The US/China proxy Cold War is already well underway

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From the FT:

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has cast himself as a strongman who talks straight, busts crime and shrugs off international condemnation of his bloody war on drugs. Now a debate is growing over whether his administration is tilting towards autocracy in the mould of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Supporters of the 71-year-old president have dismissed claims that he is cracking down on political opponents or planning a Marcos-style power grab. Mr Duterte went further last week, declaring in characteristically blunt fashion that he might not even “be around” until the end of his six-year term, because of ill-health, a coup or assassination.

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.