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No imaginamos los detalles del próximo magnicidio a ser perpetrado por el Imperio, pero ya sabemos el blanco elegido: Rodrigo Duterte, Presidente de Filipinas. Ese país lindante con el Mar de la China Meridional, región predilecta para las provocaciones militares por parte de los EEUU. En un post anterior anticipábamos que el gobierno filipino había decidido cambiar alianzas en forma drástica: separarse de los EEUU y aproximarse a China. El realineamiento es aun mayor: ayer se supo que el Duterte expresó su deseo de acercarse también a Rusia. Leemos en Zero Hedge:

Título: "America Has Lost" - Duterte Announces "Separation" From United States, Alligns With China; Seeks Alliance With Putin

Texto: After the relentless barrage of verbal abuse and negative sentiment aimed at Barack Obama and the US, coupled with increasingly complimentary statements toward Beijing, it was only a matter of time before Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte put an end to the speculation if and when he would officially pivot the country's long-held diplomatic alliance away from the US and toward China. He did so today when, during a visit to China's capital, Duterte announced his "separation" from the United States, declaring he had realigned with China as the two agreed to resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks.

Duterte is currently in Beijing, where he is visiting with at least 200 business people to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance as relations with longtime ally Washington deteriorate.

"In this venue, your honours, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States," Duterte told Chinese and Philippine business people, to applause, at a forum in the Great Hall of the People attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. "Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost."

Duterte's efforts to engage China, months after a tribunal in the Hague ruled that Beijing did not have historic rights to the South China Sea in a case brought by the previous administration in Manila, marks a reversal in foreign policy since the 71-year-old former mayor took office on June 30. As Reuters adds, his trade secretary, Ramon Lopez, said $13.5 billion in deals would be signed during the China trip.

An even more dramatic admission came moments later when Duterte also voiced his desire to expand the newly hachced Asian axis to include Russia as well.

"I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way," Duterte told his Beijing audience.

Still, in keeping with the semi flip-flopping nature of his administration, a few hours after Duterte's speech, his top economic policymakers released a statement saying that, while Asian economic integration was "long overdue", that did not mean the Philippines was turning its back on the West.

"We will maintain relations with the West but we desire stronger integration with our neighbours," said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia in a joint statement. "We share the culture and a better understanding with our region. The Philippines is integrating with ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea."

Unlike Obama's final arrival in China in the late summer which was met several very embarrassing logistical and diplomatic snafus, China pulled out all the stops to welcome Duterte, including a marching band complete with baton-twirling band master at his official greeting ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People, which is not extended to most leaders. President Xi Jinping, meeting Duterte earlier in the day, called the visit a "milestone" in ties. Xi told Duterte that China and the Philippines were brothers and they could "appropriately handle disputes", though he did not mention the South China Sea in remarks made in front of reporters.

"I hope we can follow the wishes of the people and use this visit as an opportunity to push China-Philippines relations back on a friendly footing and fully improve things," Xi said.

Following their meeting, during which Duterte said relations with China had entered a new "springtime", Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the South China Sea issue was not the sum total of relations. "The two sides agreed that they will do what they agreed five years ago, that is to pursue bilateral dialogue and consultation in seeking a proper settlement of the South China Sea issue," Liu said.

As a result of Duterte's pivot, China now has a key supporter in the ongoing geopolitical disagreement involving the contested territory in the South China Sea. China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. In 2012, China seized the disputed Scarborough Shoal and denied Philippine fishermen access to its fishing grounds.

Liu said the shoal was not mentioned and he did not answer a question about whether Philippine fishermen would be allowed there. He said both countries had agreed on coastguard and fisheries cooperation, but did not give details.

Duterte on Wednesday said the South China Sea arbitration case would "take the back seat" during talks, and that he would wait for the Chinese to bring up the issue rather than doing so himself. Xi said issues that could not be immediately be resolved should be set aside, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, anti-US sentiment is building in the Philippines, which is also not surprising, after Duterte previously called Barack Obama a "son of a bitch" and told his to "go to hell", while alluding to severing ties with the old colonial power. On Wednesday, to the cheers of hundreds of Filipinos in Beijing, Duterte said Philippine foreign policy was veering towards China. "I will not go to America anymore. We will just be insulted there," Duterte said. "So time to say goodbye my friend."

As we reported earlier, about 1,000 anti-U.S. protesters gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Manila calling for the removal of U.S. troops from the southern island of Mindanao. As the standoff escalated, the local police ran over protesters who were preparing to storm the embassy.

As a result of this dramatic collapse in US-Philipinne relations, the next US president will have their hands full with not only the rapidly escalation standoff between Russia and the US in Syria, but will be rushing the mend relations with one of the oldest US allies in the Pacific rim.

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Título: "Make A Wish List" Russia Tells Duterte, As New Asian Axis Forms

Texto: Yesterday, when Philippine president Duterte finally took the plunge to announce his "separation"  from the US (even if his government has backtracked somewhat today), he said that not only would he "realign" himself in China's ideological flow but, in a nuance that was missed by many, said that "I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way."

To be sure, an offical axis between China, Russia and a nation that until recently was a core US ally in the Pacific Rim - whose loss would be a huge slap in the face of Obama and whoever replaced him as president - would be music to Putin's ears, which is why just minutes after Philippine president announced his stunning separation from the US, Russia’s ambassador to the country promptly said Moscow is ready to provide assistance to and fully cooperate with Manila.

"Formulate your wish list. What kind of assistance do you expect from Russia and we will be ready to sit down with you and discuss what can and should be done,” Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev told GMA News on Friday. He then went on to state that Russia is open to working with the Philippines in “any area, any field of possible cooperation.”

The ambassador assured the news outlet that Moscow would not “interfere with the domestic affairs of a sovereign state,” and that the “true Russia” is much different than the one portrayed in Hollywood films. Khovaev added that the Philippines and Russia “deserve to know each other much, much better.”

The aggresive, if diplomatic brownnosing continued, when the ambassador also said that Duterte impressed Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a meeting in Laos last month, and that Moscow supports the leader’s fight against illegal drugs and criminality. In short, he said everything that Durterte wanted to hear just to make sure the Chinese-Russian-Philippino axis takes hold.

For its part, the Philippines’ budget minister announced that his country is open to all forms of assistance, but will choose what is in the “best interest of the country,” Reuters reported. This could also include yet another U-turn, and prompt return to the safety of being a US puppet. Which is why on Friday, the Philippines’ trade minister, Ramon Lopez, told CNN that the leader “wasn’t talking about separation” from the United States. Although Duterte explicitly stated that the Philippines would be separating from the US economically, Lopez said that “in terms of economic [ties], we are not stopping trade, investment with America. The president specifically mentioned his desire to strengthen further the ties with China and the ASEAN region, which we have been trading with for centuries.”

He explained that the Philippines was just “breaking being too much dependent on one side…but we definitely won’t stop the trade and investment activities with the West, specifically the US.”

The US embassy in the Philippines called Duterte’s remarks “troubling rhetoric” prior to Lopez’s conciliating remarks. “We’ve seen a lot of this sort of troubling rhetoric recently, which is inexplicably at odds with the warm relationship that exists between the Filipino and American people and the record of important cooperation between our two governments,” the US embassy press attaché in Manila, Molly Koscina, told Reuters on Friday.

“We have yet to hear from the Philippine government what Duterte’s remarks on ‘separation’ might mean, but it is creating unnecessary uncertainty,” she added.

If Russia is successful in closing the loop on the latest, and most novel regional power axis yet, Koscina will be waiting for a long time.