John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the China-Phillipines fight over natural resources in the South China Sea; how China weakened its international legal position by signing the UN Law of the Sea treaty, ceding historical territorial claims to a new “exclusive economic zone” standard; US interest in protecting shipping lanes, especially for oil tankers; how collective security agreements seem like a good idea – until a world war breaks out over a minor squabble; and planning Pentagon and defense contractor make-work projects (before big budget cuts come due) in a new “Pacific Pivot” policy.
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