29 Jan 2006
Is democracy empowering Islamists?

Has anyone else noticed the hypocrisy in all of the hand wringing and gnashing of teeth over the recent Hamas victory in Palestinian elections? By all accounts the elections were both free and fair, and the avowed goal of the Bush Administration is to spread democracy.

We've apparently achieved that goal in the territory of the Palestinian Authority. But the bad guys won! So we must cut off support immediately - never mind that the choice was between two opposing factions of suicide-bombing militants, with one being slightly more corrupt than the other.

In a democracy you always have the chance for the people to choose the "wrong" side. Do we forget that Nazis won elections in Weimar Germany? Democracy in and of itself is no panacea, especially in areas and cultures with no experience of it, and whose historical background includes no tradition of democratic action at all.

Here's a prediction: Afghanistan will do better than Iraq (or other areas of the Arab world) in this respect because at least the Afghans have the institution of the Loya Jirga, or Grand Council, which seems similar in structure to the witan that served the Anglo-Saxons kings of England and eventually evolved/morphed into Parliament. The Arab world has no such traditions. And if free and fair elections were to be held today in most Arab countries the Islamists would win handily.

The Palestinian vote was a win for democracy - but also for a radical group the US rejects.

(link) [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Seeing Fakes, Angry Traders Confront EBay

It seems to me that these complainers have a point. The closest physical analogy to eBay is what we call in Indiana an "antiques mall" or "flea market". This is a larger building, leased by a service company and subdivided into booth space, which is then rented to various small vendors. If a vendor is selling knockoffs, and buyers complain to the market management, the vendor usually finds himself in the parking lot in short order. It's considered to be accessory to fraud if the market manager or auctioneer knowingly allows the sale of items he suspects may be fraudulent - and complaints from customers certainly have the effect of passing knowledge!

Of course, in eBay's case, it's a lot harder for market managers to inspect the goods themselves - but does the mere difficulty of this (which is built into their business model) exempt them from laws and regulations that apply to similar institutions in the "brick and mortar" world?

The heart of eBay's business model is being challenged by users who have discovered knockoff products being sold on the site.

(link) [New York Times]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Religious Groups Get Chunk of AIDS Money

It just warms my heathen heart to know that my tax dollars are being sent to groups like this, some run by folks who've never had sex, to treat a sexually transmitted disease.

If you're still looking for proof that "government" is just another way to say "thieves and idiots", look no further.

AP - President Bush's $15 billion effort to fight AIDS has handed out nearly a quarter of its grants to religious groups, and aggressively is pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

As offshoring evolves, Indian firms even hire Americans

A good overview of the outsourcing morass: note that the ideal American candidate being hired by these Indian companies "has an undergrad degree in engineering and computer science and an M.B.A."

Note also that:

"They are certainly trying to move up the chain," says Ron Hira, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology and coauthor of Outsourcing America. "Higher-level consulting services are very relationship based, so it makes sense that they're hiring more Americans."

They're not hiring American workers, they're hiring American salesmen.

It doesn't take an economics degree to conclude that one of the main U.S. exports of the 21st century is likely to be jobs. And by many accounts, India is at the head of the receiving line. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently announced that the software giant will nearly double its workforce in India, to 7,000, and invest $1.7 billion there. IBM has added at least 10,000 Indian workers this year and could employ more than 50,000 Indians by the end of 2006. Accenture, EDS, and other consulting firms are following close behind. By 2015, 3.3 million jobs will have been sent overseas, according to Forrester Research. As the offshoring trend matures, U.S. firms will contract out increasing amounts of white-collar work like accounting, drug research, technical R&D, and even cartoon animation.

(link) [U.S. News & World Report]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link