Virtually every international treaty is a voluntary agreement. Any country that doesn't like the provisions is free to quit. Don't like the WTO? Well, don't sign it. Don't bitch about other countries benefiting from it, though. Any country that feels a particular agreement is prejudicial to its interests is free to not accept it.
Are you serious? I don't know what country you live in, but here in the U.S. we had only two presidential candidates who were allowed to appear on television, and they were BOTH in favor of joining the WTO! I didn't get a choice, and I'm guessing, neither did you. International business is a force more powerful than governments.
I can't think of a time when a country was bombed because they didn't sign a trade treaty.
Sometimes its hard to tell why a war starts. Did the American revolutionary war start because of a disagreement over government, or trade? (Tariffs definitly played a role, though). Did the gulf war start because of territorial questions, or did the international community just want to make sure oil trading continued normally?
Your argument is very idealistic and doesn't really reflect the actual world.
Does anybody remember the Halloween document? Specifically, does anyone remember this comment from ESR's annotation:
"Linux can win if services are open and protocols are simple, transparent. Microsoft can only win if services are closed and protocols are complex, opaque.
To put it even more bluntly: "commodity" services and protocols are good things for customers; they promote competition and choice. Therefore, for Microsoft to win, the customer must lose."
Well, it looks like he was right. Now I'm supposed to PAY for a Windows upgrade which actually gives me LESS functionality than I had before! Yes, I can use third party products, of course. But that doesn't change the fact that they're releasing a commercial product upgrade which is specifically meant to REDUCE the features of the product!
And the sad thing is that people will buy it.
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Are you serious? I don't know what country you live in, but here in the U.S. we had only two presidential candidates who were allowed to appear on television, and they were BOTH in favor of joining the WTO! I didn't get a choice, and I'm guessing, neither did you. International business is a force more powerful than governments.
Sometimes its hard to tell why a war starts. Did the American revolutionary war start because of a disagreement over government, or trade? (Tariffs definitly played a role, though). Did the gulf war start because of territorial questions, or did the international community just want to make sure oil trading continued normally?
Your argument is very idealistic and doesn't really reflect the actual world.
Does anybody remember the Halloween document? Specifically, does anyone remember this comment from ESR's annotation: "Linux can win if services are open and protocols are simple, transparent. Microsoft can only win if services are closed and protocols are complex, opaque. To put it even more bluntly: "commodity" services and protocols are good things for customers; they promote competition and choice. Therefore, for Microsoft to win, the customer must lose." Well, it looks like he was right. Now I'm supposed to PAY for a Windows upgrade which actually gives me LESS functionality than I had before! Yes, I can use third party products, of course. But that doesn't change the fact that they're releasing a commercial product upgrade which is specifically meant to REDUCE the features of the product! And the sad thing is that people will buy it.