Mr Hammer wrote on Sep 8^th, 2019 at 4:17pm:


"Our oil"?  You don't think that the East Timorese might have something to say about that?   

UnSubRocky wrote on Sep 8^th, 2019 at 10:38am:




Do you have any understanding as to why it may well be "a basketcase" country?


In terms of their own independence and thus ability to run things on their own, they are a toddler. It was colonised by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was run by them up until 1975, with a few years in between of Japanese occupation. After that the Indonesians took over, and when independence occurred, the Indonesians destroyed just about everything they could.


There is for instance still a belief that the Dili National Hospital is not somewhere you want to go, more people go to the clinic a US doctor set up in the 1980s. This was because during the occupation the Indonesian military would routinely patrol the hospital looking for resistance fighters who may have been injured to round up and shoot.

Even outside assistance is a pain in the ass, in that we don't give them enough help to completely solve a problem. Plus everything is interlinked. E.g the education is lagging behind, because the children only do 4.5 hours of schooling and get out at 1 pm. Why? because they have to help their parents with the subsistence farming, or their shops etc, this is because the profits are so low, they can't afford to hire people, so unemployment is high. Because its subsistence farming, the nutrition is poor, so not only is there physical retardation, there is also mental retardation, which then feeds back into hte education system.


Its not an easy path for Timor Leste (I single handedly refuse to use East Timor. But to suggest its a basketcase speaks to the usual first world mentality surrounding developing nations.

Mr Hammer wrote on Sep 9^th, 2019 at 4:58pm:





About 20 percent is in Timor waters, I'm lead to believe, yet they don't get 20% of the profits. Comfortable with that?

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 9^th, 2019 at 10:27am:


200 years ago, our new Australian settlers had got their act together and made the settlement first-world society. Atleast, a first world society in terms of what an 1820s era could give them. Perhaps a higher standard of living than what much of England and the Americas could exhibit. This, on top of the fact that the only supplies they could get would take about 6 months to get to them. The how-to develop a settlement already established in their psyche. The tools available. The need to survive well and truly motivating them. And they managed to do this in isolation from outside help (atleast in terms of nobody to help them for thousands of nautical miles).

The East Timorese, you can tell me all sorts of stories. I had a book on the East Timorese road to independence and what they had to go through. Unfortunately, I have not seen the book around my house for over 10 years. But, seriously, how long does it take a country, with a first world country next door to help them, get their act together?

I can imagine that the East Timorese' education is impeded by the need to manage their farms. But they have been doing that for the last few hundred years.

Brian Ross wrote on Sep 10^th, 2019 at 5:39pm:



Protecting Australia's interests is not cheating. ANd it wasn't their 'legal income' since Australia has done most of the exploring, investing, extraction, liberation, financial propping up of a barely viable half island a couple of whose sons went to uni in Portugal and had 'national' aspirations.

Emotionally incontinent formulations like yours here and elsewhere prove only one thing, Bwian.

Brian Ross wrote on Sep 10^th, 2019 at 5:39pm:


If Australia did not try to take advantage of our neighbours from time to time, we would probably be speaking Indonesian by now.

Brian Ross wrote on Sep 10^th, 2019 at 8:33pm:


Soren, there is what is considered fair and just in negotiations and what isn't.  Australia acted unfair and unjustly in negotiating the oil leases with Timor Leste.  Time you recognised that,as the World Court did.  Australia was caught out, fair and square.

There is a world of difference between "protecting our interests" and cheating, Soren.

[quote]

If Australia thought East Timor was making unfair claims then it was natural to seek ways to protect and promote Australia's own interests.


The Chinese are listening in and stealing Western intellectual property. Every embassy is bugged, one way or another. In grass huts it's easier to detect it.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Sep 11^th, 2019 at 7:38am:


As explained, it took Australia about 30 years to have sufficiently first-world living conditions after the first fleet arrived. I don't believe East Timor needs that amount of time to get to first world living conditions.