US 'national security' favors Indonesian thugs

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GL02Ae01.html


The Bush administration's decision to drop its arms embargo against Indonesia and resume full military ties fits a pattern of policy failures in East Asia. These failures underscore profound ignorance not only of the region but of where the US's true interests lie.

You'd think it impossible for US policymakers to be so foolish and cavalier about a key region, until you look at the mother of all Bush failures, Iraq, and see that similar ignorance and arrogance created that debacle.

Or maybe apparent mistakes in East Asia - a nuclear North Korea, ascendant China, remilitarizing Japan - aren't mistakes at all, but subtle and complex calculations that come easily for people like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney, even if they're difficult for us to grasp.

-snip-

It's easy to understand that the Bush administration, measuring by the standard of US national security, doesn't see much benefit in freedom or democracy for Indonesia and thinks of TNI as its only reliable partner. So what if putting the US squarely back in TNI's corner makes it easier for anti-American forces to flourish? It's not as if the Bush administration is trying to win any popularity contests in Indonesia.
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throwing another log on the fire