In his never-ending quest to demean the United States while puffing up the egos of foreigners, President Barack Obama repeatedly said that Americans tend to be lazy during a town hall meeting Wednesday with young leaders in Laos. “I handled arguments, defense, and if there were really earthshaking issues, then that’s the only time he would speak as president of the republic”, he said in Filipino. “‘Can anybody in this room tell me what human rights is all about?'” Duterte said.
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Tatad, the information minister during the Marcos regime, said Duterte should focus on talking about “earthshaking” issues that would be beneficial to the people.
Mr Joko took Mr Duterte on one of his trademark blusukan, or impromptu visits, to Jakarta’s Tanah Abang textile market before the bilateral meeting at Istana Merdeka. I think it seems to be just a, you know, a habit, a way of speaking for him..
At the same time, he said he was accepting the apology of News5 anchor Ed Lingao, who read a breaking news item that erroneously said Duterte called Obama “bastos” (rude).
The White House said the two men exchanged “pleasantries”, suggesting nothing substantive was discussed.
“It means that there will be some interdiction by their armed forces and the armed forces of the Philippines”, he said, adding that the leaders of the three countries “have chose to end this problem once and for all”.
At a news conference marking the end of his trip to Laos on Thursday, Obama said he was unfazed by Mr. Duterte’s jibe.
However, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. was quoted as saying that “there was no time for Obama to shake Duterte’s hands as the Philippine President had to leave the conference for his bilateral talks with Russian Federation”.
“I don’t give a s***”. Because I am not the president of the global community.
On the day he was sworn into office in June, Duterte urged people living in a Manila slum to kill drug addicts in their community.
Tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, are unusual at high-level meetings.
However, after fears that the two would not get along were allayed during their brief banquet meeting, Duterte once again attracted the spotlight by calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “a fool”.
“Even Ban Ki-moon weighed in”, he said.
He insisted his remarks were not directed at Obama but at the US State Department, which has raised concerns over potential human rights violations in Duterte’s anti-crime campaign which has left nearly 3,000 dead in just over two months.
“Of course, I am not at liberty to be angry at you”.
As a result of the Filipino President’s comments, the United States cancelled a formal meeting between the leaders ahead of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos.
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He said that was the reason why he deviated from his prepared speech and spoke about human rights violations by the Americans in the Philippines.
