The Intercept · leftReads as opinion

Bankrolling American Empire in the Philippines

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TL;DR

The piece argues U.S. military ties to the Philippines are expanding, with Subic Bay now under a private firm's lease.
Cerberus holds a 50-year lease at Subic Bay; its founder Stephen Feinberg is deputy secretary of the Department of War.
The writer argues for diplomacy and the "One China" policy over military buildup against China.

How is it written?

Wording4 of 39 paragraphs use rhetorical techniques, all in the writer’s own words

Wording

10%4 of 39 paragraphs use a rhetorical technique

All in the writer’s own words.

Tap a technique to see where it’s used.

What these techniques mean

Loaded Language · in 4 paragraphs Emotionally charged words that push a reaction instead of giving information.Show the first one ↓

Exaggeration/Hyperbole · in 3 paragraphs Overstating something to make it seem bigger or worse.Show the first one ↓

Name Calling · in 1 paragraph A label used to mock or discredit instead of an argument.Show the first one ↓

Scapegoating · in 1 paragraph Blaming one group for a broad problem.Show the first one ↓

A technique isn’t a falsehood: accurate writing uses them too. About wording, sourcing and context, not whether it’s true or which side is right. How we check

Who gets to speak?

Who’s quotedOne-sided: 4 attributed statements

Organizations and media 1Analysts and experts 1Civilians and eyewitnesses 1Military and security 1

Human Rights Watch · Organizations and media
unnamed speaker · Analysts and experts
mother of a woman killed by her Navy colleague · Civilians and eyewitnesses
Army chaplain · Military and security

The sourcing is limited and fragmented across only four attributions with significant gaps. One speaker is entirely unnamed with no context provided. Three of four sources are unidentified individuals (unnamed analyst, unnamed civilian, unnamed chaplain), making it impossible to assess full perspective balance. Only Human Rights Watch is clearly identified as an institutional voice. The article lacks attribution diversity and transparency regarding source identities.

Do the claims hold up?

ClaimsCheck the factual claims in this article →

What’s missing?

What the article leaves out

The 1898 Treaty of Paris and 1899–1902 Philippine–American War — the colonial roots of U.S. basing rights — are not mentioned.
The 1947 Military Bases Agreement and the 12–11 Senate vote context, including the Mount Pinatubo eruption's role, are omitted.
Duterte's 2020 suspension and 2021 reinstatement of the VFA — showing the relationship's volatility — is not addressed.
South China Sea disputes and China's island-building, the primary stated rationale for the current EDCA expansion, are absent.

Background

The U.S. acquired the Philippines in 1898 and suppressed a Filipino independence movement in a war causing tens of thousands of deaths.
The 1947 Military Bases Agreement granted the U.S. 99-year leases on Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base.
The Philippine Senate rejected a new basing treaty 12–11 in 1991, ending the permanent U.S. military presence.
The 1999 VFA and 2014 EDCA re-established rotational U.S. access, expanded further after 2022 amid South China Sea tensions.

The article provides substantial historical context but omits several important background points commonly absent from mainstream coverage. The colonial foundation of the U.S.–Philippine military relationship — the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the Philippine–American War (1899–1902), in which U.S. forces suppressed a Filipino independence movement at a cost of tens of thousands of Filipino lives — is not mentioned. This history is directly relevant to understanding why the anti-bases movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s carried such political weight. The article also does not address the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, the original legal instrument that established U.S. basing rights for 99 years, nor the renegotiations that preceded the 1991 Senate vote. The closeness of that vote (12–11) and the role of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption — which severely damaged Clark Air Base and reduced the strategic value of the bases just before the vote — are omitted, though both shaped the outcome. The article does not note that the VFA was itself suspended by Duterte in 2020 before being reinstated in 2021, illustrating the ongoing volatility of the basing relationship even before the current expansion. Finally, the article does not address the South China Sea territorial disputes — particularly China's construction of artificial islands and its overlapping claims with the Philippines — which are the primary stated strategic rationale for the post-2022 EDCA expansion. This geopolitical context is essential for evaluating the framing of the current U.S. military buildup.

Background. The United States established a significant military presence in the Philippines following the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Spain ceded the archipelago to the United States under the Treaty of Paris. The subsequent Philippine–American War (1899–1902) resulted in tens of thousands of Filipino deaths and the consolidation of U.S. colonial control. The Philippines gained formal independence in 1946, but the United States retained extensive military basing rights under the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, which granted 99-year leases on installations including Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base.

During the Cold War, these bases became central to U.S. power projection across the Pacific and Southeast Asia, supporting operations during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Ferdinand Marcos, who declared martial law in 1972 and ruled as an authoritarian leader until 1986, maintained close ties with successive U.S. administrations despite documented human rights abuses. His government was ousted in the largely peaceful 1986 People Power Revolution, after which Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

In 1991, the Philippine Senate voted 12–11 to reject a new basing treaty, leading to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Subic Bay by 1992 — a landmark assertion of Philippine sovereignty. The 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) re-established a framework for U.S. troop rotations and joint exercises, though it remained politically contested in the Philippines. The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), concluded under President Benigno Aquino III, further expanded U.S. rotational access to Philippine military installations.

Rodrigo Duterte, president from 2016 to 2022, pursued a violent anti-drug campaign that human rights organizations documented as resulting in thousands of extrajudicial killings. Despite this record, U.S.–Philippine security cooperation continued. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the former dictator, won the 2022 presidential election and has overseen a further expansion of U.S. basing access under the EDCA framework, driven in part by shared concerns over Chinese activity in the South China Sea.

Philippine–American War ↗Subic Bay Naval Base ↗People Power Revolution ↗Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement ↗South China Sea ↗

Generated by Claude from public sources.

The article, with notes

underlined: technique found; pick one to highlight its words dashed edge: in a quote, not counted tap a technique for why

28 paragraphs with no finding

Paragraph 29 of 39

“full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government”

↓

The article’s own words

Loaded Language · “full-on authoritarian takeover”Why ›

Emotionally charged terms like 'authoritarian takeover' frame the subject in alarming terms rather than presenting verifiable facts.

Exaggeration/Hyperbole · “full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government”Why ›

Describes political actions as a total 'takeover' of the government, an overstatement beyond what is evidenced.

Name Calling · “authoritarian takeover”Why ›

Labels Trump's conduct as authoritarian to discredit him rather than engaging specific arguments.

Paragraph 30 of 39

“MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies” … “banished or put under investigation” … “has stripped Congress of its power of the purse”

↓

The article’s own words

Loaded Language · “MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies”, “banished or put under investigation”Why ›

The label 'MAGA loyalists' paired with 'put in charge' frames the appointees as partisan zealots rather than neutral officials.

Exaggeration/Hyperbole · “has stripped Congress of its power of the purse”Why ›

Claims DOGE has wholly 'stripped' Congress of the power of the purse, an absolute overstatement of what evidence supports.

Paragraph 31 of 39

“Trump’s assault on democracy”

↓

The article’s own words

Loaded Language · “Trump’s assault on democracy”Why ›

'Assault on democracy' is an emotionally charged characterization of Trump's actions that conveys judgment rather than a factual description.

1 paragraph with no finding

Paragraph 33 of 39

“utter contempt for truth” … “aggressively using the government’s full powers” … “cowered” … “becoming accessories” … “using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press” … “Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations”

↑

The article’s own words

Loaded Language · “utter contempt for truth”, “aggressively using the government’s full powers”, “cowered”, “becoming accessories”, “have pounced”Why ›

Emotionally charged wording like 'utter contempt' and 'aggressively' frames the president negatively rather than stating facts.

Exaggeration/Hyperbole · “using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press”Why ›

Claims the government's 'full powers' are used to 'dismantle' the free press, an overstatement beyond evidence given.

Scapegoating · “Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations”Why ›

Blames a group defined by wealth and politics ('right-wing billionaires') for reshaping the information environment as a broad problem.

6 paragraphs with no finding

Only the words each finding rests on are shown here. Read the original ↗ · Open the full analysis →

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Analyzed 2026-10-27 04:04 UTC. Articles are sometimes updated after publication — if a quote here isn't in the current version, the piece has changed since.

Analyzed automatically with Semblen's fine-tuned model. These are rhetorical techniques, not political tilt — and finding one is not a claim that the article is false. Findings include language the outlet is quoting rather than asserting: we flag techniques wherever they appear, so check each quote against the original. The model has known false positives on strong-but-legitimate language, so treat each finding as a prompt to read closely, not a verdict. How articles are chosen →