RE: About the "Ecuador Risk" factor...I agree with your post 100%.
I would add that Ecuador lacks the financial and technical ability to exploit the resources ARU is exploring for. We are still in the exploration phase. It makes no sense for the government to step in a this stage. There are over 30 anomalies left to explore on ARU's property. A resource determination won't be performed until late 2007 at best. In the best of scenarios, FDN won't be mined for another five years. If the Ecuador government seizes it now, it may never be mined.
There will always be a discount on ARU because it's not in a risk free country but I strongly believe that ARU's value will follow the discoveries made in the next months anyway. The situation might even turn to the shareholders advantage as it could delay a takeover until ARU has uncovered a much greater value with discoveries. I think patience will be rewarded here.