Dance of nerves

I am not a war hawk for the simple reason that I find war so horrible. I have not experienced war and I do not intend to do so. But I do not like to be a fence-sitter either. Or a cheerer from the stands. I like to be engaged, especially on issues where "the hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral."

It is in this context that I have lately been very critical of the United States, resentful of its seemingly growing inability to pull the trigger. Now, by that I do not mean launching another war but rather in the context of how Freddie Roach described Oscar de la Hoya in his fight with Manny Pacquiao.

I do not think it is my fault either to have such high expectations of America. I did not thrust it into the role of global policeman. It did it on its own. Besides, I am not alone in my expectations. Having assumed that role, America should play it to the hilt.

Now, the reason I am terribly disappointed is because I think America has given in to too much rhetoric and so little to persuasive action. From the Ukraine to the South China Sea, the US seems to engage Russia and China in a surfeit of verbal calisthenics.

In fact I am not alone in this. The Ukrainean and South China Sea crises are precisely the results of this verbal preference. First China and then Russia correctly read America's new but disturbing tendency and have exploited it correspondingly.

Maybe America has grown weary of war. Maybe America has grown weary of other people's wars and is getting increasingly reluctant to pay the cost with the lives of young American soldiers who come home either in boxes or with completely changed personalities.

Again, I do not ask for America to go to war at the slightest provocation. But I expect it to go beyond mere words. In Ukraine, Russia would not have dared annex Crimea if, say, the US swiftly sent a carrier battle group into motion. It didn't have to draw near. Just that it was moving would have made Putin think twice.

Closer to home, in the South China Sea, I do not know which makes me bristle -- the continued bullying by China, or the continuing lip service paid by America. Lip service is precisely the mother of Chinese intransigence.

Then March 29, 2014 happened. On that day, a Saturday, a small Philippine civilian boat with a squad of soldiers and supplies made its way to Ayungin to relieve nine Marines deployed on board a Navy derelict run aground there on purpose to serve as a forward outpost and assert the Philippine claim on the remote shoal.

As it neared Ayungin, four Chinese seacraft, two of them Coast Guard vessels thrice the size of the Philippine boat, appeared out of the blue and started harassing it. Only when the Philippine boat managed to move into shallow waters were the Chinese seacraft kept at bay. The Filipinos made it safely to Ayungin.

But that was the initial story. Other details were made known only days later. One detail, supported by video footages, nearly knocked me off my chair -- the incident did not just involve the Philippine boat and the four Chinese vessels. Up in the air, there were at least three aircraft circling and buzzing the seacraft.

One was a Philippine Air Force plane that looked like a Nomad. Another was a Chinese AWACS aircraft the ANC reporter described only as "funny-looking." But the one that truly interested me was a US Navy jet which, if I am not mistaken, was a P-8 Poseidon.

The PAF plane was not a combat aircraft. The Chinese AWACS is for communications, combat control and surveillance. But the US Navy P-8 Poseidon, if it was indeed what I thought it was, is a multi-mission maritime aircraft intended for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and shipping interdiction.

Of the three aircraft in the air that Saturday with clear interest in what was going on down below, it was the P-8 Poseidon that is a legitimate engagement aircraft. In accordance with its multi-roles, it can carry torpedoes, depth charges, an array of missiles, as well as other weapons.

This detail nearly knocked me off my chair because, finally, I am now beginning to see evidence of America backing up its words with action. I may now have to stand corrected. Maybe, unknown to us, there is a real dance of nerves going on that only the dancers themselves know about. And prefer to keep to themselves.