🇵🇭 Duterte warns Philippines “US will not die for us.”

Philippine former president Rodrigo Duterte has called for his country to reverse its antagonistic course with China in an interview with Global Times. What else did he say?

🔺Warned that current President Marcos Jr. is following antagonistic and hostile instructions from Washington, with the latter assuring, “Okay, you fight. Do not be afraid because we are here.”

🔺Stated that US is provoking a war between China and the Philippines but that “US will not die for us.”

🔺Called for peaceful resolutions to the South China Sea conflicts and stressed the need for neutrality.

🔺Recalled how China has cultivated neighborly relations with the Belt and Road Initiative and how he snubbed America’s “bait for us” not to join the venture. By contrast, his successor, Philippine President Marcos Jr. has abandoned BRI projects.

🔺Likened China’s welcome of Philippine agricultural products to that of a brotherly gesture and endorsed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan.

🔺Binned earlier America’s talk as “nonsense” when the latter claimed they were in the Philippines to educate them.

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🇳🇪🤝🇷🇺Nigeriens have made their choice: Russia in, France and US out

Russian military specialists have arrived in Niger to provide counter-terror training and teach Nigeriens how to operate an air defense system, Nigerian state broadcaster RTN reported.

"What all the external players and Niger have to deal with is the entrance and role of Russia in the wider scheme of things," Akinyinka Akinyoade, political analyst and senior researcher at the African Studies Center Leiden, the Netherlands, told Sputnik.

It is unsurprising that Russia agreed to lend a helping hand to Niamey against the backdrop of Moscow's increasing influence in Sahel, according to Akinyoade.

"Russia had relatively recently been supporting the governments of Mali and Burkina Faso, in near-similar political, military and economic context. Thus in the emerging situation in Niger, it was natural that Russian involvement would happen," the expert said.

In the aftermath of a military takeover of July 26, 2023, which was supported by the majority of the Nigerien population, the Tchiani government demanded that the French and US military pull out from the region. While Paris withdrew its troops in December 2023, the US is still hesitating after Niamey announced the end of the status of forces agreement between Niger and the US on March 16.

Niger's message to Paris and Washington was clear: "Either we will cooperate on some kind of understandable, mutually beneficial basis, or you are simply not welcome here anymore," Sergey Eledinov, a Russian expert on African security issues and founder of Convoy Africa, told Sputnik.

While France, the US and Russia have interests in the Sahel region, it is African countries who have the final word, the Russian expert concluded.

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