With Trump’s new world order, should the Philippines nuke up?

The UN Security Council votes, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the United Nations headquarters. In a UN resolution that demanded the withdrawal of Russia from Ukraine, the US  voted No, joining forces with the Russians, the Chinese and the North Koreans. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Maybe Duterte, the father, Mr. EJK (extra-judicial killings) was right. Remember the time when Duterte antagonized the US and Obama.  The justification for bad public behavior was that the Philippines should test its alignment to maybe Russia and even China.

Yes, China.

Duterte was trying to stay fluid – being trans in a way. Was that smart politically?

Ultimately, things got better with the US, when the Marcoses were restored. Witness how the Biden administration’s Secretary of State Anthony Blinken often came courting.

Things seemed normal again for America and its old colony.

Things were right side up. China was the enemy, as we can’t forget the Spratlys and the shoals on the West Philippine Sea. (Incidentally, China has had two close strafes recently, one that was dangerously close to Philippine units).

The Philippines should be happy to have that close historical relationship with the US.

But then,  what should we make of Donald Trump’s behavior during “peace talks” in the Ukrainian War?

When the Philippines sees Donald Trump intertwined with the Russians, and all the dictators, it should be worried.

Does the Philippines still turn to the US (Of course, there’s a treaty). But in a Trump world all things are meant to be broken and sent into a chaotic mess.

If the US can suddenly switch sides in the Ukrainian War and say, it’s with the other team, the Russians, no country relying on the US should feel safe.

Are you ready for a nuclear Philippines?

Not just some old volcanoes. Real nukes. Because Trump is signaling not just a new world order, but that the only thing that anyone respects is power. And might. And nukes.

You got’em? You’re at the table and people will listen.

If you don’t, well, who are you going to rely on, Philippines, the United States? Which made you in her image? But now the US is taking democracy down a chaotic and confusing and unknown path. At once extolling isolationism, then taking such a pro-Putin stand to isolate not itself, but every small country that depended on it.

Trump’s motivation would seem to be money and power, and not any kind of world order.

Just the Trump kind.

This is the deal and the world we’re all in.

That telling UN vote 

On Monday, the US position was made clear in a stark and horrifying way. In a UN resolution that demanded the withdrawal of Russia from Ukraine, the US  voted NO, and joined forces with the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans.

All the bad guys. All the dictatorial strong men.

Europe led the way for the resolution, but among Asian countries,  Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines held steady for Ukraine, similar to a vote taken in 2022 on the invasion.

The big democracies are for democracy, of course. When a superpower dictatorship aggressively invades, democracies stay together, right?

Not anymore.

The US and Russia are more than flirting.  And even though the US and China remain adversarial despite TikTok, how does a threesome sound.  On the UN vote, all three were anti-Ukraine. Pro-invasion.

What do the little guys do now? Nuclear proliferation may be the only answer in this realigned new world order. You don’t need many.  Just a handful.

And if the US is pro-invasion suddenly, how should  Taiwan feel about whether the US would respond if China gets aggressive. Look how dangerous  Asia has become for everyone.

These are all the things we have to think about on the third anniversary of the Ukraine War, where the US is showing a little too much leg.

Trump antagonizes Ukraine 

The US started “peace talks”recently without Ukraine and Europe in what sounded more like a surrender. Trump added fuel to the fire by calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator.”

 Zelensky most certainly is not a dictator.

Trump also said Zelinsky’s popularity was in single digits. Again a lie. But this was Trump spouting Russian talking points.  Zelensky’s has an approval rating around 57 percent.

Then Trump insulted Zelinsky by calling him a “modestly successful  comedian,” despite the fact that Zelinsky has taken Russia and Vladmir Putin’s best shots and kept the superpower at bay for the last three years.

Russia has always been the aggressor, invading the sovereign nation, Ukraine. It is the reason democratic nations have stood up and supported Ukraine.

Now Trump is bailing out Putin and putting the screws on Ukraine, forcing it to pay back money that Trump says amounts to around $350 billion, another Trumpian overstatement.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a non-profit based in Germany, puts the total US aid to Ukraine at just $120 billion. It’s significantly less than $350 billion but it’s just like Trump to pad his take, as the dealmaker/salesman/liar.

People also don’t realize, the US is giving Ukraine, older cheaper military equipment and technology, yet demands Ukraine pay back multiple times over with their natural resources.

That’s Trump’s bullying negotiation style.

But if there were any doubts,  the US attitude toward Ukraine became very clear this week  at the UN.

How bad is the vote really?

It would be like the US deciding in the middle of World War II, that it supports Nazi Germany.

Preposterous? It’s happening now as Trump realigns with Putin and the other despots. It’s shameful and practically un-American. But it’s all Trump on a power trip that is so different from any president in American history.

And that brings us to the big question. If the US is with tyrants and dictators, where does that leave Ukraine and Europe, and what does it mean to be leader of the  “free world”?

Is the US no longer the leader? Certainly, Trump can’t be called the leader of the free world.

He’s the shameful president of a democracy that jokes about being a king, and votes with the dictators club.

The upshot? Trump doesn’t really care about the balance of power around the world. He doesn’t care about national security and how the US aligned with Russia means those who depended on the US can’t be sure. Not about Trump or American voters.

Countries around the world are going to have to arm up with the weapons that speak to power. It means an inevitable proliferation among all countries, not just the super powers. That would make the world more dangerous than ever. And all because of Donald Trump.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator and humorist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.