US aid threat fails to faze Malaysia

The Malaysian government has dismissed a US threat to cut off military aid to Kuala Lumpur as inconsequential.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters on Tuesday that US military aid to Malaysia is small - "and any restrictions should not affect us in any way".

The US Senate on Monday placed restrictions on military grants to Kuala Lumpur to show its displeasure over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's recent criticism of the powerful Jewish lobby in the United States.

"The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule by proxy: they get others to fight and die for them," Mahathir told a summit meeting of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Kuala Lumpur last week.

Responding to the remarks, the Senate unanimously agreed to place new conditions on a proposed US$1.2 million grant to Malaysia under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.
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It seems to me that the Senate just proved Mahathir's point. Here are the rules: No criticism of Israel or Jews will be tolerated. And: Uppity Muslims will never get it right.