An Alternate History Idea: What if Canada Went to War with the Philippines 🇨🇦🇵🇭
Foreword:
This was originally written on April 25, 2021. The oldest post that I've had on here so far. I wrote this when Rodrigo Duterte was still the president of the Philippines 🇵🇭, and I was inspired to write it after I saw a video by Canadian YouTube cultural and political commentator 🇨🇦, JJ McCullough where he talked about how Duterte threatened to go to war with Canada 🇨🇦 if they refused to stop sending their recyclables ♻️ over to the Philippines 🇵🇭. I don't watch JJ anymore, mostly because of his awful Frutiger Aero video which I hated. That video was so bad that it completely turned me off to him as a YouTuber and I never wanted to watch his stuff ever again. You can read my response to his video on Frutiger Aero and Gen Z nostalgia overall here. But, his video where he mentioned Duterte's bluster and saber-rattling about Canada 🇨🇦 was one of his good ones.
The whole video was about recycling ♻️ and recyclables ♻️ and how the whole thing is a scam and no one should take part in it. Mainly because the supposed "recyclables ♻️" don't actually get recycled ♻️ and just end up as trash in other countries, mainly Asian ones. That's what the whole dispute between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 was about, and why Duterte threatened to go to war with them because the Filipinos 🇵🇭 didn't want to have to deal with all of Canada 🇨🇦's recycled junk ♻️ that isn't actually getting recycled ♻️ and is just being dumped into landfills essentially in the Philippines 🇵🇭. Luckily, the two countries didn't go to war over recycling disputes ♻️, and the whole thing was resolved peacefully with the Canadians 🇨🇦 agreeing to stop sending their so-called "recyclables ♻️" to the Philippines 🇵🇭, where they just end up as trash in landfills that the Filipinos 🇵🇭 have to clean up.
There have been other videos since JJ's that talk about why recycling ♻️ is actually bad and why it doesn't actually do anything, and doesn't help the environment at all since nothing is actually being recycled ♻️ or repurposed. It's all a lie. Such as the fact that the loudest voices pushing recycling ♻️ are in the fossil fuel industry, and how the fossil fuel industry is really trying to push recycling ♻️ onto the public and convince them it'll help the environment just so that they can produce more plastics. Because in case you didn't know, plastics are made from petroleum.
So, any move to limit the amount of plastics being made, or advocate for alternatives will be resisted by companies within the fossil fuel industry that specialize in producing plastics. Advocating for recycling ♻️ and convincing people that it's actually helpful to the environment is just one of their tools that they use to convince people to keep plastics around. So basically, whenever you toss something into the recycling bin ♻️, especially a plastic or aluminum based product, all you're really doing is throwing it into a trash bin that happens to be green. Because that plastic thing or aluminum thing you just "recycled ♻️" will just end up in a landfill somewhere (probably overseas) all the same.
Anyway, after I saw JJ's video where he mention Duterte's not-so subtle or thinly veiled threat towards Canada 🇨🇦 regarding their recyclables ♻️, made me think, "what if Canada 🇨🇦 didn't agree to stop sending their recyclables ♻️ over to the Philippines 🇵🇭? What if they refused? And what if Duterte wasn't just bluffing or blustering? What if he was actually serious about his threat to go war with Canada 🇨🇦, and made good on it? Who would win? And what would the geopolitical ramifications be? Would NATO come to the aid of Canada 🇨🇦? Would the Philippines 🇵🇭 officially end its relationship with the United States 🇺🇸 and become a full Chinese and Russian ally 🇨🇳🇷🇺?" Those were the things I was thinking about, and I decided to give my own answers to those questions by coming up with an alternate history scenario in-which Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 do go to war with each other over recycling ♻️.
I wrote this when I was still very much on my alternate history kick. I'm still into alternate history, but I was really obsessed with it back in 2021 and 2022. I tried to come with a fairly plausible scenario about how a war between these two countries would play out, and which side would come out on top. Some of the things I discussed or explored are kind of implausible or unlikely, and are not how I think a war between these two countries would go. Like, nowadays, I doubt that the Philippines 🇵🇭 would even attempt to launch an invasion of Canada 🇨🇦. It's just not in their capabilities to do so.
The Canadians 🇨🇦 would likely already know it was coming before any Filipino warships 🇵🇭 reached Canadian coastline 🇨🇦 because the Filipinos 🇵🇭 would have to travel the long distance of the Pacific Ocean to get to Canada 🇨🇦. The Pacific Ocean is big, it's the largest ocean in the world, and it would take any navy a long time to travel to across it, especially one like the Filipino navy 🇵🇭 that doesn't have access to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers ☢️ or nuclear-powered submarines ☢️ or even destroyers. They decommissioned their last destroyer in 2018. So, they have no destroyers. They have frigates, corvettes, missile boats, and fast attack crafts, but that's about it.
They just don't have the navy to carry out such an ambitious operation, and even if they did, the Canadians 🇨🇦 would have advanced warning, and would have more than enough time to mount a defense. The Filipinos 🇵🇭 would not have the element of surprise in such an operation, and that's key to any invasion. Even with the Russian invasion of Ukraine 🇷🇺🇺🇦, there was still a little bit of an element of surprise, even if the CIA and MI6 knew that the Russians 🇷🇺 were gathering at the Ukrainian border 🇺🇦, and they were going to invade.
It still came as a shock to everyone that they actually did it and went through it since Russia 🇷🇺 had nothing to actually gain from invading Ukraine 🇺🇦 and still have nothing to gain from invading Ukraine 🇺🇦. That particular phase of the war has been going on for three years now, and it's clear to anyone that's paying attention that the Russians 🇷🇺 had no actual plan with Ukraine 🇺🇦, and still don't really have a plan with Ukraine 🇺🇦, like what's even the end goal at this point?
No body knows, not even the Russians 🇷🇺 know. Putin just gambled, thinking that he could just take Ukraine 🇺🇦 by taking the capital, Kyiv, and he lost pretty much everything. All because he believed in a conspiracy theory, and thought that he could replicate in reality with Ukraine 🇺🇦. You can watch LazerPig 🐖's latest video talking about Putin's thought process going into the war in Ukraine 🇺🇦, and why the war has actually ruined Putin's Russia 🇷🇺 rather than help it.
But, anyway back to Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭. Now, I think the more plausible scenario for how this war starts is that the Filipinos 🇵🇭 just attack and sink a bunch of civilian Canadian vessels 🇨🇦 carrying recyclables ♻️, and even other Canadian commercial shipping 🇨🇦 that even touches the Philippine Sea. Canada 🇨🇦 would have to respond militarily especially if Canadian citizens 🇨🇦 are killed in any of these attacks, and would likely be the ones to actual an invasion, and they'd invade the Philippines 🇵🇭.
I also think that NATO would get involved, since Canada 🇨🇦's a NATO member (a founding NATO member in fact), and if the Philippines 🇵🇭 attacked it militarily, then Article 5 would have to be invoked. And given that the Philippines 🇵🇭 would not just be against Canada 🇨🇦, but the entire NATO alliance, I don't think they'd stand a chance and they'd lose, probably very quickly. This likely would not be some long war of attrition since the power level between the two sides would be so lopsided, with Canada 🇨🇦 receiving more support than the Philippines 🇵🇭. It would likely be a one-sided affair.
I don't know if there would be an insurgency or not. I imagined that there would be because no one likes having their country be invaded and/or occupied by a foreign power, even if they aren't crazy about their own government in power. Plus, the Filipinos 🇵🇭 have had a history of resisting such invasions and occupations, and they've never particular come across to me as a people that would just sit and accept such a thing, even if it was coming from a country like Canada 🇨🇦 and an alliance like NATO. But, you never really know with these kind of things. Maybe, the Filipinos 🇵🇭 wouldn't resist and maybe there wouldn't be an insurgency if the Filipinos 🇵🇭 felt that Duterte started the war, and didn't want to defend him. So, just to be safe, I'll say that there's a 40% chance that there would be an insurgency in the Philippines 🇵🇭 after Canada 🇨🇦 and NATO defeated the Filipino military 🇵🇭. Maybe, it's lower at about 20%, but it's definitely not 50/50.
I did kind of overestimate the Philippines' 🇵🇭 military strength based solely on history and how the Philippines 🇵🇭 performed in past wars like World War II, the Korean War 🇰🇵🇰🇷, and the Vietnam War 🇻🇳. But, all indicators suggest that in the present day, the Filipino military 🇵🇭 isn't as strong or capable as I originally thought they were when I originally wrote this. There's a reason why they're dependent on the US 🇺🇸 for defense, and why in recent years, people have been asking if the Philippines 🇵🇭 would even be able to stand up against China 🇨🇳 in a full armed confrontation without the US 🇺🇸 backing it up.
Since you know, relations between China 🇨🇳 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 have been deteriorating due to China 🇨🇳's refusal to relinquish its territorial claims over the entire South China Sea, and over Filipino waters 🇵🇭💦 specifically. The Philippines 🇵🇭 has been reconnecting with the US 🇺🇸 after relations got a bit frosty under Duterte, in order to sure up their defenses against China 🇨🇳 in the event that tensions spill over into conflict.
Speaking of the US 🇺🇸 though, such a war between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 would put the US 🇺🇸 in a pretty difficult spot since they're both allies of the US 🇺🇸. Canada 🇨🇦 is the US 🇺🇸's closest neighbor to the north, they have a lot of lingual and cultural overlap with each other (the accents are different and some of the terminology and slang is different, but we still understand each other), and they are both NATO members. The Philippines 🇵🇭 is an important strategic ally to the US 🇺🇸 in the Indo-Pacific. They have strong bilateral military ties, the Philippines 🇵🇭 are within the First Island Chain which the US 🇺🇸 considers to be the first line of defense in the event of a war against China 🇨🇳. Without the Philippines 🇵🇭, the US 🇺🇸's position within Asia would be weakened.
As an American 🇺🇸 myself, I can confidently say that the US 🇺🇸 doesn't like it when their allies are at war with each other. It hurts the US 🇺🇸's reputation throughout the world as the guarantor of security and stability amongst its allies, and it hurts the US 🇺🇸's foreign policy interests by breaking two or more of its key allies away from its sphere of influence, and giving an opening to China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 to cause some trouble and strengthen their own positions. So, a war between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 would not be good for the US 🇺🇸, or anyone really who isn't the Chinese or Russian governments 🇨🇳🇷🇺 because it would potentially have bad effects on the global economy.
But then again, this was all going down during the Trump administration. The Philippines 🇵🇭 and Canada 🇨🇦 had this dispute, and Duterte made those threats when Trump was office back in the 2017-2018 time period. So, if this war broke out, it would be happening during the Trump administration. The Trump factor is hard to figure out because if it wasn't already clear by now, Trump doesn't give a shit about NATO or any of America 🇺🇸's alliances aboard. He doesn't appreciate the importance of NATO in the US 🇺🇸's own national security or its own foreign policy interests, and is much more transactional in his approach to alliances and foreign relations.
He's indicated a desire to pull out of NATO, and a willingness to abandon allies if he feels that they aren't giving him what he wants. Like he's said multiple times that if a European country is attacked by Russia 🇷🇺 if he's president again, like an actual NATO member is attacked, and they ask for assistance from the US 🇺🇸, he won't help them out if he feels that they aren't paying enough or whatever. And he said that he'd actually encourage Russia 🇷🇺 to attack that country.
Plus, he did get along with Duterte since they're pretty much the same: right-wing demagogues. I even talked about the similarities between the two men ♂︎ in the post itself, where I called Duterte, the "Filipino Donald Trump 🇵🇭." So, maybe he wouldn't help out Canada 🇨🇦. Maybe, Article 5 wouldn't be invoked. Or maybe it would since there were still people in the Trump administration that did care about NATO, that did care about the US 🇺🇸's allies, and would push him to step in and help out Canada 🇨🇦 if the Philippines 🇵🇭 attacked it. There were still people within his administration that wanted him to act like a normal president, and to do the things that are expected of a US president 🇺🇸.
If Trump won a second term (or if he wins a second term since he's running again in this year's election 🗳️ 😖), and such a war took place, he wouldn't care or do anything. He'd just figure that such a thing wasn't his problem, and that he has no reason to get involved, and he'd just let it happen and watch the chaos because that's just the kind of man ♂︎ that he is. He's one of those men ♂︎ that just wants to watch the world burn 🔥. And he'd able to do that since there would be no one left to tell him not to do something or to do something, and push in the right direction, and instead fill the government with yes men who will just empower his worst impulses.
I also mention CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 in this post since it was brought up again and tossed around as an idea in the aftermath of Brexit 🇬🇧, after Brexit 🇬🇧 had been finalized and the UK 🇬🇧 officially left the EU 🇪🇺. It was an idea that was conceived in the past during the Cold War era, and some people suggested that the UK 🇬🇧 could actually pursue such a thing now that it was no longer apart of the EU 🇪🇺. But, "discussions" about CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 died once the British economy 🇬🇧 started having some problems, and the British political system 🇬🇧 entered a state of crisis regarding the prime minister, and once most British people 🇬🇧 realized that Brexit 🇬🇧 was a scam and was a really horrible idea and that they really should have voted "remain" instead.
Plus, AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺 pretty much made the idea of CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 irrelevant and obsolete, even if AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺 is completely different from what CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 has been proposed to be. I can't imagine that the British 🇬🇧 would think that entering an alliance or economic bloc like CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 would be worth it when they already have AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺. But, CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 isn't the only thing that AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺 rendered obsolete. It also made ANZUS 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿 obsolete as well.
I mean, what's even the point of ANZUS 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿 if New Zealand 🇳🇿 is suspended, and has been completely cut out of the strategic decision making process due to their refusal to house American nuclear weapons 🇺🇸☢️ on their soil or let the Americans 🇺🇸 use their nuclear submarines ☢️ in their waters 💦? New Zealand 🇳🇿 has a strict anti-nuclear policy 🚫☢️. It seems to me that the US 🇺🇸 created AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺 so that they could have an alliance where everyone is on the same page.
They know that Australia 🇦🇺 is much more cooperative than New Zealand 🇳🇿 ever was, and won't make a fuss about hosting nuclear weapons ☢️ on their soil, or letting the US 🇺🇸 use their nuclear submarines ☢️ in their waters 💦 like New Zealand 🇳🇿 would. In fact, the Australians 🇦🇺 want their own nuclear submarines ☢️. That's one of the main initiatives of AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺, helping Australia 🇦🇺 develop its own nuclear submarine program ☢️.
I actually wrote an update talking about this, which you will see after you read the main text. The only thing I didn't talk about in that update was ANZUS 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿, and how was rendered completely useless and obsolete by AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺. Because well, ANZUS 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿 wasn't really that relevant to the conversation. And I suppose it still isn't here, but I wanted to touch on ANZUS 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿 for a little bit because I had some things to say about it that I haven't said before publicly.
I should also mention that since this written in April 2021, I was still kind of in my "hate America 🇺🇸" phase. Like, I was overly critical of the US 🇺🇸 and its foreign policy, and believed in a lot of the more outrageous leftist criticisms of the US 🇺🇸, some of which is founded in conspiracy theory. It isn't just the far-right that buys into conspiracy theories, it's also the far-left. I was even buying into Chinese and Russian propaganda 🇨🇳🇷🇺, and a lot of pro-Chinese and pro-Russian commentators 🇨🇳🇷🇺 who kept repeating the line that "America 🇺🇸 is the true evil, and China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 are the true good." That kind of thing.
It was very easily for someone like me to fall prey that sort of insidious propaganda because this was the year that the War in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 ended, and the US 🇺🇸 and NATO withdrew, and the Taliban retook over. That war was marked by failure and mismanagement, and ultimately a failure to achieve the goals we had set out which was to defeat the Taliban, defeat terrorism, and bring democracy and the rule of law to Afghanistan 🇦🇫, a country that never truly had those things. All of these pro-China 🇨🇳 and pro-Russia 🇷🇺 commentators during this time kept talking about the war crimes that the US 🇺🇸 and its allies committed in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 and in Iraq 🇮🇶, which the Iraq War 🇮🇶 and the War in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 were wars that the US 🇺🇸 had fought during the War on Terror, and a lot of mistakes and misdeeds were made by the US 🇺🇸 and its allies during these two wars. Some would even say that one of these wars was a mistake in of itself, and that war of course was the Iraq War 🇮🇶, the most controversial American war 🇺🇸 since the Vietnam War 🇻🇳.
They kept saying that the Taliban were the real good guys in this conflict since they were just fighting for their country from foreign invaders and occupiers, and that Afghanistan 🇦🇫 will be a much better place now that the war is over, the US 🇺🇸 and NATO are out, and the Taliban are back in charge. A lot of them said these things because both China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 established unofficial diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, recognizing them as the de facto power in the country, but not officially recognizing them as the official government of Afghanistan 🇦🇫. No government or international organization in the world recognizes the Taliban's government as the legitimate government of Afghanistan 🇦🇫.
It is very much the same kinds of things that some people said after the US 🇺🇸 withdrew from South Vietnam, and North Vietnam 🇻🇳 took over and won the Vietnam War 🇻🇳. But, like with Vietnam 🇻🇳 post-war, we have seen things have gotten in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 since the Taliban took over, and things have gotten better. Things have gotten worse, and what we have in that country is a brutal misogynistic theocracy that has completely restricted the rights of women ♀︎, something that there had been some real progress on under the more secular government supported by the US 🇺🇸 and NATO, and has been treating them as if they were second class citizens. Women ♀︎ are barely seen as human beings by the Taliban.
Just like how after North Vietnam 🇻🇳 defeated South Vietnam, and reunified with South Vietnam to create a unified Vietnam 🇻🇳, it was under an authoritarian communist dictatorship ☭ that still remains in power to this day. However, unlike Vietnam 🇻🇳, Afghanistan 🇦🇫 doesn't have the benefit of having a growing economy or being a manufacturing hub. Afghanistan 🇦🇫 doesn't even really have an economy or even a GDP, not since the Taliban retook over. They have completely mismanaged it, and the country has not actually recovered from the decades of war.
Needless to say, I no longer hold any of these anti-American 🚫🇺🇸 or pro-China 🇨🇳 or pro-Russia 🇷🇺 beliefs that I had held through most of 2021. The wake up call for me was the Russian invasion of Ukraine 🇷🇺🇺🇦, just as the January 6 insurrection was the wake up call for me about Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the right as a whole. I already knew Donald Trump was bad by the time that I wrote this, but I didn't fully realize that China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 were bad, until the invasion of Ukraine 🇺🇦 happened the following year on February 24, 2022. And that was because I was listening to the wrong people who kept insisting "America 🇺🇸 bad, China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 good." I completely stopped listening to those people after the Russian invasion 🇷🇺 happened, as did I stopped listening to any and all right-wing person who was I still watching that even remotely supported Trump, and downplayed the insurrection, or defended it.
Now, I'm pro-American 🇺🇸, anti-Chinese 🇨🇳 and anti-Russian 🇷🇺, as well as anti-Trump and anti-MAGA. I'm against authoritarianism in all is forms, and for democracy and the rule of law. I'm also a registered Democrat now. That doesn't mean I'm not critical of the US 🇺🇸 from time-to-time. I don't always agree with what my country does aboard, and I don't always support the Biden administration's handling of certain foreign policy issues such as Israel 🇮🇱 and Gaza. But, I don't hate my country, the US 🇺🇸, and I don't think that it's evil. It's flawed yes, but not unsalvagably evil, and there is room for improvement. It can actually change for the better.
I certainly don't support Donald Trump or the Republican Party and I genuinely don't think that they should be in power in this country, and I would never vote for them under any circumstance. I don't want to support wannabe dictators and their sycophants, sorry. And I don't support either China 🇨🇳 or Russia 🇷🇺, I don't like Vladimir Putin and I don't like Xi Jinping in fact hate both of them and see them as the brutal dictators that they are.
I think that those are countries that are under terrible authoritarian governments with imperialistic ambitions, and they must be resisted and they must taken down and brought down a peg at all cost. They could be better if they had different governments, governments that were closer to ours and our allies', and had leaders who actually cared about their people and cared about the world and not just their own power, but they don't, and these are the governments and the leaders that we have to deal with unfortunately.
So, for the time being and for the foreseeable future, along as Putin and Xi are in power, China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 will be our adversaries. In the case of China 🇨🇳, the tyranny won't stop with Xi, and will continue after he's dead since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ☭ will still be in power, and will still hold onto power along as they possibly can. So, China 🇨🇳 will continue to be our adversary in the decades to come, even after Xi goes, whereas Russia 🇷🇺, it's up in the air which direction that country will take once Putin is gone. So, Russia 🇷🇺 may continue to be an adversary after Putin's death, or it might not be.
I felt like posting this now because I needed a break from Transformers and from Taiwan 🇹🇼. It was either this or that post that I wrote about Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s eyes 👀. I might still post that on here at some point, but I didn’t feel like posting it right now because I wasn’t in the mood. I felt like posting my wacky alternate history scenario about Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 going to war with each other. I haven't been able to write any new reviews of anything because I haven't been able to watch any movies or shows on streaming or in theaters due to my Internet 🛜 still being off and due to my own reluctance to use my Personal Hotspot to watch streaming.
The Personal Hotspot is limited, and isn't as strong as an actual Wi-Fi connection 🛜, and I'm not sure if it could handle streaming or if the picture quality will even be that good. T-Mobile will also charge you the more you use it, like you have to pay to keep it on after a certain point, and they cut you off from it if you use too much of it even if you have an unlimited data plan. I might eventually suck it up, and try it to see if it works if my Internet service 🛜 isn't restored soon. My grandma is trying to get it back on, but CenturyLink is being difficult as always.
But, I need some stuff to write about, so I might just go ahead and use my Hotspot to watch streaming on my PS4 if I can actually use it, if it will let me. I don't know if the Hotspot on Apple devices can only be used on other Apple devices or not. Only one way to find out I guess. The main thing that I want to review right now that's on streaming and no where else is Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the MonsterVerse streaming miniseries that stars Kurt Russell and is set in-between Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). I haven't been able to watch it because I don't like Apple TV+ and my aunt didn't have Apple TV+ for the longest time. But now they do, and I can watch it if I want to.
I might also consider watching and reviewing the Netflix animated miniseries, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, a series that features Rayman and other Ubisoft characters in a dystopian retrofuture world. It's not for kids, it's for adults in case you're wondering. I mean, it literally has Rayman swearing at several points throughout the series, and he even goes on a rampage killing bad guys with guns towards the end of the series. It's a pretty violent show with some vulgar language, and not exactly suitable for kids. This is R rated material that we're talking about here.
But, who am I kidding? I probably would've watched this show as a kid had it come out in the 2000s or in the 2010s. My parents really didn't care that much about what I watched, as long as it didn't have sex or nudity they were okay with it. I've heard a lot of great things about that show, and from the clips that I've seen (most of which include Rayman), it look pretty good. I want to see No Time to Spy: A Loud House Movie since I'm a Loud House fan, and I want to see the franchise has to offer with this new film.
I also want to watch Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver since I watched and reviewed Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, and I have this desire of finishing what I started. Especially since Rebel Moon – Part Two has received even worse reviews than than Rebel Moon – Part One did, and I want to prove those other critics wrong, or at the very least give my own opinion divorced from what film reviewers have said already. I'm guessing that I'll like it since I liked Rebel Moon – Part One despite how bad critics said it was. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as they made it out to be, in fact, it wasn't bad at all, it was good 👍.
I'm even thinking of checking out the Disney Channel show, The Ghost and Molly McGee, a show that wasn't really a streaming show originally, but it did end last year in 2023, and the full series is probably available on Disney+. That's where I've been watching Pepper Ann BTW, or rather, I was until our Internet 🛜 got shut off. The reason why I'm considering watching The Ghost and Molly McGee is that I've been watching clips of it on YouTube recently, particularly the ones featuring the character, Libby (who literally sounds like what Lisa Loud would sound like if she didn't have a lisp), and I've liked what I've seen. It seems like a fun and charming show that I just missed out on and flew under my radar because I haven't been paying attention to any of the newer cartoon shows on Disney Channel since I've just been focusing on Nickelodeon all this time. The only Disney cartoons I've been paying attention to as of late are older ones such as Pepper Ann and The Weekenders. But, since it only has two seasons, and since it is sort of a narrative-driven show with an overarching storyline, I can just binge watch it whenever I get the chance to.
There are other things that I want to watch and maybe even review that aren't necessarily on streaming such as Mars Express, Boy Kills World, Monkey Man 🐒🇮🇳, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and Twisters 🌪️, but I haven't really been able to watch any of those because some of them are in theaters or were in theaters. And I just don't really have the money 💵 to go see a movie in theaters right now, and so I'll have to wait until they come out on Blu-Ray 💿. And even then, I don't have the money 💵 to buy all the movies on Blu-Ray/4K 💿 that I want. This even applies to older movies that I've been wanting to watch like Bowfinger and Piranha 3D AKA just Piranha (2010). Both movies that are only available online, and I can't buy anything online because I don't have a credit card or a debit card 💳. I'll either have to borrow my aunt's or my grandma's to get either of those movies or both.
The same goes for video games that I want like Maneater (2020), Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3, Princess Peach: Showtime!, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Another Crab's Treasure, Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Pikmin 4, etc.. The only difference is that I can actually buy some of these games in physical brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Target, or Walmart, but some of them are crazy expensive and are out of my affordability range. So, I either have to wait for them to drop in price, or hope that my aunt gets one of them as a birthday gift 🎁 or as a Christmas gift 🎄🎁. At least I can get the DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, even if I don't have Internet 🛜 to actually redeem the code on the gift card if I get it, but I guess I could use my Hotspot for that too.
I guess I could watch both Double Team and Knock Off, those Jean-Claude Van Damme movies that I have saved in my Watch Later list on YouTube, and that I could watch without needing to connect my PS4 to my Hotspot since I watch YouTube on my laptop 💻, but I'm not really in the mood to watch those quite yet. I want to watch the other stuff on my Watch Later list first before I get to those, like those Iron Chef episodes I have said on there, or that character analysis video on Susie Carmichael from All Grown Up!, some video game longplays and playthroughs, a shark video 🦈, and some news clips. I was a little bit more in the mood to watch Double Team and Knock Off when I was on my Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, and action movie kick a couple of months ago, but right now I'm on more of a shark 🦈, Piranha, and Jaws kick right now. Maybe once I get those out of my system, I'll be more in the mood to watch those. But when I do, Knock Off will be the only one that I will actually write a review of, but I will touch on my thoughts on Double Team within that review, and compare and contrast the two to tell you which one I preferred.
I also wanted to take this time to write about my thoughts on the recent announcements that Apple made during this year's WWDC event, which is being held now up until June 14 while it was still on my mind. Apple announced that they will be integrating ChatGPT into their next line-up of operating systems, both MacOS and iOS 😞. Though, they aren't going to call it ChatGPT when it's integrated with the operating systems, they're called it "Apple Intelligence." But, it is essentially ChatGPT, it is what Apple Intelligence is based on. It's ChatGPT under a different name.
I'm not exactly happy about this news 😠 because I hate ChatGPT 😤👎, in fact, I hate this whole fake AI craze that tech companies around the world have been pushing for the past two or three years. I guess it was only a matter of time until Apple jumped on the AI bandwagon, but I still upset that Apple went in this direction with their upcoming operating systems. It's very disappointed, and part of me wished that Apple could have resisted this trend. But, they jumped on the VR bandwagon also, albeit three years too late, so I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise to me.
I just hope now that the AI is optional, like you can choose to use the AI or not, switch it on or off. Like with Siri, like you don't have to use Siri if you don't want to, and you can switch it on and off whenever you like. If it's something that you have to use no matter what, and you can't switch it off, I'll be very upset. I don't think that integrating AI will make the OS better, because the things that Apple has talked about the AI doing are things the OS can already do and don't require AI at all.
The only thing that I could think of that would sort of benefit from having AI built into it is Siri, since Siri already kind of is an AI to be begin. Integrating her with ChatGPT will make her smarter or efficient I guess. Or it will make her dumber and less efficient, who knows? I'm leaning more towards the latter because ChatGPT sucks, as do every other generative AI program. I genuinely hope that this AI craze ends up being a fad like cryptocurrency, the metaverse/VR, or NFTs and it goes away in a few years and computers and phones go back to the way they were before tech companies started unnecessarily jamming shitty AI into all their products.
—
Note:
I added a new sentence in the main section where I talk about how the actual war would go. Basically, I mention the idea of the Filipinos 🇵🇭 launching an amphibious assault on Canada 🇨🇦 which I read about in an online article that also talked about Canada-Philippine war 🇨🇦🇵🇭. In such a wacky scenario (in an already out-there scenario), the Canadians 🇨🇦 would easily defeat whatever expeditionary force that the Filipinos 🇵🇭 send over because the Canadians 🇨🇦 are much technological advanced and powerful than the Filipinos 🇵🇭. Plus, the Canadians 🇨🇦 would have the home field advantage, since it’s their land, their country, they know the terrain better than the Filipinos 🇵🇭 would. The Filipinos 🇵🇭 obviously would be at a huge disadvantage if they decided to invade because they’d be far away from the main Philippine archipelago 🇵🇭, which means they probably wouldn’t be able to be resupplied or have their forces be replenished with fresh troops as easily.
They’d also be incredibly unfamiliar with the terrain of Canada 🇨🇦, and not be trained to fight in it because they mostly specialize in jungle warfare or urban warfare, and Canada 🇨🇦 is not jungle. There are forests, but they’re not the same kind of forests that the Philippines 🇵🇭 has, the weather is much colder in the winter than the Philippines 🇵🇭 gets (since the archipelago is closer to the equator than Canada 🇨🇦 is), and they are a lot of mountains which would act as natural choke points. That means that the Filipinos 🇵🇭 would easily be picked off by the Canadian defenders 🇨🇦, assuming that they even make it past the beaches, and into the interior of Canada 🇨🇦.
If this did happen, then the Philippines 🇵🇭 would be viewed as the aggressor and Canada 🇨🇦 would be viewed as the “victim” acting in self-defense, and most countries would be on Canada 🇨🇦’s side especially the Anglo ones. And the Canadian people 🇨🇦 would be in full support of the war, wanting to get back at the Philippines’ 🇵🇭 aggressive actions, and the Canadian government 🇨🇦 would respond by invading the Philippines 🇵🇭. On top of that, if the Filipinos 🇵🇭 did invade the Canada 🇨🇦, the war would likely be seen as even more of a weird, stupid, and pointless conflict, something that would spark online jokes and memes.
The only countries that would probably on the Philippines’ 🇵🇭 side in that case are China 🇨🇳, Russia 🇷🇺, maybe Indonesia 🇮🇩, and maybe North Korea 🇰🇵. Though North Korea 🇰🇵 is the least likely of those four countries I mentioned to support the Philippines 🇵🇭 considering their role in the Korean War 🇰🇵🇰🇷. And the only reason these countries would support them is so that they could opportunistically exploit the Philippines’ 🇵🇭 grievances with the West, and bring them into their sphere of influence; thereby undermining America 🇺🇸’s influence in Southeast Asia.
Which is what a lot of this geopolitical stuff is about: supporting a nation that’s strategically important to you in a personal conflict of theirs to increase your sphere of influence, while undermining your competitor’s by depriving them of a valuable ally in particular region. The British 🇬🇧 did it, the French 🇫🇷 did it, the Germans 🇩🇪 did it, The Soviets did it, the Americans 🇺🇸 did it, the Russians 🇷🇺 did it and it’s likely the Chinese 🇨🇳 would do it as well.
Realistically speaking, I don’t think the Philippines 🇵🇭 would actually attempt to invade Canada 🇨🇦. Duterte may be crazy, but he’s not that crazy. What I could see happening however is the Philippines 🇵🇭 attacking Canadian ships 🇨🇦 that enter the Philippine Sea after declaring war on them. This would be enough of an escalation for Canada 🇨🇦 to retaliate, and launch an invasion of the Philippines 🇵🇭. In this scenario, the Filipinos 🇵🇭 would have the advantage and the Canadians 🇨🇦 would have the disadvantage.
And the international community would likely view Canada 🇨🇦 as the aggressor and the Philippines 🇵🇭 as the victim, even if the Philippines 🇵🇭 were the ones to declare war, and strike first by sinking Canadian ships 🇨🇦. It would just be a very messy conflict overall, and much more interesting one at that since it would the closest thing to Canada 🇨🇦 having its own Vietnam 🇻🇳 as you could get; every major nation has have its own Vietnam War 🇻🇳-type experience, it just wouldn’t feel right if it didn’t.
It’s also a much more plausible scenario for how a war between these two countries would play out. Those are the reasons why I focused on that scenario in this post. But, mostly it’s due to be not knowing or not considering the idea of a Filipino invasion of Canada 🇵🇭🇨🇦, and just thinking about the conflict as being a Canadian invasion of the Philippines 🇨🇦🇵🇭. Though, really in both scenarios, Canada 🇨🇦 would probably invade the Philippines 🇵🇭 either way. If the Philippines 🇵🇭 declared war on Canada 🇨🇦, and start sinking their cargo ships containing “recyclable” material, Canada 🇨🇦 would respond by invading them. If the Philippines 🇵🇭 declared war on Canada 🇨🇦, and then sent an expeditionary force to launch amphibious landing and airborne assault on Canada 🇨🇦, Canada 🇨🇦 would likely respond by invading them.
—
.svg.png)
This is kind of a wacky idea, but one that could’ve easily happened if things went wrong, what if Canada 🇨🇦 went to war with the Philippines 🇵🇭? I got this idea after re-watching Canadian political commenter 🇨🇦, J.J. McCullough’s video on recycling ♻️ where he talked about how Western, first-world countries just ship all of their recyclables ♻️ over to Asian countries like China 🇨🇳 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 to be broken down and used to make new products because they don’t have the money 💵 to turn the recyclables ♻️ into new products themselves.
It was basically a condemnation of the whole idea of recycling ♻️, this very hollow and vain concept where people just send their mostly useless trash over to some other country far away from them (where it usually ends up in a landfill or just burned like regular trash) to make them feel better about themselves that they aren’t wasteful, and they’re “helping” the environment. All based on the lie that recycling ♻️ is an efficient and clean system that can turn old waste like aluminum cans, paper, or cardboard into new products, when it’s actually a broken, inefficient system where none of those aluminum cans, paper or cardboard actually get reused in any meaningful way.
J.J. talked about how when materials and waste get sent to a recycling plant ♻️, there’s a sorting process where public workers have to sort the actual recyclable materials from the useless junk that people just threw in the recycling bin ♻️ because they didn’t know any better. Most of the time, some of the useless junk (the stuff that can’t be recycled and aren’t considered recyclable ♻️) gets lumped in with the recyclable ♻️ with stuff, so when the Asian countries got the materials, they were just stuck with a lot of useless and disgusting garbage that they couldn’t even use; not that the “recyclable” stuff ♻️ could be used either.
However, there was one thing that he mentioned in that anti-recycling video stood out to me, and that’s what I mentioned earlier about Canada 🇨🇦 potentially going to war with the Philippines 🇵🇭. Canada 🇨🇦 is of course a country that prides itself on being a nation of pacifist tree-huggers 🌳, and yet they produce some of the highest amount of waste out of any country in the world per capita; even more than the US 🇺🇸. And one of the countries they send their waste, or “recyclables” ♻️ to be recycled ♻️, and turned into new stuff was the Philippines 🇵🇭. China 🇨🇳 was another one until they passed a law that prohibited Western nations from sending their recyclables ♻️ to their country because they were so overwhelmed, and can’t actually use the recyclables ♻️ to make anything useful. So then, the only Asian country the Canadians 🇨🇦 could send their recyclables ♻️ to was the Philippines 🇵🇭.
But, it just so happened that the Philippines 🇵🇭 was, and still is at the time of this writing, ruled by a very populist, loud-mouthed, hot-headed belligerent president named Rodrigo Duterte, who is very much the Filipino Donald Trump 🇵🇭, except if he wasn’t a billionaire, was actually kind of smart, and actually more authoritarian than Trump was. Duterte has been cracking down on free speech in recent years, and has specifically been targeting a female journalist ♀︎ named Maria Ressa who is an outspoken critic of him and his policies, something that Duterte’s cult-like followers despise her for.
Duterte took a very hard stance against Canada 🇨🇦 and their recycling policy ♻️, and he basically threatened them with war if they continued sending their recyclables ♻️ over to his country. Of course, this issue was resolved pretty quickly and peacefully. Canada 🇨🇦 agreed to stop shipping its recyclables over to the Philippines 🇵🇭, and Duterte’s threat was ultimately just a bluff to scare the Canadians 🇨🇦 into doing what he wanted.
So, that got me thinking, what if it didn’t? What if Canada 🇨🇦 refused to stop shipping its recyclables over to the Philippines 🇵🇭, and Duterte made good on his threat and declared war on them? Who would win in such a conflict? What would the geopolitical and domestic ramifications of it be? Who would be viewed as the “good guy” and who would be viewed as the “bad guy?” It’s all kind of hard to stay. I don’t know the full strength of the Canadian or Filipino militaries 🇨🇦🇵🇭, but I do know that Canada 🇨🇦, while not being as big or as strong as the US 🇺🇸, does have a pretty modern, sophisticated, and powerful military that has participated in a few armed conflicts in recent decades, mainly ones in the War on Terror.
And despite the Canadians 🇨🇦 often being stereotyped as overly polite pacifists, there is another extreme where Canadians 🇨🇦 are stereotyped as extremely ruthless, aggressive, and formidable fighters during wartime. This is a reputation that they mostly gained from World War II due to how many badass Canadian soldiers 🇨🇦 fought in that war, and how a few of them did some pretty extraordinary things like one who liberated an entire town controlled by Nazis by himself as a literal one-man army.
The Filipino military 🇵🇭 on the other hand, has always been viewed as a very competent and formidable fighting force even if they aren’t the largest, or the most powerful or technologically advanced in the world. This is a reputation that they gained during World War II, where they resisted the Japanese 🇯🇵 as a guerrilla force and then helped the Americans 🇺🇸 liberate the islands from them. The Korean War 🇰🇵🇰🇷 helped reinforce this idea of them being formidable fighters when they fought bravely against the North Koreans 🇰🇵 and the Chinese 🇨🇳, especially in the Battle of Yultong, a battle fought mostly by Filipinos 🇵🇭.
There’s even a quote that’s attributed to General Douglas MacArthur, a WWII hero and the commander of operations in Korea. I don’t know if he actually said it because it sounds rather similar to another quote that’s attributed to Winston Churchill about the Gurkhas, an elite unit of Nepalese soldiers 🇳🇵 who are used by the British army 🇬🇧, and other militaries and groups like the UN 🇺🇳. But, General MacArthur is quoted or paraphrased as saying that he could win any war or battle with just Filipino troops 🇵🇭 alone because they’re just that brave and tough. Still, they’re pretty modern and advanced today, though obviously not as powerful as other countries’ militaries like America 🇺🇸, China 🇨🇳, Russia 🇷🇺, South Korea 🇰🇷, or Japan 🇯🇵.
So, here you have two militaries that both have a reputation of being tough, brave and ruthless, who would actually win if they went head-to-head? Well, if we operate under the assumption that Canada 🇨🇦 would invade the Philippines 🇵🇭 instead of the Philippines 🇵🇭 invading Canada 🇨🇦 (which would probably end badly for the Filipino forces 🇵🇭 if they were crazy enough to attempt it), I think there’s a good chance that Canada 🇨🇦 would probably win the war in the initial stage. They would likely succeed in the initial invasion and occupation, but not without taking quite a few licks.
The Filipinos 🇵🇭 would probably put up a strong resistance along the coasts, and might be successful at sinking a few Canadian vessels 🇨🇦 like destroyers, frigates, or aircraft carriers which would be a huge blow to morale for the Canadians 🇨🇦. If they did make it past that part, and manage to actually land on the Philippine islands, the Filipinos 🇵🇭 would likely continue their resistance and potentially kill a lot of Canadians 🇨🇦, though the Canadians 🇨🇦 would probably kill a lot of Filipinos 🇵🇭.
The Canadians 🇨🇦 would probably control the skies and probably be able to defeat the Filipinos 🇵🇭 in aerial combat, if they still have enough aircraft carriers left from the initial naval assault to launch aircraft from and if the Filipinos 🇵🇭 didn’t down a lot of their aircraft with missiles or anti-aircraft guns; they would probably down a few of their aircraft during the course of war though. Ultimately, Canada 🇨🇦 would probably succeed in capturing most of the major cities and towns in the country, like Manila, but then, they’d have to due with a guerrilla insurgent force that resists their occupation to the bitter end; or the regular army retreats to one of the islands that the Canadians 🇨🇦 aren’t on and continue their fight.
Either way, the war would become a quagmire that the Canadians 🇨🇦 would get bogged down in for a few years (I don’t really see a Canadian-Filipino War 🇨🇦🇵🇭 lasting 10 years or more, probably two years, three years, or four years at most), and would result in a major international political crisis. It would very much be like Canada 🇨🇦’s Vietnam 🇻🇳 since, you know, they didn’t fight in Vietnam 🇻🇳; something they also often pride themselves on. Or maybe, who knows, maybe it would be Canada 🇨🇦’s Falklands War 🇫🇰, and they just completely mop the floor with the Filipinos 🇵🇭. But, that’s kind of unlikely, given the strength and tenacity of the Filipino military 🇵🇭.
Speaking of which, what would the rest of the world’s reaction be to the war? That’s very hard to say because in this scenario, Canada 🇨🇦 would not be the ones to start the war or be the first ones to declare it, it would be the Philippines 🇵🇭. There is a possibility that the US 🇺🇸, the UK 🇬🇧, Australia 🇦🇺, New Zealand 🇳🇿, some other Western nations would support Canada 🇨🇦 as they seem as the “victim” fighting a defensive war against an aggressive island nation that pointlessly declared war on them and sunk of their recyclable shipping vessels (which I think would be the thing to escalate the conflict into a full-on war) when the issue could’ve easily have been resulted peacefully as it was in our timeline.
Or perhaps they would all just support Canada 🇨🇦 to preserve NATO, or the UK 🇬🇧’s CANZUK alliance 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 (if it ever gets off the ground). Though the dispute that this alternate history scenario is based around happened before Brexit 🇬🇧 came into effect, and the UK 🇬🇧 officially left the EU 🇪🇺. That’s really when CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 re-entered the conversation as a serious alliance proposal for a post-EU Britain 🇬🇧. But, at the same, Canada 🇨🇦 would’ve kind of played a role in starting the war as well by stubbornly refusing to stop shipping its recyclables over to Philippines 🇵🇭, and just continuing it anyway.
But the US 🇺🇸 and other Western or first-world nations would probably ignore that since they weren’t the ones who declared war and attacked first, the Filipinos 🇵🇭 were. Nations usually don’t care about what actions the belligerent nations in a war did prior to that war, other than the military action they took to actually start the fighting. If that happened, then it is likely that the Philippines 🇵🇭 would be supported by China 🇨🇳 and/or Russia 🇷🇺 who would supply them funds and weapons.
There is also a possibility that the Western powers and even the major Eastern powers like China 🇨🇳, Japan 🇯🇵, and South Korea 🇰🇷 would throw their support to the Philippines 🇵🇭 even if they were the ones to declare war and were technically the “aggressor.” In this scenario, Canada 🇨🇦 would be condemned by the international community as an “imperialist aggressor” bullying a smaller nation, and would probably face economic and political pressure across the board to stop their advance and withdrawal completely; similar to how Britain 🇬🇧 and France 🇫🇷 were both condemned by the international community for their actions during the Suez Crisis.
A third possibility is that Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 would both be equally condemned and equally face economic and political pressure from everyone for fighting such a petty and pointless war. Canada 🇨🇦 would be humiliated and forced to completely withdrawal by the US 🇺🇸 and the UN 🇺🇳, and the Philippines 🇵🇭 would probably have economic sanctions put on them for starting the war in the first place. The two belligerent nations would also probably face domestic backlash, with the local population protesting the war and calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.
In the years or decades afterwards, the war would probably create resentment in the Filipinos 🇵🇭 towards the Canadians 🇨🇦 especially if the Canadian forces 🇨🇦 committed any war crimes during the conflict, which is a huge possibility; wars like this usually result in a lot of war crimes. Either way though, the war would probably result in the Philippines 🇵🇭 moving closer to China 🇨🇳 and further away from the West. This would especially be bad news for the US 🇺🇸 since they would have one less ally in their competition or fight against China 🇨🇳, at a time when they need as many allies in the region that they can get. And they would have Canada 🇨🇦 to blame for it, even if they weren’t the ones that started the war.
Lastly, what would this conflict be called? The obvious answer would be the Canadian-Philippine War 🇨🇦🇵🇭 or the Philippine-Canadian War 🇵🇭🇨🇦 similar to the Philippine-American War 🇵🇭🇺🇸, but don’t think that name’s as catchy or rolls off the tongue that well. I think a better name would be the Canadian-Filipino War 🇨🇦🇵🇭 or the Filipino-Canadian War 🇵🇭🇨🇦, but who knows what it would actually be called? Luckily, there was no war between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭, and the whole recycling dispute was resolved peacefully and diplomatically. But, it would be really crazy if it did, and it would be cool if someone made a more in-depth alternate history story about this scenario. Interesting times can always be more interesting…
—
Update (Tuesday May 23, 2023):
If a war did break out between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭, and the Philippines 🇵🇭 attacked Canada 🇨🇦 first, then NATO would definitely get involved. Canada 🇨🇦 is a member of NATO, and in fact, was a founding member of NATO. And Article 5 of NATO stipulates that if one member of the alliance is attacked, then it will be treated as an attack on all, and all of the other members will come to the defense of the one that was attacked. I sort of downplayed NATO’s role in this, simply saying that all of the members of NATO would support Canada 🇨🇦 in such a war in order to preserve the alliance.
But, since Canada 🇨🇦 is a full member of NATO, any attacks on it by the Philippines 🇵🇭 would’ve immediately resulted in Article 5 being invoked, and all the other NATO members coming to Canada 🇨🇦’s side. And they would since the Philippines 🇵🇭 doesn’t have nuclear weapons ☢️, and there would be no risk of nuclear escalation ☢️. This would mean that the Philippines 🇵🇭 wouldn’t just be fighting Canada 🇨🇦 anymore, but the entire NATO alliance, including the most powerful member, the United States 🇺🇸. The Philippines 🇵🇭 would get decimated in a conflict with NATO, just from the US contributions 🇺🇸 alone. The geopolitical landscape would be forever changed by such a conflict. The US 🇺🇸 would lose an important and key ally in the region, as the Philippines 🇵🇭 would now be an enemy, and would be thrusted into the arms of China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺.
But, luckily, as I said in the original text, there was no war between Canada 🇨🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭. Article 5 didn’t have to be invoked, and NATO didn’t have to go to war with the Philippines 🇵🇭 over recycling disputes ♻️; which is what this whole thing was about. Which means the Philippines 🇵🇭 still remains an important and key ally of the US 🇺🇸 in Southeast Asia, and in the South China Sea and First Island Chain in particular 🏝️.
.svg.png)
In fact, since Duterte left office, relations between the US 🇺🇸 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 have significantly improved. They still host US military bases 🇺🇸, and they’ve started conducting joint military exercises with the US 🇺🇸 once again after a significant pause in military cooperation during Duterte’s presidency (besides the war against ISIS), and they have pretty much sided with the US 🇺🇸 on the Taiwan issue 🇹🇼; basically saying that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan 🇨🇳🇹🇼 would be a drastic change in the status quo, and China 🇨🇳 shouldn’t do it; and if they do, they will oppose it along with the US 🇺🇸, Japan 🇯🇵, and Australia 🇦🇺. So now, the Philippines 🇵🇭 is playing a productive and important role in deterring China 🇨🇳. So far, to this day, the only time in history that Article 5 has ever been invoked was after the terrorist attacks on the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2001. Let’s hope it stays that way.
—
Update (Thursday July 20, 2023):
🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺
.svg.png)
.svg.png)
Oh, and uh, CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 pretty much went no where. Instead, we got AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺, which is a full-on military alliance, whereas CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 was meant to be an economic bloc or association similar to the EU 🇪🇺. Like, it was just supposed to be the EU 🇪🇺, but with Anglo countries only. Except for the US 🇺🇸 and South Africa 🇿🇦, they wouldn’t have been included in CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 because they’re more on the periphery of the Anglosphere rather than being a full part of it like the UK 🇬🇧, Australia 🇦🇺, New Zealand 🇳🇿, and Canada 🇨🇦. The likelihood that CANZUK 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦 will ever happen has only decreased since I originally wrote this. Not just because of AUKUS 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺, but also because the UK 🇬🇧’s economy is in tatters, its political system is in chaos, and everyone is coming to the realization that Brexit 🇬🇧 was a huge mistake, and they regret ever leaving the EU 🇪🇺.
Does that mean the UK 🇬🇧 will rejoin the EU 🇪🇺 at some point? That’s doubtful, at least at this point in time. I get the sense that the British leadership 🇬🇧 (those in the Conservative Party) doesn’t want to re-enter the EU 🇪🇺 because then it would completely invalidate Brexit 🇬🇧, and show everyone once and for all that it was all a complete waste of time and money 💷. They still want the British public 🇬🇧 to think that Brexit 🇬🇧 was worth it, even though it clearly wasn’t. So, it’s unlikely at this point that the UK 🇬🇧 will rejoin the EU 🇪🇺 anytime soon. Maybe, in the future, like decades from now, they will. But right now, no.
Comments
Post a Comment