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WEB EXCLUSIVE: The Show Needn’t Go On

This week the Israeli government announced it will resume negotiations with Syria without preconditions, and the Syrians responded in kind.

Peace talks, if they ever actually start, aren’t going anywhere, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows it. He’s going through the motions so Western diplomats don’t throw him and his country out in the cold. Syria’s Bashar Assad knows it too. He’s going through the motions so that he and his country can come in from the cold.

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0 Responses to “WEB EXCLUSIVE: The Show Needn’t Go On”

  1. Ari says:

    “it is the responsibility of the Bush administration to demand publicly that China stop its interference in our efforts to look after the well-being of our own children. ”

    I couldn’t agree more.

    “It’s pretty hard for companies to act as governments. To some extent that’s a good thing for the U.S. State Department to be doing. I’m not sure that’s our role.”

    -Larry Page, Co-founder of Google.

    We’ve got to get tougher on China if we ever want our companies to do the same.

  2. Hugo Restall says:

    I disagree with you that Kitty Pilgrim has a point.
    It’s appropriate that Mattel should take primary responsibility for the recalls, they have to monitor their subcontractors better. Companies’ desire to protect their brands protects the consumer more than government regulation.
    It is also right that Mattel should apologize to China to the extent that its design flaws were responsible for recalls that contributed to a negative perception of goods made in China. Now, did Mattel’s apology go too far and sweep the real problems with business ethics and trust in China under the rug? Probably, but I would like to see the full transcript of Debrowski’s remarks in Beijing before concluding that. (Does anyone have that?)
    You are right on the money in criticizing Li Changjiang’s tirade.