East Timor/United Nations

[Keaney Michael <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Yoshie, having gone upmarket with the FT and the Oil and Gas Journal:

Again, it doesn't look like a bad deal for the USA.

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So? The US is perfectly capable of improvising and making the best of a
second-best outcome, even if that supposedly second-best outcome is in fact
the best for capital (capitalists don't always get it right, nor are they
typically unanimous). The "integrity" of Indonesia was its preferred option,
rather than risk the fragmentation of a multi-ethnic state and thereby all
its investments there, as well as lucrative arms contracts. The same logic
prevailed during the Gulf War, as efforts to incite rebellions against
Saddam by the Kurds and the Shi'ites were cynically nullified by the
"wisdom" of Kissinger and his ilk who intoned on the regional security
problems raised by the potential division of Iraq into several statelets.
And Galbraith's efforts to secure revenues for the East Timorese have
extracted a great deal more than the Australians were originally prepared to
go for. John Howard originally argued for the continuing "validity" of the
original Timor Gap Treaty. The succinct summary of the treaty provided below
shows what was at stake for the Australian government:

http://www.caa.org.au/publications/briefing/timor_gap_treaty/treaty.html

If you want the full version:

http://www.mastiffassociation.org/docs/nation/austr/timgt.htm

Like I said in my original post, East Timor is being fully incorporated into
the global capitalist system. That's not a bad deal for the USA -- by
definition, it never is. But it's a damn sight better than the alternative
originally sanctioned by the US, UK and Australia that was the original
preferred option of those noted exponents of humanitarian intervention. As
for the UN, no amount of condemnatory resolutions that issue from the
security council or general assembly can or will override the wishes of the
US, which can well afford to bypass what it regards as largely a tiresome
and needlessly expensive institution which is too unpredictable and
uncontrollable to be given any major responsibilities that accord with
priority US interests.

Michael K.