Can you offshore business analysis?

I’ve recently been involved in a debate on LinkedIn on offshoring business analysis (under the ModernAnalyst group Discussions).
Someone asked what seemed an innocent question but it raised a storm of responses - LinkedIn members only

It seemed to encourage a lot of interseting debate which boiled down to the fact that the best quality form of communication is face to face so why would you accept anything else considering the risks?

These may be the facts today but I think there will be increasing pressure to make this model work in the future. Who knows, it may become as commonplace as offshoring development or testing. However, there are a number of things that will need to be in place before it can happen and be (relatively) effective.

I’m working on an article which will paint this picture in more detail.

What are your views? Is it achievable and under what circumstances? What are the risks?