The Snowden Revelation That Might Start a War

[okaawhatever]

53. No, I did answer. It's the revelation itself. I don't buy the meme that the issue was the spying

itself. In fact, I don't believe it would have been a revelation to Indonesia at all. It's generally accepted practice that countries spy on one another, yes even their allies. Indonesia has been caught spying on Australia. The "revelation" wasn't a revelation. It was an attempt to cause a diplomatic row. You should ask yourself, who would benefit from causing a rift in the Indonesia/Australian relationship? Maybe that will tell you why the revelation was made.

From the Diplomat:

Indonesia is certainly not immune from criticism of foreign espionage. According to Dr. Hewson, espionage is always the elephant in the diplomatic room. “Everybody does it to some degree, and nobody wants to talk about it, especially if it becomes a matter of public allegations and discussion,” he said. “However, Indonesia doesn’t come to this issue with clean hands either, having admitted previously to having “spied” on Australia during the East Timor crisis.”

In 2004, Indonesia’s retiring Intelligence Chief Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono admitted on Australian television that Jakarta had bugged the Australian embassy in Jakarta and tapped the phones of Australian politicians. Since last week’s revelations, Yudhoyono has also moved to create the Central Intelligence Committee, to be administered by the State Intelligence Agency, which will open new branch offices and make foreign spies a priority target.

But it would be remiss to blame deteriorating relations exclusively on the espionage allegations, media commentary, or public protest. This fallout is instead the culmination of a year of diplomatic frustrations between Canberra and Jakarta, with both nations posturing for respective national elections and politicians often defaulting to megaphone diplomacy rather than nuanced discussion.
http://thediplomat.com/2013/11/indonesia-and-australia-deteriorating-diplomacy/1/