John Martinkus was a master of courageous, no-bullshit journalism. He shot from the hip

‘I always though John was somewhat from another time, oblivious to what was going on around him.’ Photograph: Rob Maccoll

Is truth in war really that unclear? I went to Vietnam last year and saw statues of Ho Chi Minh out the front of a Maserati showroom. I saw little Chinese influence. There was no domino effect.

I also visited Timor-Leste, a country that finally is independent. It lost nearly one-third of its population and, yes, there were internal divides, but it is united in independence and no one doubts that the militias there were funded by Indonesian special forces.