Some of you may have heard that East Timor became an independent state yesterday. That's a good thing, right? Why did Australia send in the troops and get involved in ET's independence movement? Well, along with independence, ET is going to be giving Australia 10% of the oil/gas revenues from the Timor Gap. So, our efforts seem to have been basically a successful attempt to steal oil/gas money from Indonesia. Funny old world, eh?

that just shated the illusion i had about how good we were for that :(

I don't know Adam, I think they're basically paying a tithe for continued protection. The Indonesians tried to send a little more than a "token force" of naval ships to ET when Megawati attended the Independance ceremony or whatever, didn't they? Australian intervention is very important to the East Timorese (I balked at typing in ET's there :) ) right now.

If Australia was not there, and had not already shown a willingness to intervene if necessary in the face of continued Indonesian aggression, you'd find East Timor would not exist right now. THAT's what they're paying for. I also do not believe that such an arrangement was hammered out prior to Aust. intervention originally either... there was no ET government to speak of back then, and no-one to arrange such a thing with, so I would assume that the arrangement was arrived at AFTER the cessation of hostilities. This doesn't lend itself too well to
oil-grabbing conspiracy theories... it may be simply an act of appreciation by the east Timorese as well as an ongoing tribute for continued protection.

I'd prefer to think so anyway.

I don't think there was any prior arrangement, but I think Australia was after that income all along. Yes, it's good that ET is now independent.

So what if we were? the East timorese got what they wanted, we got what we wanted... quid pro quo, that's how life is.

Where I live, my mate is a mechanic, I'm a PC technician. His computer runs sweet, so does my car. None of this is a bad thing.

Something I forgot to add earlier. The move by Australia to "free East Timor" and get that oil and gas money was not a spur of the moment thing, it was planned for a long time. Australia has been concentrating military forces toward Darwin for years, just in case.

Politics, strategy and looking out for number one.

Business is business.

Humanitarianism exists in individuals, not governments.

I wish the best for ET.

Cheers.
Teri

The concentration of forces in Darwin (or at least the buildup of a presence there) has been concentrated against Indonesia yes... of course, that country has one of the largest standing armies in the world and it's no secret they don't have a very high opinion of us. I'd call it prudence more than anything else. The Australian defence force has known for a long time where the real threat lies.

If those units are then called upon to act as a peace keeping force in East Timor, then good. They have justified their presence and sent a clear signal to Indonesia that we won't roll over like a puppy when the shit hits the fan.

Indonesia as a nation has a lot to learn... they are still in the 1800's when nationalism was a good thing and empire building was a means of advancement. They have yet to learn that the free world will no longer tolerate adverse behaviour. Australia has shown in this instance that they are capable of backing up their own plays without US support (in a military sense) and I don't regard this as being a bad thing. Nor, incidently, does East Timor. If the price of their continued independance is that they then must pay a tithe for a while, then fine.... its either that or subjugation.

Historically, Australia has always always shown a willingness to give up land in support of humanitarian issues (after WW1 a case in point) and I imagine that the East Timorese will not be in this situation for long, at least not after they stand on their own two feet as a nation. Until then, we will take a payment for continued guarantees of support, without which they would not have any independance to begin with. In 20-50 years, our support will no longer be required, and Australia being the country it is will no doubt back off on the oil issue and still remain friends with East Timor. Won't we? I have confidence...

Ont he other hand, by sending those navy ships into ET last week, Indonesia was clearly saying "You have independence at our sufferance, we can take you back any time we want, and there's not a damn thing Australia can do about it."

Nah, they were just being Indonesian. They hate losing. It was a small show of defiance, nothing more.