Posted on 04/03/2008 6:38:57 AM PDT by docbnj
Caption for picture in Day in Pictures: "A woman in the Afghan capital, Kabul, receives bags of wheat from the World Food Programme sent by Japan."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Could someone who knows how please post this picture with this thread?
There is some progress - she is only wearing a mini-Burka!
It is very likely the Japanese paid for the supplies even though they were labeled with US graphics. It is much more efficient for them to purchase the supplies from the US since we have the infrastructure.
The Japanese could buy wheat on the open market and send it, but it would not be labeled as we see in the picture. Those labels are intended to inhibit resale of relief supplies.
Japan might have provided the transportation, but it is most probable that we gave the wheat.
Japan has infrastructure, but they don’t have wheat. I don’t remember ever seeing any fields of amber waves of grain in pictures from Japan. They raise (or try to raise) rice.
Actually, we also raise rice, and could bury Japan in rice if we had free access to their markets. Probably Texas and Louisiana alone could do the job.
Whore!
American rice has been sold in Japan for years. It is usually about half the price of Japanese rice. And it will rot on the shelf because Japanese won't buy it. Because at least to them, it doesn't taste as good.
Americans are more than willing to trade quality for quantity (aka cheaper junk), but that is not a universal trait.
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