[Vision2020] RE: Unstable, Doomed, Missed Points

[Jeff Harkins]

Hi Ted,

I am sensing just a bit of acrimony in your queries, hopefully I am wrong.

>As far as I can tell from your response, when it comes to 
>prostitution, you declare this a "moral" issue (and Wal-Mart's human 
>rights, labor or environmental violations are not moral issues with 
>equal importance to prostitution?), based on community standards, 
>which the community has reasonably (I assume Jeff thinks illegal 
>prostitution to be reasonable, given that he chose to not come out 
>in favor of letting marketplace freedoms operate on this issue) 
>decided to regulate with criminal sanctions

In the US, prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of states - 
the exception may be Nevada.  Sex for sale is considered a moral 
crime - I did not declare it, I simply acknowledged it.  As I 
understand it, prostitution is legal in Holland.  I don't like it, 
but I don't have legal standing in Holland - and short of becoming a 
citizen of Holland, there isn't much I can do about that.

>But if some think there are moral issues with Wal-Mart's 
>international conduct, or local community standards that some think 
>Wal-Mart may violate in bringing a supercenter to Moscow, Jeff turns 
>to the arguments supporting the benefits of the unfettered free 
>market.  Jeff seems to argue there are no valid "moral" objections 
>that can be raised to Wal-Marts conduct.  Correct me if I am wrong, Jeff.

It is not illegal in the US for China to violate Chinese human rights 
in China.  I don't like it, but I have no legal standing in China - 
and neither do you - and neither does the US government.  The best I 
think we can do is to provide opportunities for the Chinese culture 
to see alternatives.  I do not know, for a fact, that US corporations 
are "intentionally" violating Chinese human rights.  They may be 
following the dictum of "when in Rome, you must do as the Romans 
do".  This may be the only way in which they can do business in 
China.  This may have been a policy decision  made at the very top of 
the food chain for US policy or in the G8 or elsewhere.  I do know 
that boycotting Chinese goods will only negate the progress we have 
made in Chinese relations.

Furthermore, I do not stand in the way of your decision to boycott WM 
or to exclude them from your shopping experience.  Should WM be able 
to expand their operations here in Moscow ?- Of course.  I should not 
even mention this, but the fact is if you are really serious about 
changing WM behaviors, you have a much better chance of having an 
impact if they have a presence here - and the larger their presence, 
the more impact you can have.

>Jeff wrote that we have a "reasonable strategy for working with 
>China."  I don't call assisting the Chinese Communist Party with 
>denying freedom of political speech, and providing information that 
>results in the jailing of political prisoners a "reasonable strategy."

I think this is a point where we will just simply have to agree to 
not engage on this topic for awhile.  I don't yet know enough about 
the issue your raised regarding the role of the Internet and US 
companies in denying freedom of speech for Chinese citizens to know 
how accurate those accusations are.  I do correspond on a somewhat 
frequent basis with former students now living in China.  I have not 
been aware of any restrictions in our dialogue.  Of course, that is 
only anecdotal and therefore not of much value in this dialogue.  I 
plan to raise the issue with folks at the Batelle Lab in TriCities 
.  As noted earlier, when I have an opinion on this area, I will 
provide a comment to you.  Fair enough?

>I could offer documentation regarding Wal-Mart's conduct 
>internationally that raises moral issues, but this information has 
>already been posted to Vision2020.

And I could offer reams of evidence to point out the good things that 
WM has done for individuals around the globe - even here in Moscow, 
but those are also well documented.


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