The war in Ukraine isn’t just being fought with tanks and missiles, it’s now playing out in political offices and behind closed doors. In a tense moment, Donald Trump reportedly clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, raising serious questions about America’s future support for Ukraine. European leaders are scrambling to figure out their next move,…
WASHINGTON – The Trade War Returns The United States has reignited major trade conflicts with its three largest trading partners after President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China took effect early Tuesday. The measures, which impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods and double existing duties on…
“Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” – Lord Palmerston The waves of the Pacific have carried many alliances, but few are as deeply woven into history as the ties between the United States and the Philippines. It’s a bond forged in war, shaped by geopolitics, and strengthened by shared…
On a quiet morning in the South China Sea, a Philippine patrol vessel detected an incoming object, fast, low-flying, and headed straight for its position. Within seconds, alarms blare. The ship scrambles to respond, but in this simulated drill, it’s already too late. Manila is rushing to improve its missile capabilities for just this reason….
In 1992, the last American warship left Subic Bay, marking the end of an era. Filipinos celebrated the departure, believing they had reclaimed their sovereignty. But little did they know that three decades later, the ghosts of the past would return, not in the form of American warships, but in the shadows of a rising…
The Day America Woke Up to a Nightmare It started with a whisper—then a bombshell. A cold morning in Washington, D.C., the President sat frozen as intelligence briefed him: “Sir, Mexico and Canada have signed a joint military and economic pact with China.” The room fell silent. The two neighbors, America’s closest allies for centuries,…
If the South China Sea is a chessboard of contested power, then the Bashi Channel is the game’s most unpredictable opening move. This narrow waterway between Taiwan and the Philippines may seem like just another maritime passage, but in reality, it mirrors the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East or…
“We’re seeing an increasingly tough surrounding security environment, and that there is a need for the two nations, strategically aligned, to strengthen their defense cooperation and collaboration to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in a top-level meeting in Manila. In a breakthrough, Tokyo and Manila have agreed…
A New Dawn for the Philippines For three long years, the Philippines stood under the watchful eye of global financial regulators, burdened by its presence on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) infamous ‘grey list.’ Investors hesitated, financial institutions proceeded with caution, and the nation’s reputation hung in the balance. But now, in a move…
The hum of the Philippine fisheries aircraft filled the cockpit as it approached Scarborough Shoal on a routine patrol. Below, the turquoise waters stretched endlessly, concealing both abundant marine life and geopolitical tensions simmering just beneath the surface. The pilot, scanning the horizon, suddenly caught sight of an approaching silhouette—fast, menacing, unmistakably military. Within moments,…
