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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (85518)	11/11/2004 4:47:13 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793955

BARNETT - The best allies are incentivized allies ¦"Georgia Bolsters Iraq Troop Commitment; Country Increases Forces Five-Fold," by Irakli Jgenti, Georgian Embassy press release, 8 November 2004. ¦"Eastern Europe Eclipses Eastern Germany: Fifteen Years After the Berlin Wall Fell, Economic Situations Are Reverse of Expectations," by Marcus Walker and Matthew Karnitschnig, , 9 November 2004, p. A16. Why does little old embattled Georgia decide to up its military contingent in Iraq from 159 to 850, making it one of the biggest per capita players in the U.S.-led coalition? Because "Georgians have felt the pain of terrorism, so we truly understand the importance of this global effort. Our young democracy is proud to help the Iraqis taste true freedom," according to the country's ambassador to Washington. No surprise. The U.S. is kicking a new military assistance program to help Georgia make this effort—in short, our capital and their labor combined. Get used to this deal and get used to it being concluded time and time again with states along the seam between the Core and Gap, because therein we find the newest and youngest parts of what eventually must become the Core. The Seam States are like the volcanic soil of globalization: the richest material coming right out of the most tumultuous experiences. They want to advance the Core and shrink the Gap because they want to move that seam as far away from their shores as possible. Sound familiar? It's basically our national security strategy since 9/11, and it's knee-jerk as hell. But that sort of knee-jerk reaction is okay so long as it leads to the desired result, and away from the opposite knee-jerk reaction, which is to firewall off America as much as possible from the outside world. Nothing wrong with being incentivized. The reason why Eastern Europe has taken off economically while the former Eastern Germany—pulled into the loving embrace of its rich sister state—has clearly not, is because those states were incentivized in a way the former GDR was not. Eastern Europe had to swim or sink. It had to change rule sets like crazy because it needed foreign investment like crazy. Meanwhile, Eastern Germany was sucked into the labor regulations of Western Germany and had high expectations of a intra-country bailout. So guess where the U.S. is drawing down its military presence and guess where it's plussing it up? New Europe is incentivized. thomaspmbarnett.com

To: LindyBill who wrote (85518)	11/11/2004 4:56:10 AM
From: kumar	Respond to of 793955

Bill, theres lotsa noise around "outsourcing to India, pitfalls etc". We need to look at it closer to separate fact from fiction. 1. Indias population is around 1B. Plenty of folks to work, plenty to educate to make them workable. 2. English is the lingua franca in India for all kinds of things from a birth certificate, to a death certificate (local language translations are also available). 3. A family example : My niece in India, 3 years ago was earning INR5K/month. Today she earns INR20K/month. She is a call center employee in mid-mgt level. When I call her, she says "Uncle Kumar, could you please call me during US EST business hours ? Thats when I'm awake". Go figure!! 4. Today, in Australia, I got a call from my car insurance company, asking if I was interested in taking advantage of the 45% discount if I insured home+contents with them. The voice was distinctly of Indian origin. I asked where the lady was calling from, she was not allowed to specify. I guessed, and she said 'yes'. IMHO, the Indian workforce will prosper financially due to this activity.