The curious absence of Indonesia from the Islamic coalition

December 16, 2015 16:54

There's a curious absence from the 34-nation strong Islamic coalition put together by Saudi Arabia to fight terror, points out Robert Fisk in The Independent, London, and it is Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

But that's not the only oddity about this coalition, he writes. On the other hand it includes 'countries as mythical as "Palestine', as corrupt as Afghanistan and as powerless as Lebanon, with bankrupt Chad and the Islamic Republic of the Comoros thrown in for good measure -- would require "a very strong effort to fight".'

So the real figures behind this extraordinary military force is not how many countries plan to participate, but how many millions -- or billions -- of dollars Saudi Arabia plans to pay them for their fraternal military assistance, Fisk writes, here.

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