Article

2006-05-26 Southeast Asia

Aussie commando's in E.Timor ready to shoot to kill

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Posted by Oztralian 2006-05-26 10:38|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Sickum Diggers!

Posted by Besoeker 2006-05-26 11:15|| 2006-05-26 11:15|| Front Page Top

#2 I think we are discovering why Washington gave the OK to Suharto when Indonesian forces grabbed East Timor in the 1970's, just as the territory was about to turn communist, thanks to a left-wing coup in Portugal. Indonesian control served several purposes - it provided semi-competent rule in a region (the South Pacific) where indigenous rule is characterized by incompetence, corruption and violence (just look at Papua New Guinea), added a Christian ballast to the primarly-Muslim Indonesian state and prevented the establishment of a Soviet base right next to Australia. I've always thought of the intervention in East Timor as a major mistake by Clinton - it pissed off the Indonesians for nothing - it benefitted neither East Timorese nor Indonesia. The other big Clinton blunder was the snarky remarks out of Washington and the administration's sitting on its hands during the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990's. This last is the primary reason for the virulent anti-Americanism coming out of East Asia - a free enterprise region that should be extremely friendly to the US.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2006-05-26 15:12|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2006-05-26 15:12|| Front Page Top

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