Jakarta recalls ambassador to Australia over spying claims [video] | Hacker News Reader

Jakarta recalls ambassador to Australia over spying claims [video]

news.com.au

25 pointsC1D12 comments

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how this is news.

Australian-Indonesian relations have always had their ebb and flow - East Timor, the boat people, and the Bali Bombings are only the latest things to rock the relationship.

And I'm pretty sure they knew we're spying on them (or tried to) - and I'd put my money that they were spying on us as well.

The mock outrage is amusing, but unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know that nation states do these sorts of antics all the time.

People like Assange and Snowden seem to love rocking the boat, and causing trouble - but spying and diplomacy have been a part of state relations from before cuneiform writing.

Quite frankly, I'd much rather professional diplomats play these sorts of games, and we get to live in relative peace, than the outright carnage, war and bloodshet that characterised the thousands of years before this.

> Quite frankly, I'd much rather professional diplomats play these sorts of games, and we get to live in relative peace, than the outright carnage, war and bloodshet that characterised the thousands of years before this.

Huh? So the causal difference between the peace we now enjoy and the carnage the world used to endure is that there is now more spying?

I would say they have a duty to spy on Indonesia. Out of all the countries in the region that Australia has to contend with (a huge land mass, sparsely populated, full of mineral wealth), Indonesia is probably the least predictable. Indonesia is very close to the western side of Australia and has a population of 246 million(!).

I'd say Malaysia, myself, with their growing radical Muslim extremists, and the instability caused by the institutionalised racist attitudes to Chinese and other "non-native" Malays.

You could argue that Indonesia has a muslim radical problem as well, but at least the govt recognises it as a problem. Indonesia seems to be trying to become more democratic and neutral in religious matters, whereas I'm not sure Malaysia has the same degree of commitment or willpower.

Please don't link to Murdoch tabloids.

A better story from earlier today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6752274

Every government engages in espionage, including Indonesia. Very few details are known about this particular case.

Snowden is the point of interest here.

So we have an approved list of places we can link to now? A Murdoch-owned link is as valid as any other.

On the other hand, Murdoch media is well-known for political advocacy disguised as unbiased information, a boycott is a worthy thing to advocate, and 7stark7 said "please don't" rather than "you are prohibited from".

The Guardian and the New York Times are also well known for political advocacy disguised as unbiased information, just towards the left rather than the right.

Sorry, I'll phrase it a bit more straightforwardly: if it came from Murdoch, it's much more likely to be a lie.

Or how about "I only believe left-wing news sources"? That would be more honest.

And just because you agree with a news source's bias, that doesn't make it true.

Because I live in WA, I used to read The Australian to get Australia-wide news and decent political analysis. I don't bother any more, it is absolute rubbish now and has been for a few years.

Indonesia needs to fake shock and pull the ambassador to save face, but it's really not "news" that governments spy on other governments.

it's all part of the big puppet show they put up for our benefit ;)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com