Jose Ramos Horta, winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, is a figure of towering moral authority, and will hopefully be able to restore both stability and real sovereignty to his nation. But it is painful to watch him take power as the East Timor he struggled to liberate from Indonesia is under de facto occupation by Australia and other foreign powers. From Austrialia's The Age, July 11:

Exactly four years after winning its independence from Indonesia, East Timor is tragically descending into chaos, and Australia has sent a "peacekeeping" force. Excerpts from a Reuters account via TV New Zealand, May 27:

Gangs of youths allied to feuding East Timor police or army units went on the rampage in parts of the capital on Saturday, torching houses and vehicles, as Australian and Malaysian peacekeeping troops stepped up their patrols.

From Reuters, March 30:

CANBERRA - An Indonesian cartoon depicting Australia's prime minister and foreign minister as fornicating dingoes was "grotesque", Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Thursday as bilateral tension flared with Jakarta.

As we observed in the recent case in Nazareth, the choice of religious targets by the "mentally ill" is not so apolitical as it seems. If nothing else, it reflects a zeitgeist. From Reuters, March 25:

Thai Muslim killed after smashing Hindu god image
BANGKOK — A mentally-ill Muslim smashed a landmark Hindu statue in central Bangkok, worshipped by people of many religions, and was then beaten to death, police said on Tuesday.

Another escalation in the ongoing struggle in West Papua. From AP, March 20:

Calm returned to Papua Province yesterday after three days of tension following a deadly protest against a massive US-owned gold mine in the eastern Indonesian province.

A rather ironic way to note the 20th anniversary of the "People Power" revolution that ousted longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Those who marched in Manila to commemorate the revolution over the weekend did so in defiance of a state of emergency that bans all public gatherings. (BBC, Feb. 27) And one of those arrested in the alleged plot against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a hero of the 1986 revolution. Details from this Feb. 27 Al-Jazeera account:

The latest escalation of the secret war in West Papua is even more eclipsed from the news than usual by the current hideous escalation in Iraq. But, as we witnessed in India last month, tribal peoples armed with bows and arrows are confronting state security forces with automatic weapons to defend their lands. You can be sure they are paying closer attention in the board rooms of Freeport McMoRan...

Indonesia's Environment Ministry is evidently caught between ecologists and nationalists demanding a tougher line on foreign corporate polluters and a judiciary that seems beholden to the corporate shadow government. The New York Times noted Feb. 17 that under the terms of the $30 million out-of-court settlement (termed a "goodwill agreement"), the government will drop its $135 suit filed against Newmont Mining of Colorado after villagers near its gold mine at Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi developed tumors, rashes and other illnesses caused by mine waste. From the Jakarta Post, Feb. 18: