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  • From: Lee Haslup <biglee AT haslups.com>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] immediate reactions
  • Date: Sun, 03 Oct 2004 09:53:49 -0400

I will eagerly await the posting of a table showing the monetary and quasi-monetary incentives offered to the coalition members, but a few words of warning: You will find the data in that area pretty soft, and much of it the result of sloppy, tendentious research. You should try to rely on attributed data offered by well-known organizations and you should particularly avoid using data from new and/or little-known organizations, especially those that claim impartiality.

It'll be a lot of work and I'm not sure it can be done properly in time for the elections (or at all for that matter.) But feel free to have a go at it. To avoid post hoc ergo propter hoc errors be sure to adjust for the background level of international payola -- the money the US gives to other countries for this and that, year in and year out, regardless of the party affiliation of the resident of the White House. For full credit you need to show that the compensation markedly exceeds the usual horse-trading that goes on whenever an international coalition is formed for purposes other than bloviation and running up diplomatic expense accounts.

Finally, don't be too disappointed if you don't change a lot of minds about the matter. The difference between a whore and a high-maintenance girl friend is not always discernible by financial analysis. You would need witnesses who saw the Dutch hanging out on a street corner when the US swaggered by and heard the offer: "Hey there big boy, you wanna invade Iraq?"

BigLee

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:


On Oct 2, 2004, at 8:26 PM, Lee Haslup wrote:

What is more interesting is to look at who IS in the coalition and what level of commitment they have made. I spent a silly amount of time tracking down some more-or-less reliable numbers (from nationmaster.com, www.globalsecurity.org and the CIA world fact book.) and I came up with the following:


Isn't there a column missing? What about how much money the country received to be in the coalition? (I'm talking about either upfront cash or a piece of the rebuilding contracts later.)

___________________________________________________________________
michael at czeiszperger dot org
Chapel Hill, NC

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