I THOUGHT news on the Red October is a book review of the 1980s of “The Hunt for Red October,” the debut novel of Tom Clancy.
The Clancy novel was about the communists. Make that about the submarine captain Marko Ramius who heads the top-of-the-shelf ballistic missile submarine Red October of the former Soviet Union.
Someone in the Armed Forces of the Philippines must have been a Clancy fan. According to the institution’s spokespersons, Filipino Maoist rebels are allegedly reinforcing their networks to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte in a plot called “Red October.”
The “Red October” plot was allegedly cooked up by a coalition of communist rebels and members of the political opposition to remove President Duterte from office.
The plan will allegedly culminate in October, which they said coincides with the international celebrations for Marxism, indigenous peoples, and communism.
“May mga alliances silang bini-build lalo na yung legal oppositions para magkaroon sila ng kakampi,” says Maj. Gen. Isidro Purisima, deputy chief of staff for operations.
Geez, it doesn’t take too much intelligence to know that. The Maoists have been pronouncing that since Day 1 of its establishment back in 1968 thru its protracted people’s war.
Nothing new. The red letter day for the Maoists is not even October but December. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 while the Maoists celebrate its founding day on the 26, coinciding with the birth of Mao Zedong.
The military doesn’t even need intelligence work that the Communists are reaching out to the opposition against Duterte. It goes without saying.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend is an ancient proverb, says Wikipedia, which suggests that two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy. The earliest known expression of this concept is found in a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, the Arthashastra, which dates to around the 4th century BC.
The best example of that was in World War II when the American-Anglo forces joined hands with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany and its Axis allies.
The military claims that the communist rebels are discrediting the government by destroying the Philippines’ image in the international community.
Since he assumed the presidency, the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, Time, Forbes and Washington Post have reported on the spate of killings in the country that were attributed to Duterte’s crackdown on drugs.
Duterte’s response? “They said I am the most unpopular among the international press. I don’t care,” he told reporters in 2016.
So who is discrediting whom?
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)