Quote Originally Posted by MacGuffin View Post
The best form of foreign aid is for foreign companies to open subsidiaries in the country to provide jobs and export revenues.

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I don't quite see the point in the post. Anything wrong or funny in people eating rats or kids earning money for poor parent. Anything new in corruption, inflation or raping the environment for profit.
I think you meant 'nothing' in place of 'anything' above, right? If I understand you correctly, I disagree. Rat is not a delicacy in Cambodia; its a meat of last resort. They'd rather eat fish or beef, but in the former case, coastal fish are basically depleted... and beef has been pushed into margins those of us in the industrialized nations would have a hard time affording.

As to the suggestion of subsidizing a nation by increased corporatization, rest assured, they're trying that... in fact, that's the (current) reason Cambodia's poor are being throttled. Cambodia has privatized almost all of their natural resources, and they've been consumed with amazing speed... who do you think cut down 95.5% of the rain forest in the country in 30 years? Peasants?

Further... who do you think profited from clear-cutting 46726 square miles of forest? Peasants? No, I categorically disagree that increased capitalism is the solution to Cambodian poverty.

To the question of the "point" of this post, I can only say that if you don't think there is something hilarious about a government official claiming that children are happy to hunt rats for dinner, you may be in need of a holiday in Cambodia.