I’m really becoming a fan of Japan. They could be a wonderful ally if the decide it’s time to stand up and bump elbows with the big boys in international affairs.

What are the chances that Japan and the US could influence countries like the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Malaysia to join the 21st century in terms of politics and economic development? Are the WWII era hatreds still too strong for that sort of thing? I’m wondering what sort of Asian Allies Consortium would be necessary to keep China in check, say, 30 or 40 years from now (not that I’ll be around to see it).

Imagine that!

Japan, on the other hand, didn’t back France:

If Chirac thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms in Tokyo, he was quickly disabused when he met Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi on Sunday.

On another issue of contention, the siting of the proposed International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, Koizumi also refused to yield to the French bully, telling him equally bluntly that Japan would not give up its bid to host the site.

As Reynolds says, Heh.

It doesn’t make too much sense, no, which is why in retrospect I’m apologizing. It’s just that, when I heard you speaking yesterday, for some reason I got that impression. How the hell do I know how newspapers work. Probably as much idea as a lot of people have about how computers work.

I saw you on CNBC yesterday, and from your words I got the sense you had posted your story on Rosett’s behalf, i.e., you were in contact with her, and posted it to your blog because she was in transit and unavailable. I may have gotten the facts wrong, but the upshot of what I seemed to hear during your appearance was that you were acting as a proxy for Ms Rosett. I’m sorry if I got the wrong impression, but all I’m trying to say here is, if someone else saw that show, they may have gotten the same impression. If someone has a transcript, I’d be interested to see how I came to this conclusion. Sorry if it was the wrong one.

One can only wonder what Cotecna had done to merit blacklisting by a country as corrupt as Nigeria!

I don’t want to sound as if I’m defending KoJo, KoFi (is he any relation to WiFi?), or Cotecna, but it’s probably easier to get blacklisted by a corrupt governmore ment than by a less corrupt one. A government that takes action to try and resist corruption will generally have some mechanism in place to try and avoid things like blacklists. A Cotecna would have to behave corruptly, most likely. A corrupt regime, on the other hand, might blacklist a company for not engaging in corruption, not engaging in sufficient corruption relative to its competitors, engaging in corruption with the wrong corrupt people, or any number of things. Just sayin’, it ain’t like its ‘portant or anythin’.

Please stay on the story.

Mr. Mouselli, a French national who has been interviewed by the Volcker Committee but is not a target of investigation, told us yesterday that he first met Kojo Annan at a Bastille Day celebration at the French ambassador’s residence in Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, Cotecna had been blacklisted from doing business in Nigeria, and Kojo enlisted Mr. Mouselli’s help in trying to get Cotecna recertified…

One can only wonder what Cotecna had done to merit blacklisting by a country as corrupt as Nigeria!

Great work, Roger!

Jamie Irons