[ClearCase_guy]

I have in-laws who travel everywhere. A few years ago they went to Myanmar (if I'm remembering correctly). The country had just done away with a repressive regime which had held the country back for decades. My in-laws were THRILLED to visit such a backwards place before it had a chance to be ruined.

They're Libs. They think visiting backwards countries is like going to a zoo.

[a fool in paradise]

When I went to Peru in the late 1990s, the tour guide said they were happy to see American businesses (I don’t recall if it was McDonald’s or some other chain) because it let them know they had turned a corner historically and were coming up to speed with some of the things other nations had.

They’d had tough times politically (including terrorism and revolutionaries) and would see their Japanese president resign but Western investment was seen as a good thing.

When I met Lech Walesa, he said send us (Poland) your Generals “General Motors, General Electric, etc.”. He said that the Communist bloc nations were kept from breaking away because none of them made anything. Each nation made PARTS of something (part of a washing machine, etc.).