Philippines' Duterte snubs Trump and heads to Russia
Despite Trump invitation to visit him in the WH, Duterte heads to Russia
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte flies to Russia on Monday to meet his hero, seek arms and steer his nation's foreign policy course further away from longtime ally the United States.
The five-day trip will cement a dramatic improvement in ties between the two nations since Duterte came to power last year and began unravelling the Philippines' decades-long alliances with the United States, which he accuses of hypocrisy and bullying.
Duterte will on Thursday meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has described as his "favourite hero" and proclaimed a personal bond because of mutual passions such as guns and hunting.Duterte said on Friday one of the top priorities of his trip was to secure Russian precision-guided bombs to use on Islamic militants in the southern Philippines
Duterte visiting Moscow will be a "propaganda victory for Putin and a soft-power coup for Russia," Richard Javad Heydarian, a foreign policy analyst in Manila, told AFP.
"It will be their way of poking the eye of America."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/philippines-duterte-heads-to-russia-in-blow-to-us/ar-BBBnofr
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