Most SM readers are news junkies so by now, you’ve probably come across the latest Pew survey on International attitudes towards the US –

WASHINGTON – The United States’ popularity in many countries is lagging behind even communist China. The image of the United States slipped sharply in 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, and two years later has shown few signs of rebounding in Western Europe or the Muslim world, an international poll found… In Britain, which prides itself on its “special relationship” with Washington, almost two-thirds of Britons, 65 percent, saw China favorably, compared with 55 percent who held a positive view of the United States.

I guess many Brits prefer China’s real live gulags to our merely figurative ones. Our ever-polite neighbors to the north had the following 3 word view of Americans –

Rude, greedy and violent

Well then. Personally, I don’t read too much into these sorts of polls and they reinforce my view that much of Global Politics basically boils down to one big high school with America being the richest kid on the block.

And we all know how everyone in High School felt about that kid.

In fact, it’s even worse – we’re not just the rich kid (GNP) but also the quarterback (military), prettiest / most popular (Hollywood) and possibly the overly industrious, know-it-all Eagle Scout (Silicon Valley / Religion / Patriotism / Wide-Eyed Optimism) all rolled into one. Talk about a combo that would make the chess team, literature club, & “trench-coat mafia” seethe.

That’s not to say we don’t occasionally screw things up in a “careless” Daisy Buchanan sort of way, it’s just that it’s hard to imagine a world where this measure ever becomes / remains positive for long regardless of our behavior. (Although, in supremely High School-esque fashion, experiencing a 9/11 does appear to replenish global good will).

In the end, this particular global test doesn’t feel very falsifiable. BUT, there is one wrinkle here that’s actually pretty surprising / interesting – preceptions of the US in India – Continue reading →

(via Amit Varma / India Uncut) This just makes me want to scream. An OpEd in the Times of India discusses the trials and tribulations that met a promising higher ed venture in India. Like most stories, it starts with the best of intentions –

Two years ago, I met a distinguished friend in Delhi, who is the president of a prestigious American university that has produced several Nobel laureates. He loves India and he told me with some pride that India is increasingly perceived as a future knowledge capital of the world. He thought he would contribute to this future by setting up a branch campus here so that Indians could acquire his university’s degree at a fourth of the cost in America. I was delighted. Here’s a chance for a world-class education for our young, I thought.

And like many such endeavors, he ran smack into other (formerly) well-intentioned bureaucrats who are now glued in place by ossified political structures. The natural laws of bureaucracy and public-choice kick in –

Two years later I heard this tale of woe. His university’s application to the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) for an equivalence certificate went unanswered despite three reminders. Their meeting with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) resulted in the demand for a huge bribe. Their efforts with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry entangled them in miles of red tape. “[AICTE] will decide our fees, student intake, and even the size of our buildings, and prosecute us like criminals for non-compliance. Even if we get their approval, it’s only for a year, and meanwhile the courts could overturn things.”

And the university’s response? Atlas shrugged –

…India is a hopeless cause and he has decided to set up a campus in China.

Sigh. On the plus side, I suppose the Indian higher ed establishment will be safe from neo-colonial exploitation & Race To The Bottom outsourcing. Continue reading →

A happy development in the on-going saga of Mukhtar Mai – the US Government has stepped in to ensure Ms. Mai’s passage outside of the country –

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured a personal pledge from Pakistan that gang-rape victim Mukhtaran Mai will be allowed to visit the United States, officials said Tuesday. The State Department revealed Rice’s personal intervention in the now famous case, after The New York Times reported that the Pakistani government still had Mai’s passport, despite lifting a ban on her travelling last week. …State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the issue was raised last Thursday by Rice, in a telephone call with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. “Secretary Rice made it clear that Mrs. Mai was welcome to come to the United States at any time and that we were looking to the government of Pakistan to ensure that she was free to travel whenever she wanted,” he said. “The government of Pakistan has committed itself to that and therefore it is our expectation that should Mrs Mai want to travel, to come to the United States, there will be no obstacles presented to her to do so,” Ereli said.

Of course, the Pakistani’s felt obliged to make a face-saving “no, we’re really in charge” statement –

Top Pakistani officials maintained there had been no US pressure in the case of Mai, who was ordered gang raped by a tribal council in 2002, and emerged as a cause celebre for international human rights campaigners.

(Previous SM coverage here). Continue reading →

Instapundit reports that Amit Varma of India Uncut has a piece in the Asian Wall Street Journal today. For the benefit of non-subscribers, Varma has the full text available on his blog.

In his piece, Varma comes down pretty skeptically on India fabled market liberalization –

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to visit Washington in a few weeks, and editorialists and commentators have already started writing about the emerging economic power of India. New DelhiÂ’s decision to start liberalizing its economy in 1991 is touted as a seminal event in IndiaÂ’s history, the moment when it threw off the shackles of Fabian socialism and embraced free markets. It is the stuff of myth–and to a large extent, it is exactly that.

He cites a study which was undoubtedly inspired by a favorite book of mine – Hernando De Soto’s Mystery of Capital. Varma notes –

Entrepreneurs can expect to go through 11 steps to launch a business over 89 days on average, at a cost equal to 49.5% of gross national income per capita.” Contrast the figure of 89 days with two days for Australia, eight for Singapore and 24 for neighboring Pakistan. …In Bombay, for example, an urban land ceiling act and a rent-control act make it virtually impossible for poor migrants to rent or buy homes, and they are forced into extralegal housing. The vast shantytowns of Bombay–one of them, Dharavi, is the biggest slum in Asia–hold, by some estimates, more than $2 billion of dead capital.

Varma fingers the 2 usual suspects – Continue reading →