http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/17/crime.australia.singapore.reut/index.html

I'm pretty divided on this. On one hand, execution for drug running is draconian - I'd be quite pissed, to say the least, if it happened here.

On the other hand, it's not here. Singapore is a sovereign state, and can make its own laws. Furthermore, pretty much everyone knows it's death for drug trafficking over there; if they don't, it's written IN BIG RED LETTERS on the official forms and on signs all around the airports. The guy obviously knew the risk of carrying narcotics in Singapore. He got caught. The Darwin Awards come to mind.

Is there a line between this and the short skirt/2am/dark alley scenario? It certainly seems like a gray area. Please discuss.

Tonight's required movie viewing:
Midnight Express (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077928/)
Brokedown Palace (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120620/)
Old-school prison...not much more fun than death.

The ironic part is the double-standard. Singapore has always been a trafficing location for drugs -- they're just keeping it in the hands of professionals.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sn.html

"as a transportation and financial services hub, Singapore is vulnerable, despite strict laws and enforcement, to be used as a transit point for Golden Triangle heroin and as a venue for money laundering "

If thats the rules better fucking follow them. All that heroin probably kills many families so tit for tat. Think thats the same place that kid was vandalizing cars so they caned him and all the people here in the US got all upset about it.

I'm going to have to misquote the former governer of Texas who stated succintly in her brutally sparse Texan drawl when questioned by Canadians over why she was not granting clemency to a Canadian national on deathrow: "If you come to Texas, don't kill anybody, ok?"

Their turf, their rules. I don't like their rules, and that's why I don't live on their turf.

Is there a line between this and the short skirt/2am/dark alley scenario? It certainly seems like a gray area. Please discuss.

Whoa, this is going way the fuck overboard!

Singapore makes it clear that if you smuggle and/or traffic in drugs, your ass is grass. How can you possibly tie that into the short skirt scenario you allude to? I have yet to see any public notice given to women that wearing short skirts at certain hours or in certain locations is punishable by sexual assault. This is really repulsive, and I am damn sure if you knew anyone who had ever been sexually assaulted you would not have raised it as an issue.


Need more discussion?

Please substitute "alone/2am/dark alley" if you find it less offensive.

Obviously I'm not suggesting moral equivalence or anything close. But there is something to be said for expected outcomes. If I hang around around gang territory rather than in a park full of chess-players after dark, I'm increasing the risk of unpleasant possibilities. Likewise, if I were to transport drugs through major ports, perhaps expenditures on an extra stop might be a more reasonable option than going through a place where drug trafficking leads to hanging.