By Pepe Escobar Your honors, in this venue I announce my separation from the United States… both in military and economics also». Thus Philippines President Rodrigo «The Punisher» Duterte unleashed a geopolitical earthquake encompassing Eurasia and reverberating all across the Pacific Ocean. And talk about choosing his venue with aplomb; right in the heart of the Rising Dragon, no less. Capping his state visit to Beijing, Duterte then coined the mantra – pregnant with overtones - that will keep ringing all across the global South; «America has lost». And if that was not enough, he announced a new alliance – Philippines, China and Russia – is about to emerge; «there are three of us against the world». Predictably, the Beltway establishment in the «indispensable nation» went bananas, reacting as «puzzled» or in outright anger, dispersing the usual expletives on the «crude populist», «unhinged leader» . The bottom line is that it takes a lot of balls for the leader of a poor, developing c

The Russian Armed Forces received the new advanced Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov has announced. “Two Buk-M2 batteries and one Buk-M3 battery are in the interests of the Land and Airborne Forces,” Borisov said in a statement . The newest Russian 9K317M Buk-M3 medium-range surface-to-air missile system (NATO reporting name: SA-17 Grizzly) entered in service in 2015. The new type of missile used by the launcher is more compact than the previous versions. This allows Buk-M3 to carry a payload of six instead of four missiles. The new missile also outclasses previous models in technical characteristics. The missile can destroy any type of airborne target in existence, can be used against naval and ground targets and it is resistant to electronic.

The Russian Navy’s the Kamov Ka-31 military helicopter has been spotted in Jeblah in the Syrian province of Latakia. The Ka-31 is a Russian-made military helicopter, designed to play the naval airborne early warning and control role. Its visually distinctive feature is the large antenna of the early-warning radar, rotating or folded and stowed under the fuselage. The Ka-31’radar has a 360° coverage and can spot aircraft-size target from 150 km range.