HAWKISH United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wasted no time calling Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Tweeterboy” Locsin Jr. soon after President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte banned the Philippines from joining naval exercises with other countries in the South China Sea (SCS).

Digong’s decision must have come as a shock to the United States, but who can assail the logic of it? He wants no part in further raising tensions in the SCS, which the US appears to be ratcheting up by its nonstop bashing of China.