Coordinated fires wrote:
> That's true of course, however you'd think that this would be
> offered as another example of the failure of the Obama-Clinton
> foreign policy, at least by some.
> But nope, not even a peep...not to mention that this is a massive
> blow to the national security of the United States.
As I've suggested in my two articles about Duterte, I don't consider
this to be a massive blow at all. Both the Philippine people and the
Chinese people are not taking Duterte seriously, and this decision is
going to be reversed before long. In the meantime, Philippine
fishermen get to fish in Scarborough Shoal for a little while.
As for the political aspects, what surprises me is that Comey made
this announcement on Friday afternoon, probably expecting it to die
quickly, as Friday afternoon announcements almost always do, and yet
it's not dying, but gaining coverage in the mainstream media.
The Republicans are gloating and the Democrats are off-the-wall
furious because people in Washington get away with criminal activity
as a matter of course, and the mainstream media are totally in the
tank for Clinton, so that no one can really believe that Clinton's
criminal activity might actually have consequences this time. That
someone in Washington, and Clinton in particular, could possibly face
this kind of hostile media scrutiny may represent a major change in
public mood that will be seen in other ways in the months to come, no
matter who becomes president.