it's in our interests...

It easy to go into another country with all guns blazing in the name of 'freedom', 'liberty' or 'democracy'. But these are euphemisms. Propaganda words. Words every aggressor, dictator and despot has used since imperialism was invented. And there's a new euphemism to justify mass destruction, grand theft, rape and mass murder, it's called 'interests' e.g. 'U.S. interests', 'British interests', 'Australian interests', etc..

Turns out we Australians, great liberators of the oppressed that we are, 'protected' East Timor's new-found independence only in order to rip off their oil and gas 'interests'. It was in Australia's 'interests'. And so a new nation lost it's most valuable resource to it's Big Brother 'defender'. Makes ya proud to be Australian, don't it?

Oh, and did we show a lot of courage posturing against possible Indonesian reaction? No way. It was a done deal. The Yank spooks (oops, 'diplomats') had very emphatically warned Indonesia, prior to our deployment, that if they gave us any grief, the U.S. would f*** with them very badly (their words, not mine). So, our Big Brother told Indonesia that they were not to touch East Timor's Big Brother, and only then did we big-brother East Timor. We're so brave... And our cause was so just.

So, when we do something in 'our interests', that really means that we're about to tamper with someone else's 'interests', often by means of military 'intervention', another nice euphemism for grand theft, mass destruction, mass murder, and all that goes with the 'military intervention'package (all nicely 'sanitised' for the gullible public back home, if they can get away with it).

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this thing called 'foreign policy'. It's how you go about getting people to really, really, hate you with a vengeance. And if they finally lose the plot completely and indulge in some kind of retaliatory action, you use another cunning propaganda word, you call them 'terrorists', which loosely translates as 'you can't do to us what we're doing to you'.

Is there a better way? You bet. But it doesn't suit imperial imperatives...