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Bringing back the “Holy Alliance of Throne and Altar” is deadly

April 22, 2017 Carlo de Leon 10 Comments

The background The Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 by the European nations that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte to establish a new balance of power in Europe and prevent a resurgence of Napoleonic imperialism. The secondary reason was to prevent political revolutions such as the French revolution and the preservation of the status quo.1 Shortly…

Government, Politics, Religion

Are we seeing the end of an era of extreme liberalism?

April 22, 2017 benign0 8 Comments

The most recent terrorist attack at Champs-Elysees, the cultural heart of Paris, France cannot have come at a more interesting time. Elections there come at a time when tensions are already high following a spate of similar deadly attacks over the last two years. This latest one — which ISIS was quick to claim responsibility…

Politics, Society

@TIME exaggerates De Lima’s “heroism”, paints the Philippines as lawless under Duterte

April 22, 2017 Ilda 22 Comments

As someone who still pays for a weekly subscription, I’m very disappointed at TIME Magazine editors. I just realised that after all these years reading about and admiring people featured on their annual 100 most influential list, it turns out that some on the list include people whose achievements were simply romanticised, exaggerated or completely…

Crime, Government, Politics

The uneasy impasse between LP-tards and Dutertards

April 21, 2017April 25, 2017 FallenAngel 7 Comments

Fanaticism on both seemingly “opposite” sides of the political spectrum is something that will never truly be non-existent in any society. The peculiar thing about fanaticism in the Philippine political scene, however, is that it doesn’t have a track record of being rooted in opposite ideologies. Rather, Filipinos have become used to characterizing it as…

Politics

Campaign to put Duterte in @TIME ‘100 Most Influential’ list backfires!

April 21, 2017April 22, 2017 benign0 15 Comments

Well, supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte got what they wanted. Filipinos apparently logged on in droves on to the TIME Magazine website and spam-voted Duterte into its “100 Most Influential” list. As a result, Duterte actually topped the readers’ poll and did get a place amongst the most influential in the venerable news site’s…

Media

Four aspects of Filipino society that are unlikely to change, even in a Duterte presidency

April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 FallenAngel 7 Comments

A typical evaluation, or discussion of the Duterte administration, usually begins with this underlying premise: Rodrigo Duterte was elected because Filipinos wanted change. For sure, Rodrigo Duterte is different in more ways than one. He is the first president who hails from Mindanao; as such, people are expecting a sort of “outsider’s perspective” from him,…

Culture, Development, Politics, Society

Are UP students suffering from a failure of thinking?

April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 benign0 3 Comments

Interesting how just as the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is unveiling a massive programme of infrastructure spend of unprecedented proportions, the prevailing online chatter amongst would-be and wannabe “activists” had so far been centred around the proposed honorary degree to be conferred by the University of the Philippines on the president. The sheer…

Education, Politics

#Dutertenomics heralds the dawn of a ‘golden age of infrastructure’ for the Philippines

April 19, 2017 benign0 11 Comments

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” – Oscar Wilde The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to shift to deficit spending to the tune of hundreds of billions of pesos in investments in infrastructure for this financial year alone. This follows decades of underspending and a steady…

Development, Economy