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on December 09 2010 15:40:57
I fail to see what's the bad thing here though... and no that is not flamebait. |
on December 09 2010 16:20:01
Well, I for one don't think it is good that profit-driven corporations are able to dictate policy in a third world country. I'm not saying that this is proof that Shell controls Nigeria, but if it were the case, I wouldn't think it good. |
on December 09 2010 22:51:25
There will always be groups that influence politicians, be it corporations or NGOs. I for one think that a corporation like Shell, which is concerned about what people think of them, is preferable to Gazprom or PetroChina. |
on December 10 2010 08:30:17
I don't give half a goats fart for Shell's "concerns" about anything besides profits.
No doubt there exists a corporation somewhere, whose level of pure cartoonish evil makes Shell look like a schoolboy's lemonade stand, but I would want neither dictating policy. |
on December 10 2010 18:17:00
Well then there is no news, since as i started with saying: "There will always be groups that influence politicians." |
on December 10 2010 18:53:24
That's a bit overly pragmatic isn't it? having persons attached to every key position in a government, seems to me to be slightly more than just "influence".
You sure you're not following this pattern:
Before: YOU'RE CRAZY.
After: Who didn't know this already? Let's ignore it fellas.
I seem to be seeing it all over. |
on December 10 2010 20:18:55
Yeah I'm sure, since I work with people in government in 4-5 countries, including the EU and have seen how things are measured. For instance you won't be accepted in a FP7 application unless you have a certain "broad" geographical spread of members, which in most cases means "a french company", why? Because France exerts pressure so their companies get money, why? Because the same companies influence every level of the French bureaucracy.
Same works for Danida. If you want Danida to support a project, that project needs to have 50% of it's value done by danish companies (in particular COWI and Rambøll), why? Because said companies lobby for that to become law. Yes it's actually in the development aid law.
When business associates work with bringing new alternative energy to Sweden, they need Vattenfall (or any of the 3 medium energy companies) on board, otherwise it's "nearly" a waste of time. Of course unless you have backing from a Wallenberg company.
And I don't need to remind you how Mærsk/Novo control danish bureaucracy. |
on December 10 2010 21:32:43
I'm sure your facts are in order, but this is knowledge gleaned through your personal experience and research. If you could document what you say sufficiently to prove beyond a doubt that the FP7 is corrupted, wouldn't that be news?.
Many believe there's no such thing as an honest politician, but that doesn't mean it isn't news when one is found to be crooked. People don't simply say "of course he was crooked! all politicians are. This is not news!". |
on December 10 2010 23:00:42
My point is that they are honest politicians, since they look after their interests, i.e. companies in their constituency and the jobs they provide.
You are free to vote for far left politicians, who do not have these ties (instead they have ties to NGOs), if you think this is horrible. |
on December 10 2010 23:03:05
As for the case in Nigeria, there is no way their politicians won't be influenced by a major provider of FDI, it would be irresponsible of them not to be. My original comment relating to Shell over PetroChina/Gazprom was explaining my preference to a company which is in turned influenced by us here in the "western world" (which I prefer to label the OECD countries. |
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