In Papua New Guinea, the Trump administration is combining its fondness for extractive industries with its disregard for human rights.
During Genocide, Trump Intervenes for Himself and Friends
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Indonesia
Jakarta’s Election and Alternatives to US Policy Towards Muslims
The latest election in Indonesia was not about radical Islam triumphing over pluralism.
Crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 a Tragicomedy of Errors
Three basic and unforgivable failures led to the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501.
The Wahhabi War on Indonesia’s Shiites
Indonesia’s Shi’a minority is under heavy attack. Men, women, and children have been assaulted, schools damaged, and villages burned to the ground. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Saudi Arabia’s intolerant brand of Wahabbi Sunni Islam—propagated far and wide by Saudi oil money—is behind most of assaults.
New York Times Continues to Conceal U.S. Role in 1965 Indonesia Coup
Why is the New York Times concealing the key role that the United States played in the 1965 coup in Indonesia that killed between 500,000 and one million people?
Getting Into Bed With the Devil in Indonesia
The Obama administration’s rationale for lifting a ban on U.S. contact with Indonesia’s special forces is that it will serve to improve Unit 81’s human rights record.
A World of Selfistans?
Reflecting on the absurdity of ever newer claims around the world for self-determination and separate statehood, novelist Salman Rushdie wrote sarcastically in Shalimar the Clown, “Why don’t we just draw a circle around our own two feet and call it Selfistan?” The recent Western-backed declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and its ramifications are making Rushdie sound prophetic. Despite Washington’s assertion that Kosovo is an exceptional case that does not set precedents, demands for self-rule have received a shot in the arm from this latest act of dissecting the Balkans. Sensing that the international climate is favorable, fresh demands based on reinvented identities may also crop up in the future among populations that feel alienated from their respective nation-states.
Indonesia’s Arms Appetite
Jakarta wants weapons. Lots of them.
The Next Leader of Myanmar?
Former Philippine president and four-star general Fidel Ramos knows a thing or two about regime change. He was the military architect of the peaceful people-power revolution in the Philippines that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a bloodless coup in 1986.
Enabling the Indonesian Military
This is a tale about politics, influence, money and murder. It began more than 40 years ago with a bloodletting so massive that no one quite knows how many people died. Half a million? A million? Through four decades, the story of the relationship between the United States and the Indonesian military has left a trail of misery and terror. Last month it claimed four peasants, one of them a 27-year-old mother. Unless Congress puts the brakes on the Bush administration’s plans to increase aid and training for the Indonesian army, there will be innumerable victims in the future as well.