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OctOber 11-17, 2018 • LAS VeGAS ASIAN JOUrNAL
Dateline USa
http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678
Kavanaugh sits on Supreme Court bench... PAGE A1 protesters throughout the nation rallied behind Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a university psychology professor, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in an upstairs bedroom in one of Washington’s upscale suburbs in 1982. Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the 1980s. On Saturday, Ford’s lawyer, Michael Bromwich, described the final week of an FBI investiga-
tion that culminated the hearings in tweet saying, “A week that will live in infamy for the U.S. Senate, permanently diminishing its stature.” “It treated serious allegations as nuisance to be sidestepped rather than a call to investigate seriously,” Bromwich continued. “It then deemed a perfunctory investigation sufficient when it was not. Appalling.” For Republican senators — including a few who showed hesitance over voting Kavanaugh
forward — a brief weeklong FBI investigation that found no corroborating evidence of Ford’s accusations was enough to get their vote. But Democrats and other protesters, the FBI probe — given its time limit to one week — was simply not enough. On Capitol Hill Saturday, protesters briefly interrupted the confirmation vote in the Senate gallery by chanting “Shame on you!” and “November is coming!” Several protesters, many of who were women behind the widespread #MeToo movement, were arrested. Kavanaugh’s hearing drew stark similarities to the also controversial 1991 confirmation hearing of current Supreme Court Justice Clarence who was also subject to sexual harassment allegations by law professor Anita Hill. According to Nielsen data released about a week before his confirmation, roughly 20.4 million people tuned into the hearings on broadcast and cable networks. #NovemberIsComing While the bitter battle over Kavanaugh’s confirmation came to an end, it has fueled Democrats and Republicans who are now using its outcome in encouraging people to go and vote in the upcoming midterm elections on November 6. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, told reporters that the hearing and its result will be boost to Republicans at the ballot box. “We have noticed some kind of energy pick-up on our side,” McConnell said at a Monday press conference in Kentucky. “It provided the adrenalin shot that we had not been able to achieve in any other way.” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told protesters before the vote, “It hurts every survivor of sexual assault who has been ignored.” Warren continued with encouragement to “take back the House” and “take back the Senate.” “We have forged a bond that will make us stronger in the next fight,” added Warren. With seats in both the House and the Senate at stake for both parties, Democrats are looking to gain at least two Senate seats, and 23 House seats during the midterm elections in order to be a majority in each chamber.
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FLOOD DEFENSE SYSTEM. Workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways-National Capital Region (DPWH-NCR) rush the Improvement/ Sheet Piling for flood defense system or bank protection along Roxas Boulevard channel (East Side) Phase II, Parañaque City. PNA photo by Gil Calinga
China not likely to eclipse US power soon — analyst by Pia Lee-Brago Philstar.com
THE United States’ leverage is becoming “nebulous,” but an easy transition of power from Washington to China in the near future is unlikely, according to a professor of International Relations at Tokyo University. Speaking about the future of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan relations, Mie Oba said an easy transition of power from the US to China is not seen because Washington “continues to keep its commitment to Asian affairs alive.” The ASEAN and Japan, according to Oba, are facing challenges at present with a “seismic shift in the balance of power that has become obvious.” “The rise of China has had big impacts on regional circumstances,” she said. Oba was among the speakers at a symposium on the “Fukuda Doctrine,” a cornerstone of Japan’s ASEAN diplomacy, held at the Fiesta Pavilion of Manila Hotel, the same venue where the late former prime minister Takeo Fukuda first pronounced the Doctrine on Aug. 18, 1977. Former Japan prime minis-
ter Yasuo Fukuda on Monday underscored the significance of the Fukuda Doctrine as Japan remains committed to its guiding principle that it will never become a “military power,” engraved in a memorial plaque installed at the hotel in commemoration of the doctrine’s 40th anniversary. Oba said China first achieved large-scale economic development and is now mobilizing that expanding power to promote the further buildup and modernization of its military. “More importantly, China is pursuing a two-pronged, proactive foreign policy. First, China is asserting sovereignty in regions such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea, something that began at the end of the 2000s,” she said. China is also demonstrating a regional vision as found in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to Oba. She stressed that this kind of idea and the leadership to actually promote such could lead to the construction of a “new regional order in Asia.” In August, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo proposed an Indo-Pacific Fund to support infrastructure development and
financial assistance for security cooperation. “With tactics such as these, I do think that the US is working to hold onto its hegemonic power in Asia and the world,” Oba said. Oba warned, however, that the current administration’s “America First” policy has obviously had a negative effect on Asian countries’ trust toward the US. “In addition, from a long-term perspective, its hegemonic power is on the decline relative to the rapid rise of China,” she said. This shift in the balance of power, she said, is only part of the main challenge, noting that it is more important to direct the gaze to the weakening of the liberal international order, which currently contains liberal internationalism, including components such as restrictions on the use of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for international cooperation and multilateral institutions. The mounting tension between the US and China over trade and digital hegemony could lead to the dominance of protectionism in Asia, according to Oba. These two powers also seek to strengthen their sway over ASEAN membernations. n
NBI arrests ‘notorious forger’ over fake... PAGE A1 verified that Fajardo has no records in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for a business he supposedly owned. The visa applicants admitted
they were promised by Bala that he will hand over to them original documents at a hotel in Paco, Manila — which is how the NBI hatched the operation leading to Bala’s arrest.
According to the NBI, Bala has already undergone inquest proceedings for violation of Articles 171 and 172 — falsification by public officer and by private individual, respectively. n