Politics

On Tuesday, in a surprising move confirming the ongoing pivot by the Philippines away from the US sphere of geopolitical influence, and toward the China-Russia axis, the Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs and sea tanker Boris Butomato unexpectedly arrived in the Philippines to conduct military training exercises in what the Russian media described as "an unprecedented navy-to-navy contact between the two nations."

Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs has docked at the Manila South Harbor

Russia is scaling down its military presence in Syria by returning the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and its group from the Mediterranean Sea back to Russia, the defense ministry reported Friday. RT.com reports: The Kuznetsov group will return to its home base in Severomorsk, the chair of the Russian General Staff, Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, announced on Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial pullout of military forces from Syria after negotiating a ceasefire deal with Iran and Turkey.

Whistleblowing website Wikileaks has offered a cash reward to anyone who can expose an agent of the Obama administration destroying important records before leaving office. A Twitter post on Tuesday said “We are issuing a US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records,” however, it is not explicitly alleged that the administration is suspected of inappropriate conduct. The bounty was raised to $30,000 on Wednesday.

Seven years after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," despite having been in office for less than one year and having pretty much no actual, tangible foreign diplomacy accomplishments at the time, President Obama will depart the White House having dropped 26,171 bombs on foreign countries around the world in 2016, 3,027 more than 2015.

The farce is complete.