The Philippines and China go Bananas

The Philippines and China are engaged in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, that has now spread to bananas. China blocked the import of Philippine bananas, after a Philippine naval ship attempted to arrest a group of Chinese fisherman working off the Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippines and China have competing claims on these islands and the Philippines see the blocking of imported bananas as a way of making them give in to China. Unfortunately, the strategy is quite sound because the Philippines is dependent on Chinese demand for its’ products.

 Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0511/China-s-standoff-with-the-Philippines-heats-up-with-travel-warnings-oil-drilling

Another government verses government territorial dispute in Asia, great. The real losers here are the exporters and the farmers who grew the bananas because the fruits of their labor are rotting in containers or have been destroyed, meaning that they don’t get paid for having their hard toiled crop at market.

 This case is endemic of a problem that has infected this world. We have all these conflicts where two governments are wielding economic weapons against each other with no regard for who their really hurting.

Governments are by their nature, big and complex things that harder to hurt than sanctions regimes would lead one to believe. The farmers and laborers who produce the product may be a failed crop or economic blockade from ruins.

 But why should governments give a crap about people?

Terror in the Philippines

When I think about terrorism, the Philippines doesn’t exactly leap to mind. But apparently, the Southern Philippines has been called Southeast Asia’s Afghanistan.

On Thursday, the Philippine military scored a major victory by killing Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist and two other senior militants in a U.S. backed air strike. Zulkifli bin Hir was a top leader of the Al Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah.

 Also killed was the leader of the Philippines based Abu Sayaf militants, a group linked to several kidnappings of Westerners in the area. Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0202/Most-wanted-terror-leaders-killed-in-the-Philippines.

Asia is the battleground of the present and future. The ingredients exist for a lengthy battle within Asia. Globalization has proved a game changer within Asia.

 You have the modernizing forces of democracy and the Western capitalist culture--in the form of multinational corporations butting up against traditional Asian cultures and the Islamic faith.

There will be great conflict between tradition and modernity that will occupy security analysts for the next lifetime. How this conflict is resolved will likely determine whether the next few decades are grounded in peace or scorched by war.