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Better luck with your next example.
And if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to summarise what criteria Freedom House use when assigning scores for political and economic freedom. And what do they measure those criteria against? The laws on the books? The reality on the ground? Something in between?
Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear the reason why Freedom House's ranking of political freedom doesn't seem to match Amnesty International's?
Specifically, try comparing the reports on Colombia and Venezuela. Compare and contrast your results with Freedom House's rankings.
- Jake Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
Thanks for your invitation to explore those avenues of intellectual thought. I have enough on my plate now. Maybe you can start a thread with what information you have accumulated so far. Might be interesting.
I have found some reports from Amnesty International of some validity but other times there seems to not know between genocide and limited rights of people. And lastly Jake, I do not see any ranking from AI. Is there a section that contains quantitative data for comparison purposes? Rutherfordian ------------------------------ RDRutherford
Funny all that high tech industries they have in Singapore and their high standard of living (check where your hard drive is made).
The producers are incorporated in California. I can't see where it's physically assembled without getting at the drive itself, but if I had to place a bet, I'd wager South Korea or Taiwan.
I only wanted to point out that small nations can benefit from trade and commerce as well as large nations.
It's funny how Singapore and Hong Kong are the two examples repeatedly trotted out by free-market-enthusiasts. The only two examples. Sure "do like Singapore" is a good prescription for wealth - assuming that you're located smack dab in the middle of one of the most highly trafficked straits in the world. Oh, and assuming that you're a city-state that doesn't have to worry about a rural population.
I have a couple of diaries on a back burner that I consider more interesting and informative than comparing and contrasting Amnesty International with some two-bit think thank operating out of the US State Department.
I have found some reports from Amnesty International of some validity but other times there seems to not know between genocide and limited rights of people.
They report, you decide. But they report everything, to the best of their ability.
And lastly Jake, I do not see any ranking from AI. Is there a section that contains quantitative data for comparison purposes?
Maybe I'll see about finding it if and when you explain what criteria Freedom House use to derive their numbers. For all I know, they could have pulled them out of their ass.
Until then, I suggest that you look at the number and severity of incidents reported by Amnesty and make an informed judgement. I'll give you a very broad hint: For three out of four concerns about Venezuela, the entry for Colombia raises equal or greater concern about the very same issues. Add to that the laundry list of offences by the Colombian government that has no match whatsoever in the Venezuelan entry.
I have a friend that was engaged in some tourism development in Haiti in the early 80s. Well instead of these projects going to Haiti they ended up in Dominican Republic. Much to do with attitude.
True they could have pulled them out of the arse. At times other reporting agencies seem to do that also, but for a look at something that might be of interest: Survey Methodology And more information at here for some PDFs: Freedom in the World 2008 Survey Release
Carry on and I look forward to seeing some diaries from you on these subjects. Rutherfordian ------------------------------ RDRutherford
The list of standards and methods sounds good (except that they have a rather one-eyed focus on government propaganda, and seem to completely exclude oligarchic control of the press from the list of indicators).
However, when I compare them with the list of rankings, I find that they have clearly not been consistently applied.
Under the criteria provided, for example, the USA is only partly free.
None of the points I raise are particularly controversial. Except perhaps the claim that the parties are largely indistinguishable. But that is documented to excess here on ET: If either party didn't represent the moneyed interests, it would be making noises about cutting off Wall Street's and K Street's balls and hanging them from the nearest streetlight.
And yet the USA gets a perfect score in Freedom House's assessment. That really ought to tell you everything you need to know about them.
Let us talk latter, seems that this thread has gone off stream to a degree. Rutherfordian ------------------------------ RDRutherford
Does the US torture, according to you? Does it treat its prisoners inhumanely? Does it arbitrarily arrest and detain without trial both its own citizens and foreign nationals?
If you answer no to any of these, how do you explain the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, which fulfils all these criteria and is long-standing policy.
I use the six sigma to signify that if you find a trace of something negative then the whole is corrupt. But we are not judging against a perfect God like powers but humans. As noted above Asylum and immigration has some interesting information to peruse. Also HRW has some interesting things to say about France also: Insufficient safeguards in national security removals.
And the British have some nasty immigration "centres". Hell they seem to be more like concentration camps... Rutherfordian ------------------------------ RDRutherford
- Jake
PS: I don't define torture. The international treaties that forbid it do. If you have an alternate definition, then let's hear it. Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
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