Re: Kemp and Edwards on Russia. I don't know anything more than what I read in the papers and hear on the radio.
It is just the start of the 2008 presidential election cycle. Both Kemp and Edwards want to run. They're not beholden to the Bush administration so there's only upside to saying Bush relies too heavily on his personal relationship with Putin.
Also, and this is something I didn't realize until recently, Russians, as a culture, are paranoid and hate and distrust each other and all forms of government so don't really care all that much if it's autocratic, since they don't expect much but security. I thought this was due to the Soviets but apparently it predates the Soviets.
Re: India. Americans like Chinese people, Americans like Indian people. Maybe it's nothing more profound than that Indians speak very good English, better than Americans, and maybe it's just that Indians are more closely related to Europeans.
We know Chinese insult us in language we can't understand, and it appears that the Indians don't.
I was talking to a friend the other day -- his law firm has outsourced their telephone reception and legal drafting to India. His boss is from Sri Lanka. He works from home, and the call center IMs him when a client calls, and transfers the call to his home office.
I don't mind the idea of Indian call centers but the reality leaves a lot to be desired, is my experience.
But it's hard to get good help these days. I have an infection and thought I developed cellulitis, but two doctors said not cellulitis but they didn't know what it was. So I went online and diagnosed it myself, vasculitis, might be caused by infection, might be due to my rheumatoid arthritis or another autoimmune condition. Neither doctor Chinese nor Indian.
Re: nukes. Oh, I can't believe you can't tell the difference between Iran and India when it comes to nukes. My guess is that you just want me to articulate it so you can tweak me for being racist or xenophobic, although Iranians are the same race as Indians and no more or less foreign.
India is "making nice" and Iran decidedly is not. |
