Bush compares Iraq to Phillipines. Hopefully, he's wrong.

[mburbank]

"Democracy always has skeptics. Some say the culture of the Middle East will not sustain the institutions of democracy. The same doubts were proven wrong nearly six decades ago, when the Republic of the Philippines became the first democracy in Asia."
-Our President.

Quickie Trivia Question: For how long did the United States occupy the Phillipines before it became the First Democracy in Asia?

[Zhukov]

Er... It is not a Democracy?

Umm... Australia was first in Asia to hold elections?

Ahh... It still ocupies the Phillipines?






... Fourty years?

[The One and Only...]

Zhukov, Australia is not in Asia.

Democracy - true democracy - sucks anyway.

[kahljorn]

Maybe he meant austria... or... nevermind.

[mburbank]

For the Humor impaired, his last answer is correct.

[Buffalo Tom]

"Democracy always has skeptics. Some say the culture of the Middle East will not sustain the institutions of democracy. The same doubts were proven wrong nearly six decades ago, when the Republic of the Philippines became the first democracy in Asia."
-Our President.

Quickie Trivia Question: For how long did the United States occupy the Phillipines before it became the First Democracy in Asia?

He seems to have forgotten that for 20 some years, my homeland was under the rule of a corrupt dictator propped up by U.S. support. Hey, come to think of it, the Philippines is exactly like Iraq! Oh that Bush! God bless him in his inadvertent insightfulness!

[Zhukov]

Zhukov, Australia is not in Asia.


Quick question: Which continent is Australia part of?

[Bennett]

ummmm... australia is part of the continent: AUSTRALIA

[sspadowsky]

What the hell kind of geography are they teaching where you come from, Zhukov?

[Zhukov]

They teach us the funny kind of trick-question type geography that hammers home the point that I am not humour impared.

I think we are supposed to call it AUSTRALASIA now, after the New Zealanders complained.

[sspadowsky]

Fuck the New Zealanders. Let 'em add on to their shitty island until it's big enough to qualify as its own continent.

Just so we don't wander too far off-topic, Bush is a twat.

[The_Rorschach]

Well, this isn't a question so easily answered as the "forty year" theory would have you believe. The US first began influencing the Philippines when it was trying to break into Chinese markets and sell them western goods. To that aim, the US began acquiring land to forge a trade route between the US and the Orient, going through nations like Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines. At that time, 1894/96, it was a Spanish territory, but in the aftermatch of the Spanish American War, it became a United States commonwealth until 1946. . .The Philippine Organic Act of 1902 extended the protections of the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos and established a national bi-cameral legislature, so American stewardship was not without their own internal approval.

In anycase, eventually the US was forced to make the decision of making countries under its wings states, or let them be independant. In the case of Hawaii, it became a state. The Philippines were left to their own devices and quickly became a democratic Republic. It wasn't until 1965, when Marcos concentrated enough power to set himself up a dictator, that they left their democratic tendancies behind, but they promptly returned to a democratic styling after his 1986 removal from office.

Oh, and just to quell the complaints of economic imperialism, the Orient Chain was as lucretive for the Philippines as it was for the United States. Of all the nations in that chain, most notably in the Philippines, where hemp, hardwood forests, copper and coal lay untapped and unrealized. The deficit that had existed in the Philippines in 1896 was wiped out within four years, replaced instead by a surplus of trade. In the year 1896, the Philippines alone exported $4,308,000 worth in goods, while importing only $94,000.

EDIT: For anyone who truly cares, you could find all that and more in "The Conquest of the Philippines by Moorefield Story and Marcial P.Lichuaco." That along with Barbarian Virtue will give an awesome and indepth disclosure of the US and her relationship with the So Pacific.

[mburbank]

All that aside, just how long do you figure we'll be keeping Iraq 'under our wing'?

[The_Rorschach]

Whoah. . .Well, indefinately is the closest ballpark estimate I can manage. It really does depend upon how soon we can impliment a medical and education infrastructure, because once those are present, the seeds for insurrection will be well and truly planted. We won't be "needed" any longer. They, unlike the Philippines, did not seek our support, and will be bucking against it within a few years - signs of barely reigned tension are already showing, like a rope fraying towards destruction, and it will come slapping back at us.

My contention wasn't that Iraq and the Philippines are similar, they are not, and even a monkey like Bush should realize that - I was only defending the integrity of history as it has been revealed to me :)

[mburbank]

I think the Monkey just gets told what to say and I practically guarantee he knows less about the history of the phillipines (or any other place) than I do. Or anybody here. Apart from Vinth.

I can't go a whole post without saying something like that, and I hereby swear to do it even if he's finally stopped abusing the internet.