Re: Who is backing the East Timorese and why?

First, it seems clear that the U.S. is basically pro-status quo in
Indonesia.  Certainly it does not want to replace or destabilize the
military, any more than it did in Haiti.

Whatever minor changes may be favored I think Robinson covered in his
book. (I forget the name, something like Promoting Democracy.)  A client
state will be more stable if it isn't run by a narrow kleptocracy.
A broader ruling elite is preferable.  

Wickham-Crowley's book on Latin America supports this as well, showing
that the only successful revolutions recently have been against Batista in
Cuba and Somoza in Nicaragua, both of whom failed to incorporate elites
sufficiently in their regimes and thus provoked broad opposition.

Richard Hutchinson