The US is not too far away from China in terms of human rights violations (see <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Tables/4_col_tables/0,,258330,00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/Tables/4_col_tables/0,,258330,00.h...</a> ) - Will Google pull out from other countries having  similar issues? I doubt it. The reasons and consequences behind Google's decision won't be obvious, if ever, for a while.