SecDef continues his world-wide tour with a sweep through Indonesia. Grips and grins with the leadership there resulted in an agreement to sell six Vipers to augment the island nation’s defense capabilities:
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised on Monday to help Indonesia improve its defence capabilities and equipment as the Pentagon tries to strengthen ties with a country it views as a regional leader and secular model for Muslim states.
Gates, after meetings with Indonesia’s president and defence minister, said Washington was prepared to offer support and training for ongoing military reforms in Indonesia and help the Asian state update its fleet of military transport aircraft…
“There is a positive response from the Pentagon” on Indonesia’s request to purchase F-16s, (Defense Minister) Sudarsono told reporters after the meetings.
Speaking strictly from a standpoint of diplomatic bonhomie though, the trip would have been ever-so-much more perfect had not the Secretary also been required to pooh-pooh the suggestions of the Indonesian health minister that the US and the World Health Organization were conspiring against third world countries by seizing and weaponizing bird flu samples. Carefully choosing his words, Mr. Gates opined that the notion – which is apparently not shared by the delightfully named President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – was “nutty.”
Health minister Siti Fadilah Supari has pulled the book documenting her charges off the shelves in the English-speaking world after less than a month, arguing that it had been inaccurately translated from the native whatever-it-is they speak over there.
Neither George Soros nor John McCain could be reached for comment.
They speak Indonesian. Or Bahasa Indonesia, if you prefer the vernacular (Indonesia’s Language).
They’ve got great names, don’t they, though? You’re supposed to have Indonesian names, regardless of your ethnic origin. I think Suharto (or Sukarno, I never could tell) initiated that to provide a platform of unity.
Yeah, that turned out real well.
It’s all a matter of pandering to your political base. The Malaysian elections are not far off so you’ll hear a fair amount of hot air being expelled here too.
PS: Do you know what the USA is called in Malaysian (pretty much the same as Indonesian)? Amerika Syarikat. Or, Corporate (Company, actually) America. America, Inc, here we come!
Wonder if they budgeted for any weapons to hang off them….