Many small countries have cliques that realy run the place. They try and stay well below the radar...I remember the first time I went to Aruba...late 70's ..one of the things that stands out was the great shortage of rent-a-cars on the island...it was nearly impossible to get a car..Which made no sense, until one realized that the strongest voting block on the island are the Taxi-drivers..
i think it is actually a good thing to have Americans viewing what it is like dealing with the gov't elsewhere, as a point of comparison. Since so many love to bash our own way of doing things. One thing that was very noticeable in the interview of Jossy Mansour on Friday, Martha whatshername was interviewing him as a if he were a US journalist, operating at crosspurposes with the gov't. he did not come across that way at all, he kept saying, oh we don't know that, they would not tell us that, etc. in response to her questions and she just let them drop.