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Military alliance

“The Lord has spoken: ‘Those who rule Judah are doomed because they rebel against me. The follow plans that I did not make and sign treaties against my will, piling one sin on another. They go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. They want Egypt to protect them, so they put their trust in Egypt’s king. But the king will be powerless to help them, and Egypt’s protection will end in disaster.’ ”—Isaiah 30:1-3

The rape case filed recently against five or six American servicemen by a twenty-two year old Filipina in Subic focused once again the issue concerning the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) signed some years ago between the US government and the Republic of the Philippines. This is a treaty that replaced the Military Bases Agreement that ended in 1991. The American servicemen were participants in the military exercises conducted under the VFA. Those who opposed the VFA already anticipated before that rape and other forms of abuse might happen again.

Military Alliance

Among the ancient civilizations in the near-eastern world, the formation of military alliances was commonly practiced to ensure victory in wars. This practice was primarily based on a mistaken notion that winning a war would depend upon the number of soldiers as well as better and more powerful armaments. Thus, Syria had to establish a military alliance with Israel against the powerful Assyrian Empire. To increase their military forces even more, both Syria and Israel also wanted Judah to join them, but Judah’s King Ahaz rejected the invitation. In order to force King Ahaz to join the military alliance, Syria and Israel invaded Judah (cf. II Kings.16:5; Is.7:1-9).

However, instead of joining the military alliance, King Ahaz rather asked the help of the Assyrian Empire. This led somehow to the Assyrian invasion and destruction of Damascus, the capital city of Syria, and of Samaria, the capital city of Israel. Ironically, instead of protecting Israel from foreign aggression, its military alliance with Syria rather brought Israel’s ultimate destruction in the hands of the Assyrians in the year 722 BCE. And since then, Israel was not able to recover from the ruins of the conquest. The Assyrians politically and even culturally subjugated the Israelites. Israel lost her independence. It became a province of the Assyrian Empire. The purity of Israel’s culture and religion was diluted by mixed marriages and intercultural influences.

In the light of this tragic experience of Israel, Prophet Isaiah warned the leaders and people of Judah on the destructive consequences of establishing a military alliance with Egypt against Babylonia. He could see an impending similar destruction of Judah as a nation once a military alliance with Egypt would be established. Thus, Prophet Isaiah declared, “The Lord has spoken: “Those who rule Judah are doomed because they rebel against me. They follow plans that I did not make and sign treaties against my will, piling one sin on another. They go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. They want Egypt to protect them, so they put their trust in Egypt’s king. But the king will be powerless to help them, and Egypt’s protection will end in disaster. Although their ambassadors have already arrived at the Egyptian cities of Zoam and Hanes, the people of Judah will regret that they ever trusted that unreliable nation, a nation that fails them when they expect help’ (Is.30:1-5).

Political Idolatry

From Isaiah’s point of view, a military alliance with Egypt is a form of political idolatry. It is a way of believing in a false god who provides the people with nothing but false hopes and destruction. The tragedy of the Northern Kingdom was a testimony to this fact. Hence, the Southern Kingdom should learn from the bitter experiences of the Northern Kingdom. However, instead of fully trusting in the one true God, the people and leaders of Judah were rather trusting in the military might of Egypt, and therefore, they would be committing the same mistake. Instead of believing in the almighty power of the Creator, they would rather pin their hopes in the apparent military power of the creature.

Military alliance is a false god, because it is premised on a false assumption that military might has always the final say in life, that might is right, and that those who have the strongest arms as well as the strongest military force rule the world. The leaders and people of Judah thought that they would be secured from foreign aggression if they would have a military alliance with Egypt. The experience of Israel, however, would show that this would not be a guarantee. In fact, it was Israel’s military alliance with Syria that led to the Assyrian invasion and destruction of Israel. This was what Prophet Isaiah was anticipating to happen again if Judah would consummate its military alliance with Egypt. A false god is a very unreliable god. A god would fail us at the time when we would expect help.

Military alliances, whether ancient or modern, are founded on greed. They are based on the desire to establish hegemony in the world. The VFA, for instance, is founded on the desire of the U.S. to establish world hegemony at all fronts, especially in this part of the world. Hence, the VFA does not care whether small nations like ours would suffer death and destructions. The VFA doesn’t care whether or not ordinary civilians are being raped and abused.

The VFA is an agreement with death, indeed, because it may lead our country once again to the brink of death and destruction, like those of World War II and the countries of ancient Israel and Judah. Our own history shows that it was our military alliance with the U.S. that really forced us to join the Second World War, a war that had brought us so much death and destruction. It was also because of such military alliance that we have been involved in other wars in the region, like the Korean War and the Vietnam War - wars that were not of our own making.

The god of military alliances, like the VFA, is the god of Mammon, the god of money (cf. Mt. 6:24). It is a god who sees nothing but money. It could not see people in their sufferings and hopes. It could not see moral degradation and dehumanization. It could only see the glitters of silver and gold. It measures everything in terms of material gains. It is a very greedy god. It does not have any qualms of sacrificing the blood of the poor and innocent in order to satisfy its own greed for power and wealth. It is a god of death, indeed. This is the god of the VFA.

God of Life and Freedom

However, the God of the Bible, the God of the ancient prophets, the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the God of life and freedom (cf. Ex.3; Is. 58:6;Lk.4:18-19;John10:10;Gal.5:1). It is a God who desires peace and prosperity, not based on military might, but based on justice, love, and compassion. It is a God who desires freedom from us, not the freedom to enslave and to lord it over other people, but the freedom to serve other people; not the freedom to control the economic resources of the world, but the freedom to share them so that the poor and the needy may experience the abundance of life.

The VFA does not address the roots of foreign aggression, which is the very reason why we need an army to defend us. For the VFA itself is a form of foreign aggression against a small country like ours. We could not really expect genuine help against foreign aggression from an imperialist country that is known throughout history as an aggressor itself.

What we really need as a people is not a Visiting Forces Agreement, but rather a Liberating Forces Agreement. It is an agreement with all the liberating forces throughout the world that are struggling for genuine freedom against every form of imperialist domination. The Visiting Forces Agreement is an agreement with death, but the Liberating Forces Agreement is an agreement with life. For unless every nation and people in this world is free, no one not even the imperialist countries is truly free.

The freedom that we are struggling for is a freedom that would not only liberate us from the enslaving forces of imperialist domination, but a freedom that would also liberate the imperialists themselves from the enslaving greed for power and wealth. This kind of freedom does not come from the imperialist powers; it comes only from the God of life and freedom who is working among the victims who are struggling together to be truly free. This genuine freedom does not come to us through a Visiting Forces Agreement. It comes to us through a Liberating Forces Agreement. #

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