Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Asia's Love-Hate Relationship With U.S. Military Bases



Everyone Hates U.S. Bases in Asia - Until Disaster Strikes -- Dan Lamothe, Killer Apps/Foreign Policy

It was 1991 when a closely divided Philippine government ordered U.S. forces to leave the naval base in Subic Bay, a sprawling facility that had been used by Americans for decades. The Philippines and the U.S. militaries have interacted since, but only recently began discussing the possibility of again basing U.S. forces in the southeastern Asia nation. Even that hit a reported snag, however, over how the Philippine military would be allowed to use U.S. facilities built there.

It is against this backdrop that the U.S. military scrambled to assist the Philippines after much of it was leveled by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the monstrous storm that roared over the island nation Friday. Officials have said it may have killed more than 10,000 people, as a wall of water and winds in excess of 200 miles per hour devastated the country.

Read more ....

My Comment: I was only thinking last night on the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan. After the earthquake U.S. aid flooded into a region that had/has a long history of hostility towards the West. Not surprisingly .... they were very grateful for the aid .... and forgot about it the next year.

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