On 21/11/06 15:53, in article cl46m25n4otsd5mibr4t94a6k9nv8lvlkb@4ax.com,
"Padraig Breathnach" wrote:
> "Ramon F Herrera" wrote:
>
>> ...
>> tourists and businessmen avoid USA travel.
>>
> And what has this got to do with rec.travel.europe?
It is a good argument for remaining in Europe and traveling locally.
The article says that the visa problem is fierce, not that
the American people are unfriendly.
However, it also points out the fact that if other countries
copy-cat the USA, a similar "unfriendly" atmosphere will
arise. The advantage of an EU passport is its universality,
that it does not hinder the flow of people within the EU. The irony in
this epoch of globalization is that globalization applies
to goods but not human beings. Economic nationalism
has declined with the rush of Capital to other parts of the
world in order to benefit from low labor costs yet maintaining
markets to exploit in rich countries (rich for how long?).
The current rush to biometric passports and visa fine combing
represents one of the great victories of terrorists over the
rest of us. Tying us in knots is one of their goals.
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