Indonesian Scolds US in Terrorism Fight
JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 6 — Indonesia’s defense minister warned the Bush administration on Tuesday that its approach to fighting terrorism was perceived as overbearing, and that the United States needed to be sensitive to local concerns.“It’s best that you leave the main responsibility of antiterrorist measures to the local government in question, and not be too overly insistent about immediate results arising from your perception about terrorists,” the minister, Juwono Sudarsono, told reporters as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stood nearby.
Okay, that’s fair. Indonesia is like Pakistan, they have to strike a tough compromise between appeasing their majority Muslim demographic and appearing muscular on international terrorism.
There are two languages in international relations, one spoken in public and one spoken in private. The Indonesian Defense Minister used his public voice prove that his administration is not a tool of the United States. In private, I suspect the two defense chiefs were hammering out some sort of resolution to the Proliferation Security Initiative.
The two governments working through the proposed PSI should have been the real story here, btw….not damaged egos.
For what it’s worth, John, I wouldn’t trade PSI and the real & measurable work it achieves for a full house of 3 IAEA’s and a pair of UN’s.
Seriously.
The closer one follows the PSI, the more one realizes that it accomplishes what the IAEA will never be able to do. Why, the lay-person asks?
Because the teeth of the IAEA lay in the form of a diametrically opposed Security Council, split on everything from Iran to the color of the sky.
The teeth of the PSI lay in the strength of the militaries, intelligence arms and diplomatic weight behind the will of the member nations…who are in agreeance by their very voluntary membership.
Not a Hans Blix nor an ElBaredei to be found.
Good of you to bring up PSI.