Playing fair

Two ex-executives of Willbros company recently got jail sentences for the crime of bribing Nigerian officials in order to win a gas pipeline contract. That's a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that was enacted in 1977. The FBI just this week charged a bunch more U.S and U.K. citizens with bribing an African official as part of an arms deal.

I find it interesting that in neither case has there been any fallout on the African side. No officials in Nigeria have been arrested in the first case and you will notice in the second that the country involved has not been revealed. This sounds a bit one sided doesn't it? American justice puts these guys in jail for giving money to Africans who take it and laugh all the way to the bank.

Other countries don't have or don't enforce a similar law. I'm talking about Russia, China and India. All three are doing their best to grab African resources. Without the threat of legal sanctions back home, they are spreading around millions of dollars and getting what they want. In the DRC in 2008, China grabbed copper, cobalt and other mines in return for building infrastructure. That means road, schools, hospitals etc, $9 billion worth. The deal gives china rights to 10 million tons of copper which at a 2010 price (conservatively) of $5000 per ton, works out to be $50 billion. (there's also 600,000 tons of cobalt) Not a great deal for the country perhaps, but I assure you it was a great deal for the DRC government officals. Similar deals are happening throughout Africa.

So is it fair for American companies not to be able to engage in business practices, I mean bribes, that other companies use routinely? Since the Africans seem unable to stop the incoming bribes on their side then it is up to these other countries to stop the practice. Is this likely, not very.

The power of instant messaging.

Keeping to my current rant against stupid modern technologies, or at least the worship thereof, let us consider the evil that instant messaging can do. For example, in the recent riots in Jos, Nigeria one of the factors that incited the violence was a flurry of instant messages urging, f0r instance:

"War, war, war. Stand up... and defend yourselves. Kill before they kill you. Slaughter before they slaughter you. Dump them in a pit before they dump you."

Once this gets started and then forwarded and new messages get added and the whole mess multiplies innumerable times everyone is bound to be scared and edgy. The slightest provocation turns into real violence. I've experienced this on a much smaller scale in Lagos last year. Somebody got a message about gunfire in our area, then forwarded it to all their friends and then they all replied back that they did or didn't hear anything and then those message all got forwarded. Thanks to modern technology, this rumor was able to spread faster than was ever before possible.

All I'm saying is, let's have some common sense here people. Think before you send a message or act when you receive one. In the person to person days of the distant past you could challenge the person and say "Hey, are you sure, where'd you hear that?" Now a days every message carries the same weight, and should be greeted with skepticism and caution. Remember what the dog said.

The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)only for academic discussion, evaluation, research and complies with the copyright law of the United States as defined and stipulated under Title 17 U. S. Code.

Let them eat iPods

The recent earthquake in Haiti is without question a disaster of major proportions. People throughout the world have donated whatever they could to help out. But there is one group that just makes me react like fingernails on a blackboard. They call their effort "Crisis Camp". Listen to this: "For a second straight week, hundreds of CrisisCamp volunteers" well, I guess that means they're into for the long term, not. What is this army of volunteers doing? They're programming, you know, coding, like all the cool connected twittering facebook weanies think is so, well, cool and important.

I just can't grasp how disconnected from reality this bunch is. Just what are they coding? How about the Haiti Hospital Capacity Finder. You know to ensure that the hospitals are used efficiently. Uh, people, there aren't any hospitals that's the problem. What few there were are now rubble. Or how about the Disaster Accountability Project, sort of a help desk for victims to call up and get help. Call on what? The phone they never had and certainly don't have access to now. To leave their address so help can be dispatched, except that that address is now a pile of debris and nobody's there anymore.

Like most disasters there are alway people quick to see opportunities. Like this clown who is crowing about the great things his group can do. See how happy he is, nothing is more pleasing to him than a stage to walk onto and proclaim the good things that he can do.

For spoiled American brats who think twitter will save the world, let me propose a clue. Get your nose out of your computer and realize that there are places with no food, no water, and no electricity. How do they charge their iPods? How about thinking about these basic issues before forming up a project to take twitter feeds and form pipes through linkedin groups gathering facebook friends and producing absolutely nothing that helps anyone except for the egos that it strokes. And by the way, don't just send money either. We've been doing that for years and it all gets stolen by the government officials.

Last Night

All over the world, the true Scotsmen got out their kilts that had been packed away wherever it was and celebrated. Robert Burns' birthday. I wasn't invited this year, or had any ticket, but it reminds me of this very special occasion.

On January 25 anywhere in the world you will find these skirted gentlemen and their lady's parading the haggis and mouthing the traditional verses. And drinking some Scotch whisky to boot. Spelled correctly Scotch has no "e', as in whisky, Irish has the "e" as in whiskey. In the States it can go either way.

The Scotch are kind of like the the Irish but less fun. Both located on the north end of the English homeland, both with histories of revolution and starvation. Scotch are known for stinginess and the Irish for generosity. Both are known for emigration, the Irish to New York, the Scots to the rest of the world. In the old British India for example, the "British" army officers were more that 80% Scottish. These days the oil industry engineers in crappy places worldwide are about 50% Scots.

Funny about Robert Burns, besides his poetry his other claim to fame was his adultery, fornication, drinking and rebellion against religion and morality. At least according to this author.

Golf was invented and is still revered on the windswept moors of Scotland. Always adultery has been a sidelight to the game. I wonder if Tiger could write a few verses and get some fans back on his side.