China's Port In Sri Lanka's Is Good Business - The NYT's Report On It Is Propaganda
'China's financial imperialism' is a relatively new genre in western journalism. China is providing loans to other countries to build infrastructure. If those countries can not pay back the loans, China offers to lease and manage the infrastructure built with its money. That somehow is supposed to create a "debt trap for vulnerable countries".
Yesterday the New York Times lamented about Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port Development Project:
Over years of construction and renegotiation with China Harbor Engineering Company, one of Beijing’s largest state-owned enterprises, the Hambantota Port Development Project distinguished itself mostly by failing, as predicted. With tens of thousands of ships passing by along one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, the port drew only 34 ships in 2012.And then the port became China’s.
Mr. Rajapaksa was voted out of office in 2015, but Sri Lanka’s new government struggled to make payments on the debt he had taken on. Under heavy pressure and after months of negotiations with the Chinese, the government handed over the port and 15,000 acres of land around it for 99 years in December.
The port is in a strategic location right alongside the shipping lines between Asia and the Middle East and Africa.
bigger
The U.S. does not like it that China is building infrastructure in such a strategic position. Instead of competing with it in the same field it is betting on propaganda and a more militaristic approach.
The first warning flag that the NYT piece is part of such propaganda is the quoted statistic. Why is it using a 2012 number of 34 ship arrivals for a port that only opened in late 2010? Ocean ports do not develop in just two years. It takes decades to develop their hinterland and businesses. Unlike Sri Lanka's main port Colombo, which is specialized in container traffic and already congested, Hambantota was build to handle other goods:
In the first nine months of 2014, the number of vehicles handled at Hambantota crossed the 100,000 mark, up more than 300% compared to the same period in 2013, with the number of ship calls more than doubling to 161.
Currently about one ship per day, mostly large car carriers, arrive at Hambantota. Unlike container ships which stay only for hours, car carriers take a few days and to load and unload. Handling them requires a lot of personal. It is good business.
To show how "bad" the Chinese investment is the Times points to only 34 ships in 2012. But the 2017/18 number is at least ten times as big. Why wasn't the new number used?
The propaganda continues:
The case is one of the most vivid examples of China’s ambitious use of loans and aid to gain influence around the world — and of its willingness to play hardball to collect.
Surely no other countries do such? Other countries do not use loans to gain influence? Other countries do not play hardball to collect?
The new government in Sri Lanka is less China oriented and more willing to listen to its big neighbor India. India does not like that its small neighbors develop with Chinese help. But it does not make the investments to compete with it. The Indian Center of Policy Research, also quoted by the NYT, is the loudest lamenter about "China’s debt-trap diplomacy". It sets the tone of 'western' reporting. While it is partly financed by the Indian government its List of Granting Organisations (PDF, pg 47) also include the:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA; William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, USA; Ford Foundation, USA; Oak Foundation; the Asia Foundation, USA, NAMATI Inc. USA; Omidyar Network Foundation, USA;
The NYT gives more scary numbers:
The Central Bank estimated that Sri Lanka owed China about $3 billion last year. But Nishan de Mel, an economist at Verité Research, said some of the debts were off government books and instead registered as part of individual projects. He estimated that debt owed to China could be as much as $5 billion and was growing every year. In May, Sri Lanka took a new $1 billion loan from China Development Bank to help make its coming debt payment.
Are $5 billion big money for a country with some 22 million inhabitants? Not in this case.
Sri Lanka's net external debt to foreign countries is some $52 billion. The debt-to-GDP ratio is about 77%, lower than for most European countries. Over the last twelve years Sri Lanka received about $8 billion in loans from China some of which are already paid back. Its current obligations to China of about $5 billion are only 10% of its total obligations. All of the Chinese loans were bound to infrastructure development: power plants, ports, highways and airports. IMF loans Sri Lanka received come with political demands like increases of value added taxes. China does not set such conditions.
The whole NYT piece is based on old or partial numbers, cited without context, that do not reflect Sri Lanka's real economic position. The country may have a long term debt problem, but China is not the cause of it.
One may be critical of China's Belt and Road initiative which develops trade routes with the help of loans for infrastructure and long term leases. It is a form of commercial imperialism and many of its projects have some problems. But unlike 'western' financing it is neither bound to military allegiance nor does it come with overly political demands. The loans it provides are collateralized with the projects it is building. They create local employment and productivity. To call such loans 'predatory' or 'debt traps' is highly misleading.
Posted by b on June 27, 2018 at 11:12 UTC | Permalink
next page »The US are losing the trade war with China.
There goes Britain - Hammond tells China that Britain is committed to free trade
There goes France China and France agree to expand trade
Germany seems to hold back - hey, China is in Germany's backyard
At a press conference following the meeting, held in Berlin, Mr Yi (pictured above) described the Chinese view of its 16+1 cooperation with 16 countries of central and eastern Europe as a supplement to its relations with Europe, explaining that China wanted to see a stronger and thriving EU. This followed comments made by Mr Maas to the Bundestag last month which named China as one of the threats to the EU.Mr Yi went on to detail the 16+1 grouping as an independent and voluntary initiative which not only supports the relations between China and the countries of central and eastern Europe, but also aids equality across Europe, promoting European integration. He explained that “the weakening and division of Europe is completely out of line with Chinese interests.”
And this here is what is at stake
A tipping point came in 2014 when the Czech government proclaimed that the country would aspire to become “China’s gateway to Europe”. This amounted to a major foreign policy change. It broke entirely with the pro-democracy principles and support for Chinese dissidents of Václav Havel, the hero of the 1989 Velvet Revolution who went on to become president. Havel saw clear parallels between the past struggles of dissidents behind the iron curtain in Europe, and those of contemporary Chinese dissidents – in particular the Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo, whose Charter 08 declaration was directly inspired by Charter 77, the Czechoslovak anti-communist movement.
Trump has stopped all pretense of the fight for liberty and human rights. This is one of the many things that do not work for the US.
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 12:11 utc | 2
While we spend money sending missile ships sailing around Chinese atolls in the South China Sea to flip them the bird under 'freedom of navigation exercises' they spend their money acquiring global assets.
So who is going to win this marathon? We in the U.S. are such idiots, it would almost be funny if it didn't demonstrate such severe dysfunction. Go to any message board in the U.S. and they cheer on our obligation to oppose the Chinese in the SCS. It's bad enough that we are such militaristic idiots but it's even scarier that we boast about it while doing so in such in ineffective manner.
I know, let's double our symbolic patrols until China is able to chase us out of their claimed possessions for good. It is bound to happen sooner or later.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jun 27 2018 12:48 utc | 3
Another reason I like this site is the variety of quality thought-provoking articles.
What about those Tamil Tigers? These fighters, for years, held the northern part of the
island. I recall the Tamil operation had the same kind of omidyar-type backers as the
later hulabaloo in support of Dakur freedom fighters something of a misery-sympathy
propaganda line to pressure the President of Sudan who, I think, would not toe the line,
i forget all the details if I ever knew them. Were the Tamil Tigers another British
intelligence asset built around packs of money, dopers, and soldier of fortune types?
I think this was the 80's?¿ when the Tamil militants were surrounded and extinguished,
something like what happens around damascus and now in daraa. I recall that back then
there were loud sounds of piteous bleating from "human rights mass" to bring nurses with
ammunition strapped on their thighs, What was China's position then in this war.?
I have no idea; somehow i got the the idea that Shri Lanka is one of China's pearls.
Christian..
You are entirely correct about the contrast in the ways China and the U.S. invest their funds and efforts. Americans are chumps to put up with it. Unfortunately except for a few sane voices in places such as this I foresee no change in U.S. policy and do see a looming threat of a new hot World War.
May sanity and peace prevail!
Posted by: SoTexGuy | Jun 27 2018 13:05 utc | 5
Thanks for denouncing NYT as fake news again.
But let's not be fooled that China is just a good uncle or benevolent philanthropist.
What China is doing by the ramping up foreign country/external investments via global development bank system run by themselves is introducing yuan as global trade currency not yet world reserve currency as they did not develop financial instruments to recycle global yuan earnings by foreigners yet.
In fact china OBOR is aimed for Chinese imperial expansion in financial realm as ROI in China herself due to maturing markets and unwillingness to adopt socialist equality demand expansion in order to grow profits as US did, but this time profits off financial product exports and not commodity exports.
China follows US routine as US domination declines.
Posted by: Kalen | Jun 27 2018 13:25 utc | 6
Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 27, 2018 9:00:00 AM | 4
No, Tamils were left with independence from British divide and rule practices as a minority who had been British civil servants. There is a Tamil state in India.
They were victims of the cold war when India supported them against the Sri Lankan alliance with the US and Pakistan - and later reversed their support.
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 13:33 utc | 7
Excellent essay
No state is benevolent beyond its borders
That does not mean that they cannot beneficially work with other states for mutually ends
usa works from fear; most others work from self-interest
"If I'm truly selfish I will not harm another being because would harm me."
Posted by: dfnslblty | Jun 27 2018 13:34 utc | 8
China and the B&R have been topics of interest to me for a while, B&R I have follow from its first announcement in 2013. (I have often found it curious that B&R and the US Imperial "Pivot to Asia" announced by Obama came so close together in time.)
I think it is a mistaken point of view that accuses China of "economic imperialism." The big problem with Western analysis, in my view, is that it assumes a zero sum game, a game where trade is a weapon in hegemonic zero sum game of monopoly control of markets. China does not seek hegemony commercially or in any other way. China has no interest - as does the Imperial US - to take over the world. Building a community of common destiny is not "Imperial."
I would urge everyone to spend time watching the comment and analysis shows on CGTN - compare them to CNN and you'll see the Chinese "censored" news is so much more informative and offers a wider range of views.
We already live in a multi-polar world, China is very important, so is Russia and India. If you read the international press the impression you get is that all these countries plus Europe and even Canada now are trying to trade and get along while they all have to manage the burden of the US military interventions and aggression, the world's biggest problem for the vast majority of the 7+ billion people, over half of global land mass is not trade it is how to manage the threats of the Imperial US. Today without question the SCO is more important than the G7-6-8 but of course it is almost impossible to find coverage about the organization even in the most progressive of press outlets.
The so called left in the West needs to get over its elevation of democracy to that of a timeless law of nature (there is no such thing)- that "free speech" supposedly suppressed in China negates China bringing 700+ million people out of poverty, something no nation or culture has ever achieved in human history.
Please at least try to find some survey courses on Chinese history, nothing in it would suggest China has any interest what-so-ever in Western style Imperialism. China spent thousands of years focusing on uniting China from the 56+ ethnic groups that make up modern China not project power elsewhere.
Progressives are still living in a unipolar world they seem to know almost nothing about China especially, but Russia, India and more. The progressive view is limited to zero sum geopolitical hegemony much of its analysis is based on analysis of Zbigniew Brzezinski in the 70s and 80s.
China and the rest of the world has a far different view of Central Asia as a place of commerce and trade, not territory essential to global domination as Brzezinski calculated.
I hope to see more China coverage here and everywhere, covering China opens thought to question long held underlying assumptions.
There is no god - there is lust for power. No creator "endowed" us with "rights" or anything else - we have them and something better "The Will to Power" without mystical permission.
Posted by: Babyl-on | Jun 27 2018 14:01 utc | 9
Thanks for the posting b about ongoing NYT propaganda
Another perspective on this is that China focuses on economic infrastructure while I read that other Sri Lanka debt is for cricket stadium and such.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 27 2018 14:58 utc | 10
"... and of its willingness to play hardball to collect." This is a truly laughable statement! To anyone who's read Confessions of an Economic Hitman, it comes off as the height of hypocrisy, considering what US did to build and maintain its hegemony. If China wants to practice its imperialism by building infrastructure and trade - it is far less objectionable than the US' endless wars, mayhem, and destruction.
Posted by: GoraDiva | Jun 27 2018 14:59 utc | 11
Posted by: Kalen | Jun 27, 2018 9:25:41 AM | 6
Or, raising wages in China stopped its being the cheap workbench so that they change their economy to financial services.
And, surprise, it is not US banks that compete with China.
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 15:04 utc | 12
Seems like China learned the trick ( debt trap imperialism ) from the IMF. Infrastructure is a good thing, but don't pretend that China isn't using it's financial power for long-term & economic strategic advantage. Any rational nation-state would (try to) do the same. Glad to see China has chosen (mostly) relatively peaceful means to increase it's power & position in the world.
Posted by: elkern | Jun 27 2018 15:24 utc | 13
This is more hilarious than the Asia Times story that Laos would be bankrupt because of the fantastic sum of a US$6.7 billion for a high-speed railway project).
Ah, the New York Times. The mouthpiece and the toilet paper of the AngloZionist Empire.
Posted by: Cyril | Jun 27 2018 15:43 utc | 15
There is a Ukrainian follow-up on the New York Times article quoting it.
“Ukraine is being sold to the Chinese,” says a Ukrainian executive in the agribusiness sector. “Politicians have taken the keys away from Russia and are handing them straight to China.”
China is serious about investing big in Eastern Europe. This will take a lot of immigration from Germany ...
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 16:07 utc | 16
@elkern | Jun 27, 2018 11:24:15 AM | 11
don't pretend that China isn't using it's financial power for long-term & economic strategic advantage.
Of course. "Win-win" means the borrowing country wins -- and China also wins.
This is very different from the normal greedy U.S. style.
Posted by: Cyril | Jun 27 2018 16:15 utc | 17
[Mr. Rajapaksa was voted out of office in 2015]
typical murkkan cover up of fukusIndia shenanigans. [1]
Rajapaksa was ousted by a CIA/MI6/RAW op.
fukusI hate 'panda hugger' with a vengence.
Hardly did the new regime warm its seat when it started to roll back Chinese investments/
https://www.slguardian.org/raw-led-to-rajapaksas-defeat/
[1]in fukus media, India annexed
'incorporated' tiny Sikkim in 1975
hehehhe
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 16:16 utc | 18
[Mr. Rajapaksa was voted out of office in 2015]
typical murkkan cover up of fukusIndia shenanigans. [1]
Rajapaksa was ousted by a CIA/MI6/RAW op.
fukusI hate 'panda hugger' with a vengence.
Hardly did the new regime warm its seat when it started to roll back Chinese investments/
https://www.slguardian.org/raw-led-to-rajapaksas-defeat/
[1]in fukus media, India annexed
'incorporated' tiny Sikkim in 1975
hehehhe
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 16:16 utc | 19
Would be nice to do a price on these foundations and how they operate. Where their money comes from. Who sits on the directorships. Who makes the final decisions. What has been the results of their decisions.
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Jun 27 2018 16:20 utc | 20
17 sounds like India is out of the anti-China game.
India has been hurt not just by the imposts on steel and aluminum, but much more so by the crackdown on US visa holders, many of them service sector professionals. India has retaliated by raising levies on 29 US products, including almonds, apples, lentils, shrimp, phosphoric acid and a range of metallic items — which will come into force from August 4. On Tuesday, China fired a strategic salvo of sorts; in an attempt to assume leadership of an inchoate anti-US trade grouping, it has decided to relax tariffs on a range of products such as soyabean, chemicals, farm products, medicines, clothing and, not the least, steel and aluminum products for the benefit of India and Asia-Pacific countries.
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 16:29 utc | 21
@14 Somebody
"Ukraine is being sold to the Chinese,” says a Ukrainian executive in the agribusiness sector. “Politicians have taken the keys away from Russia and are handing them straight to China.”
Worth to note that China calls for returning of Crimea to Ukraine while did not join any sanctions against Russia and trade and political cooperation in SCO and bilaterally between them thrives.
Posted by: Kalen | Jun 27 2018 16:50 utc | 22
What the NYT is doing is projecting the USA policies (read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man) onto it's enemies.
If the NYT would have some ethics it would be reporting about Diego Garcia (John Pilger documentary), and how the native inhabitants a couple of decades ago were uprooted by the USA from their homes and island and transported to islands near Madagascar without their belongings. All so USA could build military bases in the Indian Ocean on the other side of the globe.
Posted by: xor | Jun 27 2018 16:53 utc | 23
its common knowledge in Sri Lanka that India played both sides in the civil war, helping the Sri lankan army to fight Delhi's proxy LTTE [1]
here's a bombshell,
In fact LTTE had the entire 7lies [5lies + mossad + raw] backing...
LTTE'S friends in high low places.
RAW, CIA, MI6, MOSSAD, CANADA, NORWAY....
a veritable gang bang.
[1]
exactly like in Nepal, where Indian 'helped' the army to fight Indian proxies , the Nepalese Maoists.
Indians operated the same M.O. like their anglo cousins in fukus, all cut from the same cloth.
p.s.
LTTE was the mother of all suicide bombers outfit
pro Beijing Rajiv ghandi was blown to smithereen at point blank, by a CIA controlled LTTE suicide bomber.
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 17:03 utc | 24
Around a hundred or so years ago....
This looks strategic, let's build a port city for you.
Here, try some of this opium as payment for goods, it's awesome. Try some, on the house.
Smoking more than you're exporting? No problems we can do it on credit. You're good for it i know.
.... sometime later....
Oh you can't pay? See those big gunboats in the harbor?
Yeah how about giving us free land and extra leases for 99 years...
Familiar?
See the Chinese learnt from the best and now having bide their time, did the sweatshop shift for the west over the last 40 years, they finally have the resources and is just running the same formula. The imperial west just got sour pussies that they are not the ones doing it this time.
Not saying is right, it is what it is and they are just doing what's right for them and everyone else can GTFO.
South China Sea, same deal. The west has had effective blockade control forever. It is true that peace come out of the barrel of a gun and stability can only come when there are guns pointing at each other's head and China is building those guns.
Posted by: A.L. | Jun 27 2018 17:15 utc | 25
SOMEbody 19
what you quote merely shows that India retaliate against murkkan trade war.
India is very good at playing both sides and getting the best of both world.
its currently in cahoot with fukus in overt [quad]and covert [destabilisations in Tibet/Apak/South Asia] war against China , at the same time its the biggest beneficiary of the AIIB bank. !
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 17:19 utc | 26
20 Not exactly. China decided to stay out of the conflict over Crimea. They don't call for anything.
Posted by: somebody | Jun 27 2018 17:32 utc | 27
somebody @14:
The Ukies were never the sharpest tool in the shed. They're grasping at any line thrown to them. It's rather sad to see their inept handling of the geopolitical game.
Posted by: Ian | Jun 27 2018 17:35 utc | 28
thanks b... nyt, wapo, wsj - all tools of the empire - spreading propaganda or manure as the case may be, for those thick enough to purchase it.. good way to follow what is going on, but requires a read between the lines..
@6 kalen quote "China follows US routine as US domination declines." that is kind of what it looks like to me too... i like the realism your comment demands... just how different is it going to be with a china as opposed to usa leading the world in however many years it takes?
Posted by: james | Jun 27 2018 18:15 utc | 29
@ guerrero - 4
I have been spending quite some times in sri lanka from 95 to 1010.
The problem was endemic but started for real in July 2003 when the Sinhalese government lets riot and mobs lynch about 2.000 tamils.
Then it did escalate, India and Tamil Nadu supporting.
The war then kept recurring and the LTTE used more and more suicide bombing, undiscriminate targeting in train and bus.
There were cease fire agreements soon to be broken. One surprise attack was on the harbour of Trincomalee (North East) a superb bay with deep waters.
The President Rajapaske when elected after the Tsunami took militry action, without entering in the details, a smarter and better army did éliminate the LTTE, killing all leaders in 2009.
Hillary Clinton, yes the one, tried to negociate their escape by the Red Cross.
In fact there was before that a proposition backed by the usual suspects: Eu, France UK, USA, to split the country between North and South.
When I saw the proposed map I was in no doubt that war would start again.
Tamils, quite an old diaspora, had a just cause, and I have been personally helping some. Not LTTE.
These experience has been for me a case study about Humanitarian Interventionism, bizarre NGOs, plain terrorists and racketters branded freedom figthers.
Now about Hambantota: project was decided after the devastating tsunami of the Box day 2004 (about 38.000 dead in SL).
I was there.
Project comported a lot of new individuals houses for the survivors, an international airport and the harbour.
The US bitterness is better understood if you consider that their first choice was the Trincomalee Harbour, and so were betting on this partition.
PS I have tried to make a long story short.
Concerning the Tamil Tiger they had a huge support in UK, France, USA and others were community was important and branded them "liberty fighters"
Posted by: Charles Michael | Jun 27 2018 18:19 utc | 30
Apart from the Imperialistic/ debt-slavery aspects, this revelation didn't make much sense to me. But Sri Lanka has a population of 22+ million which is similar to Oz's 24+ million and Oz has 6 or 7 major cargo ports and a few lesser specialised bulk raw material ports.
Reading b's 'Hambantota was built to handle other goods:' link in the 2nd par below the map, and not knowing much about sea-transport, it seems that the Hambantota concept of a transit port was an ingenious idea with great potential for growth of traffic and profit. It'd be interesting to discover if it was a Chinese or a Sri Lankan idea. But no matter whose idea it was, there would have been a helluva lot of research and door-knocking to bounce the idea off potential customers in order to present the Final Proposal as a viable commercial proposition. It now looks pretty smart, to me.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 27 2018 18:50 utc | 31
after all the saturation bombings by msm about genocide in Sri Lanka [just like what they did to Myanma], here's a pov from Sri Lanka....
http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=2401
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 19:18 utc | 32
james @29:
Is China even interested in leading the World? In my mind, a Multi-Polar World would entail multiple leaders. A single leader would mean we're back to the Unipolar World, which Putin has vowed to fight it's return.
Posted by: Ian | Jun 27 2018 19:43 utc | 33
India recently joined the SCO along with Pakistan. Maybe they are learning to get along with each other.
Posted by: Pft | Jun 27 2018 20:00 utc | 34
Instead of financing propaganda,some of these billionaires should pool a few billion together and preserve some natural habitats in these developing countries. Leave development to China and put their money where it could do some lasting good.
Posted by: Woogs | Jun 27 2018 20:29 utc | 35
My mY mY , the newspaper of record wants to make another splash again :-(
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attack-douma.html
We created a virtual crime scene to investigate this bombing
Sleuths those so-called journos when they can't be on the ground - so we have another gang à la Brown Moses !
Sources: We pored over dozens of videos and photos of the attack with academics, scientists and chemical weapons experts. We partnered with the research agency, Forensic Architecture, to create a virtual model of the crime scene and analyze how damage to the bomb’s casing related to the debris it scattered. We also scoured a portion of the visual evidence with the investigative group, Bellingcat.
And here comes Aron Lund:
https://twitter.com/aronlund/status/1011574061695143936
Enough to give the pipsqueaker Nikki Haley an orgasmic high at the UNSC
Additional work by Larry Buchanan.
Posted by: Yul | Jun 27 2018 20:37 utc | 36
The NYT shold be named " The Lie Express" or "New York Beobachter". Actually citing from it is frowned upon, because they even lie about the lies they lied about.
But od course the Chines is ripping everybody off, that why everybody wants to join OBOR, they want to be ripped off....
It is so fucking stupid, that it is only fit for American consumption, I will not even let my cat shit on it, it prefers Berlingske Tidende or Kvällsposten, two useless Scandinavian newspapers.
I have a bitter fight going on with my cat, so I have fallen so low I have started calling him Porky (You know who I mean), but he does not seem to mind. Why do you always loose quibbles with cats?
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Jun 27 2018 20:48 utc | 37
@somebody 27:
I remember China saying that, while the SCO charter calls for combating separatism, Crimea was a "special case".
As an add-on thought: While many reasons are assigned to Putin's not aiding Donbas more, the simple answer is that he is constrained by the SCO charter.
Posted by: Woogs | Jun 27 2018 21:24 utc | 38
Xor & 23
The Diego Garcia population clearance took place a bit longer ago than 20 years, it was 50 years. It wasn't the US that did the deed it was the Brits (still as now at times a useful colonial power) who moved the population off the island between 1968 and 1973 so that it could be leased to the US military.
Posted by: JohninMK | Jun 27 2018 21:44 utc | 39
@33 ian... yes, but money is doing all the talking... until that changes, i imagine it will be biz as usual regardless who is leading.. meanwhile the environment is screwed and we will be lucky to see another 100 years..
@35 woogs... some of them are.. i happened to note one of the canucks at the bilderberg meeting a month ago is a canuck, - ex google hi up guy and he bought some piece of real estate in between ottawa, montreal, toronto area with just what you have said in mind.. found his name - patrick pichette..http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Pichette
Personal life
Pichette now lives in London, and is married to Tamar Pichette.[3] He is involved in an important conservation and research project with Nature Conservancy Canada in protecting Kenauk - a 65,000 acre territory between Montreal and Ottawa. http://kenauk.com and http://institutkenauk.org.
Posted by: james | Jun 27 2018 21:45 utc | 40
@James 40: That's great and I wouldn't want to minimize the efforts of those that are doing something.
What caught my eye in b's piece, however, was Bill Gates name, and he and some of these other multi-billionaires that are trying to sway political events with their money. In the developing world, especially, that money would go a long way and would be timely as habitats need protection as development happens. The two really should go hand-in-hand imo.
Posted by: Woogs | Jun 27 2018 22:07 utc | 41
A very basic yet absolutely fundamental fact about the SCO is it works via consensus--it is multipolar itself. The basic philosophical rationales of the SCO, EAEU, CSTO, and BRI are the same in how they wish to operate and the goals to be reached. The Outlaw US Empire still seeks to establish Full Spectrum Domination of the planet--Trump's just mixed the playbook up so it looks a bit different from the domestic view. What's happening in the Eastern portion of Eurasia--from about Germany Eastward, excepting the Russophobic nations--is an awakening to the shared Xi/Putin vision of the possible--a resilient, sustainable, peaceful, prosperous, humanistic set of political economies/nations living together in a loose union/confederation. This is anathema to the "stoic defenders of Western Values" as Escobar terms them who've mostly been in charge since 1494--they're pissed because their Imperialistic Great God--Ares/Mars--is being jettisoned as this entire project is being done via freewill and peacefully: They're tearing their hair out in their utter despair and trying their best using the only tool they have to prevent the upsetting of their applecart. Thus the lies of the New York Times. Oh you can bet the national debt that they'd love to invoke the Red Menace since they have no way to compete with the philosophical rationale of the rising multipolar world. So, we see fits and temper tantrums, trade wars and sanctions--all no better than blanks in this competition. Indeed, such behavior merely confirms its's best to leave the debauched Old Order behind wallowing in its depravity.
Thatcher avowed: There's No Alternative! But there always was a better path, and the majority of the planet's people are beginning to follow it.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 27 2018 22:25 utc | 43
@karlof1 43: Very well put!! As nearly half of the world's population lives in SCO countries, look for the SCO' s gravitational pull to become stronger, displacing Western architectures. It will become the "sun" of our international political system while the West is relegated to the role of gas giant.
Posted by: Woogs | Jun 27 2018 22:55 utc | 44
Here in Austalia the so-called news media have had similar hysterical fits about the Chinese government building a wharf in Port Vila, Vanuatu, that's supposedly large enough to host warships and is presumed to be the foundation for a military base. Both China and Vanuatu had to warn the Australian government and news media that a military base was not being built.
But the rumour had to have come from an intel source and it is likely that Canberra uses such hysteria to warn countries like Vanuatu that it still regards the southwest Pacific region as its sphere of influence.
Posted by: Jen | Jun 27 2018 23:06 utc | 45
In the wake of the Arab Spring and problems in Syria, one needs to reassess the 1983 riots. It will not be surprising if this whole sordid affair was instigated from abroad and the blame thrust on the Sinhalese Buddhists who had nothing to do with it. Not surprisingly, the international media was present at the spot, ready to transmit to the world the riots as they happened, a privilege they did not offer when 75000 Sinhalese youth were killed revolting against an unjust economy perpetrated on them by the IMF and World Bank, and protesting against Indian hegemony.
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 23:40 utc | 46
surprise surprise...
The Macarthy style yellow fever pitch in Oz was imposed from the imperial court in Washington dc.
hehehheh
Posted by: denk | Jun 27 2018 23:44 utc | 47
Here's a portal to the recently concluded SCO Summit that I'm sure few have yet to visit. I suggest first reading the views of foreign officials and experts compiled at the top article.
There seem to be just two active Twitter feeds focused on BRI: Belt and Road Desk and Belt and Road Now. I haven't investigated them much. Here's a publication linked to several times by BRN Shanghai Business Review.
I just did a search at Portland's Powell's Books and found 50 entries by or about Xi Jinping, many in English. So, there's no shortage of resources to access to learn more about what's most certainly coming to our future. I find it all heartening and thus optimistic.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 27 2018 23:58 utc | 48
@karlof1
Powell's is fun, but next time, use Abebooks: I'm counting over 2000 about or by Xi Jinping.
Posted by: bjd | Jun 28 2018 0:09 utc | 49
bjd @49--
Thanks for the tip! For awhile, I've used alibris which I discovered after building a substantial part of my library via Powell's. So, there're even more sources to peruse! Have you read any of his works aside from his major speeches?
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 28 2018 0:21 utc | 50
Anthony Hopkins "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" pretty clearly exposed the nature of US imperialist capitalists.
Posted by: US Stinks | Jun 28 2018 0:35 utc | 51
Im banned by 'the conversation'.
these 5lies media are all the same, whining about censorship in China while practicing their own
btw,
Oz just 'pressure' Soloman island to renege on a contract with Huawei to lay undersea fibre cable.
Canberra is following washington's diktat to 'stand up to 'chinese influence'.
see the irony ?
Posted by: denk | Jun 28 2018 0:50 utc | 52
A.L. 25
[... sometime later....
Oh you can't pay? See those big gunboats in the harbor?]
Hallucinating ?
smoking some good stuff ?
[See the Chinese learnt from the best ]
Perhaps you've been under some rock all these years dude.
Here's a quiz...
Do you know who's crowned the 'fukus of Asia'
in this part of the world ?
Posted by: denk | Jun 28 2018 1:24 utc | 53
Christian @3 has it exactly right,
"While we spend money sending missile ships sailing around Chinese atolls in the South China Sea to flip them the bird under 'freedom of navigation exercises' they spend their money acquiring global assets."
and it's been going on like this for some time; the US wasting hundreds of billions each year on 'defense' and its absurd war debts, while many other nations are you know like actually industrializing, fixing up the old infrastructure and building the new, taking care of the mental and physical health of their citizens, and/or Greening their economies....you know like good stuff that any decent modern government should be doing for its people.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Jun 28 2018 2:04 utc | 54
@51
The author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman is John Perkins (not A. Hopkins).
Posted by: GoraDiva | Jun 28 2018 3:47 utc | 55
@54 michaelj72
Thank you. That's right, this is what sane people used to do.
We are in the anomaly, which is coming to its end. Specifics of this anomaly would include neoliberal economics as the handmaiden of neocon ambitions. An intellectual work-for-hire made as a cover for theft and corruption, essentially. Imperialism, disaster capitalism, predatory acquisition, plunder, piracy, and all the lies needed to float that pirate ship - no matter how untrue, they're all lies, right? So who cares? Who cares about truth, when truth is not the objective here? Plunder is the objective. Personal gain. Greed and satisfaction of hungers that only grow, and that by their nature can never be satisfied.
We have forgotten normal, sane and ordinary.
Let us take a moment. Time to remember.
~~
There are those who might argue that the anomaly is the normal, and that sanity is merely an ideal.
Let us take a moment for this mistaken argument also.
We will manifest the reality we believe in. And this will either accord with the observable dynamics of the universe, or it will perish.
Let us take a moment, to reflect on this greed and madness as it perishes from this world.
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 28 2018 5:14 utc | 56
2015 election in Sri Lanka (SL) which ousted President Rajapaksa was what you can consider as a "democratic coup" aided by the US state dept., Indian Government and the usual western backers. George Soros in fact invited to the 2016 Sri Lankan government economic forum.
In 2015 election, a senior minister from the Rajapaksa government, defected and ran against the Rajapaksa to defeat him. But the resulting government was not stable as was feared. Because it contained lot of incompatible people sharing power.
The result was a huge economic mess. And the corruption only increased with the Prime Minister (who handled the economy) himself was implicated in a huge corruption scandal just 2 months after forming the government. Some Chinese funded projects were suspended and some investors left the country. Despite that, the government gave huge salary increases to fulfill election promises and consolidate the power.
When the government ran out of hard currency, they took more and more loans to cover the expenses.
Little by little people started to notice the bad economy. And as a excuse, this government pointed the finger at the previous government.
The Chinese loans were a issue but it was not a serious issue as long as the economy was growing at a certain rate and as foreign investment keep flowing. But with a bad economy, debt payments became issue.
So the current government solution was to sell of the infrastructure.
Posted by: aka | Jun 28 2018 6:15 utc | 57
JohninMK39
I think you will find this handover of Diego Garcia to the U S from the English was actually done under great duress from the Americans . At the time informed observers here in Australia informed me of this - I have always been a little puzzled, in 1969 how adamant they were and how they knew at all .
Posted by: ashley albanese | Jun 28 2018 10:12 utc | 58
It is not fair, we are supposed to do it, not China!Who do they think they are?
Posted by: padre | Jun 28 2018 10:45 utc | 59
The U.S. government is made up of old, has been, cold warriors who do not recognise the sea change in the world and world trade.
The only tool in their kit is a hammer (a relic of when it was the sole super-power).
Obsolete thinking drives obsolete actions; which no longer work in today's world.
Witness BRI, SCO, BRICKS, and a failed AFRICOM.
China and Russia have outplayed the U.S. at every turn; simply because the U.S. thinks 20th century rules still apply; but utterly fails to join the 21st century where its opponents abide.
China's move in its South China seas was brilliant; buggered the U.S. completely; bluff and bluster are all that remains.
The squealing of U.S. oligarchs is nothing compared to what will be heard when the BRI has been completed.
Orwell's world will have been born...
Posted by: V | Jun 28 2018 12:10 utc | 60
Speaking of 'not noticing'- few people seemed to have noticed that China's built ports all along the coast of Mexico. Up till the 90's all that cargo was shipped through So. U.S. ports. Americans are too stupid to see what's going going to happen if they trash NAFTA - all those resources that they (don't know that they) depend on will instantly be diverted by Asian companies. And the Asians can pay more for it, too.
Posted by: Ralph Conner | Jun 28 2018 14:07 utc | 61
@60 Not sure who did the actual construction but I think you'll find the ports in question were financed by APM Terminals which is a Dutch company.
Posted by: dh | Jun 28 2018 14:20 utc | 62
" 'In May, Sri Lanka took a new $1 billion loan from China Development Bank to help make its coming debt payment.'
Are $5 billion big money for a country with some 22 million inhabitants? Not in this case."
"to help make its coming debt payment"??? Whether you think the amount is "big" or "not so big," It's still the same old EXTEND AND PRETEND. And that 15,000 acre grant (aka 99 year lease) of Ceylonese territory to a foreign "commercial imperialist?" nothing colonial about that?
Posted by: Fosforos | Jun 28 2018 14:21 utc | 63
@30 Charles Michael said:
"Hillary Clinton, yes the one, tried to negociate their escape by the Red Cross.
In fact there was before that a proposition backed by the usual suspects: Eu, France UK, USA, to split the country between North and South. When I saw the proposed map I was in no doubt that war would start again.
Tamils, quite an old diaspora, had a just cause, and I have been personally helping some. Not LTTE.
These experience has been for me a case study about Humanitarian Interventionism, bizarre NGOs, plain terrorists and racketters branded freedom fighters."
Thank you sir for your detailed reply. There is nothing like a first-hand account from on the ground.
Grieved @ 55
I could just hug you for that !!! You'v got a friend for life right here thank you! That is one of those wisdoms that rings like a bell. If people just stopped and took that on board the world would be a vastly better place. That sir is the speech of the century! I thank you.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 28 2018 16:35 utc | 65
China is doing capitalism better than the capitalists. The point of giving a big loan is not to get paid back, it is to wind up owning a chunk of what you helped finance.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jun 28 2018 16:36 utc | 66
#23 and #39
The British forced the people of Chagos out of the islands including Diego Garcia back in the early '60s when PM MacMillan and then afterwards Wilson bargained for and then persuaded the US to maintain the Polaris missiles in their possession against the Chagos Archipelago as well as the write-off of some $M on loan since WWII.
Wilson managed to do it by holding the Mauritian govt as hostage since the Mauritians were demanding their independence from the UK. To get the islanders off the island and to scare the S8t of them, the Brists poisoned and killed their pets , mainly dogs and these days even the unoccupied islands near Diego Garcia are verboten to yachts cruising nearby.
Posted by: Yul | Jun 28 2018 16:38 utc | 68
@54 michael... thanks for drawing attention to @3 christians comment and running with it.. i especially like how @56 grieved has responded to it as well... thanks everyone for that moment of sanity..
@68 yul.. thanks for the education on that bit of history..
Posted by: james | Jun 28 2018 16:46 utc | 69
It is so usual for the deep state to attribute its own crimes to its opponents that whenever I read an accusation I know that CIA has done or is doing that very thing. Or, having read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, I think of the great irony of the modern masters of debt enslavement accusing another country of debt enslavement.
Remember when the CIA-backed dictatorships would plant a bomb against the Communist left or assassinate a prominent critic and then accuse the victims of having planted the bomb and killed their own militants, government critics or innocent bystanders in order to "make the government look bad and create martyrs"? For example, the day after Monsignor Oscar Romero was assassinated, the right accused Cuba of doing it. In Venezuela, while I was there after the 2004 coup, it was routine for the opposition to call for a protest in a park, arrange the TV cameras, and have some thugs wearing red berets shoot a demonstrator right in front of the cameras.
Posted by: Diana | Jun 28 2018 18:07 utc | 70
I broadly agree with you but I think it is also important to note that China requires that Chinese firms and Chinese workers are the ones hired to build the infrastructure which ends up doing very little for the local economy. IMO it's a lose lose preposition, with the loans from the IMF being the much worse option. If any of these countries understood how banking really works they would never take out loans in any foreign currency and as long as they were able to minimize the amount of materials that they needed to import for projects like this they could do it entirely by printing money. Loans in foreign currency is just neocolonialism no matter who is doing the lending.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521915001477
Posted by: UserFriendly | Jun 28 2018 20:38 utc | 71
US is losing on all fronts.
That's why Trump wants to meet and talk to Vladimir Putin.
One issue is Ukraine, which is to the point of collapse and US would like to throw it back to Russia. EU is backing away. They are guilty as they supported the coup. And now they do not like the results and EU is having a trade war with US and needs Russia.
Russia wants US and EU to cough up the money needed to reconstruct Ukraine and hopes it will not completely collapse til the end of the year, because in 2019 the NordStream II is operational and Ukraine becomes IRRELEVANT.
In Syria, the war is lost for US/Israel.
In NK : the deal was done by China, Sk, NK and Russia.
The Donald came to a meeting ,in the end, because, again, US LOST.
Russia is building :
-a railway NK_SK , which will be linked to the Trans Siberian and Europe
-a highway ( is already started) to connect NK and SK
-and a pipeline
Both NK and SK are being linked to OBOR.
Without US.
So , you see there was no genial strategy from the Donald.
But, Russia, China, NK and SK ( the adults) let the bully and the brainwashed Americans think it was.
The Yemen war is not doing well.
The Afghan war : same, the Talibans are gaining territories.
Iraq is fighting directly in Syria now and there is an operation room in Baghdad , where recent talks between Russia, Syria,Iran and Iraq took place.
And now US is trying to obtain something for nothing.As usual.
Only I do not think they have too much to offer. Maybe to promise not to create more havoc.
Does anybody believes US anymore?
PS : anybody interested , I just published a long post about Obama vs Trump.
The Houthi fighters portrait in the next 2-3 days.
https://me582.wordpress.com/
https://artisticexpressions394454247.wordpress.com/
Posted by: veritas semper vincit | Jun 28 2018 21:06 utc | 72
"Loans in foreign currency is just neocolonialism no matter who is doing the lending."
Worth quoting again for Truth
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jun 28 2018 21:21 utc | 73
ralphieboy @73--
Not necessarily so; it depends on the terms of the loan. For example, it might be repayable in the debtor nation's own currency, which is what China seems likely to do in most cases as it's no different from commerce using national currencies, which is all the rage now to avoid the Outlaw US Dollar. As Keynes noted, the grand mistake of Bretton Woods was to allow one currency to become dominant at the expense of all others. I rather doubt China and its many partners will allow that mistake to be repeated as it's actually detrimental to their plans.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 28 2018 21:54 utc | 74
Posted by: veritas semper vincit @72
"The US is losing on all fronts. That's why Trump wants to meet and talk to Vladimir Putin."
Your analysis nails it, I think.
@ralphieboy (66)
Exactly. It's just like the Marshall Plan.
Posted by: bjd | Jun 28 2018 22:05 utc | 76
@veritas semper vincit (72)
Me, personally -- I thought during the World Cup Football in Russia, the US would attack Iran; Russia (great chess players) would be prepared for that and would plan an invasion of Ukraine.
Might still happen (World Cup still going), and might even happen as a mutual trade-off.
Anyway, I haven't looked seriously into any of these scenarios, so take it with the proverbial grain of salt as I'm talking from the back of my neck.
Or am I?
Posted by: bjd | Jun 28 2018 22:15 utc | 77
Posted by: Grieved @56
"There are those who might argue that the anomaly is the normal, and that sanity is merely an ideal.
Let us take a moment for this mistaken argument also.
We will manifest the reality we believe in.
And this will either accord with the observable dynamics of the universe, or it will perish.
Let us take a moment, to reflect on this greed and madness as it perishes from this world."
I have followed the battles around donesk and in siria in the context of what i know about ancient greek and roman warfare, the austerlitz campaign, the battles of tannenburg and so on... Lately, I have found myself wondering (- this is right in line with Grieved's metaphysical observations) if these battles of Aleppo, Damascus, Daras and Idlib. won't turn out to be the very LAST singular battles in the illustrious history of human warfare, altogether putting an emphatic exclamation mark (!) at the end of all insane and archaic military practices.
"We are in the anomaly, which is coming to its end. Specifics of this anomaly would include neoliberal economics as the handmaiden of neocon ambitions. An intellectual work-for-hire made as a cover for theft and corruption, essentially. Imperialism, disaster capitalism, predatory acquisition, plunder, piracy, and all the lies needed to float that pirate ship - no matter how untrue, they're all lies, right? So who cares?"
No one cares. Apparently only the Universe really care. Still, that might be enough.
China is doing capitalism better than the capitalists.
The point of giving a big loan is not to get paid back,
it is to wind up owning a chunk of what you helped finance.
Posted by: ralphieboy @66
Exactly. It's just like the Marshall Plan.
Posted by: @76
I don't think so. Capital injection into productive sector comes back in the form of working
people spending their wages; with physical infrastructure improvements as a residual benefit.
Et Al--
The Marshall Plan was done primarily to stimulate the US economy, then help rebuild--only--Western Europe and buoy the rightists it reinstalled in liberated nations. It was extremely selfish as one might expect coming from the Outlaw US Empire. Remember, the Outlaw US Empire was consuming more than 60% of global resources while only having 5% of global population, and its policy was to keep it that way for as long as possible. It's important to learn the USA has never been an altruistic nation when government policy's examined--it's always been take, take, take, and then take some more.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 28 2018 22:58 utc | 80
BJD @ 77: Highlight 16 July 2018 in your diary then: FIFA World Cup final in Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow) takes place that day as does also the meeting between the Presidents of Russia and the US. The tennis championships at Wimbledon will have finished the day before.
While the two distractions are in process, and people in the UK are still celebrating after Wimbledon and possibly looking forward to seeing England play in the World Cup final, Ukraine may try invading the Donbass again and the Netherlands seizes on the 4th anniversary of the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 to bash Russia again.
Posted by: Jen | Jun 28 2018 23:47 utc | 81
"Highlight 16 July 2018 in your diary then: FIFA World Cup final in Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow)
takes place that day as does also the meeting between the Presidents of Russia and the US."
Which nations will play on the big stage in that final dramatic match?The match was made in heaven. Mexico and Russia go to penalty kicks.
¡Ay yai yái!
dh | Jun 28, 2018 10:20:36 AM | 62
Not important who funded the ports.
What's important is whos's using them; in this case China.
Posted by: V | Jun 29 2018 0:16 utc | 83
@83 Important to the funding party I would think since they expect some return on their investment.
No doubt China will be using the ports since they use ports everywhere else.
I'm not sure what the Mexican government expects out of it. Trump is talking about a new NAFTA deal so maybe they hope the new ports will make them less dependent.
Posted by: dh | Jun 29 2018 0:55 utc | 84
The Deep States Marshall Plan had a number of goals IMO
The Plan’s emphasis on intra-European cooperation laid the groundwork for future multinational European organizations, such as the European Community and European Union
It was an offensive measure intended to destabilize already established Soviet authority in Eastern Europe. They claim the Plan was meant to offer these countries an ideological choice between Soviet communism and American capitalism
It provided for a measure of US economic control and political control among participants, and provided funding for CIA covert operations that included propaganda and influencing elections.
Obviously it helped American businesses and financial institutions
Most important, it basically turned the Cool War that began with the Truman Doctrine into a Cold War . Stalin saw right through it. Talks initiated by Stalin for a unified Korea were broken off, and a little known section of the Act for funding to China allowed for the suspension of funds to the ruling KMT , which allowed China to go communist so that the Cold War could embrace Asia.
Without the Marshall Plan and the Deep State forces behind it, its possible the Cold War , Korean and Vietnam Wars never happen, and that Maos Red China never was.
Curiously, my quick attempt to google the actual act only provided summaries. I might try later. Maybe my google skills are failing.
Posted by: Pft | Jun 29 2018 1:50 utc | 85
"'China's financial imperialism"
Uh, "it takes one to know one."
Posted by: ben | Jun 29 2018 2:06 utc | 86
V | Jun 28, 2018 8:10:01 AM | 60
I would change my comment @60, from "Orwell's World", to Mackinder, Mahan, and Spykman's world.
Posted by: V | Jun 29 2018 3:12 utc | 87
A better commentator than the NYT on the Chinese Belt Road Initiative and associated maritime projects is Pepe Escobar. From the outside it does appear to have win-win prospects especially compared to the US foreign policy of turning countries into rubble if "we" don't like them. The devil is in the details of the financing which I don't have privy to. Very few countries realize that if they have their own currency, they can create the money needed for financing these infrastructure projects themselves. Then they can control who does what and create the biggest benefit for their own countries. Some of these projects do require knowledge and capabilities that only large foreign companies have.
Posted by: gepay | Jun 29 2018 3:21 utc | 88
...
So , you see there was no genial strategy from the Donald.
...
https://me582.wordpress.com/
Posted by: veritas semper vincit | Jun 28, 2018 5:06:11 PM | 72
Thanks for the warning but I took a peek anyway.
It's too long, too unfocused, and too Messianic...
i.e. too much use of "The ONLY way" & "There is ONLY one way"
Trump has learnt something that veritas semper vincit has yet to grasp, acknowledge or explore...
There are few, if any, problems with only one solution.
That's the foundation of Trump's philosophy and success.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 29 2018 5:03 utc | 90
@78 Guerrero
Forgive me...the "blockquote" tag is used to quote someone else, not you. To make your own comment you simply type what you wish to say, without any formatting. You quote other people using the blockquote.
I encourage you to keep your comments coming. I hope you take this advice as part of the encouragement :)
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 29 2018 5:22 utc | 91
@ Grieved with his encouragement to Guerrero
I also find it useful to use block quotes around words that I wish to give a new/bigger/contextual meaning. Sometimes we need to extend concepts from one area into another because of English language limitations.
Yes, Guerrero, continue to contribute in whatever quality of English you can muster and us MoA barflies will try our best to comprehend and ask questions when we don't.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 29 2018 6:13 utc | 92
On financing the Sri Lankan port; this from Sputnik;
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-06-21/quick-take-china-makes-final-payment-for-99-year-lease-on-sri-lankan-port-101274353.html?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=pc&utm_campaign=Hezuo&utm_term=sputnik-en
It seems China made the final payment on a 99 year lease.
Posted by: V | Jun 29 2018 7:40 utc | 93
@ ben #86
"'China's financial imperialism"
Uh, "it takes one to know one."
That is the point: they are beating the Western capitalists at their own game because they are better at planning and thinking over the long term and are not driven by quarterly earnings reports.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jun 29 2018 8:30 utc | 94
@Pft 9850
And don't forget the communist resistance had built up quite a favorable reputation with their principled stand against fascism, in Italy and Holland. These powerful political reputations had to be nipped in the bud.
Posted by: bjd | Jun 29 2018 9:34 utc | 95
@81
'...people in the UK are still celebrating after Wimbledon and possibly looking forward to seeing England play in the World Cup final....'
Hopefully, for the rest of us in the Disunited Kingdom, this will not come to pass. We will never hear the end of it, no matter the outcome! The sooner they go out, the better!
Posted by: Bevin Kacon | Jun 29 2018 10:07 utc | 96
I get measles from people suggesting that a country just needs to print money to finance a large infrastructure project. Printing excess money is not a solution for anything, it is just stealing from those who earned it and from the future generations that will need to produce something to cover the extra amount of money in the circulation and get less value for what their labor.
Effectively, printing money = taxing in a more nasty way.
The problem with printing money is that all states uses it heavily, but just as with tax they seldom decide to use proceeds in a productive way. US uses this trick the most because US$ is a reserve and petro-currency, which means that a large portion of stealing goes against foreigners. And what do they use that stolen value for - to finance the war machine for stealing more.
Tax looks honest and long-term stable compared with printing money. A country which prints is on the way out.
Posted by: Kiza | Jun 29 2018 10:36 utc | 97
Kiza | Jun 29, 2018 6:36:41 AM | 97
Spot on post.
The U.S. is the leading example of the reserve currency, bankrupting itself, by printing money ad infinitum, for its MIC, thus impoverishing its population.
RIH USA...
Posted by: V | Jun 29 2018 10:44 utc | 98
Thanks V.
Telling a government (of bankers) to print more money is like telling a junky - here is a way to print an endless supply of heroin.
Posted by: Kiza | Jun 29 2018 11:22 utc | 99
Kiza | Jun 29, 2018 7:22:22 AM | 99
Indeed, you got it.
When will the rest? Sorry, rhetorical question... ;-)
Posted by: V | Jun 29 2018 11:37 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
- What about "US financial imperialism" ?
Posted by: Willy2 | Jun 27 2018 11:45 utc | 1