At the request of Antigua, where many online gaming sites are located, the World Trade Organization has set up a committee to investigate our government's activities in regard to online gambling. Antigua and many other nations say that trying to shut down this trade that is perfectly legal almost everywhere but here is a restraint of trade that violates the WTO agreements. This could get interesting.
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All, I'm sorry for being AWOL on the Denialism Blog. I've just returned from a longish trip with Dr. Girlfriend to Guatemala, where we visited Guatemala City, Lake Atitlan, Antigua, and Tikal. I'll blog soon with some of the outrageous woo we encountered in San Marcos.
John over at Stranger Fruit has posted an infogram from Science, which ranks 34 countries acceptance of evolution. I have hijacked it below:
Earl may threaten the US Virgin Islands and Pueto Rico with hurricane force winds. These areas will be affected by tropical storm force winds. Antigua, Barbuda, Monserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, Saint Martin and Satin Barthelemy, St. Marten, Saba and St.
I would have thought that legalisation would be a nightmare for Antigua. All those gambling server farms would relocate to Delaware.
I don't know how the WTO functions, but from other international bodies it's usually that they can make whatever judgements they want but powerful nations can just ignore them.
Matthew said:
Indeed. The US certainly doesn't have a problem ignoring them, say, when it comes to things like softwood lumber. (Gee, can you tell I've been an expat living in Canada for five years?)
I remember reading the decision of the first panel to hear the antigua-US dispute, and thinking that the reasoning was a little thin. Defensible, but just barely. Given that, and given the casino-Abramoff money in play, this'll almost certainly be another intractable softwood lumber kind of situation.