Now let's look at a comment by Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer. As the situation in East Timor deteriorates, Downer said: "Short of us launching some sort of military attack on the Indonesian military ourselves - which obviously we wouldn't consider doing - we have no alternative," to diplomatic pleading.

With our news dominated by events in the Balkans, poor East Timor is virtually off the media radar. The horror continues in this tiny territory that was invaded by Indonesia, where ethnic cleansing - genocide - was conducted on a grand scale. Unlike Kovoso, that the United Nations accepts as a historical region of Serbia, the U.N. Nations is quite clear regarding the illegal occupation of East Timor. The U.N. does not and never has recognised Indonesia's sovereignty over the former Portuguese colony. Jakarta has been repeatedly condemned for its unprovoked invasion, occupation and annexation of the territory. Indonesia's gross violation of human rights in the territory was the subject of countless U.N. resolutions, newspaper and magazine articles, books and documentaries long before the break-up of Yugoslavia. Decades before this year's NATO offensive in Kosovo.

And it continues, to this day. As U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Leaf gave a lengthy explanation at NATO headquarters in Brussels regarding last week's attack on a civilian convoy in Kosovo, pro-Jakarta militiamen and Indonesian security forces stepped up their reign of terror against pro-independence Timorese.

I am frequently criticised by APJ readers for 'not getting it'. What that 'it' is that I don't get is never clearly explained. I make no apology. I suppose I don't 'get' what it is I am supposed to 'get'. I don't get, for example, why a 15-nation alliance launched an attack on a sovereign nation for its alleged human rights abuse - while it continues to dialogue with countries guilty of similar crimes. I am perhaps being too simple, but for me, human rights are human rights. Abuse is abuse. Invasion is invasion and the ethnic cleansing of a population is a crime against humanity - regardless of the colour or creed of the victims.

I don't get, for example, that while Slobodan Milosevic was simultaneously being demonised and cajoled to attend and sign the Dayton Agreement, Indonesia's former leader Suharto was still feted as a 'friend and ally' of many of those countries now engaged in the NATO offensive in Kosovo.

Some APJ readers have also taken me to task for not supporting the air offensive. Don't I care about the ethnic Albanians, they ask? Am I not moved by the eye-witness accounts of refugees arriving on Kosovo's borders? Do I believe the photos published in APJ's 'Kosovo File' are fakes? Of course I care about the Kosovar Albanians and no, I don't think the pictures are faked. To the reader who asked whether I thought the Kosovo pictures are fakes, please search the APJ archive and view the pictures posted in the Timor file. And then get out and petition your Congressman and Senator for immediate and intrusive action in East Timor.

I am realist enough to accept that sometimes the use of force is necessary to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and to remove tyrants. But while Milosevic is guilty of crimes, he is still on a learning curve compared to Suharto and his chosen successor, Habibie.

Timor's geographic remoteness has been cited for a lack of United Nations resolve to insert a peacekeeping force - with or without Jakarta's permission. If, for example, Britain can launch a campaign to recover the Falkland Islands - a seaborne operation with no friendly terra firma for thousands of miles - surely a United Nations force could secure Timor using Northern Australia as a jumping off point?

I don't get why a sovereign nation, Yugoslavia, is being attacked for abusing its own citizens while Indonesia is the recipient of aid. I don't get why another Washington ally and recipient of aid, Israel, is allowed to get away with its occupation of Palestinian territories and declare the whole of Jerusalem its eternal capital. I don't get why American citizens felt it necessary to protest the visit of Zhu Rong-ji and his government's policy in Tibet, while ignoring what is happening to the people of East Timor.

And I don't get why the Serbs appear so keen to allow survivors of their crimes to cross the border and relate their horror stories to the world's journalists. For example, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea just related an incident where hundreds of ethnic Albanian men had their hands tied behind their head and were used as human shields. Most of them have now disappeared without trace. The survivors were the ones who managed to pay the Serb troops a ransom of about 10,000 German marks.

This tells us a lot. Either Shea is naive, or Serb troops are honorable chaps who stick to a deal once they have made it. I am sure APJ readers will disagree with both options - but can any APJ reader come up with a believable alternative?

Dear readers, you are right. I don't get it.