Kazerooni and Prince: The On Again, Off Again, On Again, Off Again and Perhaps On Again U.S.-Iranian Negotiations
Ben & Jerry’s calls Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide
Palestine: the Moral Issue of Our Time
Gabor Maté and Chris Hedges on Gaza.
On May 5th, journalist Chris Hedges and my father Gabor Maté spoke before an audience of 800 people in New York City on “Palestine: the Moral Issue of Our Time,” a fundraiser for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. I gave some introductory remarks, followed by speeches from Chris and Gabor, a two-way discussion between them, and finally questions from the audience. Video and audio below.
(One correction: I misspoke in referring to Gabor surviving “Nazi-occupied Germany.” I meant to say Hungary, his place of birth).
From the panel discussion at the play’s end. Left to right: Julia Halaby, Rabbi Mark Soloway, Moderator (sorry forgot his name), Reema Wahdan. Dr. Zach Levy.
The Battle of Narratives … Reframing – and softening – the Israeli Occupation. Some reflections on the play “The Israeli-Palestinian Conversation” playing at the Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado.
1. The Battle of Narratives
I used to hear it all the time growing up.
“Well, that’s your opinion.”
One way to deal with controversy is to say “that’s your opinion”. When I was younger it happened to me until I learned that what it really meant was “I have another opinion which is equally valid”. Sometimes opinion is based upon fact; other times it’s based on prejudices. So it is when defining conflicts as “narratives”.
Sometimes reducing current political controversy to narratives obscures their true meaning. I have been thinking about this since seeing a play in Boulder, The Israeli-Palestinian Conversation, this past Sunday at the Dairy Arts Center. The play itself is part of a series in which dialogue/conversation is difficult.
The play was written and produced by Ami Dayan, who also is one of the actors. He is an Israeli ex pat living in Boulder. The play attempts and, in some measure, succeeds in presenting the two sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a conversation, a painful one. There is hardly any place these days where supporters of Palestine or Israel can be found in the same space. For that alone, the play is worth it. The acting was fine; involving the audience was effective; the Palestinian and Israeli viewpoints were expressed in detail.
That the play is even taking place is a big step forward, a genuine effort at a thorny dialogue. It is also more than that: it is Ami Dayan’s way of acknowledging what many Israeli supporters deny: that the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of Israel and that the Palestinian cause/narrative cannot be glibly tossed aside as irrelevant. Following the play was a panel discussion though unfortunately much of the audience left before that.
All in all, the play is a positive contribution to public understanding, and to peace-making. Could such a play even be produced anywhere else?
2. “Both Sides-ism”
Unfortunately, The Israeli-Palestinian Conversation does have a flaw. An ex-Israeli friend refers to this as “both sides-ism”: the idea that both Palestinians and Israelis have equally valid narratives. This approach denies the basic power relationship between the two.
Both sides-ism denies the oppressive and racist essence of Zionism, its long-held practices of ethnic cleansing and, in the case of Gaza, outright genocide. Do the Palestinians owe a sympathetic telling of the Zionist narrative?
The play reflects the voice of liberal Zionist ideology (in contrast to the more messianic, religious Zionist trend). Liberal Zionism does not deny Palestinian suffering but in an effort to save the Zionist project itself, it continues to claim victimhood. Without justification, Zionists transfer the crimes of the Nazis and European anti-Semitism on to the Palestinians who had nothing to do with Jewish suffering during World War II.
Other questions:
What kind of “conversation” can the Palestinian victims of the current Israeli genocide in Gaza have with the Israelis?
What kind of dialogue is possible between fascist-oriented settlers in the West Bank and the Palestinian communities whose land Zionists are making increasingly unlivable?
While the play itself did not articulate the red lines that are unacceptable for liberal Zionists, in the panel discussion that followed a number of points were raised revealing the limits of the conversation. In response to a question from the audience, Professor Levy, a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado unequivocally opposed any ceasefire proposal. Yet, to oppose a ceasefire is another way to continue to support Israel’s genocidal repression of Gaza Palestinians, many of whom now are starving to death.
In a similar fashion, Rabbi Soloway commented that criticism of Israel is permitted but some are out of bounds. These included referring to Zionism as “settler colonialism”, speaking of Zionism as “racist” and using the term “genocide” in reference to Gaza. Not to acknowledge the nature of Zionism as a settler colonial, racist state that is committing genocide is hiding your head in the sand.
One further troubling point about the play. A play that does not explore U.S. active support for Israel’s actions is missing a key part of the conversation.
Worth seeing? Yes, definitely.
If Americans Knew: OUTRAGE brewing over sheer amount of US taxpayers’ money going to Israel
Women of Jaffa by Rowan Anani
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‘Americans are starting to pay attention. And when they realize how much of their tax money, money they have worked so hard for, is going to a foreign country that’s quite well off, in many ways better off than Americans themselves, it’s shocking.
Worse than that, this money is being used to cause oppression and misery, children being killed and starved to death. Intentionally being starved. There’s enormous outrage that’s brewing.
Groups like the ADL, Jewish Relations Councils, Jewish Federations, AIPAC, they’re all supporting it. Astonishingly, they’re supporting this very visible, very blatant, very grotesque genocide.
And people are seeing that. They’re realizing just how powerful the Israel Lobby is in America. That our congresspeople are either being paid by the Israel Lobby, or they’re afraid the money will go to their opponent, so they vote to send massive amounts of aid.
In the midst of all this, the Biden administration, with the awareness and complicity of Congress, sent Israel more money than ever before. Even though previous amounts were already massive, they sent even more.
And they did this in the middle of mass murder. Whether or not you want to call it genocide, which is, frankly, the accurate term, there’s no doubt it was mass slaughter. Slaughter of women and children.
In the middle of that, they sent our weapons. They sent our money and more and more people are learning about that and becoming appropriately outraged at what’s going on.’
The Passing of Chester McQueary: Chief Organizer who spearheaded the opposition to Project Rulison.
left to right: Nancy Fey, Melinda Dell Fitting, Chester McQueary, Rob Prince. We are standing in front of the site where, in September, 1969, the federal government and a private energy company detonated an underground nuclear blast called “Project Rulison”, literally fracking with nuclear weapons. We were protesters trying to stop the blast. In September 2019, the four of us returned to the site of the blast to commemorate our resistance to all nuclear weapons. We also held a public commemoration event nearby at which nearly 100 locals, many of whom were alive at the time of the blast, attended.
Chester: I send an eternal embrace from Nancy and myself to your magnificent spirit that will live forever in our hearts. We loved you Chester.
Chester McQueary, Gay, working class peace activist, died in a Ft. Collins yesterday (May 25, 2025).a victim of prostate cancer. Someone I don’t know sent a message to that effect to my blog this morning.
Chester is the second member of the “Project Rulison” group, who died in the past few weeks, who tried to stop an underground nuclear blast from being detonated on the northern side of the Grand Mesa in Western Colorado. The other death is of Melinda Dell Fitting who died in Maryland a few months ago, also a lifelong friend and godmother to our daughter, Molly Prince.
“Project Rulison” was – literally – fracking with nuclear weapons, a part of the Atoms for Peace Program, trying to give nuclear weapons a facelift – that they could be used for peaceful purposes. A number of test explosions were detonated in Northern New Mexico and in Colorado before the fracking with nuclear weapons program was finally killed by Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. Had it been implemented, a plan for fracking with nukes included detonating more than 200 underground nuclear weapons in the southern Wyoming coal fields.
There will be more articles, info on Chester’s extraordinary life and contribution to peace in the weeks and months ahead.
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Panelists in the after-play discussion of “The Israeli-Palestinian Discussion” Boulder, Colorado at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. Play continues through next weekend
(Note: I have been informed by a reliable source that in fact there has been NO campaign orchestrated to shut down production of “The Israeli-Palestinian Conversation” and that therefore it is NOT NECESSARY to launch our own “defense campaign”. A little surprised, but glad to hear that at least in this case, free speech for Palestinian supporters, was not repressed. RJP)
In Boulder Colorado today to see a play “The Israeli-Palestinian Conversation” directed and produced by Ami Dayan. Well done, genuine dialogue, large Boulder Jewish Community presence.
Julia Halaby and Reema Wahdan represented their Palestinian people.
A few points I noted …
1. Although both Israel supporters (one a local rabbi, the other an Israeli exchange prof at C.U. Boulder) were critical of Netanyahu, the C.U. prof openly opposed an Israeli Palestinian ceasefire when asked. The two downplayed the ongoing genocide and suggested that everything was pretty much ok until October 7, 2023 when Hamas ruined it all. A lot of anti-Hamas rhetoric
2. The audience was told that it is “OK” to criticize Israel but a. cannot speak of genocide b. cannot call Israel racist c. cannot describe Israel as a settler colonial state and to do so is anti-Semitic.
3. Julia H, who participated in the play, was OUTSTANDING. Reema W., who participated in a panel afterwards, held her own very, very well. The two Israeli supporters kept their remarks – for the most part – limited to the events of October 7, 2023 – with little to no commentary on the decades that preceded the Palestinian breakout of Gaza and the attack on Israe.
FINALLY.
4. Such discussions are difficult but from where I’m sitting entirely necessary. We need more of such exchanges.
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Appendix A – Email from Ari Dayan, play producer to the Board of the Dairy Arts Center
To the Board and Leadership of The Dairy Arts Center,
I attended a recent performance of The Conversation and participated in the panel discussion that followed. What I witnessed was not provocation for its own sake, but a rare and vital example of what courageous public art can do: spark deep reflection, create space for multiple truths, and open doors to a conversation our community desperately needs.
I understand that The Dairy is now considering canceling the remainder of this production due to pressure from both Christian and Jewish Zionist voices. I want to speak directly to that moment of pressure—not as a neutral observer, but as someone deeply invested in the work and what it represents.
The irony is devastating. A play meant to spark a difficult but necessary reckoning is now itself the object of suppression. This moment reveals exactly the system the play attempts to name: a structure that does not tolerate critique, even in its most careful, humanizing form.
Let’s be clear: the backlash you are facing is not evidence of harm. It is evidence of discomfort—and discomfort is not a crisis. Silencing this work, however, would be. If The Conversation is too much for Boulder, then the problem is not the play. The problem is Boulder.
This is not a moment to back down. This is a moment to lean in. The play has already stirred deep and varied reactions in our community—grief, rage, reckoning, hope. That is what good art does. That is what you say you are here to support.
Cancelling this production would send a devastating message: that Boulder’s cultural institutions are only brave until they are pressured. That the boundaries of artistic freedom will be drawn by those who are most committed to silencing critique. And that our community cannot handle the complexity of a conversation we are already, undeniably, living inside.
If you follow through with cancellation, it will not be neutral. It will not be about “safety.” It will be about capitulation to those who have long maintained power by ensuring that Palestinian voices remain marginalized, and Jewish dissent stays silent.
This is your moment. Not to pick sides—but to confront a broader and increasingly visible truth: Boulder is not a neutral bystander. Our own city has adopted discriminatory policies that routinely displace working-class Black and Brown communities, push unhoused neighbors into invisibility, and protect privilege under the guise of civility. That context matters. Because when institutions silence critique in the name of comfort, they’re not promoting unity—they’re maintaining supremacy.
This is your chance to stand for the role of art, for the sanctity of public dialogue, and for a community that does more than perform progress—it practices it.
You’ve been asked for endorsements. Consider this mine—not just of the artistic merit of The Conversation, but of its rare willingness to hold complexity, to create a safe space for risk, and to elevate stories that are too often silenced. This is the kind of work The Dairy should be proud to present.
I hope you meet this moment with the courage it deserves.
Sincerely,
Micha
Defend Democracy Press: Ukraine and the 80th anniversary commemorations in Russia of the defeat of Nazi Germany
A nationalist rally in Kiev I happened to stumble across in April, 1989
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Part of the rewriting of history taking place to justify U.S./NATO war against Russia in Ukraine includes rewriting – and falsifying – the evolution of World War II, white washing the insidious role of Ukrainian Nazis who committed war crimes against Jews, Poles, moderate Ukrainians and Russian speakers. It continues today with the Kiev government outlawing commemorations of the Soviet victory over Nazism.
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Ukraine and the 80th anniversary commemorations in Russia of the defeat of Nazi Germany
Dmitri Kovalevich
May 13, 2025
Gabor Maté: Palestine: The Moral Issue of Our Time
West Bank town of Beit Ummar sending food shipments – or trying to – to Gaza
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“The moral component of History, the most necessary component is simply a single question asked over and over again: When it mattered, who sided with justice and who sided with power? What makes moments like this one so dangerous, so clarifying is that one way or another everyone is forced to answer. And Palestine is the issue of our time and based on that issue that tells you if whether you’ve got a heart that is open and functioning.”
Gabor Maté
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Palestinian commentator Mouin Rabbani on X (Twitter) ten days ago (May 13, 2025). The overall picture of the region sketched here remains in force. His regional overview, including the growing distance between Trump and Netanyahu, is sound. I would like to see him write on the broader context: how the growing “Primakov Triangle” – the increasing cooperation between Iran, Russia and China – plays into the current situation. Perhaps in another post. Finally, people are always asking me about sources. Rabbani is one of consistent in-depth analysis. Worth following on X or wherever you can find him.
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Israel’s problem is that it is today encountering a different Middle East, a different United States, a different Republican Party, and a different Trump than those which it so easily bent to its will during Trump’s previous stint in the White House.
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Israel and its lobby, which went all-in for Trump during the 2024 US presidential election campaign, are experiencing a severe case of buyer’s remorse. They seem to have genuinely believed that during Trump’s first few months in office Washington would not only continue to provide unlimited support for Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip and further increase weapons deliveries to Israel, but would also endorse Israeli annexation of the West Bank, obliterate the Houthis in Yemen on Israel’s behalf, engineer Saudi-Israeli normalization in a manner that renders the Palestinians irrelevant, and take the lead in a joint US-Israeli war against Iran.
Trump’s harebrained “Gaza Riviera” proposal this past February, calling for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland, convinced them the second Trump administration will exceed even their wildest expectations, and by comparison make Trump I look like a Squad policy platform. Rather than celebrating the fulfilment of the above wish list, not much of it has come to pass. More to the point, Israel and its lobby are currently in the midst of a total meltdown.
How did the genocidal apartheid regime get it so very wrong? Read more…
Kevork AlMassian: Robert Ford: The Empire’s Diplomatic Arsonist and the Whitewashing of Julani
Damascus – July, 1981
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Ibrahim Kazerooni and I, in our radio programs on KGNU over the years, repeatedly spoke about Robert Ford, “the Empire’s diplomat arsonist” as Kevok Almassian puts it. He has resided in Colorado. RJP
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Robert Ford: The Empire’s Diplomatic Arsonist and the Whitewashing of Julani
Ford didn’t just cheerlead the opposition. He actively pushed for a specific type of opposition—one increasingly dominated by hardline Islamist factions.
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Robert Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, is one such figure. For many Syrians, his name is etched into our memory not as a diplomat, but as a saboteur who cloaked his destabilizing mission under the guise of diplomacy. While diplomats are meant to represent peace, dialogue, and neutrality, Ford played a very different role—one more fitting for a provocateur or an imperial foot soldier.
In 2011, as Syria began descending into unrest, Ford made a highly publicized trip to Hama without notifying the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That’s a basic diplomatic protocol—even adversarial states follow it. But Ford had a mission, and it wasn’t peaceful: he wanted to embolden a movement, not mediate it. His stunt echoed the actions of Victoria Nuland in Ukraine, who infamously handed out cookies to Maidan protesters. The symbolism was clear—this wasn’t about supporting democracy; it was about scripting regime change
Ford didn’t just cheerlead the opposition. He actively pushed for a specific type of opposition—one increasingly dominated by hardline Islamist factions. He helped legitimize the most radical elements, whitewashing them as “freedom fighters” even as they called for ethnic cleansing and sectarian annihilation. This wasn’t a mistake of judgment; it was a policy choice.
Today, in 2025, we are seeing the horrifying fruits of those choices. Julani—the former al-Qaeda commander—has become Washington’s “rebranded” man in Syria. A decade ago, he was a wanted terrorist. Now, thanks to a calculated effort led by Western-backed NGOs and think tanks, he’s the self-selected President of Syria. Robert Ford, unsurprisingly, is at the center of this moral charade.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Baltimore just this month, Ford admitted to being part of a British conflict resolution team tasked with rehabilitating Abu Mohammad al-Julani. He revealed that he met Julani twice between 2023 and 2024 to “train” him, with a third meeting in January 2025—this time at none other than the Presidential Palace in Damascus. The implications are staggering.
Let’s be clear: Ford, a former U.S. ambassador, now works directly with the same jihadist whose group committed atrocities across Syria and Iraq. The same Julani who who oversaw the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities and implemented Taliban-style governance.
Let’s be clear: Ford, a former U.S. ambassador, now works directly with the same jihadist whose group committed atrocities across Syria and Iraq. The same Julani who who oversaw the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities and implemented Taliban-style governance.
Ford isn’t just a retired diplomat giving lectures at think tanks. He’s a contractor for chaos—still shaping U.S. policy, still operating in the corridors of power through institutions like the Middle East Institute and the Atlantic Council. And yes, the Middle East Institute is funded by Gulf monarchies with vested interests in destabilizing the Levant. Ford doesn’t work for peace; he works for the empire, for the oil aristocrats, and for the military-industrial complex.
There’s a word I use for journalists who serve imperial narratives: prestitutes. For people like Robert Ford, the term must be extended. He is the diplomatic equivalent of a mercenary—a man who sold his intellect and influence to perpetuate misery under the pretense of bringing change
What we are witnessing today is not just the manipulation of geopolitical outcomes—it is the reprogramming of collective memory. We are being asked to forget Julani’s crimes, to welcome him as a “moderate” leader, all because figures like Ford have deemed it politically convenient.
I reject this narrative. We must hold these individuals accountable—not just for the destruction they helped sow, but for the audacity with which they continue to profit from it.
Robert Ford may speak fluent Arabic, but he never understood the Syrian people. If he had, he would know that no amount of diplomatic spin can wash away the blood spilled by men like Julani—or by those who empowered him.
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For more on Robert Ford:
Ukraine is resembling the fall of Saigon in 1975
Ukraine is resembling the fall of Saigon in 1975 as its governing regime takes to echoing Trump’s anti-China policies
Six Palestinians Injured in Two Israeli Settler Attacks in the West Bank
Ramallah / Awad Rajoub / Anadolu Agency
Six Palestinians were injured on Saturday evening in two attacks carried out by Israeli settlers in the central and southern West Bank, according to government media and eyewitnesses.
The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported that settlers “attacked the town of Kobar, northwest of the city of Ramallah (central), and injured two citizens.”
It added that “settlers attacked citizens in the town and severely beat citizens Adnan Hassan Rashid and Musa Shalalda, causing them injuries and bruises.”
In the southern West Bank, a Palestinian family was attacked by settlers while cultivating their land in the town of Sa’ir, north of the city of Hebron. Palestinian Shadi Tarwa said, “I was on my land, weeding and plowing, when a group of about 10 settlers attacked my vehicle and smashed its windows near the Jouret al-Khayl area, northeast of Sa’ir.”
He added to Anadolu Agency, “The settlers then attacked us and assaulted me, my wife, my son’s wife, and my children with fists and clubs, causing us head injuries and bruises.”
He added, “Four members of his family were taken to the Hebron Governmental Hospital to receive treatment for head injuries and obtain the necessary medical imaging.”
In the town of Sa’ir, settlers also blocked a street frequented by Palestinians with stones.
Palestinian activists posted photos of the settlers blocking the road on social media.
In parallel with the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli army and settlers have escalated their attacks in the West Bank, resulting in the deaths of more than 958 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 7,000, and the arrest of 16,400, according to Palestinian data. With full American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 168,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.
)Translated from Arabic with “Google Translate”)
After Pahalgam, the Real Test of India’s National Wisdom—Thwarting the Invitation to Civil War
After Pahalgam, the Real Test of India’s National Wisdom—Thwarting the Invitation to Civil War
by Harish Khare – April 24, 2025
The massacre has reignited calls for retribution and nationalist bravado—but behind the noise lies a deeper challenge: Can India’s leaders hold the line against communal rupture and resist falling into Pakistan’s strategic trap?
Judging by the avalanche of angry traffic in community WhatsApp groups—baying for vengeance and retribution in response to the massacre at Pahalgam—it is clear that the ruling establishment faces a formidable challenge in statecraft: how to resist the temptation of a full-fledged civil war along Hindu-Muslim fault lines. Sample this provocative message doing the rounds, one of dozens that agents provocateurs are circulating so as to extract political mileage from a national tragedy:
Shradhanjali
Aaj se shuru karo jo unhone kiya,
Naam poocho, pet par laat maaro,
Naam poocho, kaam se nikaalo,
Naam poocho, samaan mat kharido,
Naam poocho, taxi cancel karo,
Naam poocho, aur poori tarah se bahishkar karo.
Ek se do hafton ki pareshani hogi,
Lekin nateeje bahut acche aayenge.
(Homage)
Start today what they did;
Ask the name and strike where it hurts the most;
Ask the name and remove them from your employment;
Ask the name and refuse to buy anything from them;
Ask the name, cancel the taxi;
Ask the name and boycott them completely.
We shall face inconvenience for a week or two,
But the results will be very good indeed.
This is not the first time such a provocation has tested the wisdom of the Indian state and its seasoned apparatchiks. But the challenge today is even more consequential because the impresarios of the incumbent government have trapped themselves in a 56-inch-deep hole. Having long accused previous non-BJP governments of lacking the “will” to “sort out Pakistan,” the Modi government is now under immense pressure to at least replicate something akin to a “Balakot.” The ruling party has made the idea of a “surgical strike” its political signature. Senior ministers have casually spoken about walking into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir at a moment of our choosing. Such rhetoric has only whetted the collective appetite for a more “muscular” response, beyond the so-called “diplomatic surgical strike” decided by Prime Minister Modi’s Cabinet Committee on Security on April 23.
How Islamabad might react if the Modi regime succumbs to this frenzy is of little concern to the ruling party and its “core” constituency. Inflicting “pain” on Pakistan has become an emotionally satisfying pursuit. Since the Kargil war, the BJP has routinely tried to convert military martyrdom into electoral capital. The pretence of being “uncompromising” in our “determination” to roll back terrorism has yielded rich dividends at the ballot box. Now, the ruling coterie feels obliged not only to send a message to Pakistan and other terror-vendors but also to satisfy its supporters’ craving for fireworks.
Whether or not Pakistan can endure this “pain” without escalating matters into a broader conflict is a question best left to defence analysts. If New Delhi and Islamabad blunder into a limited war, both establishments might even find such a confrontation a useful distraction from pressing domestic and economic challenges.
Yet, even a limited war will not solve the fundamental issue: how to prevent the widening Hindu-Muslim chasm in India. If three or four terrorists can push us into communal delirium, transforming every village and kasba into battlegrounds of inter-community strife, then they would have succeeded brilliantly in their goal—to weaken India. A socially fragmented nation can never achieve greatness. Read more…
Look how close northern Philippines is to Taiwan
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The US military is preparing for war on China. The US has missile systems in the Philippines aimed at major Chinese cities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Japan is a US “war-fighting headquarters”. Silicon Valley Big Tech oligarchs are profiting.
Ben Norton
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Trump FOLDS: China SHUTS DOWN His Tariff Bluff, Putin Rejects War Ultimatum w/ Brian Berletic
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International War and Peace
US war game simulator ‘full-scale war’ with China in the Philippines
Many nations sent observers to the Philippines for the exercises.
The Libertarian Institute, April 23, 2025.
During Balikatan 2024, the US deployed the Typhon launcher – a covert system that is concealed in a 40-foot shipping container and fires Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles – to the Philippines. In a major provocation to Beijing, Washington kept the system in the country’s north, where it was capable of striking Taiwan or even mainland China. A Typhon launcher will be deployed again for this year’s Balikatan.
The US kicked off its largest annual military drills alongside the Philippines on Monday, simulating a full-on war with China.
A total of 17,000 troops from 20 countries participated in the drills, dubbed Balikatan 2025, including 9,000 American soldiers and 5,000 Filipino servicemen. US Marine Corps Forces Pacific commander Lt. Gen. James Glynn said this year’s drills “will showcase a full battle test, the purposeful integration of real world security situations relevant to the region with live, virtual and constructive training opportunities that will give the Philippines and the US a collective opportunity to demonstrate capabilities across all domains, across all services and all forces.”
A statement from the Philippine military likewise said that the exercises would simulate a “full-scale battle scenario.”
Many nations sent observers to the Philippines for the drills. For the first time, Japanese soldiers were full participants in the war games.
General Romeo Brawner, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, noted that Balikatan would take place in the northern Philippines, near the South China Sea and Taiwan. “Across the vibrant expanse of Luzon, Palawan, the Visayas and Mindanao, we will assess our readiness in all domains,” he said.
The South China Sea and Taiwan are flashpoints in a potential conflict between the US and China, which sees the island as part of its own sovereign territory.
A press release from the US Navy explained that the war games were proof that Washington would honor its defense treaty with Manila. Balikatan is a “testament to the ironclad alliance and enduring friendship between the Philippines and the United States,” it said.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have collided around disputed rocks and reefs in the South China Sea on several occasions in recent years. While the incidents have not led to direct hostilities, Washington often restates its pledge to go to war on Manila’s behalf as a warning to Beijing not to attack the Philippines.
Along with additional participants in the drills, Balikatan 2025 will feature integrated air and missile defense. This includes one of the first live-fire tests of the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS), a short-range anti-drone platform.
During Balikatan 2024, the US deployed the Typhon launcher – a covert system that is concealed in a 40-foot shipping container and fires Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles – to the Philippines. In a major provocation to Beijing, Washington kept the system in the country’s north, where it was capable of striking Taiwan or even mainland China. A Typhon launcher will be deployed again for this year’s Balikatan.
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 