Punisher no more?

 

Some news from the Philippines. As I suspected, Ferdinand Marcos (the younger) has "turned". He was supposed to become the anti-American and pro-Chinese kind-of-handpicked successor to populist strongman Rodrigo "The Punisher" Duterte, who had to resign from the presidency due to term limits. Instead, Marcos has turned away from Beijing and is looking to Taipeh and Washington DC for support. Not clear if the vice president, Sara Duterte (yes, she is the Punisher´s daughter), has turned likewise! 

The whole thing has become a colorful family drama, but there are obviously other factors involved, too. Which ones? No idea. Maybe American interests are simply stronger, maybe its geopolitically risky in any case for the Philippines to become pro-Chinese. Duterte himself led a bloody war against drugs and drug cartels, and hence accuse Marcos of being a "cocaine user". And cartel asset? 

Note that Duterte talks about making Mindanao secede from the Philippines. Probably just an empty threat coming from him, but there are already Muslim separatists on the island, so who knows what rabble might be stirred up by this conflict...   

Duterte "returns", calls Marcos a cocaine user