Defense Part II: Army, Navy, Air Force

Posted by JoeAm on April 10, 2013 · 53 Comments 

105 Howitzer Thefirst article in this series presented an overview of the Philippine Department of National Defense, the civilian organization responsible for articulating a following through on laws aimed at building a strong military. The essential question is, how prepared is the nation to defend itself? The answer, subject to further enlightenments as we proceed, appears … Continue reading →

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Department of Defense Part I: Mission and Goals

Posted by JoeAm on April 1, 2013 · 34 Comments 

While the rest of you opinion mongers are dealing with elections, I’d like to get down and dirty with Philippine defense. How is this animal called the Department of National Defense (“DND”) put together and how ready is it to wage war? With respect to the last question, what is the relationship with the United … Continue reading →

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Blueprint for Philippine Defense?

Posted by JoeAm on March 28, 2013 · 16 Comments 

Philippine and American Training Exercise The following news report appeared in Ariraing News last week. It is short and well worth reading. Commentary follows. _______________ S. Korea-U.S. Joint Forces Sign New Defense Plan Arirang News, March 25, 2013   Since North Korea’s torpedo attack on a South Korean warship and its shelling of a South … Continue reading →

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The Foundations of Patriotism

Posted by JoeAm on August 23, 2012 · 29 Comments 

One of the concepts I struggle to express is a clear description of the kind of sacrificial patriotism found in the United States that runs through the entire broad population, versus the pride-based (self-interested) patriotism in the Philippines. U.S. patriotism involves a willingness to give of oneself to help the nation. It seems to me … Continue reading →

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Rating President Aquino: Part III

Posted by JoeAm on May 6, 2012 · 11 Comments 

I’ve been working on a more rigorous way to evaluate President Aquino’s job performance. In the first article, I identified seven areas of responsibility: Presentation Global engagement Infrastructure Health and security Wealth building Social cohesion Timeline architecture In the second article, I did a “quick and dirty” evaluation of the first two elements, and in … Continue reading →

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