[QUOTE=

How exciting that our taxpayer dollars are going toward giving this technology to corrupt borderline democracies.[/QUOTE]

Wait just a minute, please, at least with respect to the Ukraine. Ukraine had a free and fair election recently where a majority of the citizens voted for Victor Yushchenko,an opponent of Putin, who tried to steal the election. When the press sided with the opposition and exposed Puti's anti-democratic efforts, hundreds of thousands of Ukranians took to the streets of Kiev to peacefully protest. The literacy rate in Khazakstan and the Ukraine rank 1th and 17th, respectively, in the world. The US is 38th in the world. Culture flourished in Ukraine from 4500 B.C. Khazakstan had codified law, the "Qasym Khannyn Qasqa Zholy" in 1520. We are the immature upstarts in the grand scheme of world culture and democracies. And one might argue, given TSA excesses that we are moving backwards in the democracy department.