I wonder how Noam Chomsky is feeling these days. As one of the foremost activists for the East Timorese drive for freedom from the Indonesians, he must have felt good a couple weeks ago when the vote took place.

He also must have seen the more ominous signs, the massing militias, the indifference of the Indonesian Army. I'm guessing he knew what was coming, and it probably scared him.

But, finally, the world have come to realize that what has been happening in East Timor for almost 25 years. The brutal rule of the Indonesian army and the sense of powerlessness that the people have felt.

Now, we know.

The thing is, what happened is what all the cynics said would happen. To wit, "Oh, sure, the Indonesians will let them vote. They'll just shoot all the people they think will vote for independence." Alright, so the cynic would have gotten the order mixed up (the real shooting started after the vote), but the situation is the same. It sucks, particularly for the people who are getting shot by the dozen.

Meanwhile, idealists like Chomsky and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta keep pestering the world community, asking for what the late Sam Kinison might call "just a little fucking help here!" Meanwhile, the new isolationists in the U.S. say that the events in East Timor don't concern us. And even if they did, look what happened the last time we tried to do something in southeast Asia.

Well, actually, the elections in Thailand turned out about as well as could be expected (beating the cynics' estimates, surely). But that's not the point. The point (as Chomsky has been howling) is that we could have made Indonesia leave all those years ago. We didn't have to allow them to become entrenched in East timor. We didn't have to make it an issue of Indonesian national pride at a time of national crisis.

Look at it this way: Indonesian students are protesting on behalf of the East Timorese, while isolationist Americans are content to let Indonesia do whatever the hell it wants. I know, students love a good protest (there's always beer and usually sex), but still. That alone should shame even Jesse Helms into action.

That's pretty damned unlikely. I guess there have been enough idealistic miracles in East Timor for one year. It is only through a stroke of luck (that 1996 Nobel Peace Prize) and hard work on the part of people like Chomsky that the recent vote even took place.

I was amazed that the Indonesians allowed the vote to take place at all. I was not surprised when the army decided that enough was enough; the East Timorese got their vote, and now it's time to get back to business as usual.

There is a bloody war in East Timor. And this is one where international peacekeepers actually might make a difference. Unlike Bosnia or Kosovo or Somalia, this is a situation where one nation (Indonesia) attacked another nation (East Timor). We're not talking about a civil war, we're talking about a war war.

You know, maybe my reasoning is all bollixed up. After all, we're still messing around with Iraq.

There's a point here, I think. It's that we really oughta do something. I mean it. Send some chocolates and cigarettes. Put together a superstar benefit album. Get Brandy and Britney to sing a duet for the big pop smash. Maybe if we send over a few peacekeepers, we can also fly in a Playboy jiggle interest tour. Hey, that's just what the East Timorese need. Some of our Western values to go along with their suffering.

Wow, it's so easy to get cynical. I really do wonder how Noam Chomsky is feeling these days. I hope his idealism hasn't failed him yet. Perhaps I'll call him up, hop the train to Boston and take him out for a beer. I'm thinking he needs one right about now. Hell, I'd love to take the East Timorese people out for a beer, but at least some of them are muslim, and I don't have that kind of pocketbook anyway.

Jon Worley is always in favor of taking anyone out for a beer.