It is hard to keep the days straight since Indonesia is eleven hours ahead of New York Time.

Just a few quickies to follow up on my earlier report. The press here is quietly skeptical of all the terror talk coming out of Washington, pointing to evidence gaps and suppositions in the al Qaeda rumor mill that keeps the terror war buzzing and making headlines, even as The Pentagon seems to be moving on to Iraq. It is almost as if they are following the late Vermont Senator Aitkin’s advice during the Vietnam War: “declare victory” and withdraw.

Behind the blizzard of threats and the media talk, the security crisis is becoming a big business with the Pentagon and US arms manufacturers pressuring countries in the region to buy arms from Uncle Sam.

The Far East Economic Review looks at this military industrial angle just as most of the US media ignores it–as if issues matter more than interests. David Lange reports from Hong Kong “GRIPES OVER U.S. GRIP ON ARMS TRADE.”

Here’s the essence: “US arms makers are cashing in on their country’s military dominance and network of security alliances in Asia to score big contracts in what critics complain is a lop sided competition that could lead to dependence on expensive weapons.”

The headline on the cover makes it even more stark and explicit: “BUY AMERICAN, OR ELSE.” This is what superpowerism is all about — -extracting money from the periphery by threat projections in public and muscling procurement departments or tying loans to US weapons purchases in secret. My headline: “WAR IS MONEY.” Big money and in some ways the more we spend, the more we get.

The Jakarta Post, to its credit, reprints critical essays and op-eds from the likes of World Bank critic Joseph Stigletz (now at Columbia U, after defecting to the the globalization critics.)

Meanwhile the paper is filled with stories of continuing corruption, lack of law enforcement and dependence on foreign loans four years after the fall of Suharto. Indonesia is a developing country that appears to be unde-r-veloping.

“I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT”

As a media maven, I was fascinated to meet an anchor at the Indonesia State TV who described to me the money when she had to report that Suharto had fallen.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said with an awe that is still fresh years later. (She notes that some wealthier Indonesians seem to be longing for the bad old days of his authoritarian and brutal rule because there was more order and discipline then than now.)

On the other hand this is an exciting time of transition. Her TV station is also going through a transition from being a state- owned and controlled entity to one that is forced to commercialise, though is expected to remain a State Broadcaster.

“We knew had to self-censor ourselves then,” she explained in a mantra I found familiar from my days in the “free” US networks. “It is much more open today.”

A friend traveling with me told her about being present when the Berlin Wall fell. “I realized that for her the fall of Suharto marked the fall of her country’s Berlin Wall.”

I was interested to learn that a veteran CNN reporter had just been here on a “training” mission to teach the Indonesians how to be professionals. I’ll bet he had more on his plate to worry about– what with a possible merger between CNN and ABC News as more consolidation threatens in the media at home.

Today there are ten networks in Indonesia when there was one. At the rate we are going, there may soon be only one in the USA.

I have to get back to the film I am making. You can stay in touch with me at dissector@mediachannel.org.

Let me know how you think the expanded news section on Mediachannel is going. Also, for those interested, copies of my new book on post 9/11 media coverage, MEDIA WARS is $20 plus $5 s& h. Make checks payable to Mediachannel/Global Center at 1600 Broadway #700 NY NY 10019.

Later….