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>>
>> I used to have mixed feelings about Indonesia - that we can either.
>>
>> 1. Cooperate with them to help them build a democratic capitalist economy,
>> which will make them more peaceful; or
>> 2. Encourage their militant extremism and watch them tear themselves apart
>> internally so they were no threat.
Perhaps I should clarify this. I was not actually advocating a mechanism
which breaks Indonesia into many smaller nations. The thinking over the last 40
years or so is that more nations = more possible threats, and more wars with
each other (India and Pakistan are perhaps a good example). Something to remember about the Indonesian army - they call themselves an
army, but they are actually there to prevent the collapse of The Indonesian Empire.
Does anyone think that Australia would fall apart if the Army were not present?
Of course not. It would be invaded immediately, but that's the point. The Army
is there to handle external threats, not internal ones. Indonesia has to spend a large part of her resources just keeping the
empire together. That keeps them weak. If Indonesia were to split, there would
be lots of rat-bag little nations fighting various sized wars over our back
fence, and we would have to deal with much of the fallout (perhaps literally).
Not to mention floods of genuine refugees (something we haven't seen for a while)! However if Indonesia hangs together by a thread, then they can't be
harassing us. They can spend all their time arguing about whether 'Allah is
great' or whether 'Allah is truly great' ... or whatever various
factions of Islamic extremists argue about and about which the rest of us
couldn't care less. Thanks for reading.
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