Henry, Hillary and Bernie

 Kissinger and  Clinton talk during an April 20, 2011,interview at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)

February 12, 2015 -- Notorious war criminal Henry Kissinger has made an appearance in recent Democratic Party presidential debates.

Last night Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's name-dropping of Kissinger during the previous debate when she cited Kissinger as a reference. Reviewing Kissinger's book World Order in the Washington Post, she wrote “Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state,” (See here and here for more on Clinton's relationship to Kissinger.) 

On Feb. 11, Sanders called Kissinger "destructive," said he was "proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend, and mentioned his role in the illegal bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War (see below for complete remarks. He could have also listed (in no particular order and by no means complete): East Timor, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Angola, Chile, Cyprus ...

Readers and supporters of ETAN don't need reminding of Kissinger's role in East Timor's suffering. For those new or needing a refresher: Then Secretary of State Kissinger and President Gerald Ford stopped over in Jakarta on December 6, 1975 where they reassured the dictator Suharto that they understood his desire to invade and that the flow of U.S. weapons to the Indonesian military would continue. Indonesia invaded the next day and the U.S. armed and trained the murderous regime. As Kissinger later said “The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a bit longer.”

see ETAN's Kissinger pages

Happy Holidays!

We are talking a break and will be checking our e-mail less often. We wish everyone happy holidays and a fulfilling and peace-filled New Year! May the peoples of Timor-Leste, West Papua, and Indonesia find the peace, prosperity and justice they so deserve.

Thank you for your interest and support our work for justice and human rights. We look forward to working with you in the coming year.

We hope you will support the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) by including us in your end of year giving. You can safely donate by credit card and read a message from Noam Chomsky about why you should join him in supporting us here: http://bit.ly/noam_etan

If you haven't done so, we hope you will sign ETAN's petition calling for an end to 50 years of official silence concerning  U.S. complicity in Indonesian mass violence and  murder. Please sign and share http://chn.ge/1v50Edj

Thank you
John M. Miller, National Coordinator, ETAN

P.S. Use this link, if you want to sign up for ETAN's listservs on Timor-Leste, West Papua or Indonesia:  https://fs20.formsite.com/jmm555/form2/index.html

Read an important message about ETAN from Noam Chomsky

Read an Important message about ETAN
from Noam Chomsky

Thank you for your support. 

Thank you for your support. 

 

Filep Karma is free!

Filep Karma released from prison

West Papuan political prisoner Filep Karma, 56, was released from prison today, having served his full sentence (minus remissions) for participating the raising of West Papua's morning star flag on December 1, 2004. He was convicted of treason in May 2015 and sentenced to 15 years. Filep and his fellow political prisoners (in West Papua and the Mulukus) several times refused presidential clemency, which involve an admission of guilt and pledges not to re-offend, instead demanding unconditional release. He insisted that raising the flag was peaceful and not a crime. Upon release, Filep joined an anniversary event of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), one of West Papua's main liberation groups, at Expo Waena, Jayapura.

ETAN is proud to have campaigned for his release (ETAN collected more than 2700 signatures on a petition initiated by Filep's daughter Audryne Karma calling for the release of her father and other Papuan political prisoners). As we celebrate Filep's freedom, we remember those still in prison and those still harassed, arrested and tortured for exercising their freedom of speech in support of West Papua's freedom and human rights.

The September 2015 of ETAN and WPAT's West Papua Report featured his case.

*UPDATE:

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November 2015 West Papua Report

November 2015 West Papua Report is out: TNI embeds, fires and smoke, transmigration, Freeport, Melanesian gambit, more

CONTENTS

This edition's Perspective discusses the implications for West Papua for the Indonesian military's continuing effort to re-involve itself in civilian affairs.

Update summarizes the grave problems of toxic smoke from massive fires set by palm oil plantation developers and others across the Indonesian archipelago. For the first time, fires are taking place on a large scale in West Papua. Transmigration continues to undermine West Papuans. The lack of Papuan involvement in the controversial plan to extend Freeport's mining concession in West Papua is raising concerns. The Indonesian government'sMelanesian gambit meets resistance.

Chronicle announces two important new reports and calls attention to the special problems posed by military repression for Papuan women, We link to Democracy Now! coverage by  of President Widodo's visit to the U.S.  The Indonesian Perss Council derends press freedom in West Papua. Maire Leadbetter sees hope for West Papua.

Want to receive issues of the West Papua Report via email: send us a note.

Cartoonist's depiction of Indonesian government restrictions on media freedom and rights monitoring in Papua. Copyright 2015 Toni Malakian for Human Rights Watch.

Cartoonist's depiction of Indonesian government restrictions on media freedom and
rights monitoring in Papua. Copyright 2015 Toni Malakian for Human Rights Watch.