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Philippines leader likens himself to Hitler; wants to kill millions of drug users

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...putting sanity in the rearview mirror as you drive your country off a cliff. Duterte and Trump have a lot in common.

12 ( +18 / -6 )

Back in August I had advanced the opinion that the guy was either nuts or a dangerous criminal if not both and got downvoted for that. I don't mind the voting as Duterte confirms my view every time he opens his mouth.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

The teen experimenting or the casual user in a large middle class society is tolerable. But when you have a poor 3rd world country with a huge wealth gap were many of the poor are addicted, you need a leader to put their foot down. Sure the modern world looks at that and thinks OMG, but you don't live there do you? Japan is pretty much drug free, what's so bad about Détente wanting the same thing? Some also are just week-kneed and don't like a truth telling strong leader since it's been so absent in our lives for years.

-25 ( +3 / -28 )

How have our latest crop of leaders managed to convince us to hate our naughbours? It's abhorrent. This leader has convinced his people the victims of crime deserve to be culled.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Sure FizzBit. Because the only way to solve a drug problem is to kill people, right?

15 ( +16 / -1 )

Japan is pretty much drug free, what's so bad about Détente wanting the same thing? Some also are just week-kneed and don't like a truth telling strong leader since it's been so absent in our lives for years.

I have a few problems with this statement. To begin with, Japan isn`t drug free because it had a leader who organized mass murders of drug users, which is what Duterte is doing. There are a lot of reasons Japan is drug free and Duterte has nothing to do with any of that.

Second, having a leader telling everyone it is literally OK to go out and murder people if they use drugs, and then watch as thousands of people are murdered in the streets either with the police doing nothing or taking part in the killings - this is disturbing. Not because I don`t like a "truth telling strong leader", which is a stupid argument, but because not only does it not do anything to reduce drug crime, but it also makes a much more dangerous crime (murder) socially acceptable. He has created a situation where anyone can now settle any dispute they have with someone by killing them, safe in the knowledge that the police will do nothing since they can always claim the person was a drug user.

Now Im not Filipino, but I have a lot of Filipino friends and most of them hate what this guy is doing to their country. Normalizing murder, that is his only accomplishment. Oh, and alienating all of his countrys allies, but that is another issue. Eradicating drug crime? Nope, still there. Making people feel safe? No way, the country is now way more violent than it was before this supposedly strong leader came to power.

17 ( +18 / -1 )

This guy is a nutter. Or is he actually quite clever and this is his way of eliminating any opposition to him? Now it's easy to get away with murder in the Philippines by just saying, 'Yep, he was a dealer.'

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Détente also said this, which is probably why we're not reading it here, just this smear campaign. Why, he's getting on the nerves of the criminal establishment rulers.

It is not that the Middle East is exporting terrorism to America; America imported terrorism (to the Middle East),

“After almost 10 years of investigation, it turned out there was no legal basis to declare war against Iraq. You see, it's a useless war," he explained.

“Look at Iraq now. Look what happened to Libya. Look what happened to Syria. Even children are being doused with gasoline. They were pushed to the wall for the failed promises," he added.

Duterte also said he would not call the Abu Sayyaf rebel group criminals, as they were “driven to desperation,” thanks to failed promises and a lack of governance. “That’s why they were pushed to the wall,” he said. “They were radicalized.”

Doesn't sound like a "nutter" to me.

-22 ( +1 / -23 )

Does that mean he and his high command will be steaming through their mandate on Meth-amphetamine like the third reich?

This guy is a tool, he's going set the Philippines back years.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

"In your guts, you know he's nuts."

14 ( +14 / -0 )

So he wins the award for Greatest Nutjob of the Year as an elected leader - this is exactly what wise people before warned against for decades ( Orwell, Huxley)

It's not that democracy is on the ropes but the voters are so ignorant and easily manipulated they will vote for the worst of the worst (hint hint - think yellow hair, loud mouth, love Putin, law and order)

Duterte - just awful statements coming from this guy - also, China will definitely take advantage of the discord he stirs up between his country and the U.S.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

It is not that the Middle East is exporting terrorism to America; America imported terrorism (to the Middle East),

Funny, but islamic terrorism has been the topic of news stories, fiction and movies decades before America invaded Iraq.

“After almost 10 years of investigation, it turned out there was no legal basis to declare war against Iraq. You see, it's a useless war," he explained.

The war commenced after a formal declaration by America's congress or president, and such a declaration by it's nature makes that decision completely legal, whether that be right or wrong.

“Look at Iraq now. Look what happened to Libya. Look what happened to Syria. Even children are being doused with gasoline. They were pushed to the wall for the failed promises," he added.

Iraq, Syria, and Libya have never been known for being peaceful and safe places, children and others have been doused with gasoline or had worse things done to them under their previous dictators and rulers. It won't be long until gasoline starts being poured on people in the Philippines.

Duterte also said he would not call the Abu Sayyaf rebel group criminals, as they were “driven to desperation,” thanks to failed promises and a lack of governance. “That’s why they were pushed to the wall,” he said. “They were radicalized.”

The definition of the word "criminal" is relative, and all the more so in developing countries like the Philippines. One would say that killing criminals without due process is itself a crime. I guess he doesn't realize that he is pushing drug dealers against the same wall he criticizes others for using.

As Duterte continues the typical tyrant-dictator practice of killing those who are deemed by him to be dangerous to society, making empty promises to improve safety and reduce poverty, the more he can work to making himself the richest man in the Philippines. He will do like Chavez and others have done, to focus the attention of the people he is oppressing on America and other countries, and making them believe that America and other countries are the source of their poverty.

We can add another developing country to the passenger list of the doomed ship "Corrupter". But like the Hitler Duterte seems now to admire, he knows the people to be stupid, otherwise they would never have elected him. And Hitler also said that as it was the people who gave him the mandate to rule, the people must suffer the same fate as the Nazi politicians and soldiers, and pay with their lives.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

I have a Filipina friend who laps all of Duterte's rhetoric up like sweet milk, thinking the sun shines out of his... you get the idea. Thing is she's been so long in Japan that she believes the press conferences and statements coming out of Manilla. I find it very hard to accept that anyone can find this guy's actions sane. I'm against drugs and would love to see pushers and dealers locked up, but to KILL USERS? Most users are the victims of the dealers, killing them won't get the drugs off the streets.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

@FizzBit

Doesn't sound like a "nutter" to me.

You really need to raise your standards... So he said a few things that make some sense. So what? His drug policy is insane. You assume it'll be tough against the drug pushers/users only, but like rainyday said, it is wide open for abuse. You don't like somebody? Kill them and plant some drugs on them and you're good.

You don't see a problem with that?

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Détente also said this, which is probably why we're not reading it here, just this smear campaign. Why, he's getting on the nerves of the criminal establishment rulers.....Doesn't sound like a "nutter" to me.

A smear campaign usually implies using lies or statements taken out of context to unfairly impugn someone`s reputation. In this case we are just hearing exactly what he said, with apparent pride and totally within the intended context, so how is that in any way a smear campaign?

Also, the mere fact that he made some political comments about the Iraq war (etc) which you happen to agree with in a totally different context tells us nothing about whether or not his policies on the drug war, which is what this article is about, are rational or nuts. Those have to be evaluated on their own merits. By any reasonable standard, they are completely outrageous and indefensible. They amount to nothing more than the sanctioning of a lawless murder-fest in which you can literally kill almost anyone for any reason so long as you claim the target was a drug user. Duterte himself has been implicated in the murder of people, including law enforcement officials, who had nothing to do with drugs but happened to be his political enemies or just people he had some other disagreement with (a romantic rival of his son, for example).

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Philippines will be ruined under this guy

Reports from people that actually live there indicate that crime is way down thanks to his policies. Sounds like he's making his country better.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

I know lots of Filipinos in Japan that hang on his every word and cheer him on too ... Why is that? Is it because they are out of the country and only believe the hype on social media ?

Then again, I see the same 'cult of personality' (what personality), when I witness gatherings of the trumpites.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

This comedic statement is a non-issue to most Filipinos since there are no jews in the philippines.

But... among ethnic Malays (Philippines, Malaysia, indonesia), the Chinese are considered the "jews" of Asia because of financial shrewdness.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Reports from people that actually live there indicate that crime is way down thanks to his policies. Sounds like he's making his country better.

From the article:

He took office on June 30 and over 3,100 people have been killed since then

Yup, sure sounds like a much safe country since he took over. Except for all the people being killed of course.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Fizzbit,

Doesn't sound like a "nutter" to me.

Oh really?

When this asshat was mayor of Davao in 1989 during a siege of a city jail, a 36-year-old Australian missionary by the name of Jacqueline Hamill was raped repeatedly and then murdered by the inmates.

Duterte make this comment at a campaign rally:

"They raped all of the women... There was this Australian lay minister... when they took them out... I saw her face and I thought, 'Son of a bitch. What a pity ... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first..."

Yeah, he's a sociopath.

___.

Thunderbird2,

I have a Filipina friend who laps all of Duterte's rhetoric up like sweet milk, thinking the sun shines out of his... you get the idea.

I have a similar friend from the Philippines as well. Same thing. She was going on and on about how she went home for the summer and waxed on and on about how she "felt the safest she had ever felt in the Philippines." I asked her if she was concerned at all about people being falsely accused of being drug dealers or users and being killed accidentally. She said she didn't believe there was any way a mistake could be made because everyone "knows" the people being killed were actually dealers or users. I asked her what she thought might happen if Duterte decided tomorrow that, say, Muslims needed to be rounded up and exterminated because they threatened the peace, she said, "Oh, that would never happen."

When I told her, "That's what the Jews thought when the Poles were being rounded up," she said, "What? What do you mean?"

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@Fizzbitt

Doesn't sound like a "nutter" to me.

Boy, thats a ringing endorsement, if I ever heard one.

Some also are just week-kneed and don't like a truth telling strong leader since it's been so absent in our lives for years.

Yes, you've got me yearning a strong leader like Her Trump.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Looks like Occidentalists are getting wrong impressions about Duterte and only latch on to trivial things.

Watch this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s27GsRNr2eY

Fun fact: Duterte is one of the most progressive president ever elected in East Asia. He has championed pro LGBT and womens rights and has record to back it up.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Fizzbit: so you admit the war in Iraq, which bush started, was a big mistake then?

Geeesh! Smith, how many times am I gonna have to tell you I was probably more an anti-Bush person than you were at the time. Just because I support Trump does not mean I'm a Republican.

The war commenced after a formal declaration by America's congress or president, and such a declaration by it's nature makes that decision completely legal, whether that be right or wrong.

Based on lies that me and every other thinking Tom, Dick and Harry knew it was. Just because the elitist cabal makes it legal, don't mean we have to kneel down and say "Yes master".

I guess he doesn't realize that he is pushing drug dealers against the same wall he criticizes others for using.

Equating drug pushers with the Islamic religion? Nice. The Islamic culture in the Philippines have always been marginalized by the ruling "Catholic" elite, second class citizens. So he wants to make peace with them. I guess if he declared war on Muslims and made peace with the drugers, you wouldn't care since "that's what everybody does".

The Rich get rich and the poor get poorer in the Philippines, and the modern fiat world. So Détente comes along and wants to make the country better. First order of business is cleaning up the streets and getting rid of the drug pushers. The Philippines is not a modern country and harsh measures are needed. I applaud him for his tough stance. Who do you think is next on his list of "deplorables"? Maybe the elite? Wouldn't that be nice.

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

woah, not hitler but he reminds me of Scarface. I can just imagine him behind his desk with a mountain of white and finger on the trigger.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

" When I told her, "That's what the Jews thought when the Poles were being rounded up," she said, "What? What do you mean? "

No wonder

Occidental history is not comprehensively taught in East Asian countries like Philippines. The jewish experience is lost in translation in that part of the world (like your wife's reaction)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Geeesh! Smith, how many times am I gonna have to tell you I was probably more an anti-Bush person than you were at the time. Just because I support Trump does not mean I'm a Republican.

In Fizzbit's defense, he has regularly criticized both the war in Iraq, and Western Interference in the Middle East.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Remember how South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore got to the high level of development? They had their own version of Dutertes!

The old staid status quo Manila Establishment and catholic church has kept philippines from going forward like its neighbors. That nation has yuuuuuuge potential to be an important country in East Asia when (not if) Duterte's goals are realized.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

The Rich get rich and the poor get poorer in the Philippines, and the modern fiat world. So Détente comes along and wants to make the country better. First order of business is cleaning up the streets and getting rid of the drug pushers. The Philippines is not a modern country and harsh measures are needed. I applaud him for his tough stance. Who do you think is next on his list of "deplorables"? Maybe the elite? Wouldn't that be nice.

First, Duterte is the elite. In order to fund his war on drugs, he has dramatically slashed government spending on healthcare and other programs that help the poor, with the police and his own office being the only ones getting more money under his first budget. He isn`t a champion of the poor, he is trampling on them just as much as any other leader has.

Second, you dont clean up the streets by just declaring open season (literally) on drug users. That just gives the predators in society (the drug dealers) the power to settle scores with the weak (their users when they cant pay) without any threat of police intervention. Its not a strategy for actually eliminating drugs, its just a strategy for a guy who likes to look tough and doesn`t care who gets killed.

This isnt a rational model for dealing with crime, even if you want a harsh one. Want a harsh one that works? Go to Singapore. They execute drug dealers there too, but they actually respect the rule of law and youll never hear a Singaporean leader urging the people to form mobs to hunt down and kill people on the streets. The police deal with it, and people respect that.

And yes, Singapore is a wealthy country now, but it hasn`t always been. They had the same approach 50 years ago when it was still relatively poor, and it worked.

Instead of following that path and trying to figure out a way to make what works there (or somewhere else), Duterte is just taking the Philippines back to levels of lawlessness and violence it hasn`t seen since the Marcos years. Its a tragedy, not progress, nobody in their right mind believes that the country will emerge from this better off.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Red suns,

To be clear, my anecdote was related to a friend, not a wife.

As to your your suggestion that Filipinos are unaware of the Holocaust, that's simply untrue. In fact, according to the 2015 Unesco International Status of Education About the Holocaust report, the Philippines stands with Germany, France, Poland, the United States, and Russia, to name but a few "Occidental" nations, for providing specific, direct secondary school and university-level education on the Holocaust. No, it's not because the Holocaust isn't taught in the Philippines.

And it isn't because the Philippines were untouched by the Holocaust either. 1,200 European Jews escaped to the Philippines between 1937 and 1941 and found refuge thanks largely to the efforts of Manuel Quezon, the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth. Quezon originally wanted to allow resettlement of some 10,000 Jews in the Philippines, but the Pacific War made that impossible. The point here is that Filipinos were acutely aware of what was happening to Jews in Europe. Of course, that safety wasn't guaranteed once the Japanese Imperial Army invaded and savaged the population.

No, Red suns. Filipinos absolutely should know better about fascists.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This guy and Trump are making these types of comments that praise hate and slaughter so acceptable around the world today, that I think we are headed for some sort of catastrophe as aggressive language will no longer be enough for the populists

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I won't go to the Philippines anymore.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Remember how South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore got to the high level of development? They had their own version of Dutertes!

Hey, actually no they didn`t!

Singapore took off under Lee Kwan Yew, a man who would have been appalled by Duterte`s lawlessness and never tolerated anything remotely similar to what he is doing. South Korea and Taiwan had military dictatorships that were nowhere near as effective as Singapore, but also had almost nothing in common with Duterte (and their post-democratizations governments under which their economies took off even less so).

4 ( +5 / -1 )

“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have…,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself.

Early onset Alzheimer's Disease?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Thanks Stanger. A gentleman you are. IMO

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

"Second, you dont clean up the streets by just declaring open season (literally) on drug users."

There is carrot and stick approach.

Surrender and receive rehab & job placement

Or

Continue to be a degenerate (especially shabu users) and get arrested. If you fight back the police expect USA style liquidation.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Is Japan drug free? not around where I live. also anyone who says Trump doesn't have a chance might want to look at how straight talking pols are doing recently.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

@Fizbitt Keep it up mate i enjoy reading your comments. One of the few true thinkers out there !

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

This Trump of the East thinks drugs are the only problems of the Philippines. Was supposed to visit that country but I cancelled because it wasn't that urgent. He should check the drop in tourism after six months on office.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Dropped on his head as a kid many, many times.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I think it is Duterte who is likely to end up dead. This guy is alienating everyone but his looney fringe. With the Philippines so important to Asia, someone in their military or someone from some other faction will take him out if he continues to wreck the country they way he has.

I think few tears would be shed.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Its just a matter of time this whacko gets whacked!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

In a macabre subliminal way, the guy is a louder version of our current president.

-12 ( +0 / -12 )

Looks like a new regime change is about due. You just don't get the United States mad at you and expect to stay in power long.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Disgusting.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Duterte in his fatal ignorance has accumulated heap big bad karma and is now hell-bent on sharing the same fate as his not-so-secret idol, AH. He seems to enjoy basking in the notoriety of a super- bad-ass, but all I can see is a self-deluded fool who will soon deservedly collect his Darwin Award. Sic semper tyrannis.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The illicit drug use is major problem for third world poor country like Philippine but the way President Duterte's handling of war on drug was wrong. He needs to go after big fish that brought drug into Philippine. Philippine doesn't produce all illicit drug use in Philippine and the drugs were imported by some of criminal gangs and Muslim militant in Southern Philippine. The arresting of drug dealers and users are Police job and not the job of group of President's henchman. Everyone is deserved second chance but Duterte didn't give drug users and small drug dealers’ second chance for rehabilitation for them. President Duterte doesn't have plan for to introduce rehabilitation programs for those drug users and small time drug dealers in Philippine. He doesn't think about the welfare of family of drug user who was killed by his dead squad. The eradication of illicit drug using in his country is good but his method for eradication of illicit drug using was wrong.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Hitler, many of his close associates, and much of the German army were on drugs (mainly amphetamines for the army).

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I went to a farewell party last night for a Filipino couple who were returning to the land of their birth after living in the US for many years. They've been wanting to move home for quite a while but found the situation there just too sketchy.

Now, in light of recent events, they no longer fear living in their own country and they give Duterte credit for that. My relatives in the Philippines, concur. In the US county where I live, one in three people are Filipino and I have yet to find anyone, among the ones I am associated with, who doesn't agree with what Duterte is doing.

It is entirely understandable that, from a liberal western perspective, Duterte's actions could be seen as extremely unsettling and even criminal. Equally understandable is that some ex-pat Filipino/Filipina, living in countries with a strong liberal component, would share those beliefs. But in reality the only perspective that really matters is that of the people who deal with the reality of life in the Philippines up close and personal and as such have a real dog in the fight. One indication of how many Filipinos feel could be the fact that Duterte enjoys a 91% approval rating at home.

A smear campaign usually implies using lies or statements taken out of context to unfairly impugn someone`s reputation.

@rainyday

In the second paragraph of this article the statement is made that "Duterte recently insulted President Barack Obama". You would be hard pressed to find any recent article about Duterte that doesn't at, some point, refer to this incident. Yet it has being demonstrated, irrefutably, that it never happened. To continue to report, as fact, something that has been shown to be untrue clearly "implies using lies or statements taken out of context to unfairly impugn someone`s reputation."

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

bass4

One of your worst and most ridiculous comparisons ever.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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