smirk is going to Thailand next wk. to say goodby, among other things

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JG31Ae01.html


Trade tangle for Bush in Thailand


Pirated DVDs, fake Swiss watches and imitation designer garments are fast disappearing from Patpong, a red-light strip in the Thai capital popular with tourists, bargain-hunters and others. The clean-up comes ahead of US President George W Bush's two-day visit next week to Thailand as part of his final Asian tour as chief executive.

-snip-

The police effort highlights simmering US-Thai trade tensions, which have recently come to a head over Bangkok's moves to produce generic versions of US patent-protected pharmaceutical drugs. Washington recently downgraded Thailand onto its "priority watch list" of countries it estimates habitually violate intellectual property rights (IPR). In a seeming retort, pirated Hollywood DVDs have recently mushroomed across the capital city.

-snip, and up pops the pill barons-

The sidelined WHO official argued in a op-ed column in the local Bangkok Post that hundreds of thousands of Thais who depend on access to locally produced cheap medicines to survive would be at risk from the FTA's tougher IPR requirements. He also noted that the Thai government's production of generic treatments had allowed the country to reduce AIDS-related deaths by a remarkable 79%.

-snip-

Local interest groups, particularly the farmers who have suffered from previous free trade deals, doubt those scientific assessments. They demonstrated their displeasure with US trade policies the last time Bush visited Thailand in 2003, placing a curse on him by dropping his photograph inside a pot and tossing it into the northern Ping River amid chants and black magic mantras. Bush can likely expect more of the same during his visit next week.
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I'll add mine - A POX ON THE NEO CONS

[HowHasItComeToThis]

1. THEY ARE WAITING FOR HIM

http://noisbar.camstreams.com/

[ensho]

4. neat! thanks for the link

nt

[central scrutinizer]

2. he probably has lots of nieces and nephews there

Brother Neil sowed a lot of wild oats over there, although some of those girls may have been too young to have children.

[kskiska]

3. Won't this trip be cutting into his summer working vacation?

Won't he be spending the entire month clearing brush? Or is there no one willing to sit around in Crawford to watch him anymore?