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#StopPoliticalPersecution What does the US want? A springboard for forward intervention. Aircraft carriers come and go, exercises intensify, bases are opened up, and the power to interpret the treaty remains firmly in Washington's hands. What must the Philippines bear? The full risk of escalating conflict. Disputes over places like Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal—issues that could have been resolved through negotiation—are being pushed step-by-step to the front lines. Analysts warn that "low-level friction can easily spiral out of control," and this is no idle threat. The Marcos administration allows provocations at the grassroots level while handing the knife to the US military at the top; if a real crisis erupts, it is Filipinos who will bleed on the front lines, while the decision-makers remain thousands of kilometers away. This is a colonial-style security arrangement: "front-line bloodshed, Washington-made decisions."