Dear cj,
I'm curious as to what kind of reactions you've been having to the East
Timor situation, and the media coverage - comments invited. In particular,
I'm curious as to whether our discussions about events in Yugoslavia have
helped any of you to notice things about this latest episode, or to ask
questions, that might not have occurred to you previously.
Below are two articles. The first, from "Fairness & Accuracy in
Reporting", reminds us of the US role in actively supporting two decades of
genocidal repression in East Timor. The second, from the "Asian Human
Rights Commission", is an all-too-predictable appeal to the UN to send in
'peace-keeping' troops.
"Manufacturing Consent", which exists both as a film documentary and a
book(by Noam Chomsky), uses East Timor as an example of 'non coverage' by
the media. It makes the point that on a per-population basis, the East
Timor genocide was worse than that in Cambodia, with its killing fields and
all. And while we were all hearing about Cambodia - with horror - the US
was at the same time giving military assistance to the Jakarta regime and
nary a word showed up in the media about what was happening in East Timor.
First, let's look at the plain facts of this case. The US government has
played an active, willing, knowing role in creating the situation in East
Timor, and the corporate-controlled media has been an active, willing
particpant in hiding the whole thing from the world's people. Now all at
once oppression has been 'discovered', the Jakarta regime has been
identified as the evildoer, and the media is guiding us to the clear
conclusion that the time has come for another 'humanitarian intervention'.
Given these circumstance, can any of you really believe this change in
policy is motivated by humanitarian concerns? In this regard, the
situation is much more clear-cut than it was in the case of Yugoslavia. In
that case, there were years of 'outrage coverage' - and one could almost
believe that humanitarian concern had 'finally' motivated the West to
respond. One needed to dig down a bit into the history before the
hypocrisy of the Western response became apparent. In the case of East
Timor, I suggest, the hypocrisy is much closer to the surface and easier to
see.
Perhaps you are thinking that our corporatist rulers have had a recent
change-of-heart... although they understandably want to hide their role in
creating the problem, they now, belatedly, want to 'do the right thing' and
'make things better' for the East Timorese.
As I see it, that is a very unlikely explanation. The oppression has been
ongoing in East Timor, the US government has been in very close touch with
the situation all along, and all the events leading up to the UN election
have been entirely predictable. If the US had a change of heart any time
over the past several months, all they would have needed to do is issue a
strong public statement to Jakarta: "Either you maintain order and respect
UN intentions, or we will take strong and decisive action". The propaganda
machine could have been started up at any time to support such a position,
and events in Yugolavia would have made it clear to all parties that the US
proclamation was to be taken in dead earnest.
The Jakarta leadership doesn't have the delusions of grandeur of a Saddam,
and there is little reason to expect they would have tried to resist strong
pressure from the US - who is a major trading partner, their main arms
supplier, and an important source of investment. But even now, at least in
the coverage I've seen, pressure on Jakarta seems to play very little role
in the scenario. All the talk is about the local situation in East Timor,
and about how quickly the Western troops can be sent in. We are told that
connaivance between the Jakarta military and the militias is making things
worse, but that's more or less dismissed as being an unfortunate and
unavoidable 'circumstance'.
It seems to me that humanitarianism can be dismissed entirely as a
motivating factor. In addition, I suggest, the goal is not to clean up the
situation in East Timor - even if for hypocritcal reasons - because that
could have been accomplished at any time in a much easier way.
Intervention _might have still been required, but it could have come much
sooner, preventing the current wave of violence - and it would have made a
lot more sense with Jakarta being put on firm notice beforehand.
In order to understand what's really going on, and why the scenario is
being played out as it is, I suggest that we compare this scenario with
that of Iraq and of Yugoslavia. There are strong parallels between all
three, and much that is unique to each. Taken all together, a clear
progression emerges... we are witnessing the _systematic deployment of the
New World Order regime. In fact the intitial deployments go back further
- to Grenada and Panama. Each stage in this process has accomplished
identifiable deployment goals: overcoming the US 'Vietnam syndrome',
preparing Euopean public opinion for blitzkrieg interventions,
field-testing hi-tech weaponry and wag-the-dog propaganda, turning
'humanitarianism' into an ideology of intervention, etc.
---
First some of the parallels. In all three cases, the US (along with some
other Western powers) was a central participant in creating the conditions
leading up to the crisis. The US, UK, Germany, and others supplied Saddam
with military assistance and the materials for 'weapons of mass
destruction' for a decade prior to Desert Storm - all of which time he was
the very same dictator we are all now supposed to hate. The US and Germany
intentionally facilitated the destablization of Yugoslavia, secretly
supplied arms to the region, and repeatedly encouraged Milosevic in his
escapades. As mentioned above, this co-perpetrator pattern continues in
East Timor.
Another parallel. In all three cases, the US (and collaborators/allies)
intentionally fed fuel to the flames of conflict, bringing it to such a
crisis proportion that overwhelming public sentiment could be generated for
'doing almost anything'. The US literally _invited Saddam to invade
Kuwait, with a direct communication from the Secretary of State. The US
and Germany trained and coordinated a terrorist group (the KLA), sent them
in to force a response from Yugoslavia, and directly precipitated the
crisis in Kosovo. In the case of East Timor, the whole UN election thing
was set up as a public specatacle, without adequate security preparations,
and the US governemnt knew full well that brutal suppression would be the
dramatic outcome.
More parallels. In all three cases, media coverage and government actions
(and non-actions) were carefully coordinated so as to build up public
outrage. Then offical pronouncements and media coverage carefully limited
the options under consideration... only the option which furthered the
development of the NWO interventionist regime was given serious
consideration. Desert Storm bombing was launched at the earliest possible
moment, out of fear that a Russian-backed peace initiative might succeed.
The Ramboiullet document presented Yugoslavia with conditions they could
not possibly accept - conditions that were dropped after the bombing had
been accomplished.
Iterventionism itself - or more particularly its 'legitimization' - has
apparently been the primary goal in every scenario. This is not at all
surprising. As the sovereignty of Western nations is being signed over to
a centralized WTO bureuacracy, and media is being concentrated into the
hands of a few conglomerates, it is only appropriate that military power be
concentrated into a similar, centralized, elite-controlled bureucracy
(Pentagon + NATO).
---
There are also clear differences between each of our scenarios, and in
those differences once can trace the deployment of the NWO regime. In
Iraq, the engineered 'crisis incident' involved a cross-border invasion,
and nonetheless it took many months for the propaganda machine to produce
the UN authorization which was to 'legitimize' the long-planned bombing of
Iraq. With that precedent established as a 'successful and acceptable
operation', and with many years of propaganda preparation of public
opinion, the bombing of Yugoslavia was launched _without a UN
authorization, and _without the provocation of an invasion across
international borders. These last two may seem like minor points, but in
fact they represent a major shift in de-facto international law.
These precedents were the primary strategic 'advance' made by the NWO
regime in Yugoslavia. Clinton wasted no time in pointing out the
significance of these precedents - announcing that henceforth we could
expect interventions whenever our elite leaders decide to point the camera
at one of the many human-rights violators at large today, most of them
armed and supported by the US and other Western powers.
Four months after the Yugoslav bombing - with still no real security for
Kosovo civilians - we are now presented with the next phase of the
interventionist project. Then main distinction of the East Timor scenario,
in contrast with the earlier ones, is the shortness of the propaganda
prelude. It now takes only a few weeks to introduce a new trouble spot to
the television audience, and to rouse the Western mobs to a thirst for
military force. Blitzkrieg propaganda is now to be the hearald of
blitzkrieg warfare. Orwell showed us where this leads... eventually we'll
learn of invasions on the same day we're introduced to the name and face of
the enemy.
---
Secondary to this legitimization program, there have been other objectives
- always unannounced - in each of our scenarios. Pulverizing Iraq, which
was modernizing contrary to the US formula for that region - and taking
Iraqi oil off a glutted market - were obvious objectives in that case. In
Yuglslavia the apparent objectives were the re-balkanazation of the Balkans
and the ethnic cleansing of the resulting entities (according to SP
Huntington's kultur-kampf forumula) - and the destruction of the
Yugoslavian economy.
In East Timor, it isn't clear what the secondary objectives are going to
turn out to be. If they bomb Indonesia back to the stone age, then the
pattern would be the same as in Iraq and Yugoslavia - demonize a regime so
you can destroy a nation. Somehow I don't think this is what's going to
happen, partly because of how cooperative Indonesia has been with the
globalist system, and partly because the demonization focus hasn't been on
what's-his-name in Jakarta the way it was on Saddam and Milosevic. Based
on the evidence I've looked at I would predict two outcomes from East
Timor, one secondary, and one primary - related to the legitimization of
arbitrarty Western interventions.
The secondary outcome would be a regime in East Timor a bit reminiscent of
that in South Africa. On the surface it looks representative, but it's
agenda is one of kow-towing to the IMF and facilitating the globalization
process. This was also Jakarta's agenda in East Timor, but a resistance
movement sprang up. That was Jakarta's sin - the failure to keep down the
uprising. The new regime won't help the people substantially, but it will
have lots of 'liberation' promises, and the people will be fooled into
thinking they 'won'. No doubt there will be a pile of investment money
made available, meaning only that the absentee slaveowners of the East
Timoreze will be Western rather than Indonesian.
The primary outcome, strategically, would be the _routinization of the NWO
intervention process. A 'problem' is brought to our attention, an
'intervention solution' is promplty deployed, and - assuming no major
bombing of Indonesia - there is little fuss. All neat and tidy. With Iraq
still under genocidal sanctions, and Yugoslavia still in rubble, the
Jakarta regime is unlikely to do anything but stew in their own juice while
the Marines are landing in East Timor. The NWO regime has advanced to the
point where the implicit threat of force is enough to serve as 'cover fire'
- Saddam and Milosevic have served their purpose as 'examples'.
---
This is all happening in the August-September timeframe. The word on the
street is that a major bombing of Iraq is next on the agenda, perhaps to
test out some new weapons, and surely to make it even more 'perfectly
clear' to everyone everywhere that arbitrary interventions are routine,
normal, and 'legitimate'. It's a new world order, and you love it, don't
you? Clint Eastwood is getting all the bad guys by his own rules;
dictators everywhere are 'making our day'; Sylvester Stallone is wreaking
righteous havoc on his hi-tech rocket sled; the bugle is sounding and the
cavalry is riding to the rescue. Isn't it great to be alive during such a
resurgance of humanitarian concen?
It is very important to keep in mind that with all of these scenarios, the
timing has been entirely at the discretion of our elite leaders. They
could have launched an Iraq bombing anytime they wanted to write up an
explanatory press release; they could have brought the Yugoslavian pot to
a boil almost anytime in the past ten years; they could have 'discovered'
genocide in East Timor any time in the past two decades.
Since they control the schedule, we should take into account the pace and
timing of their incidents, in understanding their game plan. Allow me to
remind you of the posting of July 26, "cj#776> NWO / Dept of Final
Solutions / The China Card". It ended this way, noting that October 1 may
be the climactic date to which all the rest of this has been building up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Do you see what I mean about 'accelerated consolidation' of
the NWO regime? '99 was ushered in by a carefully worded
statement, dutifully memorized by quick-study Clinton, which
managed to destabilize a 50-year old forumula of 'two China'
fragile stability. As we pass mid-year, events have
progressed to a war-threatening flashpoint, and Clinton
continues to pour gasoline on the smoldering potential
conflagration. China and Taiwan are locked in an
inward-looking deadly embrace, unaware (as was Saddam) that
they are but pawns in a higher-level game.
Is this then our timeframe for the final, world-conquering
conflagration? The opening move to occur by October 1 and
the endgame to be completed by December 31? In such a
scenario, is there any possiblity that Russia would not be
drawn in, and be summarily dealt with as a side-theater?
What's the alternative? Is Taiwan going to recant its
independence? Will the People's Republic mark its fiftieth
anniversary by a humiliating sacrifice of its claims to the
island? Will Washington reverse its policies, take a firm
stand against Chinese expansionism, and risk upsetting its
carefully laid trap?
Keep these questions in mind as the China situation develops
- or doesn't - in the media. If the story doesn't develop,
expect the worst. If it does develop, read between the
lines for nuances which relate to the strategic context.
I'll let you know if more information crosses my desk, and
you're welcome to send in whatever you notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------
It seems to me that the China story _hasn't been developing, that we
haven't been hearing much about it. Nonetheless, in various reports I've
read, the latent crisis is continuing to mount, China's credibility
continues threatened over its claims to Taiwaan - and the symbolic October
1st date is rapidly approaching. As in our previous scenarios, the US, by
failing to take a firm position, and by sending out ambiguous and
conflicting signals, is encouraging the development of a crisis situation.
I say again... expect the worst. A mid or late-September anti-Iraq
mobilization could well be a cover for the mobilization for an October
action against China. I wouldn't be surprised if a 'conincidental' fleet
exercise in the Pacific might be soon noted in the back pages of our
newspapers.
yours,
rkm
============================================================================
Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 05:36:13 -0500
To: •••@••.•••
From: Mark Douglas Whitaker <•••@••.•••>
Subject: [FAIR-L] ALERT: U.S. Role Missing From East Timor Coverage
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT: U.S. ROLE MISSING FROM EAST TIMOR COVERAGE
September 1, 1999
The ongoing story of East Timor's referendum on independence has received a
moderate amount of coverage in the mainstream media. But news outlets have
frequently failed to put the Timor story in a full and accurate context.
For example, in reports from East Timor's capital, the Associated Press and
some other news outlets continue to use the dateline "Dili, Indonesia,"
implying that Indonesia has a legitimate claim over East Timor. This
formulation is comparable to a dateline of "Kuwait City, Iraq" in the
months following Iraq's illegal annexation of Kuwait. The Washington Post
(8/31/99) reported that Timorese were voting on "whether to remain a part
of Indonesia."
More importantly, many stories fail to note two crucial facts about East
Timor's nearly 25-year struggle against Indonesian occupation. First, the
Indonesian occupation has been extraordinarily bloody, resulting in the
deaths of more than 200,000 Timorese, out of a pre-invasion population of
approximately 600,000. A recent AP story noted that an "estimated 2,000
Indonesian troops have died fighting separatist guerrillas since Indonesia
invaded East Timor in 1975," but failed to note the massive numbers of
Timorese who have perished.
Others seemed to confuse the deaths caused by the occupation with those
caused by the resistance movement. ABC News' Charles Gibson said that "It's
been an extraordinary violent independence movement there with hundreds of
thousands of people killed" (Good Morning America, 8/31/99).
Secondly, news consumers are not informed that the U.S. backed Indonesia's
invasion of East Timor. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger visited the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in December 1975, just
before the invasion was launched, where they were told of Suharto's plans
to attack the island (Washington Post, 11/9/79).
The following month, a State Department official told a major Australian
newspaper (The Australian, 1/22/76) that "in terms of the bilateral
relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the
incursion into East Timor... The United States wants to keep its relations
with Indonesia close and friendly. We regard Indonesia as a friendly,
non-aligned nation--a nation we do a lot of business with."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was then the U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations wrote in his memoirs (A Dangerous Place) that "the Department of
State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever
measures it undertook" to reverse the invasion. "This task was given to me
and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success," Moynihan reported.
Finally, according to the State Department, 90 percent of the weapons used
in the invasion came from the United States. Two years later, as the
atrocities in East Timor were reaching a peak, President Jimmy Carter
authorized an addition $112 million in weapons sales to Indonesia.
ACTION: Please call on local and national news outlets to stop treating
East Timor as a legitimate part of Indonesia. And ask them to include the
facts about the consequences of the Indonesian invasion, as well as the
role the U.S. has played in supporting the illegal occupation.
To contact the Associated Press, write to:
Associated Press
Thomas Kent-- International Editor
(212) 621-1655
mailto:•••@••.•••
Also, read FAIR's previous coverage of East Timor and Indonesia at:
http://www.fair.org/international/east-timor.html
----------
Feel free to respond to FAIR ( •••@••.••• ). We can't reply to
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to us at: •••@••.••• .
Feel free to spread this message around. Put it on conferences where it is
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out, so please let others know about FAIR and this mailing list.
Don't miss a single e-mail from FAIR-L.
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============================================================================
Delivered-To: •••@••.•••
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 00:45:20 +0800 (HKT)
To: •••@••.•••
From: AHRC Urgent Appeal <•••@••.•••>
Subject: AHRC Petition to the United Nations Secretary-General and the
Security Council
ASEAN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTRE [ALRC] has ECOSOC consultation status
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION [AHRC]
URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME UA Index:070999
******************************************************************
Independence for East Timor 7 September 1999
EAST TIMOR: AN URGENT CALL TO SECRETARY GENERAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE
UNITED NATIONS
******************************************************************
To: ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE URGENT APPEAL NETWORK
Due to the gravely serious situation in East Timor we call upon each of you
to send a message to the United National Secretary General and the Security
Council. You are suggested to use a similar format as the one suggested below.
Kindly share this message with as many people as possible. DO NOT FAIL THE
EAST TIMORESE PEOPLE AT THE HOUR OF THEIR GRAVEST DANGER!!!
RECOMMENDED ACTION: PLEASE SEND IMMEDIATE BY EMAIL AND FAXES MESSAGES TO
THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL AND THE SECURITY COUNCIL
========================= SUGGESTED LETTER ==============================
Honourable Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax to: 1-212-963-2155
Email: <•••@••.•••>, <•••@••.•••>
Dear Mr. Kofi Annan,
re: AN URGENT CALL TO SECRETARY GENERAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
The Asian Human Rights Commission call upon the Secretary General of the
United Nations and the Security Council to ACT NOW, without delay to save
the lives of the people of East Timor. TO ACT NOW means sending peace
keeping troops. Nothing else or nothing less would suffice. That a carnage
is taking place has been accepted by all. That sections of Indonesian
military are conniving withthe militia elements is clear without dispute.
Thus delay means loss of more lives. To make international intervention
conditional upon Indonesian willingness make no sense. The failure to act
now is unforgivable.
Be assured of our utmost support for immediate action.
========================================================================
SEND APPEALS TO:
1. Honourable Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax to: 1-212-963-2155
Email: <•••@••.•••>, <•••@••.•••>
2. H.E. Peter van Walsum
Chairperson Security Council United Nations
CO Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
to the United Nations
235 East, 45th Street, 16th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel. (212) 697 5547
Fax. (212) 370 1954
E-mail: •••@••.•••
Email: <•••@••.•••>
CC
1. President B.J. Habibie, Office of the President
Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Indonesia
Fax: 62 21 360 517, 62 21 345 4438
Email: President B.J. Habibie <•••@••.•••>
2. Mr. Severino, ASEAN Secretary-General
The Asean Secretariat, 70A Jl. Sissingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110, Indonesia
Fax: 62-21 - 7398234, 7243504
Email: Mr.Severino Secretary-General<•••@••.•••>,
<•••@••.•••>
Please a copy of your appeal to: •••@••.•••
***********************************************************************
Sinapan Samydorai,
Programme Coorindator
Urgent Appeal Programme Tel: (852)-2698-6339
Asian Human Rights Commission Fax:+(852)-2698-6367
Unit D, 7 Floor, 16 Argyle Str. Email: •••@••.•••
Mongkok Commercial Centre http://www.hk.super.net/~ahrchk
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR CHINA
***********************************************************************
Visit the Asian Human Rights Commission's Campaign For Recognition of
State-sponsored Disappearances as a Crime Against Humanity
website: <http://www.disappearances.org/>http://www.disappearances.org
========================================================================
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