China's current indisputable sovereignty over South China Sea

There is no sovereign international body that adjudicates the assignment of sovereignty. Sovereignty means current and actual military power over a particular territory; and through time (centuries and period of civilizations) it passes from one nation to another depending on the tide of superiority of military might. Wu Shicun is stating a solid fact that at present, China has indisputable sovereignty over the waters within the nine dash line. PH, VM, and MY remain in fact the indisputable challengers.

This is my comment in Disqus on the article titled "China expert expects better ties with PH after 2016" (Inquirer, 29 Sept 2014)

On the trend of killing journalists

In the international scene, weeks ago, the ISIS in Syria executed journalist James Foley, and now Steven Scotloff, and another Briton will follow. Way back in 2009 Philippines, we've that 37 journalists were among those killed in the infamous Maguindanao massacre. This pattern of media killings will continue as long as one-sided propagandists pose cover as journalists. Nowadays, warring groups monitor the mainstream publications and keep a good record of the list of names of journalists who are playing role as propagandists of their opponents. Any side (government or rebel side) have their respective red-list of journalists. When the journalist becomes a captive, the captors will simply check the list. If the journalist is in the list -- autoexecute. It has also become a pattern that governments are assassinating journalists who provide balanced news, thinking that they work for the rebels. I believe that killing non-combatants is wrong, but the chances of getting killed as informant, propagandist, and one-sided journalist is part of occupation hazard. In order to reverse the pattern of media killings, the media industry should cleanse its ranks and retrain their members on the value of balanced reporting and how it affects their journalists' security in armed conflict zone.