Category: international

Get ’em Hooked

Microsoft to emerging markets: We’ve got a deal for you

This strikes me as a “The first one’s free” strategy, but a good example of how capitalism can have some synergistic results. And blah blah, it’s not capitalism because it’s a deal with a foreign government, but Microsoft’s motivations are purely capitalistic. But that doesn’t mean it won’t help both Microsoft and the consumers in the long run.

Mostly, I like the idea of the citizens all these developing countries getting computers for dirt cheap. Up to this point, the evolution from an agricultural society has, in most cases, been slow and painful. While most of the countries mentioned in the article have their share of sweatshops, etc., I’m hopeful that proliferation of information and access to that information will allow them to evolve more quickly. Even if it costs us a few jobs.

PA in the Middle East

The Daily Star – Opinion Articles – Hearing Iraq’s echo in Pennsylvania election politics

Many thanks to Kristin Dailey for letting me know about this article, an interesting look at PA’s importance in the upcoming presidential election from a Middle Eastern perspective.

As I told her, I was startled to see that Bush received more votes in the Pennsylvania primary than all the Democratic candidates combined. I would have guessed that fewer Republicans would bother voting in a closed primary with only one Republican presidential candidate, resulting in a higher Dem:GOP ratio than we’ll see in the fall. But perhaps Specter/Toomey battle brought Republicans out, or maybe the Democratic voters didn’t come out because Kerry already had the nomination.

What startled me even more was that this article makes it sound like the most conservative Republicans voted for Specter not because they agree with him on the issues, but simply because Bush told them to.

Scary.

Aboriginal woman puts curse on Australian PM

CNN.com – Aboriginal curse put on Howard – Apr 20, 2004

Why on earth is this on the front page of CNN? That’s not a headline! News organizations have some responsibility to only report actual news. If I run up to the president and yell, “Woe unto thee, thou breaker of the commandments, for you will be pursued into the mountains by sex-mad baboons!” it’s NOT NEWS. Neither is this. But you already know that. Right?

In Defense of Global Capitalism

Reason: Poor Man’s Hero: Controversial writer Johan Norberg champions globalization as the best hope for the developing world.

A fantastic and insightful interview with a guy I’ve never heard of before. He’s brilliant, though, and I know this because he clearly and succinctly articulates the ideas I most wish I could easily convey to people. Of special interest — his assertions that sweatshops are a necessary step to a post-industrial society and that achieving said post-industrial state is necessary before environmentalism can take hold at a global level. I agree wholeheartedly with his ideas about the spread of feminism and Western culture in general as well. I may just have to buy this man’s book.

Forcing Freedom

Forcing Freedom: Can liberalism be spread at gunpoint?

One of the best anti-anti-war articles I’ve read, although that’s not its explicit intent. Bailey is sane and rational and talks about the bigger issue in a way that I haven’t heard discussed much, but I think is exactly the point. This is the argument that says maybe it doesn’t matter if we find the elusive WMD because there were other justifications, maybe better justifications. My hope is that Bush can shift focus at this stage of the game and take actions that will be conducive to democracy in Iraq.