MikeLigalig.com

ang trabaho sa ahong asawa BSN. Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Nurse. ang duha ka daughters nurse pod pareha sa ilang mommy. ahong trabaho bsn. binuhi sa nars. dali ra kaajo makuha ning tesla. ibaligya lang ahong asawa sa car dealer. hihihi. meaning to say ipakita ang income ni mrs. sa dealer, ma bira dajon naho ang tesla. patanawon mo naho sa income ni mrs. time sa kay ahong pangitaon ang income form ni mrs.

dugay man mag gera. bijaan na lang ning topic

naay BALONG elementary school. karon naa na poy BALONG bread. unsa kahay sunod?

basin molopad ug akoy mo drive

Iran is a maritime power bordered by the Caspian sea to the north and the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south. It shares land borders with several troubled U.S. allies, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq.

Its location in the center of Eurasia is particularly important for trade. About a third of the world's oil tanker traffic passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which is bordered by Iran and Oman. At its narrowest point, this shipping route is just under two miles wide. Blocking it could lead shipments of daily global oil exports to drop by an estimated 30 percent.

In terms of conventional military strength, Iran is far weaker than the United States. But the country has long pursued asymmetric strategies that could allow it to inflict serious damage on U.S. interests in the region.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a force loyal to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and separate from the regular military, has an external special operations arm known as the Quds Force that has helped build proxy forces in places such as Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. It funds militias such as Hezbollah, which is powerful in its own right.
Iran has used these type of groups to target Americans before. Earlier this year, a revised Pentagon estimate found Iranian proxy forces had killed at least 608 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Iranian proxies could cause havoc in Iraq and Afghanistan again.

Iran's navy has a real advantage against the United States, too. It doesn't need big ships or firepower to block off the Strait of Hormuz, for example, but could use mines or submarines to force a halt in trade.

U.S. war games have suggested that speedboat suicide attacks and missiles could be surprisingly effective against the American military. A 2017 report from the Office of Naval Intelligence found that the navy of the Revolutionary Guard, which is distinct from Iran's regular navy and focuses on smaller and faster but still heavily armed vessels, had received more responsibilities to protect the Persian Gulf.

Mao nga dili ko ikaulaw ang pobre nga kahimtang,
Kay dili kami sama sa nagpakadatu nga minilyon ang utang.

perteng pagka igo naho ani. mag pa ka aron ingnon nga datu pero perteng daghana ug utang. hahay buhay. pero wa may bayad sa pangandoy. di man tingali sala kong mangandoy kong mahimong datu. kay perteng paeta ning pobre oy. one day no eat. dugay kong pobre. pero karon nga tigulang na, medyo asenso na gamay. kay bisan daghan ug utang mahimo gihapong ma tilawan kong unsay atong gusto. na ibog gyud ko aning TESLA. unsa kaha. mangutang na kaha pod ko. hunahuna-on sa

Since John R. Bolton became the national security adviser in April 2018, he has intensified the Trump administration's policy of isolating and pressuring Iran.

WASHINGTON — At a meeting of President Trump's top national security aides last Thursday, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons, administration officials said.
The revisions were ordered by hard-liners led by John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump's national security adviser. They do not call for a land invasion of Iran, which would require vastly more troops, officials said.

The development reflects the influence of Mr. Bolton, one of the administration's most virulent Iran hawks, whose push for confrontation with Tehran was ignored more than a decade ago by President George W. Bush.

It is highly uncertain whether Mr. Trump, who has sought to disentangle the United States from Afghanistan and Syria, ultimately would send so many American forces back to the Middle East.

It is also unclear whether the president has been briefed on the number of troops or other details in the plans. On Monday, asked about if he was seeking regime change in Iran, Mr. Trump said: "We'll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything, it would be a very bad mistake."

The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln last week in the Persian Gulf. As a precaution, the Pentagon has moved an aircraft carrier and more naval firepower to the gulf region.CreditCreditU.S. Navy, via Associated Press

ug magka lisod, pwede mo logos ug palit. mo down payment lang ko ug $20000 unya monthly installment. pero di sa ko mag pa ang ang kay daghan pa kaajo ko ug utang

hanoy kaajo. way banha kay electric man

didto ko sa showroom sa TESLA kay mo road test sa ilang SUV. $83,000 plus taxes mo abot ug $100,000 pod. road test lang kotob hihihi. cannot afford . at least naka tilaw ug sakay

"I am a doctor working at a little clinic. At about 8:15 am on a Tuesday morning, an old man in his 80's walked into my clinic to remove some stitches he received a few days before.

It was a very busy morning, and I asked him to please sit and wait. He told me he was in a rush, as he had a very important engagement at 9am he couldn't miss.  As he sat there,  I couldn't help noticing that he kept checking his watch. I decided to treat him since the doctor in charge was extremely busy, and I knew it would take at least an hour until he could see him.

I took off his bandages and saw that the wound was healing nicely. While I was gently pulling out the stitches, I asked him where he was off to that was more important than taking out stitches.  Was it also with a doctor?

"No," said the old man, "not a doctor. I am going to have breakfast with my wife, who is in the hospital."
"Why was she hospitalized, if I may ask?"
"She's been there for a few years now," he answered. "she has Alzheimer's and needs constant care."
As I finished taking out the stitches, I asked the man if his wife would be worried if he were late to their breakfast.
"No," he said quietly, "and she never will. She hasn't recognized me in over five years."

I was astounded by this and just had to ask: "And you go to her every morning although she doesn't know who you are?"
The man smiled, put his hand on mine and said: "She may not know who I am, but I know who she is, and I remember for both of us."  And he shook my hand, thanked me and left me standing there, my body shaking with sudden emotion.

"This," I said to myself, "this is what true love is all about. This is what I want for myself."
And I vowed, at that moment, to find such love.

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subay lang mo kanunay dinhi sa  tubagbohol.com  sa mga balita nga dili ninyo ma basa sa manila bulletin, cebu daily news, bohol chronicle  hihihihi

he Pentagon has announced it will deploy approximately 1,500 personnel to the Middle East, including fighter jets, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, a battalion of Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, and combat engineers. However, U.S. military officials have already clarified that some 600 of these personnel are already in the region and will simply be extending their tours. The deployments are in response to still largely nebulous claims from the U.S. government that intelligence showed Iran and its proxies were preparing to launch attacks on American interests in the Middle East.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan revealed basic details about the new force posture on May 24, 2019, though he did not say specifically where the additional personnel would be arriving. The day before, he had dismissed various news reports that had said the United States was considering sending between 5,000 and 10,000 additional troops to the region. It should be noted that tthe U.S. military already has tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East.

Since National Security Advisor John Bolton first announced the Iranian threat on May 6, 2019, the U.S. military has sent B-52H bombers, F-15C Eagle fighter jets, and an additional battery of Patriots to the region, as well as expedited the deployment of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and her associated carrier strike group to the area. The U.S. Navy also sent the amphibious ship USS Arlington to swap places with another already sailing in and around the Persian Gulf.

 The U.S. military presence in the Middle East is at its "weakest in history", a deputy commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was on Sunday quoted by the semi-official news agency Fars as saying.

U.S. President Donald Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has built up the U.S. military presence in the region.

It accuses Iran of threats to U.S. troops and interests. Tehran has described U.S. moves as "psychological warfare" and a "political game".

"The Americans have been present in the region since 1833 and they are now at their weakest in history in West Asia," said Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, a deputy Guards commander, according to Fars.

U.S. deploys 1,500 troops to 'bolster defenses against Iran'. Pictured: An F/A-18E Super Hornet flying above the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. AFP

An Iranian vessel steers close to the U.S. Navy coastal patrol craft USS Thunderbolt, right, in the Persian Gulf in a still image from video provided by the U.S. Navy, on July 25. Encounters between U.S. and Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf are routine and often tense. Iranian warships are set to leave the waters of the Persian Gulf to sail across the world to tour the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

As tensions mount between the United States and Iran, American and Iranian leaders publicly insist they want to avoid war. Yet history is littered with accidents, misperceptions, miscalculations, hidden bureaucratic agendas and other factors that produced armed conflicts nobody seemed to want. This is one fictional example of how easily a war between the United States and Iran could start. None of this has happened — but it could.

On Aug. 7, 2018, Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, rushed out of an emergency session of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. The meeting discussed how to respond to news that Iran's oil sales — the lifeblood of the Islamic republic's economy — had plummeted to only a few hundred thousand barrels a day, down more than 2 million barrels in just 18 months, because of U.S. sanctions.

Soleimani had a few important calls to make. The first two went to the commanders of Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah, the most prominent Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq. Since the defeat of the Islamic State's territorial "caliphate," these militants had been itching to turn their sights on the 5,000 U.S. troops who remained in Iraq, with the goal of driving them out. Soleimani had cautioned patience, but his guidance now took a decisive turn: "Brothers, you have my authorization. Follow the righteous path."

Soleimani's next call was to Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, the most capable Iranian proxy in the Middle East. Despite hundreds of Israeli strikes in recent years against Hezbollah arms shipments and Iranian bases in Syria, the organization and its backers in Tehran had not yet waged an all-out war across Israel's northern frontier. Still, everyone knew that such a conflict was inevitable at some point, and Soleimani told Nasrallah that the time might be approaching. "The American-Zionist alliance is plotting and a storm is coming," he said. "Be ready."

One week after Soleimani's calls, a U.S. diplomatic convoy traveling from the heavily fortified Green Zone to Baghdad International Airport was hit by several powerful roadside bombs. A high-level State Department political officer, three other diplomats and a U.S. Army colonel were killed instantly.

Within hours, other attacks followed, including a barrage of rocket and mortar fire on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that destroyed the main dining hall and killed five Iraqis cleaning the grounds. At the same time, a suicide attacker hit a U.S. military unit operating in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border. Two American Special Operations troops were killed, and two more were taken hostage by a Syrian militia widely believed to be backed by Iran.

Under any circumstances, these incidents would spark a crisis. But they occurred against a backdrop of escalating tensions and provocations between Washington and Tehran that had begun after the Trump administration withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018. The subsequent "maximum pressure" campaign the administration applied to cut off Iran's oil sales and connections to the international banking system deepened the siege mentality in Tehran. The U.S. decision to designate the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, overruling warnings from the Pentagon, made the situation even tenser. Iran responded by restarting some proscribed nuclear activities and carrying out calibrated provocations in May, hoping to reciprocate U.S. pressure and build leverage in the event that negotiations with the Great Satan ever resumed.

More US troops requested to deter Iran

U.S. Central Command is requesting additional defensive capabilities that could lead to as many as 5,000 to 10,000 additional troops being sent to the Middle East to deter Iran, a U.S. official told ABC News.

On Thursday afternoon, acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan confirmed that the Pentagon is asking for more forces, but would not confirm any numbers, saying that it was not 5,000 or 10,000.

"What we are focused on now is do we have the right force protection in the Middle East?," he told reporters outside the Pentagon.

"What we're looking at are there things we can do to enhance force protection in the Middle East," he added.

Shanahan acknowledged that such a request " may involve sending additional troops."

There was a meeting at the White House on Thursday where the Central Command request was to be considered, according to two U.S. officials, who stressed that it was unclear which portions of the CENTCOM request could be approved at this White House meeting.

PHOTO: A convoy of US forces drive near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij,

The U.S. official told ABC News Wednesday that the defensive capabilities and weapons systems were being requested, and that the number of additional forces will depend on which capabilities are approved.

The CENTCOM request has been in the works for some time, the U.S. official said.

There are currently 60,000 to 80,000 U.S. troops serving in the Middle East including 14,000 in Afghanistan, 5,000 in Iraq, 2,000 in Syria, 10,000 in Kuwait, 10,000 in Qatar and thousands more at sea and elsewhere in the region.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford briefed the House and Senate Tuesday on President Donald Trump's Iran strategy, including recent intelligence of an increased Iranian threat and the U.S. reaction to it, the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers and the ordered departure of non-emergency personnel from Iraq.

After hearing from the officials, Democratic lawmakers expressed alarm over the administration's posture in the Middle East and the possibility of a conflict with Iran.

Additional defensive capabilities could include additional Patriot anti-missile batteries, like the one already deployed to an unspecified location in the Middle East to deter Iran. Also under discussion are additional aircraft, including reconnaissance aircraft, and additional air and missile defense systems, said a U.S. official.

CENTCOM could be requesting additional U.S. Navy ships to the region beyond the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group and the USS Kearsarge Amphibious Group that are currently in the North Arabian Sea.

But it's unclear when additional ships could arrive in the region. Two weeks ago, the Pentagon announced that the USS Arlington would be headed to the Middle East to swap out with another ship, but that has yet to occur as the Arlington is currently in Spain.

The new CENTCOM request for additional defensive capabilities and forces comes as Shanahan said on Tuesday that the threat of Iranian attacks against U.S. forces had been put "on hold."

U.S. officials said the Iranian threat to U.S. forces continues even as Iran has pulled back some weapons systems. Two U.S. officials said that Iran has removed cruise missiles from two civilian dhows that posed a risk to U.S. Navy ships, commercial ships and land targets.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Royal Navy

mo laban ang british sa US. mi bisita sa new york ang ilang mga barko de gera. nanimahong gera na jud

The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's largest warship, sailed into New York Harbor Friday, marking the first visit of a British carrier to the city in nearly a decade.

The Portsmouth-based Queen Elizabeth, displacing over 70,000 tons, will stay in New York for a week, according to a statement from the Royal Navy.

Check out these amazing photos from the Royal Navy of their carrier sailing into the harbor.

"I am delighted and proud to have brought HMS Queen Elizabeth into New York Harbor for the first time," Captain Jerry Kyd, the ship's commanding officer, stated upon arrival. "This visit is very symbolic of the intimate relationship the Royal Navy has with the US Navy and Marine Corps."

How real is the risk of war?

Both Iran and the United States are on the record denying they want a war and it's hard to see how it would be popular in either country. But the military situation in the Middle East is inherently unstable, and there are multiple potential flashpoints. U.S. and Iranian military forces are in close proximity across the region.

There's a risk of miscalculation or accident. U.S. and Iranian boats crisscross in the Persian Gulf, where Iran captured some U.S. sailors in 2016. Iranian officials have threatened to block the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Pro-Iranian militias move in the same cities in Iraq as U.S. troops and have attacked them in the past. They're also close to each other in Syria.

The U.S. has major military bases in Qatar and Bahrain, just across the Gulf from Iran.

Some of Iran's hard-liners might welcome a conflict with the U.S. because it would undermine moderate Iranians who want to engage with the West.

And a small conflict could grow. Iran could engage in underground attacks around the region or outside it. Israel or Saudi Arabia might take the opportunity to attack their big regional rival.

mao ni delikado kay isog man si Trump, dili mo atras ug gera. mao nga medyo mi kalma ang Iran. pero gamay ra ang bikil, ug kini mahimong pabilo sa WW3, patay tang tanan hasta ok-ok

Iran's navy made a point of harassing and humiliating the US Navy in 2016 after then-President Barack Obama had sealed the Iran deal, but since August 2017, the US Navy says things have changed.

"It seems like they've absolutely made a conscious decision to give us more space," Navy Cmdr. William Urban recently said. "That is definitely a change in their behavior."

Iran would charge US Navy ships with fast attack craft, buzz fighter jets with drones, and even shine lasers at helicopters operating at sea during Obama's presidency.
But the worst, most embarrassing incident occurred in January 2016, when Iran's navy seized two US Navy rivernine boats and the 10 sailors on board after the ship wandered into Iranian waters due to mechanical issues. They broadcast footage of the sailors, crying, in detention, on television across the country. Iran later announced plans to build a monument commemorating the event.

Later that year Iranian ships conducted "unsafe and unprofessional," and often taunting maneuvers around US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf five times in about a month.

In September of that same year, Trump addressed Iran while on the campaign trail. "When they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water," Trump said.

Shortly after Trump's election, the incidents noticeably stopped, despite Trump's open hostility towards Iran, compared to Obama's attempts to appease them.

ang atong mahimo, mag ampo lang kanunay nga dili mahitabo ang WW3

Iran harassed and humiliated the US Navy under Obama, pero karon nga president na si Trump, medyo mi kalma ang Iran, hadlok sila ni Trump. mao nga delikado jud ug mahimo ning gera, mao ni pabilo sa WW3. wa na tay kadaganan, way katagoan. Kay nuclear warhead missiles na ang mang lopad, mas deadly pa ni sa atomic bomb

Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Levi Horn observes as Operations Specialist 3rd Class Monica Ruiz fires a 50-caliber machine gun during a live-fire qualification aboard amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brian Caracci

Iranian military personnel participate in the Velayat-90 war game near the Strait of Hormuz.

While Bolton did not get into specifics, a report from Axios said Israel passed the US "information on an alleged Iranian plot to attack" US forces or interests in the region.

The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying new intelligence "showed that Iran drew up plans to target U.S. forces in Iraq and possibly Syria, to orchestrate attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb strait near Yemen through proxies and in the Persian Gulf with its own armed drones."

US aircraft carrier strike groups represent the highest order of naval power ever put to sea, but they're not the right tool for every job.

Caitlin Talmadge, an associate professor of security studies, said on Twitter that US carriers are "designed for operations on the open ocean."

As a floating air base with guided-missile destroyers and cruisers sailing nearby for antimissile defenses from land and sea, the carriers are best off when moving around far from the range of missiles fired from the shore.

In the shallow brown waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow pass through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passes through, Iran's outdated submarines and missiles see a vastly uneven playing ground leveled out.

"Ideally, a Nimitz-class carrier would operate within comfortable range of its targets (based on the range of its air wing) but at sufficient stand-off distance to minimize the risk of enemy threats," Omar Lamrani, a senior military analyst at the geopolitical consulting firm Stratfor, told Business Insider. "This varies based on operating environment but is usually between 300 to 400 nautical miles."

John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, announced on Sunday that the US would send the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its associated strike group to the waters near Iran to "send a message" and respond to vague threats.

But the US will be sending the powerful carrier to a job it's arguably ill-suited for, putting thousands of sailors at a major military disadvantage. And if a conflict were to arise, the sinking of a US aircraft carrier would be in Iran's sights.

Though the carrier's deployment to Iran's nearby waters may have been planned long ago, Bolton has been clear that the ship's return to the region marks a response to "a number of troubling and escalatory incident and warnings" from Iran.

pastila ug mag gera. tapos ang maligayang araw. kay hayahay na man pag ajo ang pagka butang dinhi sa states. AYAW INTAWON

$25 ahong na gasto kay gi send sa embassy sa washington by next day mail. gi seguro nga maka abot before election

1st time i voted sukad pag pojo dinhi sa states 26 yrs. ago

mi botar ko karong eleksyona. kasagaran nahong gipili midaug. ang na pildi lang si freddie aguilar hihihi. i picked 11 out of 12 winners

Cynthia Villar - 23,610,580
Grace Poe - 20,711,849
Bong Go - 19,030,884
Pia Cayetano - 18,550,012
Bato dela Rosa - 17,567,258
Sonny Angara - 17,027,333
Lito Lapid - 15,778,223
Imee Marcos - 14,775,948
Francis Tolentino - 14,387,602
Koko Pimentel - 13,563,083
Nancy Binay - 13,453,117
Bong Revilla - 13,442,578

kinsay mo back ride

But intelligence collected by the U.S. government appears to also suggest that both Iran and the U.S. may have misread each other as being offensive rather than defensive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Iran apparently thought the U.S. was planning an attack on Iran, which prompted the regime to prepare for counterstrikes.

MIKE POMPEO SAID IRAN-BACKED MILITIAS MOVED ROCKETS NEAR AMERICAN BASES IN IRAQ

At the same time, some within the Trump administration say that the same intelligence also suggests that Iran was planning to strike first. Such intelligence may have formed the basis of Pompeo's claim during his meeting with the Iraqi top brass.

Iran has recently threatened to pull out of the nuclear deal and resume higher uranium enrichment if no new deal is put in place, while Pompeo told the Iraqi top brass that U.S. intelligence showed Iran-backed militias moved missiles near bases housing American forces.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Zarif, on Thursday deemed new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration as "unacceptable" but noted that the country is committed to the nuclear deal.

"We believe that escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for. We have exercised maximum restraints," he said during a visit to Japan.

Iran's top general tells Iraqi militias to prep for 'proxy war' amid US-Iran tensions

A top Iranian general has told Iran-backed militias in Iraq to "prepare for proxy war" in the wake of heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S., which accused the militias of moving missiles toward American forces.

Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran's extraterritorial military operations Quds Force, called for a meeting with the militias three weeks ago, but the exact timing of the gathering remains unclear, the Guardian reported Thursday.

"It wasn't a call to arms, but it wasn't far off," a senior intelligence source told the newspaper.
The meeting likely played a role in the Trump administration's decision this week to pull all non-essential government staff from Iraq. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraqi officials that Iran-backed militias have moved their missiles near to the bases housing Americans.

Other countries soon followed the threat assessment of the U.S., with Britain raising threat levels for its troops in Iraq on Thursday. Both Germany and the Netherlands suspended a training mission in Iraq.

Pictures showing Iranian paramilitary forces loading missiles onto boats are behind a recent sharp escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The May 3 overhead images showed fully assembled missiles being loaded onto boats in the Persian Gulf, three officials told The Times, raising concerns that they could be used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to target US Navy vessels.

Other intelligence reportedly hints at threats to commercial shipping vessels and to US troops in Iraq from Tehran-backed militias.

An Iranian flag next to a ground-to-ground Sajil missile at an undisclosed location in Iran in 2008.

The US military briefed President Donald Trump's national-security aides on a revamped plan that could result in the deployment of up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East, according to national-security officials cited in a New York Times report published Monday.

The reported plan calls for the deployment of troops in the event that Iran either attacks US forces or ramps up its nuclear-weapons program, several unnamed US officials told The Times.

The plan does not indicate whether US troops would invade Iran, the newspaper said. The number of troops deployed to the Middle East would be close to the roughly 130,600 service members deployed to Iraq in 2003.

US soldiers conduct breaching operations in a mock-urban environment.

The US military is exploring a plan to deploy 120,000 troops to the Middle East as tensions with Iran intensify

Spain has decided that it doesn't want its frigate sailing with the USS Abraham Lincoln into the Persian Gulf to challenge Iran.
The Spanish defense ministry announced Tuesday that the new mission is inconsistent with the agreement on joint operations signed by the US and Spain.
The Spanish warship will rejoin the carrier strike group once its deterrence mission concludes and it returns to regularly-scheduled operations.

The Alvaro de Bazan-class Spanish navy frigate ESPS Mendez Nuez (F 104) pulls into Naval Station Norfolk prior to deployment with the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group.

Air-and-Missile Defense: Patriot battery

Amphibious Landing Ship: USS Arlington

Fighters: F-15C Eagles

Bombers: B-52s

4 destroyers: USS Bainbridge, USS Gonzalez, USS Mason, and USS Nitze

Cruiser: USS Leyte Gulf

Carrier air wing: fighters, electronic-attack aircraft, early-warning aircraft, and rotary aircraft

Aircraft carrier: USS Abraham Lincoln

The US military is sending a carrier strike group, a bomber task force, fighter jets, an amphibious landing ship, and a surface-to-air missile battery to the Middle East as a show of force to Iran. There is a ton of firepower heading that way.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which consists of the carrier and its powerful carrier air wing, as well as one cruiser and four destroyers, began moving into the region with an unspecified number of B-52 Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers earlier this week.

US Air Forces Central Command announced Thursday that F-15C Eagle fighter jets were repositioned within the theater to "defend US forces and interests in the region." On Friday, the Pentagon announced that the USS Arlington, an amphibious landing ship, and a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery are on their way.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that the government hopes the tax reform will "not only solve our present infrastructure gaps, but also support the country's future growth."

Nonetheless, Duterte's ambitious infrastructure vision could be hobbled by chronic challenges. Experts have expressed doubts over absorption capacity of government agencies to undertake projects competently and on time; risk of large-scale corruption and bidding anomalies affecting foreign, especially Chinese-led, projects; lack of construction workers and skilled labor; as well as growing pressure on Philippine peso and international reserves due to need for importing intermediate goods and technology for infrastructure boom.

Supporters, however, claim that even if the government fails to achieve half of its ambitious goals, Duterte could still go down in history as a harbinger of a golden age of infrastructure buildup in the country. Infrastructure could very well be one of the Filipino

Who's footing the bill?

Unlike his predecessors, he is ditching the PPP modality in favor of larger reliance on government revenues as well as Official Development Assistance (ODA), particularly from Japan and China, as his main sources of infrastructure funding.

To support the new modality, Duterte has normalized relations with China, which has offered $7.3 billion in infrastructure investments, and Japan, which has been a leading investor in the Philippines for decades.

Duterte also passed a new tax reform package, which is expected to raise sufficient revenues to fund infrastructure spending. According to Mr. Chua, up to 70% of newly-raised revenues (estimated to raise P786 billion over the next 5 years) are earmarked for supporting the "build, build, build" campaign.

According to an authoritative study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), traffic congestion in Manila, caused by poor infrastructure, carried a daily price tag of P2.4 billion ($45 million) in 2012--a figure that is expected to almost triple by 2030.

According to the 2017 World Economic Forum's competitiveness report, the Philippines ranked 97th in the world in terms of infrastructure. In a separate report by the United Nations, the Philippines ranked 5th in Southeast Asia in terms of access to physical infrastructure.

Duterte's two immediate predecessors, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III, oversaw a decade of sustained macroeconomic reform, anchored by fiscal tightening, moderate inflation, expanding trade surplus and steady economic growth.

Yet, the cost of their disciplinary economic policies was lack of sufficient investment in basic infrastructure. Under the Aquino administration, in particular, under-spending was a major concern.

Both the Arroyo and Aquino administrations were also overly dependent on private-public-partnership (PPP) schemes with local conglomerates, which lacked proper competencies.

Duterte, however, can now build on his predecessors' legacy by diverting the Philippines' expanding fiscal pie to address infrastructure woes. Leveraging his skyrocketing approval ratings (80%), combined with a new foreign policy direction as well as a super-majority coalition in the legislature, his administration is marshaling necessary funds to finance and sustain its ambitious economic plan.

The World Bank expects the Philippine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by 6.7% in 2018 and 2019, the highest in Southeast Asia. The Duterte administration, however, is hoping to nudge growth to the 7-8% territory.

But the country's growth has been shallow and far from comprehensive, leaving high levels of unemployment, poverty and hunger relatively untouched. And this is where the Dutertenomics' "build, build, build" agenda comes into the picture, hoping to (literally) bridge the gap in economic policies of past administrations. Infrastructure is clearly the country's Achilles heel.

Poor infrastructure holding Pinoys back

On one hand, infrastructure has been a major source of concern for foreign investors, who have been discouraged by the country's weak infrastructure and heavy utility costs. Those investments are crucial to create well-paying jobs for the millions of poor and unemployed Filipinos.

Under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the Southeast Asian country is experiencing an infrastructure boom unseen since the time of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Over the next decade, the government is set to embark on an ambitious $180 billion infrastructure spending bonanza, set to transform the Philippines' economy.

Philippine Department of Finance (DOF) chief economist Karl Chua said in an interview that the government is looking at 75 flagship projects, which include six airports, nine railways, three bus rapid transits, 32 roads and bridges, and four seaports that will help bring down the costs of production, improve rural incomes, encourage countryside investments, make the movement of goods and people more efficient, and create more jobs.

The government is also aiming to construct four energy facilities that will ensure stable power supply at lower prices; ten water resource projects as well as irrigation systems that will raise agricultural output; five flood control facilities that will help protect vulnerable communities as well as boost their resilience against the impact of climate change; and three redevelopment programs that will deliver sustainable solutions to best meet the needs of urban population.


If successful, Duterte could once and for all extinguish the Southeast Asian country's reputation as the "sick man of Asia"–and usher in an unprecedented era of inclusive economic development.

Striking while the iron is hot

To be fair, recent years have seen consistently high economic growth in the country. Since 2011, the Philippines has broken out of its historically mediocre growth pattern to feature among fastest growing nations in the region.