this article is fairly interesting. i *think* i know what it is trying to say, just not sure if i believe that anyone would actually *print* what i think it is saying. i better read it again. here is the lead:
 Costa Rica Fears Iran’s Interest in Region: Bookies Watch Closely
Iran’s interest in Latin America is getting a little too close to home, and we are not necessarily talking about the United States. The peaceful military-free Central American nation of Costa Rica finds itself surrounded by leftist sympathizers of Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Costa Rica has the largest concentration of online gambling operators than any other nation.ÂÂ
in other news today, it seems like the good ol’ USA, not iran, is having the most success squeezing the online gambling business here, by paying the costa rican government to block their connections to america:
 According to The Tico Times, the United States and Costa Rica have agreed a compensation package after The White House breached of World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations involving online gambling.
The Costa Rican daily newspaper stated that the trade dispute began when the US enacted laws designed to target online gambling, forcing the Central American nation to take the giant from the north to arbitration before the WTO. Under a WTO agreement on services, any country blocking access to one of a range of markets must provide compensation to the affected countries.
As compensation for cutting off Costa Rican access to online gambling customers in America, the US has agreed to offer greater access to other service markets including research and development, storage, technical testing and analysis. This is almost identical to the deal previously worked out between the US and Canada, Japan and the European Union over the same issue.
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