The Developing Country Double Standard

[davidbfpo]

I'm looking forward to the reaction of our African members and those who have served on the ground there.

One wonders how the vast majority of SWC members will react in the future when the balance of political and economic power shifts south and to the Pacific Rim, say when a Brazilian think tank publishes such a list.

In the UK we've already had a few instances of this, like Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore) and on our elections Robert Mugabe.

[Stan]

I'm looking forward to the reaction of our African members and those who have served on the ground there.

David, no surprises - in fact, almost entertaining to read (but then you know my sense of humor to be a tad distorted at times ) It's not about defining the broad differences, it's about understanding them and putting things into perspective and then dealing with them the way the locals do.

Back in the day I had two airlines that I used to send African students to the USA for training: Swissair and Sabena. The students complained bitterly about the Belgian's hospitality (they were left in the customs area of the airport in spite of a 17 hour layover). I switched to Swissair and most if not all of the hotel room amenities were stolen. The naive Swiss (remember I'm half Swiss) felt travelers should be put up at the expense of the airline when layovers exceed 12 hours - regardless of point of origin and race - how ignorant !

All in all I like it, it just shows that we are much more developed...

Agreed ! It also shows just how ignorant we are. We should either play by the local rules or just keep our two cents out of the picture.

A factory is really not a set of machines and tools, but of people who know how to use them.

Exactly !