‘Leo-Delfin (Manila’s mythical beast featured on the coat-of-arms) is also an audience of the three-way tangle of Israel-Iran-USA.’
LEO-DELFIN (the half-lion, half-dolphin figure on the coat-of-arms of the City of Manila) lives in a dangerous neighborhood.
For starters, a year before Moscow’s misadventure against Kiev, Burmese soldiers arrested state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, president Win Myint and other key leaders in a morning raid, in effect deposing the elected members of Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy. Tatmadaw (Burmese military) then vested power in a junta and acting President of Myanmar Myint Swe proclaimed a year-long state of emergency, triggering a civil disobedience movement. As security forces dispersed rallies and 20-year-old Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing (shot in the head) became the first casualty in the violence, the coup d’état sparked a civil war. Then came the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with a five-point “consensus” (That all violence in Myanmar be halted immediately, That ASEAN provide humanitarian assistance, etc.), but the Three Brotherhood Alliance (Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army) has kept the offensive against the junta. On top of that, the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018 had established a UN entity (Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar) in response to reports of gross human rights violations amounting to serious international crimes. [https://iimm.un.org/en/myanmar-mechanism-calls-information-about-aerial-attack-school]
More bad news for Tatmadaw. At least 46 organizations called on ASEAN to “move beyond its failed Five-Point Consensus and take decisive action to hold the junta accountable. We also urge the international community to commit to a coordinated, long-term international justice strategy.”
[https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/myanmar-four-years-after-coup-world-must-demand-accountability-for-atrocity-crimes/]
From a different UN entity: “After an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, my Office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services, bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh.” [https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-application-arrest-warrant-situation-bangladesh]
Leo-Delfin (with its colored claws and holding in its paw an unsheathed sword) is hearing echoes from an un-demarcated border zone with overlapping territorial claims where units from Cambodia’s 3rd Support Brigade and Thailand’s Suranaree Task Force clashed in the early morning of 28 May 2025. Before the shoot-out, Thai soldiers had “accused their Cambodian counterparts of burning a Thai-built friendship gazebo in the Chong Bok area of Thailand’s northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, where the Thai, Cambodian and Lao borders meet.” [https://www.rfa.org/english/cambodia/2025/05/28/cambodia-thailand-border-clash/]
Leo-Delfin (born on 30 May 1596 when Philip II of Spain gave Manila its specific coat of arms) was already around when the conflict over Prasat Preah Vihear/Prasat Phra Wihan began in the French colonial era. Fast forward to the post-modern era: “In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia, a decision reaffirmed in a 2013 ruling. Despite the ICJ’s decisions, tensions flared in 2008 following UNESCO’s designation of the temple as a World Heritage Site.” [https://laotiantimes.com/2025/05/29/thai-cambodian-military-leaders-meet-after-deadly-border-clash/] The current situation now includes a leaked telephone conversation between two Southeast Asian leaders (Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party, current President of the Senate and former Prime Minister of Cambodia Samdech Techo Hun Sen), Cambodian ban on Thai imports (fruit, vegetable, fuel, films),info-wars (https://phnompenhpost.com/opinion/border-dispute-about-sovereignty-not-political-diversion), and a crackdown on scam operations. [“Thailand bans tourists from going to Cambodia as border dispute persists,” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2ezgjlzggyo]
Leo-Delfin (Manila’s mythical beast featured on the coat-of-arms) is also an audience of the three-way tangle of Israel-Iran-USA. Tel Aviv’s military operation against Iran is “Rising Lion” (from a biblical verse that promises a victorious future): 200 Israeli fighter jets struck 100 sites, Mossad commandos employed Rafael Spike precision-guided munitions, and killed Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Major General Hossein Salami plus 19 top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists. [https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-takes-name-iran-operation-bible-verse-2025-06-13/]
[https://jinsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Operation-Rising-Lion-2025-6-13-1.pdf]
Tehran responded with Operation True Promise 3 (waves of suicide drones and missile launches for Israeli targets) and Operation Annunciation of Victory (hitting the Al Udeid Air Base in the Persian Gulf country of Qatar, according to a statement by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council).
[https://www.tehrantimes.com/print/514864/Herald-of-Victory-Iran-hits-biggest-US-base-in-West-Asia]
Washington, DC joined the Middle East conflict with Operation Midnight Hammer: main strike force of seven B-2 Spirit bombers dropped 14 GBU 57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator weapons and an American submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles at key Iranian facilities. Explained President Donald J. Trump: “On the night of June 21, 2025, at my direction, United States forces conducted a precision strike against three nuclear facilities in Iran used by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its nuclear weapons development program. The strike was taken to advance vital United States national interests, and in collective self-defense of our ally, Israel, by eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.” [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/text-of-a-letter-from-the-president-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-of-representatives/]
Leo-Delfin (“medio leon y medio delfin” symbol of Manila) observed the 454th founding anniversary of his city and read incoming Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s warning: “Ancient history taught us about Persia’s ability to recover with deadly vengeance.” [https://malaya.com.ph/news/national-news/lacson-us-airstrikes-could-trigger-world-war/]
