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Hi Ted, <br><br>
<b>I am sensing just a bit of acrimony in your queries, hopefully I am
wrong.<br><br>
</b><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">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 </blockquote><br>
<b>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.<br><br>
</b><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">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. </blockquote><br>
<b>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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
</b><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">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."
</blockquote><br>
<b>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? <br><br>
</b><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I could offer documentation
regarding Wal-Mart's conduct internationally that raises moral issues,
but this information has already been posted to Vision2020.
</blockquote><br>
<b>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.<br><br>
<br>
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