International Women’s Day

RUSSIA — Male world leaders have comments on women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Russian President Vladimir Putin said: women “possess a mysterious power, yet remain tender, unforgettable and full of charm.”

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TURKEY — Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “a woman is above all a mother.” However, Cambodia”s Hun Sen had a different spin: he demanded the creation of an organization for men.

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MORE PROFITS — According to IMF research, the corporate world needs more female leaders. Companies with larger share of women in senior roles are more profitable. (From Asia edition of the Quartz daily brief)

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NOKOR VESSEL — The “kneejerk reaction” to impound and seize suspected North Korean cargo vessel “JIN TENG” in Subic is reckless and provocative. Even the ownership documents found by the Coast Guard were not North Korean.

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EMBARRASSING — There would have been prior verifications first before complying with the sanction resolution of the United Nations. The vessel only unloaded farm feed raw materials. We may face international embarrassment!

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ISIS SCARE — Some are now saying terrorist ISIS is operating in Mindanao. I’m not surprised hearing those who got frustrated with the non-passage of the BBL starting to drum up this scare tactic. Then kidnappers and hoodlums start displaying the trademark black flag to cash in on the notoriety of this foreign terrorist group. As far as I can recall, those black flags have been seen years ago in many remote, conflict-controlled areas in southern Philippines. We are obviously scaring each other. And the bad guys are rejoicing.