Your mother.

My knee jerk reaction to more recent coverage on an acrimonious split was something along the lines of "look who's talking, pal." However, it seems that nutty old news still has something to teach, and I got a bit more information on the other side of the equation before typing this bit up.

First impressions on the choice to end a military partnership also had the sound of a choice made between two allies, a traditional partnership versus a geographically nearer one, because from my point of view, a sovereign country may make the choice to stand on its own, but its resources are still limited enough to the point where some alliance is necessary.* What I got from my second and third opinions is something I boiled down to questions on usage of current military bases and the status of equipment, as well as interference in internal court cases. The gist I'm getting is that donations are great when there aren't any holes in the toe-hem-fuselage, and that their government will deal with their own, thank you very much.

I'm not keen on seeing yet another break between here and back home, but once again, I'm not a citizen, and like I said earlier, they have their own separate government. For me, the picture is still unclear on this issue, but I think it's worthwhile enough to dig past tales of tardigrades and nematodes, wasps and feral pigs, ancient queens and old divas, past coverage on prostitutes and dog bricks and recycled imported refuse. One thing that's starting to emerge, though, is this - as much as I dislike what their neighbor's doing, I'm starting to wonder that that neighbor may have a point in their accusations against coverage in international media,** because considering the issue on this side of the Ring of Fire is undue interference in a foreign government,*** I'm seeing a parallel in this archipelago's situation as well.

* There they are, VFAs with other neighbors in the region.

** Of course they're covering things up every which way, but to refuse to consider the question of whether or not a repressive government, even with its own history of media manipulation, isn't itself the subject of media manipulation on the other side - that's unbalanced.

*** Maybe it's not related, but what's in the parentheses for those senators with the visa issue?