Duterte, Citing Hitler, Says He Wants to Kill 3 Million Addicts in Philippines

[Tribble]

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday that he would like to kill millions of drug addicts in the Philippines, defying international criticism of his country’s bloody war on narcotics and escalating his brutal rhetoric with a reference to the Holocaust.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews,” Mr. Duterte said after returning to the Philippines from a trip to Vietnam, understating the toll cited by historians, which is six million. “Now there is three million, there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

Killing that number of drug users would “finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” he said.

Since Mr. Duterte took office in June promising a grisly campaign against crime and drugs, the Philippines has seen a surge in killings of drug suspects.

Philippine officials have counted about 3,000 deaths during the crackdown, about a third at the hands of the police.

The police spokesman Dionardo Carlos said on Friday that the police had been overstating the number killed by the police. He said that the correct number was 1,120, not about 1,500, which the police had given earlier. He did not explain why the number had been revised.

The police have also said that 1,500 nonpolice killings are under investigation and that hundreds of these also are believed to be drug-related.

Responding to expressions of alarm about the killings from the European Union and other international bodies, Mr. Duterte said Friday that the European Union’s advisers on the issue were “pea-brained.” He criticized European officials for finding fault with his government while not doing enough to help migrants fleeing war-torn Middle Eastern countries.

“You allow them to rot, and then you’re worried about the death of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000?” he said.

Mr. Duterte complained that his foreign critics had depicted him as “a cousin of Hitler” and said that they were wrong to criticize him now that he was the country’s president. Doing so put all Filipinos “to shame,” he said.

The president’s latest provocative remarks came days after he cast doubt on the Philippines’ longstanding military ties with the United States, announcing in Vietnam that the countries’ coming joint military exercises would be their last. Officials in his government later said that all military agreements with the United States were still in effect and that they were awaiting “clarification and guidance” from Mr. Duterte.

While in Vietnam, Mr. Duterte also said he had received information that “the C.I.A. is planning to kill me.” Officials in his government and at the United States Embassy in Manila declined to comment on that statement.

A spokeswoman for the embassy, Molly Koscina, said Friday that the United States would continue to work with the Philippines to “uphold our shared democratic values.” She said the relationship was built on “shared sacrifices for democracy and human rights, and strong people-to-people and societal ties, and obviously we’d like to see that continue.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/world ... drugs.html

[The Romulan Republic]

Add another country to the "countries America shouldn't be allied with but is" list.

[Zixinus]

If he is serious (and I am assuming that something critical hasn't been cut or lost in translation from whatever source the news agencies are taking this from) then the man is outright insane. The man seems to show, in painful clarity, why being "tough on crime, tough on drugs" is not a constructive solution. But the news articles I can look up seems that the man has no idea how to be president and is not afraid to wreck the country in the process. If he was really elected legally, then the country will receive a painful lesson in why presidents need certain credentials.

I wish Shroom would be around, he would have much better understanding on what the hell is going on.

While in Vietnam, Mr. Duterte also said he had received information that “the C.I.A. is planning to kill me.”

Frankly, I'm not surprised. It's either that or sticking him in a padded room.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't support assassination as a tactic, at least outside of wartime.

However, it wouldn't surprise me if the CIA is contemplating exactly that. The Philippines are ostensibly an ally in a key region with a lot of tension (i.e. China). And Duterte is also quoted in the article making comments that indicate he intends to ditch that alliance.

[The Romulan Republic]

This should also be a warning to Americans as to what happens when you elected bigoted authoritarian blowhards who like referencing Nazis to high office.

[Tribble]

If he is serious (and I am assuming that something critical hasn't been cut or lost in translation from whatever source the news agencies are taking this from) then the man is outright insane.

He was speaking in English when he said that, you can see the video in the link.

[TheFeniX]

If he is serious (and I am assuming that something critical hasn't been cut or lost in translation from whatever source the news agencies are taking this from) then the man is outright insane.

Aren't we way past that? If he had mandatory executions for anyone arrested and convicted for being even tangentially related to the drug trade, then at least he would just be a heartless authoritarian asshole. But calling on civilians to execute anyone seemingly related to the drug trade is pure insanity. All you can do at this point is see just how far down the insanity-deep end of the pool goes. And it's looking to put the Mariana Trench to shame.

The police spokesman Dionardo Carlos said on Friday that the police had been overstating the number killed by the police. He said that the correct number was 1,120, not about 1,500, which the police had given earlier. He did not explain why the number had been revised.

"Whoa WHOA guys! Saying we've executed 1500 people without due process is a bit excessive. Come on, let's be fair, it's only 1100. I know it's hard to keep track of all the bodies, but we have to maintain our level of professionalism during these trying times."

Jesus Christ, makes you want to take back anything shitty you've said about U.S. cops.

My father-in-law is Filipino.... every time I see him, I say a little prayer to Odin the topic does not come up. He's either 2nd or 3rd Generation U.S., but he's still got ties and family over there.

[Flagg]

I got nothing. Loss of words. Even China at least has a trial. I'm tempted to go all "hurrr 'Murka SEAL Team Six this asshole!" but it sounds like a large portion if not a majority of the Philippines' population support this barbarism. If that's not the case please fucking tell me. I mean I lost my "faith" in humanity decades ago. And I'm still at a loss. As someone who is physically addicted (but does not abuse, though I have in the past) opiates for chronic pain (I'm being slowly weaned off because the idiots at the pain clinic were morons and got raided and shut down by the state of WA and the DEA) this shit scares the hell out of me because addiction is a public health, not a lynch mob, let alone law enforcement crisis.

And I'd bet my ass that President Dicksnot likes his alcohol.

[Shroom Man 777]

Well, fine, I'm commenting since since Ace Pace brought this up and the country is going insane in the same way as the whole Nite Owl breaking down and Comedian just saying that the national dream came true, we're all looking at it, (as Duterte did harness the sentiment and passion of a large segment of the populace...).

And I owe Ace, Fgalkin and Kanastrous an explanation because of all the times I make dumb Jewish jokes, references and Fiddler on the Roof quips in Facebook.

The guy is pretty much like the town mayor of movies like ROADHOUSE or Walking Tall and all those other movies where the small community is run by this abusive asshole, like Gene Hackman from Unforgiven and hell, like Gene Hackman from Sam Raimi's Quick and the Dead (see, both extremes of the US macho western gunslinger genre, the serious business one and the other ridiculous campy one).

That in an environment reminiscent of a Latin American hellhole with deathsquads and kill teams and hatchetmen and the Latin American equivalent of the aforementioned "small town tough guy bully mayor" staple in US fiction (which is in turn based on actual abuses in real-life... probably?).

I mean if big city cops actually still torture to get confessions (they do)... and if historically we have actually had Dirty Harry shown to cops in training... then a guy who's run a formerly lawless hub-city in the periphery... for decades... is gonna be some serious hardcore basketcase psycho.

His election was preceded by a ridiculously cohesive social media and internet disinformation and rabble-rousing campaign. I think he got technicians akin to those election-stealers from Latin America, while there was no election-theft, their strategies did include social media disinformation. Same with what happens in Eastern Europe I presume.

I'm imagining, like Marcos with Manafort in the '80s, he's gotten some highly capable smooth operator technicians serving in his marketing team. He is buddy-buds with the Marcoses and he is with the oligarch factions opposed to the Aquino-Cojuangco oligarchs.

But what good sides he has is his relatively saner stance towards the anti-government factions in the country, he's not guilty of 1950s Red Scare rhetoric like some others in the political establishment, he is also not Islamophobic (unlike his running mate...). Those are probably the two subjects where he's NOT horrible and psychotic... or maybe it only seems that way because crypto-ethnic cleansing is borderline acceptable in some sectors of the national conversation...

TLDR: This guy isn't the "Trump of the East," that's some Orientalist Americentric nonsense. The truth is that your problemos, Trump? He's just diet G-rated merchandising kid-friendly dubbed rebootquelmake Disney/Pixar singalong pop-up scratch and sniff adaptation of the OG piece of shit that's Duterte.

Fun fact: The family behind that massacre that killed 58, including journalists, women and children? They've got a mansion in Duterte's city.

And a defense lawyer of those behind the massacre? He's now in Duterte's cabinet.

And last fun fact:

Thanks to the whole social media disinformation campaign, and people's weird ass idea that vigilante squads in Duterte's hometown have made it an orderly SINGAPORE IN THE PHILIPPINES Jerusameccalem sort of deal with his Lee Kuan Yew-like brilliance or something... well, that means that he's regarded really well by the people and critics of him are savaged in social media. Due process and human rights advocacies are regarded by a lot of folk as some unpatriotic lily-livered effette politically incorrect triggering nonsense that's supposed to be part of the evil oligarch and drug lords' anti-Duterte strategies.

One of his cabinet members, in social media, even openly speculated on the possibility of Duterte's political opponents, critics and hecklers to be somehow in cahoots with the drug lords and cartels who are funding the Abu Sayaff terror groups... their cries of all Duterte-critical news being products of biased media organized against Duterte has been going on for forever... and, of course, Duterte himself has alluded to some international plot of the CIA, the Americans, or whatever. Woohoo.

Fun times.

[Shroom Man 777]

He's also a fucking lawyer so his rhetoric that sounds like some fratboy and some out-of-touch politically incorrect drunk racist pervy uncle, I think... well, on one hand he IS a deranged loon who does routinely take younger women to fancy places to satiate his cravings... on the other hand, I think he really is quite capable of coherent non-shittery speeches, I think he is capable of doing so especially when talking to like, say, Chinese dellow felegates, but...

I think there is also an aspect of image-projection for audience appeal, domestic audience appeal. This is where politics connects with the crowd-rousing theater-aspects of pro wrestling.

[K. A. Pital]

I think he got technicians akin to those election-stealers from Latin America, while there was no election-theft, their strategies did include social media disinformation. Same with what happens in Eastern Europe I presume.

Welcome back.

And, if the above is true... welcome... to the Jungle.

Those are probably the two subjects where he's NOT horrible and psychotic... or maybe it only seems that way because crypto-ethnic cleansing is borderline acceptable in some sectors of the national conversation...

Is there a possibility he'll end the long-term civil war with the NPA ?

[Shroom Man 777]

Sure there is, they love him and I hope he's not bullshitting them.

[Zaune]

Good to have you back, Shroom; this forum's been much duller without you.

Sorry it had to be in these circumstances though.

[Flagg]

Good to have you back, Shroom; this forum's been much duller without you.

Sorry it had to be in these circumstances though.

Seconded. When I first read about this I thought about my sister in law from the Philippines (who is in Kuwait with my half-brother, but the rest of her family is still in the Philippines) and Shroom. Stay safe, man.

[Shroom Man 777]

If you're not in here, you won't know how intense his cult of personality is. It's ridiculous (but we also have Marcos apologists by the droves, they've been around forever... so...).

Part of it is due to the ineptitude and the shortcomings of the Aquino-Cojuangco establishment, their supposed "technocrats" who utterly fail to connect to the masses, the shittiness of their bureaucracy, their patronage politics, whether it is malicious or a necessity just to get the divisive factions and families to cohere under their umbrella... so their whole party has scumbags, including Duterte wannabes (during the election, their people did moonlight as Duterte supporters instead of backing Aquino's chosen successor... and now they've jumped shipped to Duterte). A lot of gaffes and corruption issues - both real, perceived, exaggerated and entirely made up...

So while the previous administration might've made some gains - I mean, on paper the economic development was really good and I'd like to imagine it really DID affect people on the ground - the progress in a huge archipelago full of people at each other's throats politically (local politics is a total farce with squabbling man-children mayors...) and sometimes, all too often, literally... it's still inevitably too slow. So people's resentments, similar I guess to lower-income and blue-collar resentment leading to the Brexit vote, the UKIP resurgence and fucking Dolan Trump... was channeled.

Socioeconomic and ethnic and regionalistic tensions and resentments were weaponized. Imperial Manila's words and deeds came back to haunt it. I'm from the central islands south of Manila so I totally understand where they're coming from... but they're entering Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chavez levels of ridiculity here...

There's so much support for this guy - including people in Manila - people wearing his baller, whatever, that's fine. They cheered and supported him even when - or because of - he jokingly or not-so-jokingly declared stuff like his intent to fill Manila Bay with thousands of bodies.

It's ridiculous. He has no true ideology but he's using the fascist methodologies - painting his enemies, be they the lawless sectors he's targeting or his political opponents, as inhuman to solidify his support base and such...

Guh. It's just so disappointing.People buy it and his numerous supporters - who've abandoned mainstream media and are drawing their sources from either pseudo-intellectuals or dodgy alt-news shittily-HTML'ed sites (most of which just popped up in the last couple of years, increasing circulation during the election cycle, for some reasin ) for the supposedly truthiest information to base their opinions on.

Heck, one of the previous administration's staunch anti-corruption, anti-human rights violation personalities who is now in the senate, she is being crucified. I am sure she's not entirely clean but they're saying that she's totally in cahoots with the huge drug syndicates... and they're showing this fake sex tape as proof that... I don't know, that she was screwing her chauffeur in an extra-marital relationship, and her chauffeur was in the pocket of the cartels or something. I have no fucking idea but it's ridiculous and they want to show this sex tape in fucking Congress - all just to ruin her in the court of public opinion. I guess they're intimidating anyone else who's thinking of mouthing off against Duterte.

What else am I missing... well, it's just hilarious how right-wing Marcos apologists and Maoist anti-government types are both doing mental gymnastics to justify this guy.

[Zixinus]

Shroom, thank you for commenting and answering us. I want to write good wishes or anything that could help you, but they are rather trite in the face of the fact that this is the reality you are stuck in. I hope that you and your loved ones won't be touched by this madness.

[Flagg]

Doesn't the US still have military bases there? I mean I'd consider the people targeted for extermination to be valid fucking asylum seekers with no valid reason to at least be allowed onto US military installations with the Red Cross and others setting up refugee camps and supplying food/medical/shelter, even if it's just tent cities until a more permanent solution can be found.

But then President Dicksnoterte could cite that as "proof" that the west is to blame for everything and gain even more popular support. And as an oh so proud ( ) American I demand simple solutions to complex problems.

[Patroklos]

No, those bases closed in 1990s. There is talk of reopening Subic Bay so we have a place close to the South China Sea but Vietnam is actually the leading option right now.

There were USMC operations in the south of the country regarding Iislamic extremists but I think that has mostly wrapped up.

[Flagg]

No, those bases closed in 1990s. There is talk of reopening Subic Bay so we have a place close to the South China Sea but Vietnam is actually the leading option right now.

There were USMC operations in the south of the country regarding Iislamic extremists but I think that has mostly wrapped up.

Ahh, OK. Thanks, I was basing my assumption on old information so I appreciate the info.

[Simon_Jester]

As others have noted, Shroom, I'm glad to see you back (temporarily or otherwise), though sad it's under these conditions.

And yeah, Trump is the G-rated version of a real fascist, probably because he lives in a country with a much greater depth of political stability and overall embrace of "people have rights." If he could get away with being/doing worse he probably would, but in a First World country it's hard to do that nowadays.

Probably because real revolutionary/counter-revolutionary violence appeals most to people who don't feel like they have a lot to lose by adhering to the status quo. And thoroughly fattened people in First World countries tend to have more to lose. So when you talk about killing three million people in their country, they're more likely to be worried by that. Because whoa, what if one of them is my hairdresser or something?

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

No, those bases closed in 1990s. There is talk of reopening Subic Bay so we have a place close to the South China Sea but Vietnam is actually the leading option right now.

There were USMC operations in the south of the country regarding Iislamic extremists but I think that has mostly wrapped up.

For what it's worth, Clark Air Base was reopened to American military aircraft in 2012. As of earlier this year, there is a USAF air contingent (A-10s from South Korea and HH-60s from Japan) at Clark, while the U.S. Navy uses P-8s based at Clark to conduct aerial patrols of the South China Sea.

[Broomstick]

Let me add to the chorus of "welcome back Shroom", and thanks for the information.

[Col. Crackpot]

Clearly he hasn't been paying attention. If the CIA wanted to kill him, he would be already.

[The Romulan Republic]

Clearly he hasn't been paying attention. If the CIA wanted to kill him, he would be already.

Eh, they failed to kill Castro loads of times.

[Tribble]

Continuing the coverage on our latest crazy world president:

Philippine Duterte tells Obama to 'go to hell'

US President Barack Obama can "go to hell" over his criticism of the Philippines brutal war against drugs, President Rodrigo Duterte says.

The European Union - another critic - "better choose purgatory, hell is filled up", Mr Duterte said.

The remarks came as the US and the Philippines began joint military exercises. The US said there was a "strong alliance" with the Philippines.

Mr Duterte's drugs war has caused thousands of extrajudicial killings.

In a speech to local officials and business executives Mr Duterte said he was disappointed with the US for criticising the Philippines' tactics to combat the drug trade. He also described Washington as an unreliable ally.

"Instead of helping us, the first to criticise is this state department, so you can go to hell, Mr Obama, you can go to hell."

Later on Tuesday he warned: "Eventually I might, in my time, I will break up with America. I would rather go to Russia and to China.''

Mr Duterte also revealed that the US had refused to sell weapons to Manila, but added that he would be able to buy them elsewhere.

"If you don't want to sell arms, I'll go to Russia. I sent the generals to Russia and Russia said, 'Do not worry, we have everything you need, we'll give it to you'.

"And as for China, they said, 'Just come over and sign and everything will be delivered'," President Duterte said.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in quotes
Duterte profile: The 'strongman' of the Philippines
Why is the South China Sea contentious?

In response to his comments, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: "This is an alliance that is robust and that benefits both of our countries. The diplomatic lines of communication between the United States and the Philippines remain open.

"Even as we protect this strong alliance, the administration and the United States of America will not hesitate to raise our concerns about extra-judicial killings.

"We have not yet received any sort of formal communication using those channels from the Filipino government about making substantial changes to our bilateral relationship."

The Philippines, once a colony of the US, has a longstanding defence relationship with Washington.

But Mr Duterte said last week these would be the last joint military exercises while he is in office, although later his defence secretary said there was no official order yet to that effect.

He also said he would review a defence pact signed two years ago with the US that would see more US troops sent to the Philippines.

The pact is seen as vital for the US to counter China's activities in the South China Sea.

The eight-day military drills involve 1,100 American troops and 400 Filipino military personnel, and are taking place on northern Luzon island.

They are aimed at improving readiness to respond to crises and deepening historic ties, the US military said.

Relations were strained last month when the US cancelled a bilateral meeting after Mr Duterte used insulting language to refer to the US president.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37548695

Seems like US/Philippines relations may be a bit strained atm. I wonder what he'll come up with next?