I’ve noticed an unusual trend in the last few days while following stories about Timor-Leste (aka East Timor). All of the bloggers I can find who are on the ground are suggesting that things aren’t all that bad and they don’t feel particularly unsafe. Admittedly, Dili-gence mentions a lack of troops on the streets, and other posts suggest that for some people the threat is quite real … but Tumbleweed suggests things have improved to the point that a public peace march is possible.

Overall, this is a stark contrast to the fairly scary stories that are filling the local media. Maybe the Australian journos who have invaded Dili are trying so hard to find front-page-worthy stories that what they’re uncovering is every single case of violence, rather than indicative samples of a large number of attacks …?

Even the bloke in charge of Australia’s troops (who’s done a remarkably diplomatic job talking to the media) thinks things are getting better, to the point of embarassing the Today show thismorning.

I shall conclude with a smattering of other posts: the Australian troops are being given some odd new rules in the wake of recent scandal, the potential long-term consequences for Australian foreign policy might not be very palatable, and Needlenose makes an interesting (albeit hugely oversimplified) point.

Business strategy lesson number 478: when you start an auction on eBay, check who else is selling the same thing. If you set a ‘buy it now’ price that severely undercuts the competition, don’t be surprised when your item sells less than two hours after putting up the listing!

Oh well, I did want to get rid of that stick of RAM … and now I have!

While I procrastinate, here’s an extra post on Timor-Leste. Even more bloggers are discussing the need to help in nation-building and the power struggles that were created after 1999, so maybe a consensus is developing that the root of the problem is poor handling of just about everything since independence. One blog even ponders whether the Timorese would have been better off sticking with the Indonesians, though I think the answer is ‘no’.

There’s also quite a bit of flak being thrown at the UN, particularly from over America way, because of their involvement in getting several Timorese police officers killed (see yesterday’s rather gruesome West Australian cover). Although I’m generally a UN supporter, the last person I spoke to who’d been to Dili did agree that the UN didn’t seem to be achieving much.

Over in Kiwi-land, debate centres on just what their troops are doing in Timor. My guess is the Clark government wanted to answer the Timorese call for help, which went out to Australia and NZ because we’re the local ‘Westerners’, as it were. By contrast, check out this view from the Philippines which reckons that country isn’t taking enough interest in the situation.

Also, more blogging from the streets of Dili can be found at Tumbleweed, Lookingglass View, and Dili-Dallying.

Remaining actively seized of the matter, as the Security Council would say, some interesting info is popping up around the Web on the question of Timor-Leste. As always, the wiki is doing a superb job keeping track of things, while the BBC notes that most Australian papers are in favour of the troop deployment, and New Zealand joined in and sent some troops today.

There is some discussion emerging over just how things came to be this way, and it seems that I’m not the only one concerned about the lack of stable development in Timor-Leste. Some say the problem is too much intervention, while others suggest we aren’t doing enough for ‘soft’ issues like poverty and justice.

Political weakness and inexperience have also been mentioned, with several folks wondering if it was wise to have left freedom-fighters running a country. Meanwhile, a few more radical perspectives are also popping up, perhaps because of the socialist connections of PM Alkatiri.

Most interesting of all, though, is the word on the ground from Dili itself (though there is little other news from sources within Timor).

Everyone seems to have it in for Microsoft, and it’s not right, it’s not fair. They’re just a tiny and tender company - that’s why they called themselves “micro” and “soft”.

Danny Katz, as usual, is hilarious.

While not writing the essay that I should be writing, I thought I’d check out what other people wrote after the changes to copyright law announced two Sundays ago. Turns out pretty much anyone with a brain agrees that the changes are ridiculous — or in SJ Hutcheon’s words, “dumb and dumber”.

This ABC article makes the excellent point that the legal changes do nothing for new cultural forms like mashups, and plenty of bloggers have pointed out issues the AG has been too stupid to address, like the up-and-coming problem of DRM. Even Gizmodo and Boing Boing ran stories about how ridiculous these new laws are.

There is a very eloquent wrap-up of the matter at Piss & Vinegar.

Meanwhile, the subject of my post yesterday, Timor-Leste, has generated remarkably little from the blogosphere. There’s plenty of sympathy for our northern neighbour, but little analysis — this view from NZ is the most interesting post I could find.