Raoul's previous article here on the good press Gloria Arroyo - cheif honcho of the Philippines - is receiving internationally is not entirely an accident. According to a trusted friend of the Rat, Gloria is paying 1.2 million to a US PR agency to build her image.

To be fair, of course, the practice is wide spread. Malaysian PM Mahathir has engaged a US PR agency also to get his message across - and catapult him into high profile speaking arrangements outside Malaysia. Arch enemy Anwar Ibrahim, somewhat less successfully, does similar to keep his own cause alive.

Interestingly, the way the press works backs home (at least in Malaysia), means good news about local incumbent leaders from outside is plastered over the front page of local rags. Whether the source is the complete text of speeches from Prime Ministers in global forums, or laudatory assessments of an Asian economy from a previously unknown, rat-bag right wing economic "think-tank", places like Malaysia thrive on the not-completely-misplaced belief that Malaysians will believe anything they read... (Blame an education system based on unquestioning deferal to "authority" for that.)

While global capitalism won the cold war over communism, it borrowed one of Mao's key weapons. Spin doctors and propogandists reigned. In the West, this was not the "corruption" they loved to point to in Asia. No, they could not stoop to that level. In the West, corruption hides under the moniker of "professional lobbying". ...Not surprisingly Asian leaders take to it like a duckie to H2O.

It is no secret that electoral funding by private companies drives electoral campaigns in the US. And favours beget favours....

As the World Economic Forum draws to a close, a curious spectre of capitalism gone soft and flabby due to lack of competition caused by the collapse of international communism, rises above it. Just as the free market thinkers were right in pronouncing that competition is what primarily fuels innovation, efficiency and hard work, their philisophy also holds true for the capitalism system itself. The only negative outcome of the victory of global capitalism over global communism was that capitalism lost it's competition, and now faces increased questioning of the "ethics" of the system.

Enron, a company which dedicated a massive amount of their budget to lobbying, political party funding, and opportunistically taking advantage of economic shortfalls in developing countries, has fallen, and Anderson may well not be far behind. The unholy trinity between government, private enterprise and so called independent auditing companies is exposed yet again. Forget about nepotism (think Kennedy and Bush dynasties), corruption, and close government-private sector relationships in Asia.. The USA has it all, though masquerading under a different name..

As we move further into 2002, the theme of the century so far may well be...

Too much spin.. not enough substance.