The same way the fate of the apartheid regime, the Pinochet regime and so many others were decided in Washington, Beijing holds the decision regarding the future of the military junta in Burma.
The calls from the US and the EU to tighten sanctions are fine. They won’t cut it. It comes to one thing: the level of investments and how much risk you want to take on these. Le nerf de la guerre
Foreigners working in the US with a legal visa must leave the country to renew their permit. What does it mean? Just a new stamp in your passport. So be it.
The Canadians could not be happier: the US consulates in Canada typically take 2-3 full business days to ask you a few questions (only 2 and your finger prints if you are renewing your visa…) and place a new stamp in your passport.
The slow pace and low productivity of clerks at US consulates is a great deal for the Canadian economy. Hotels, restaurants, areas of interest for tourists, Air Canada, …. they all welcome these foreigners arriving from the US. Ah, yes, I am missing the lawyers who “accompany you throughout the process”. Do you mean my company just paid you a few thousands bucks to write a form, give a call to the US consulate to make an appointment, and hold my hand while I talk to the US consulate officer? Ah, ah, ah! Ca rigole, ca rigole!
Karabell in the Wall Street Journal: “The recent outcry over poisonous pet food and the recall of lead-tainted toys sourced by Mattel in China proves one thing: We have a China problem. It is not, however, a China problem in the way most people think. It is not a problem with safety standards that threaten our children and our pets. It is a problem with the very fact of China as an emerging force on the global economic stage, and it underscores a profound and worrying trend in American political and economic life. For half a century we fought for the creation of a global capitalist system. Now that we have one, we seem to have forgotten one little thing: Capitalism means competition, and we are acting like we can’t handle it.”
