From: Paul Grant (shade999@optonline.net)
Date: Thu Jun 12 2003 - 22:07:17 MDT
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org] On Behalf Of Ramez Naam
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 8:35 PM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: RE: CENSORSHIP: Matrix Reloaded banned in Egypt
>
> From: Paul Grant [mailto:shade999@optonline.net]
> > Besides which, Egypts got far more serious problems than access
> > to the Matrix. [long list of problems]
>
> Indeed. And the US isn't really helping. We send about $3
> Billion in direct aid each year, but fail to tie it to any
> basic reform of government, reduction in corruption,
> improvement of education, liberalization of the press, or any
> of the other measures necessary to fundamentally improve the country.
I think the IMF is just there as an inducement for these countries
to:
a) remain US friendly [regime leaders skim the till]
b) buy from US manufacturers [kind of like those rip-off "rent-2-own"
programs]
The latter being primarily for 2 purposes, the purchase of military
equipment,
And of course, the expansion of US intelligence gathering in the form of
(equivalently subsidized) telephone switching infrastructure with
monitering
equipment in place... Ergo eschelon and whatever new thing they've come
about
that they would have a difficult time putting in place in the US....
> Current US aid basically just prop up the current corrupt
> regime, delaying any real progress, and increasing the risk
> of an Iranian-style fundamentalist revolution each year.
Mubarek's swiping all of it. They say you can't close any sort of
Serious business deal without giving one of his son's a 50% stake in the
company. Reminds me of an Egyptian joke [which of course, you can't say
in public for fear of the secret police]:
Mubarek announces that he's hired a new Prime Minister of Finance after
firing the old one for embezzling funds... The new Prime Minister is
supposed to
fix all the accounting irregularities plaguing the government books. So
he's working
Late in the office one night, when he overhears Mubarek in the office
next door saying,
"Those are for me, This is for Egypt....
Those are for me, This is for Egypt....
Those are for me, This is for Egypt......."
Intrigued, the new prime minister gets up and peeks inside the office;
what he see's
Is Mubarek counting out wads of cash on his desk... Whenever he says,
Those are for me,
he takes a clump of money out of the treasury and puts it inside his
drawer.... Whenever he says,
This is for Egypt, he <<thumps his hand against his bicep while giving
the middle finger>>.....
<grin> :)
That's one of my favorite jokes :) Its quicker (and funnier) in
Egyptian;
Generally speaking, Egyptians are notorious (amongst mid-easterners) for
having a fun sense of humor... :P
omard-out
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