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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (7064)	10/12/1998 9:19:00 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

Steven, "Personally, I think that hopelessly corrupt governments should simply be allowed to fail, and that assistance in these cases should be limited to humanitarian aid." *The problem there is--you can't make it so that the "humanitarian aid" actually does what it you intend it to do. The powers that be will simply take it. That is the meaning of "corrupt governments" and "powers that be". That is why a corrupt government official is far worse than a corrupt businessman (except for those businessmen who control the corrupt official). This is one reason why Tolstoy was against giving charity, even in some pretty bad famines in late 19th century Russia. He felt that the rich took $100 with one hand, and gave back $1 with the other to make themselves "feel good". And it was their taking in the first place that made the giving necessary. While one doesn't have to agree with every conclusion he reached, he nonetheless had a point. "What does one do if the emerging government is composed of Islamic fundamentalists, the dreaded left, or other groups thought by the west to be undesirable. Does one bite the bullet and let it happen, or support the old elites?" You go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Harsh but true nonetheless. "Thinking out loud again. Becoming a bad habit." That is part of what these threads are for, IMO, why they can be wonderful when you get people trying their best to understand what is going on together on one. It is a dazzling, complicated world. Best, Sam