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Issues in Australian Foreign Policy: January to June 1999

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy: January to June 1999 M ARYANNE KELTON AND RICHARD LEAVER Political and International Studies, Flinders University In December 1990, as American and allied troops massed around the Arabian peninsula in preparation for the liberation of Kuwait, an editorial built around a familiar end-of-empire predicament appeared in that most authoritative of American newspapers, the New York Times. It began thus: A European empire retrenches, leaving a distant dependency to fend for itself. The vulnerable enclave is then invaded and annexed by its powerful neighbour, a major oil exporter with a formidable army and a notorious human rights record. Key words casually scattered around — “notorious”, “formidable”, “oil” — subtly drew attention towards the scene of current actions in the Gulf. These clues, however, were just so many exercises in literary deception. The editorial was using Kuwait as a mirror to sharpen focus upon its real concern — the future of America’s East Timor policy. Hence, on the fifteenth anniversary of Indonesia’s invasion of the former Portuguese colony, the editorial concluded by calling upon the President “to condemn what America never should have condoned in the first place”.1 Similar exercises using situational isomorphism to inform the direction of policy on Timor would eventually see http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Politics and History Wiley

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy: January to June 1999

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Departments of Government & History, University of Queensland & Blackwell Publishers 1999
ISSN
0004-9522
eISSN
1467-8497
DOI
10.1111/1467-8497.00079
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

M ARYANNE KELTON AND RICHARD LEAVER Political and International Studies, Flinders University In December 1990, as American and allied troops massed around the Arabian peninsula in preparation for the liberation of Kuwait, an editorial built around a familiar end-of-empire predicament appeared in that most authoritative of American newspapers, the New York Times. It began thus: A European empire retrenches, leaving a distant dependency to fend for itself. The vulnerable enclave is then invaded and annexed by its powerful neighbour, a major oil exporter with a formidable army and a notorious human rights record. Key words casually scattered around — “notorious”, “formidable”, “oil” — subtly drew attention towards the scene of current actions in the Gulf. These clues, however, were just so many exercises in literary deception. The editorial was using Kuwait as a mirror to sharpen focus upon its real concern — the future of America’s East Timor policy. Hence, on the fifteenth anniversary of Indonesia’s invasion of the former Portuguese colony, the editorial concluded by calling upon the President “to condemn what America never should have condoned in the first place”.1 Similar exercises using situational isomorphism to inform the direction of policy on Timor would eventually see

Journal

Australian Journal of Politics and HistoryWiley

Published: Dec 1, 1999

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