The Calvinist Legacy in South Africa

https://g3min.org/book-review-the-puritans-in-africa-by-w-de-klerk/

Cantrell offers some insightful commentary regarding Afrikaner Theology and how it devolved into Apartheid. I'm not sure I buy the True/False Calvinism distinction though. First, there's the issue and question of Calvinism which is broad and difficult to define. Second, there is the Dutch Calvinist legacy and its heavy emphasis on an integrated culture - seen particularly in the thought of Abraham Kuyper.

Indonesia, BRICS, and the Demand for Nickel

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/04/21/vijay-prashad-brics-industrial-development/

I found Prashad's comments which suggested a comparison between BRICS and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to be timely and worth serious consideration. Western opponents of the NAM always considered it to be unofficially more friendly toward the Eastern Bloc - itself something of a fiction. In this case, the foes of Western Atlanticism are in BRICS and so one could say everyone's cards are on the table. However, it's important to understand why the USSR and China were happy to deal with NAM nations and the West was not. Unlike the United States they did not assume that everyone who wasn't fully on board with them was an enemy. The US has a tendency to cast geopolitics in such terms - stated so bluntly by GW Bush. "You're either with us or against us." - a stance which may or may not drive nations away in the immediate but in the long term it's a position that destroys trust and respect.

The East Timor Genocide and Carter's Whitewashed Legacy

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/10/jimmy_carter_indonesia_east_timor_genocide 

The American support for Indonesia's genocide in East Timor is usually associated with Ford and Kissinger. The invasion famously began the day after Air Force One left Jakarta in December 1975. The Americans were fully aware of what Suharto was planning and many would go further and point to evidence suggesting the US encouraged the invasion. East Timor like Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea were Portuguese colonies up for grabs with the collapse of the dictatorship in the so-called Carnation Revolution of 1975.

Indonesia, Prabowo, and BRICS

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/7/indonesia-joins-brics-group-of-emerging-economies

Even as the US seeks to expand its Eastern footprint and re-establish and strengthen military ties with Indonesia - the new Prabowo regime is seeking a path of triangulation.

Spawn of the CIA and a Son of Suharto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx35KRYbf1g

Prabowo is actually the former son-in-law of Suharto, the Indonesian dictator who came to power in the 1960's by means of a genocide – one encouraged and backed by the United States. Not a few in Washington wished Vietnam could have gone the way of Indonesia. The US lost Vietnam though millions would also die in Indochina.

Interfaith Marriages in Indonesia

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Supreme-Court-bans-interfaith-marriages-58840.html

Legally the issue cited in the article concerns the jurisprudence of an Islamic nation – and to what degree Sharia or even a limited or hybrid-Sharia can accommodate a Muslim-interfaith marriage. This issue on its face is not a Christian concern apart from questions of civil freedom and restrictions that result from a sacralist-Islamist framework.

The Living Legacies of Forgotten Wars: El Salvador

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/8/30/keeping-up-disappearances-in-el-salvador

The El Salvador Civil War (1979-1992) was in some respects ignored even while it was taking place. It received some coverage, and there were some flashpoints and massacres, namely the raped and murdered nuns, and most famously the dramatic assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980.

The Echoes of War in Asia

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/04/10/indonesia-us-war-games/

Even as the War in Ukraine rages on and the eye of the world is focused on the NATO frontier, there are storm clouds forming over Asia and signs that US militarism is preparing to assert itself on the Chinese frontier as well. Far from being passive, the Biden administration has been at the forefront of the re-assertion of the US Empire.

Indonesian Air Power and the Balance of Power in the Asia-Pacific

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/12/23/indonesia-sukhoi-us-french-planes/

These types of stories appear on a regular basis. One can't read too much into them or overplay their meaning but they reveal something of the behind the scenes struggle between the powers.

ASEAN and the Russian Navy

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/12/01/russia-asean-naval-drills/

The move by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to hold joint naval drills with Russia is a slap in the face to China but on a far greater level to the United States which has earnestly sought to court these nations since the Obama era. It sends a clear signal that the ASEAN members are not willing to simply bow to the US, nor are they willing to trust Washington to any quantifiable degree. They're going to hedge their bets and keep all options open – which for the US represents a diplomatic defeat.

A Christian Victory in Indonesia?

https://www.persecution.org/2021/01/23/indonesia-appoints-christian-man-national-police-chief/

This is presented as some kind of victory, something to celebrate. In truth it's tragic, a case of compromise on display. We have a professed Christian who will now wield the sword of state – and what state? A state with a horrific and bloody past that the present administration is unapologetic about, a president who protects the criminals still living associated with the American-backed genocide of the 1960's.

Pandemic Fallout and the State of the Church

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Family-prayer-forcibly-interrupted-49864.html

In some places there's no doubt the quarantine is being used to suppress Christians – in many cases these same Christians were already facing social resistance.

Would Evangelical leaders in the USA support this kind of suppression at the hands of the state if it were American Christians gathered to pray in violation of Covid-19 guidelines?

If it meant losing or keeping their tax exempt status and all their perks – I daresay they would.

Indonesia: Caught in the Great Game

The article interestingly mentioned the Soviet relationship with the Sukarno government but neglects to mention the US role in his overthrow, the anti-communist genocide and the thirty-plus year military dictatorship of Suharto.... a rule wholly supported and in no small part sustained by Washington.

Remembering Jeju and a Forgotten Chapter of South Korean History

http://www.atimes.com/article/jeju-koreas-island-ghosts-dead-finally-find-voice/

Jeju Island and the massacres that took place in 1948-9 are a largely forgotten precursor to the Korean War which broke out the following year. Forgotten not only in the West even many in South Korea know little about these events. They were suppressed by the government for decades.

Indonesia: A Forgotten Genocide by Proxy

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41651047

This is another ghost from the past, another story that has for the most part been flushed down the memory hole. The BBC retains some value in that it will at least provide some coverage to stories like this but for real investigative journalism one must turn elsewhere. As is so often the case, their coverage allows them to retain journalistic credibility... but then functions as a 'move-along, nothing to see here' piece.

Another Defector from the US Pivot-to-Asia Strategy

https://in.investing.com/news/economy-news/insight-china's-"silk-road"-push-stirs-resentment-and-protest-in-sri-lanka-90314

Sri Lanka's Sirisena administration which came to power in 2015 appeared to represent a shift away from the pro-Beijing policies of Rajapaksa. But for various reasons this has not proven to be the case.

On the Death of Sydney Schanberg

Known for his reporting on the Bangladesh Genocide and War of Independence, but most famous for his reporting on Cambodia's Killing Fields, Schanberg was haunted by firsthand experience of the evils of human nature and the fallout of imperialist policy and wars.

Asian Alliances and Cold Wars: Past and Present Provocations

The United States continues to push into East Asia and is moving ever closer to the formation of a new Asian version of NATO. It must be remembered that though the USSR certainly occupied Eastern Europe and had attempted and eventually succeeded to establish new regimes in those countries, it was sabre rattlers like Churchill and the United States in forming NATO that really got the Cold War underway. While that narrative is unacceptable to Western convention it needs to be revisited.

The Arms Industry and Empire

In Southeast Asia the role of Singapore continues to grow as a means to arm the new American formed and backed alliance meant to secure American hegemony and contain China.

ST Kinetics formerly Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS) was utilised by the Reagan administration to set up arms deals with Iran.