Philippines [ᜉᜒᜎᜒᜉᜒᜈᜐ᜔]

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/608666

Starting on April 11 and scheduled to last until April 28, the largest ever military exercise is underway in the South China Sea. These confrontational “war games” are called Balikatan, meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder.” Annual exercises have been the cornerstone of Philippine-U.S. military relations, since a mass movement demanded and won the closure of U.S. bases in the Philippines. They are a way to continue U.S. [neo]imperialist penetration of the Philippine military.