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

To: LindyBill who wrote (92052)	12/23/2004 1:13:49 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793689

A "Wal Mart in China" comment. What I post about "Wally" really isn't about them. It's about the cutting edge of Capitalism. Wow! Shopping in China has been changing rapidly, a full openness to WalMart and Home Depot will send it all into hyperspeed. When I was doing small home repairs there 15 years ago I had to go to an amazing number of shops to get a few plumbing items. Most stores were manned by listless government employees who'd often say: "Mayo" (we don't have any) to any request, even when the goods were right in front of you. And where the private stores were very eager to please but wouldn't think of western habits like standing behind their products. Someone spending half a years salary on a bike better check it out very, very carefully... Now they are jumping fully into a competitive model where exchange doesn't require establishing personal relationships, where every ounce of fat is constantly being pared from the distribution process, and where the producer knows what products left the store shelves that very night. A culture that has largely skipped the wired phone and gone straight to cell technology, that is producing several times the engineering graduates of any other country in the world, and that now is mainlining Sam Walton's urgently efficient ethos is soon going to be coming up with hi tech innovations that revolutionize the way our children live. Instead of getting SARS and new forms of flu from Guangdong province, we'll be getting cutting edge biotechnology and cars that don't have accidents. No wonder that Ford Motor and Kay Jewelry, are starting to worry that WalMart may do to them what it did to Toys-R-Us. The true nature of the revolution is starting to become more evident.

To: LindyBill who wrote (92052)	12/23/2004 3:45:52 PM
From: D. Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793689

Khadoumi at least is more open in public about Palestinian aspirations than Arafat. I wasn't aware the Khadoumi had actually been made head of Fatah though. Interesting to read his view of the PA - a "local government". Like the Nazis, the power is in the Movement, not the State apparatus. worldtribune.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Arafat's successor: Palestinian state will replace Israel SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Thursday, December 22, 2004 The new leader of the ruling Fatah movement said the Palestinians want to replace Israel with a state of their own. Fatah chief Farouk Khaddoumi said the Palestinian strategy toward Israel was two-fold. In the first stage, he said, the Palestinians would accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In the second stage, the Palestinians would seek to eliminate the Jewish state. In November, Khaddoumi replaced the late Yasser Arafat as leader of Fatah, Middle East Newsline reported. "At this stage there will be two states," Khaddoumi told Iran's Al Aram television. "Many years from now, there will be only one." Khaddoumi, who regards himself as Palestinian foreign minister, said he was confident that Israel would be eliminated. He said he always opposed Israel's existence and cited the Arab numerical superiority over the Jewish state. "[There are] 300 million Arabs, while Israel has only the sea behind it," Khaddoumi said. Khaddoumi said his platform was endorsed by the PLO in 1974. He said the strategy called for a phased plan that would establish authority over any territory obtained from Israel, concluding with an Arab war to destroy the Jewish state. [On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority launched the first municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in more than 25 years. The PA has been promising such elections since 1996.] The Fatah chief played down the powers of PA ministers. Khaddoumi said the Fatah Central Committee marked the source of authority for the PA and Cabinet. "The Palestinian Authority is a partial authority," Khaddoumi said. "It is a local government, just like any local government in any country. We shouldn't delude ourselves that these 'ministers' are actually ministers." [On Thursday, Palestinian gunners fired 30 mortar rounds into the Gush Katif community in the central Gaza Strip. The attack was launched from the Khan Yunis refugee camp hours after Israeli forces left the area.]