Ah, nothing fills your heart with joy more than to see large U.S. companies help totalitarian countries become more repressive of their populations, all in the name of ‘national security’.
China Finds American Allies for Seblockquoteytimhrefom: In preparation for the Beijing Olympics and a series of other international events, some American companies are helping the Chinese government design and install onenytimes.comt comprehensive high-tech public surveillance systems in the world.
When told of the companies’ transactions, critics of China’s human rights record said the work violated the spirit of a sanctions law Congress passed after the Tiananmen Square killings.
The Commerce Department, however, says the sophisticated systems being installed, by companies like Honeywell, General Electric, United Technologies and I.B.M.Tiananmenrun afoul of the ban on providing China with “crime control or detection instruments or equipment.” But the department has just opened a 45-day review of its policies on the sale of crime-control gear to China.
How lucky are we? Now we can beta test all the totalitarian technology we want to deploy in the United States. I can’t wait to get my chip implanted.
“Ah, nothing fills your heart with joy more than to see large U.S. companies help totalitarian countries become more repressive of their populations, all in the name of ‘national security’.”
Why not, they do the same thing to their OWN country.
Let me see – neocons like Annie “tranny” Coulter called Clinton a traitor for taking campaign money from China. But US mega corps that sell us out for a contract for a contract?
Comments?
USA,
selling security products
MADE in China
BACK to China, at an inflated price.
This has been happening for awhile now. Really wish the Defen se department were still in charge instead of the campaign fundraisers at the Commerce Department.
This has been happening for awhile now. Really wish the Defen se department were still in charge instead of the campaign fundraisers at the Commerce Department.
All lieutenants really want is to make captain. Captains want to make Major, Majors want to make Colonel, Colonels General, etc.
And Generals just want to be appointed to the board of directors to some multinational defense contractor.
I see this first hand. If there is any incentive ANYWHERE to do what is right as opposed to what advances their career, I have never seen it.
#8 – I see this first hand. If there is any incentive ANYWHERE to do what is right as opposed to what advances their career, I have never seen it.
So it is in all walks of life…
The missing human trait that makes us blind to the advantage of doing right is compassion. Humans don’t have a lot of it.
I think most of you are familiar with the story that IBM sold it’s technology to the Nazis in order to allow them to better track and kill Jews much more efficiently.
http://tinyurl.com/2gchth
It seems like corporations are repeating history again.
In my own adopted Muslim country western companies eagerly sell the government technology which allows them to track and block free speech, democratic movements and religious liberty.
A few years ago I met a company representative from a large western technology corporation, I won’t name but will call “Microsopht,” who told me — with no sense of moral culpability whatsoever — that he was selling voice recognition and logging software to the government.
Seems like IBM all over again.
“…U.S. companies help totalitarian countries become more repressive of their populations…”
There is no doubt that China is a one party totalitarian regime however the government is not repressive of their populations in the way it is implied. (One could also say the US is a totalitarian TWO party regime)
The China central government (similar to the US federal government)policy is to irradiate local government corruption which is responsible for the horror stories we hear about in the news.
It is not an easy task owing to the size of China and the deeply set ‘old school’ corruption found in outside major cities.
China has politically and culturaly turned around on a dime in the last 20 years and it will take another 20~40 years for this change to be more homogeneous.
The China of 1989 does not exist in 2008. The abrupt change in China after Mao died caused considerable political turbulence and anyone who has studied China political history would know this. The problem is people who are not that form their opinion of China from news headlines.
The reverse is true, many Chinese (and others) see the US as a society of gun toting drug using bullies with a powerful military. I had many Chinese ask me if I am afraid to be in the US as they believe that almost as they get off the plane they might be tased or shot.
China censorship is excessive in my opinion there is no argument there. One must consider that the general Chinese population does not have the worldly experience and sophistication that Americans and others take for granted. Think of it like children given guns to settle playground arguments.
We see a positive change in China every year. It is dynamic and certainly not stagnant. Until you spend time in China integrating into the Chinese society you cannot have a truthful understanding of China from your armchair. 😉
Cheers
#4 – Sounds the Alarm – Annie “tranny” Coulter
Now, who did that insult most… Ann Coulter or Angel Wong?
#5 – ECA
Yep, good ol’ capitalism. 😉
#7 – Ubiquitous Talking Head – I see this first hand. If there is any incentive ANYWHERE to do what is right as opposed to what advances their career, I have never seen it.
Me either. Questioning illogical decisions/opinions made by superiors is something that too few lower-ranking managers dare to do.
#9 – Greg Allen – It seems like corporations are repeating history again.
Corporations want to make money… if that means some killed in Nigeria, China or Saudi Arabia, so be it. Profit is what counts.
#10 – TIHZ_HO – China has politically and culturaly turned around on a dime in the last 20 years and it will take another 20~40 years for this change to be more homogeneous.
It sure has. The big cities are a huge contrast to the less developed smaller cities, not only to buildings etc, but ideas and attitudes.
#11 Jägermeister said,
Corporations want to make money… if that means some killed in Nigeria, China or Saudi Arabia, so be it. Profit is what counts.
I suppose you’re right. I still like to believe that there are humans in the top floors of those corporations.
To my knowledge, corporations, like IBM allegedly, who helped make the holocaust possible never were penalized.
#12 – Greg Allen – I still like to believe that there are humans in the top floors of those corporations.
Absolutely. The question is… what kind of moral standards do they live by?
To my knowledge, corporations, like IBM allegedly, who helped make the holocaust possible never were penalized.
And that’s a big moral problem. I guess the Government(s) don’t want to scare off businesses.
# 11 Jägermeister Sure is, there needs to be a greater contrast between black and white between large cities and the country side in China. So much of the Chinese countryside is like how life was +100 years ago.
Cheers
#14 – TIHZ_HO
Very true. But the modernization of the countryside will further boost the Chinese GDP.
#12, Greg,
To my knowledge, corporations, like IBM allegedly, who helped make the holocaust possible never were penalized.
In most cases they shouldn’t be.
If IBM sold anyone some of their product and that person or entity then turned around and used the product for nefarious purposes, that should not be enough to chastise IBM. A recent case is where Caterpillar in the US sold some bulldozers to the Israeli government. The Israelis used the bulldozers to level houses with people still in them, killing several. Does that make Caterpillar complicit and liable in US courts?
The decision to kill people was made by the Nazis. It was government policy, not IBM’s corporate policy. Nor was the policy widely known until the end of the war. Caterpillar, on the other hand, knew that Israel had in the past used bulldozers to illegally level houses.
#15 Jägermeister – The world teaches China how to make all the stuff we need and pays for it so when China is too expensive to export it can expand it’s domestic consumption. Smart…
Cheers
#17 – TIHZ_HO
There’s still a bunch of years until this happens, but what you wrote seems to be the longterm plan.
#18 Jägermeister
Not as many years as you might think. The devaluing USD is doing damage to Chinese export businesses as they (and me) quote in USD and by the time the goods ship the devaluing dollar has created a noticeable loss. (That’s the plan?)
Chinese companies (and China) are moving to dump the USD in preference to more stable currencies such as the Euro. If this happens full swing this could push the USD into a free fall and all hail the ‘North American Peso’ (instead of the South American one). Not good for anyone including China whose economy is built on export.
This is why I said that China’s domestic market will be brought into focus sooner rather than later.
As I stated last year India will become the new China – cheap exports. Chinese companies are already exploring and investing in the Indian market – we too. I would also expect large Chinese companies buying up more financially strapped US corporations.
Wealthy Chinese will start to invest in cheap US real-estate as the Chinese government has officially put the brakes on the Chinese real estate investment market. (Property sales in China have plunged – right now the only people buying are those who are will reside in it).
If I had to fix a time to this getting into full swing I would say 2010 would the time things get rather interesting. 😉
Cheers
#20 Pedro – Sure it will happen just like it happens everywhere else for example the US. The US country side lagged behind the cities for years until the US is more or less homogeneous.
Cheers
#19 – TIHZ_HO
Some of the oil producing countries are talking about dropping the USD for the Euro as well. I don’t blame them or you guys in China… you do what capitalism is all about… make sure to get as much profit as possible. It’s quite amazing what Bush jr has achieved during his presidency. And if Huckabee becomes the President, then you’ll see a continuation of Bush’s policies… after all, he’s a creationist and he fully supports the war in Iraq.
India will certainly pick up behind China. As for Chinese companies investing… they’re all over the place. In Africa, they’re replacing the old colonial powers as big investor. The biggest difference is that the Chinese companies tend to bring their own personnel instead of hiring locals, which pisses of the locals.
Yep, there will be a lot of cheap US houses available in the near future. 😉 I know some of my wife’s Chinese friends who made a bundle in the Chinese real estate market. I guess they won’t have much to do after the authorities have cracked down on the inflated prices.
I’ll keep 2010 in mind and see if your prediction will come true.