Mark,
I sympathize with both you and Ron. I have heard many
times from people who have travelled to Asia that
they love the place, with a couple of reservations:
Ron isn't making it all up. A friend of mine was in malaysia (muslim)
when the gulf war began and the there were anti american
demonstrations everywhere, flag burning etc. American
friends of his had to call themselves Canadians to avoid
getting beaten up. Business people in some countries
there are interested in what they can get out of the USA,
thats why they try to be friendly. Run a trade surplus with
them as large as they have with USA and we'll see how un friendly,
uninterested in trade they are. In Japan there are bars
that foreigners aren't allowed to go into, Japanese only.
Nationalism and religous fervour is of a kind people here
cant imagine, they have an us versus them mentality, as if
we owe them access to our markets, while they have a right to
deny us access to theirs. Japan wouldn't let high quality USA
rice be sold in Japan as is because they were afraid the
people would get to liking it, so they mixed it up with cheap THai
rice to water it down. Are you starting to get the picture?
By the way, I am indonesian on my granmothers's side.
Don't be naive.
Albert |
