And what do the Indonesians have against the Australians?  Is that an
anti-imperialist power (Brits) thing (I thought I heard Portugal was the
imperialist power in this situation but maybe I'm getting my stories mixed
up)?  The Indonesians seemed to be pretty unhappy about the prospect of the
peace keepers being headed up by the Aussies.

Ian, Dave?

Ken, it seems to me that oil could be involved (though I haven't heard any
stories like that)--I know it's a long ways away but I seem to recall that
oil was the "vital American interest" in Viet Nam, other than that
anti-communist thing...

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Follett [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, September 17, 1999 9:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: East Timor and Oil


In one more futile attempt to understand the world... can anyone explain to
me the connection between East Timor and oil? I read one line in a newspaper
that made this connection but provided no background.

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