The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Nah, the regime they have in place is to maintain the principle of reciprocity; or as BB puts it "tit-for-tat".

I've been told it's to protect the environment and prevent smuggling.

[The Larch]

Are you calling the EU a "little bitch"? There are Schengen states that don't have visa free travel to the US, but Americans can visit all of them without a visa.

do you know which ones?

I'm calling those schengen states little bitches, yes. brazil might be a world power some day; it's no croatia

I'm not an expert in the countries that require a visa to get inot the US, but until recently poland was one. They wanted to change that and maybe we did.

So maybe poland, and I'd guess all the countries worse than poland.

Every country in the EU can get into the US without a visa except for Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus.

[Barrister]

That sounds like petty tit-for-tat to me.

Petty tit-for-tat is the cornerstone of visa diplomacy.

A few years ago Brazil got mad at Spain because some Brazilian tourists were turned back in the airport in Madrid because the police suspected that they were trying to inmigrate illegally when they were actually some preppy well-off kids doing some tourism. Brazil's answer? Demanding exactly the same assurances to Spanish tourists wanting to enter Brazil than what Spain was demanding to Brazilian tourists.

It certainly is a cornerstone of diplomacy.  Doesn't make it a good idea.

[derspiess]

To them, it is a source of profit, not migration control.

I have a feeling the fee I paid for myself and my two kids went towards a new piece of jewelry for Argentina's bitch ex-president.  I would have spent that money in local shops, cafes, etc. but no it got sucked up by the government. 

[garbon]

Just did a quick search. While Argentina charges visa fee to US, it doesn't charge visa fee to UK though UK does charge visa fee to Argentina.

[Josquius]

This is pretty interesting, seems to be the start of a series. Ellen Page does a documentary about gay people in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrAISE6x08#t=125.4215

The fujoshi

[Jacob]

Just did a quick search. While Argentina charges visa fee to US, it doesn't charge visa fee to UK though UK does charge visa fee to Argentina.

That's wacky. You'd expect Argentina to like the UK even less than the US.

[Zanza]

It's mainly Americans, Canadians and Australians that have to pay visa fees in South America. It's not just Argentina but also Brazil, Chile and Bolivia, maybe others.

[Valmy]

They can do what they want and so can we, but the visa regime we have in place is needed to control migration.

The regime they have in place is just to stick it to the gringos.

Nah, the regime they have in place is to maintain the principle of reciprocity; or as BB puts it "tit-for-tat".

It would likely go away if there was enough of a constituency to have your government negotiate a different arrangement, but it seems that that constituency isn't worth catering to

Which was the entire point of what we were saying. It seems stupid and counter to their interests but if they want to do it no huge deal.

[Capetan Mihali]

It's mainly Americans, Canadians and Australians that have to pay visa fees in South America. It's not just Argentina but also Brazil, Chile and Bolivia, maybe others.

The Monroe Doctrine's dirty (4.5 hour) laundry.

[Savonarola]

So GE Alstom has contracted with the local university to teach us the basics of System Engineering (the discipline behind running a large projects.)  I'm taking the first overview course right now, and some of my coworkers and I are working on the group project.  He gave us a Power Point template and encouraged us to put in a clever quote at the beginning.  I suggested one that I believe provides the perfect combination of industry and academia:

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

- Theodore Roosevelt

[Grey Fox]

See : Crédit Mobilier ?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

So GE Alstom has contracted with the local university to teach us the basics of System Engineering (the discipline behind running a large projects.)

Welcome to the club.

[Razgovory]

Nah, the regime they have in place is to maintain the principle of reciprocity; or as BB puts it "tit-for-tat".

I've been told it's to protect the environment and prevent smuggling.

I knew a Smuggler.  When I was a kid the old guy down the street was convicted of smuggling his wife to death with a pillow.

[DGuller]

That's not smuggling, that's snuggling.  Though when performed correctly it should not result in the strangulation of your significant other.