> what the politicians do not want to  hear. The US is the last place where
> they  want  their research  networking  infrastructure  to be  developed,
> everything should be  done within Europe. Significant  energy is expended
 
Europe doesn't have a monoply on this sort of thing, you know.  Just
look at any large gov. agency in the US.  They need a computer system?
No problem. The agency will do it all itself, hardware, software everything
from the ground up.  If you are lucky it will work in about ten years,
sort of, but of course it is so hopelessly outdated by the time it comes
online they must start building from the ground up, again (no we don't
need any outside people, or hardware or software, only our custom stuff
will do).  We were lucky with the IRS recently when they chucked the latest
fiasco after only about six months and a pidling $17 million.
 
Douglas