As a proud American, I'm always reluctant to take someone else's side against my own country, however, in this case, I'm siding with Antigua. It's kind of a complicated case but I'll try to simplify it here. (If you want to read the whole article go here.)The tiny island country of Antigua (pop 70,000) has found itself in the crosshairs of the Bush administration's war on immorality. The U.S. has practically shut down their offshore casino operations by banning their ability to process U.S. credit cards. Antigua complained to the World Trade Organization and threatened to stop recognizing our intellectual property rights which the WTO demands all countries do for each other. Their complaint is a good one: Why should we respect thier IP rights when they don't respect our legal right to operate businesses? The U.S. is imparting our absurd anti-gambling morality on them, while expecting them to dutifully observe our IP wishes.
Well guess what? We have way more to lose than they do. What happens when they decide to start copying our music, movies, and software and distributing it worldwide? Our entertainment industry would tank, not that it would be that tragic given the drivel that passes as entertainment these days, but that's not the point.
The point is that we are meddling in the affairs of a sovereign country on the grounds that we want our voters to think we disapprove of gambling. We deserve whatever retaliatory measure Antigua decides upon.
If the Bush administration measured it's policies by the Constitution, they would never get in the trouble they always end up in.
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