@frequent -- And where does California get a decent portion of its electricty and fresh water? Oh right, Canada.
@Christian -- You may want to crack a history book.
As for the rest of te thread, I think some people are forgetting about globalization, and are being a little too nationalistic. Just because a company in the private sector in one country develops a new technology, doesn't mean it's going to benefit only that country. That may have been true 70 years ago, but it sure as hell isn't now.