OF THE
TIMES
"You think that we are a bunch of morons here. Because we can have the diplomatic channel cut tomorrow. You leave my country in 24 hours. All. All of you! We are past colonisation stage. We will be excluded in the UN? You son of a bitch. Go ahead. You are interfering in our affairs because we are poor. You give money and then you start to orchestrate what things should be done".While the EU was quick to distance itself from the group of rogue delegates who did not represent the Brussels body in anything approaching an official capacity, veteran Philippine diplomat Rigoberto Tiglao has exposed something even more dangerous about the delegation.
The EU has denied being connected with the visit or that the seven-member delegation represents EU policy.
"The European Union was not part of the organization or planning of that visit - neither the Delegation of the European Union in the Philippines nor the European Union institutions in Brussels," the EU office in Manila said in a statement.
"The statements made by the Progressive Alliance during its visit to the Philippines were made solely on behalf of the Progressive Alliance and do not represent the position of the European Union."
The Progressive Alliance warned that the Philippines risks losing an exclusive trade deal with the EU if it did not stop extra-judicial killings, but did not call for country to be expelled from any international bodies. However, in an interview on Saturday Human Rights Watch (HRW) Geneva director John Fisher did say that Manila may lose its position on the UN Human Rights Council if the alleged abuses in the country continue.
"Membership comes with responsibilities," Fisher told Rappler. "But so many states underlining the fact that the Philippines is in violation of its membership obligations is a signal that it is one of the options available to the international community if the government persists in violating the right to life."
A spokesman for the president later accused the Progressive Alliance of misrepresenting itself as an "EU mission".
Resolution 81 "in no way restricts our military counter-terrorism efforts in Yemen," Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who introduced the bill, told Military.com. "All the bill basically does is say we should not be assisting Saudi Arabia in Yemen."The bill has attracted 30 House co-sponsors, including Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), as well as prominent Republicans such as Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), Khanna's co-sponsor. Congress has not authorized any US military action in Yemen against anyone but AQAP.

Comment: Either the US military has become extremely plan-foolish, or it doesn't have command of its personnel. Mr. Lavrov is entitled to his accusations, as would an American counterpart should the situation be reversed. Are all the questionable incidents examples of the US staging fatal provocations? Hard to know for sure, but Lavrov doesn't have a reputation of jumping to convenient conclusions.