still huge-ass money allotted for Ukraine and Israel signed by Congress that can't just be erased, especially the $38 billion 10-year upgraded arms aid to Israel that Barack Obama signed in 2016. When we say Israel, we talk of the powerful Israel Lobby or AIPAC in Washington. Etc etcetera. 

       We were hardly hit by Hurricane Helene here in Asheville but WNC isn't as poor as calamity hit Mississippi or Oklahoma, which had to be prioritized--as Mr Trump continues to work on ending wars and striking trade deals. 

       How's Asheville? How am I supposed to compare post-typhoon Philippines (or Mississippi, the U.S. poorest) with post-hurricane Asheville, which is upper middle class? Downtown bars are again filled with beer bitches. 🏛🗽🏛

Dictatorship in America? Nope! Not Even Close.

Responses to Facebook chats. 

MOST of the people who migrate to America are not really running from oppression but poverty. Or they seek better financial opportunities yet they have a fairly livable life back home. Meanwhile, those who moved to America due to dictatorship back home define the word "dictatorship" or oppression in a totally different way than how those who hate Donald Trump define it. 

       I survived a dictatorship myself. 20 years. The years of my most active life as journalist and editor and Left-wing activist and community organizer. Oppression? President Trump as dictator? Not even close. 

       I am hardly a Right-winger. Yet I get offended when I am told that these days are “oppressed days” or dictatorship days by virtue of Mr Trump's leadership mojo. In fact, I feel people are trivializing what we migrants actually lived through where we came from. 

       

THE only time or years that I felt some economic hardship in the U.S. was in 2008 when I moved to California (from Asheville) to seek help from my family and get (again) a real job as an editor of an Asian newspaper in L.A. (Then I returned to Asheville in 2009 fall.) Yet what I covered in those two years of "recession" in the West Coast wasn't what economic pain was in Asia in the 1990s when the currency crisis hit (caused by an American billionaire). One reason why I flew to New York City from Manila. 

       These days in America? Oppression? I will tell anyone what is real police brutality to EJK, wholesale government corruption, rape by public officials, people living in dumpsites, activists’ dead bodies dumped in a murky river etc etcetera. 

       Oppression under The D because of what? People lost a job due to a change of leadership? Has the cost of Folger's has doubled? Oh well. When I think of hardship, I imagine those people in countries where Washington hands weapons to or military aid so wars continue instead of a POTUS working ways to influence ceasefires and end of war. 

       Those people are oppressed as in hell. But the New Left doesn't see those agony. They see themselves in front of the mirror on a Netflix break and realize they couldn't buy a new, more awesome mirror today or flat screen TV because cost has doubled? Blame Trump then and define that as oppression? 🏛🗽🏛

I AM Asian. Most of us don't whine about the little struggles. We actually laugh at our tragedies. Yet we are the most educated racial grouping in the U.S. and highest earners per household. Why? Figure it out. 🏛🗽🏛