Thread: Eurasia Topics

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

When you've spent years stealing from foreign countries, you put yourself in a position of economic strength.

Speaking about (please no names here)?

State of the Union: Trump says China 'theft' of US jobs and wealth must end



https://www.straitstimes.com/world/u...ealth-must-end

Well they got one thing right.

Everything indicates that the Middle Eastern Summer will be hot

BRI transport projects to benefit global economy, says World Bank



"Transport infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative have the potential to "substantially" boost trade and reduce poverty in participating economies, as well as to generate a positive impact for the wider global economy, said a report released by the World Bank Group on Wednesday.To achieve the full potential of the BRI, the report called for joint efforts from China and other participating economies to adopt deeper policy reforms, and adhere to high quality standards of transparency, environmental, social and debt sustainability.

"If fully implemented, BRI transport infrastructure can reduce travel times for economies along transport corridors by up to 12 percent, reducing trade costs," the report said, after assessing the network of proposed transportation projects in about 70 countries along land and maritime BRI corridors that connect Asia, Europe, and Africa.

The full implementation of proposed projects is estimated to increase trade by between 2.8 and 9.7 percent for economies along the corridors. For low-income corridor economies, foreign direct investment could rise by as much as 7.6 percent, said the report.

Non-BRI economies will also benefit from access to improved rail links and ports in the participating economies, raising trade worldwide by between 1.7 and 6.2 percent.

Increased trade is expected to raise global real income by 0.7 to 2.9 percent, not including the cost of infrastructure investment, according to the report.

Moreover, around 32 million people could be lifted out of moderate poverty as a result of the initiative, with another 7.6 million to be lifted from extreme poverty, mostly in corridor economies, the report said.

The report－which aims to help policymakers in developing economies weigh the potential prospects of participating in BRI projects－also pointed out that the initiative entails risks common to large infrastructure projects.

The study finds that among the 43 low and middle-income participating economies for which detailed data are available, 12, with already elevated debt levels, could suffer a deterioration in their medium-term outlook for debt sustainability.

"This highlights the risks associated with BRI, but risks can be mitigated with appropriate policies," Michele Ruta, an economist with the World Bank who led the study, said in a written interview with China Daily.

"Assuming sound public investment management, favorable financing terms, and continued growth dividends, the BRI's impact on debt sustainability could be positive over the long term," Michele Ruta, an economist with the World Bank who led the study, said in a written interview with China Daily.

There is thus a need to enhance the transparency of the terms and conditions of BRI projects and improve recipient economies' ability to assess these conditions, Ruta said, adding that the improved fiscal frameworks and regulatory environments of recipient economies will also help.

The report prioritized transparency as one of the three core principles that BRI participating economies should comply with to maximize benefits and mitigate risks brought by the initiative.

Specifically, it called for more public information on project planning, fiscal costs and budgeting, and procurement to encourage community involvement and build public trust in investment decisions.

The other two core principles are to deepen country-specific reforms and multilateral cooperation.

From 2013 to 2018, direct investment by Chinese enterprises in economies involved in the BRI had exceeded $90 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 5.2 percent, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Li Qiang, regional co-managing partner of Asia at DLA Piper Global Law Firm, said Chinese investment in economies involved in the BRI is helping to fulfill the huge potential of bringing mutual benefits, citing the importance for Chinese companies to sharpen their skillset of communicating with local communities."

BRI transport projects to benefit global economy, says World Bank - Chinadaily.com.cn

China hosts conference to promote AI ethical standards



"BEIJING-China is keen on ensuring that ethical standards take hold in the booming artificial intelligence industry, says Chen Xiaoping, director of the Robotics Lab at the University of Science and Technology of China.

As AI is increasingly seen as a significant source of productivity and opportunities, the discomfort or even pessimism regarding the technology cannot be ignored, according to the leading AI scientist.
Last year, Chen was asked to set up the Professional Committee for AI Ethics under the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, China's state-level AI association, and to draw up AI ethics guidelines.

According to Chen, the industry's capacity to put in place ethical guidelines lags far behind its rapid technological development.

So, how do you balance the improved production efficiency brought about by automation with the social costs of the unemployed who lose their jobs?

The stronger AI's abilities, the greater the responsibility those using the technology shoulder. So, what should they ask themselves?

And how do you apply AI technology to help solve major social issues such as upgrading industry, an aging population, uneven distribution of resources and unbalanced economic development?

To deal with these issues, Chen has proposed a new task: to develop an entire system of AI ethics, with ethical guidelines and a set of operating mechanisms to realize them.

At the Global AI Technology Conference in Nanjing of East China's Jiangsu province in May, Li Deyi, CAAI director and academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said he had great expectations of the AI ethics committee and was expecting contribution from overseas experts as well.

Osamu Sakura of Japan's University of Tokyo and Center for Advanced Intelligence Project said attitudes to autonomous technologies, including AI and humanoid robots, differ between the East and the West. And comparative research should be conducted in East Asia.

Wendell Wallach, a leading AI ethics expert from the United States, said self-driving cars provide a good metaphor. Technology is moving into the driver's seat as a primary determinant of human destiny, and people need to think more about the trade-offs entailed in AI technologies.

Wallach, from Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics where he chairs technology and ethics studies, said the International Congress for the Governance of AI is to be held in April 2020 and he looks forward to the participation and engagement of Chinese researchers.

Chen shared his opinion on drafting ethics rules, suggesting that the guidelines should play a role on three levels.

The upper level is the basic mission of AI, which will remain unchanged for a long time.
The middle level is ethical rules, guided by the mission. When ethical rules are applied to specific AI applications, these are the basic level, the compulsory codes of practice, including technical norms, product standards, and industry regulation.

Chen said the mission of AI ethics should be about maximizing benefits, rather than just putting restraints on what can be deployed. It's about directing the technology to improve the condition of humanity and reducing risks and undesirable consequences, and especially solving major social issues.

The CAAI's plan to draft ethics guidelines drew attention from foreign and domestic counterparts. And, Chen said that AI research leaders in tech companies or associations including the China Robot Industry Alliance and Berggruen Research Center of Peking University have expressed support for his plan.

Jeroen Van den Hoven, a professor of ethics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, said he and Wallach agreed that the US and Europe should have more communication and cooperation with China in AI ethics research. And given the important role of AI in the lives of people, international collaboration is going to be essential, he said."

China hosts conference to promote AI ethical standards - Chinadaily.com.cn

A quick wig change option is available for the gender adventurous.

China, Italy launch modern railway R&D center in Turin



"A modern railway R&D center was launched Tuesday in the northern Italian industrial city of Turin by CRRC Tangshan to enhance bilateral railway transportation technology collaboration and innovation.

The CRRC Tangshan Italy Modern Railway Transportation Technolog Joint R&D Center will be affiliated to Blue Engineering, an Italian company set up in 1993 and thrived in the fields of automotive, railway, aerospace, marine and information and communication technologies.

In 2016, three Chinese companies -- CRRC Tangshan Co., Ltd, China National Transportation Equipment & Engineering Co., Ltd, and GenertecItalia -- invested in Blue Engineering, taking 60 percent, 15 percent and 5 percent of stake respectively.

Dario Gallina, president of the Turin Entrepreneurs Association, said at the ceremony that the launch of the research center is a recognition by CRRC of the competence of Blue Engineering, adding that it will benefit other related companies in the industry.

His views were shared by other guests, among them Turin Mayor Chiara Appendino, Piedmont region President Alberto Cirio and Turin Polytechnic University Rector Guido Saracco.

Wang Jun, vice-president of CRRC, said the R&D center will help give new momentum to Italy's development by providing better job and development opportunities.

As the world's largest supplier of rail transit equipment, CRRC has already set up R&D centers in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, South Africa and Turkey.

Li Bin, minister counsellor for economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Italy, and Song Xuefeng, Chinese consul general in Milan, also attended the ceremony with around 500 other guests."


China, Italy launch modern railway R&D center in Turin - Global Times
China, UK pledge more cooperation on BRI, support for multilateral trade system




Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (L back) and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond attend a joint press conference after the 10th China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue held in London, Britain, June 17, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)


"China and the United Kingdom held a new round of economic and financial dialogue in London on Monday, pledging to strengthen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and support the multilateral trade system.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond co-chaired the 10th China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, with extensive discussions ranging from macroeconomics and global economic governance, trade and investment, big project partnership to financial reform and financial market development and cooperation in new areas.

Both sides produced 69 mutually beneficial outcomes and signed cooperation documents on third-party market cooperation, financial services and other areas.

Hu called on the two countries to implement the consensus reached between their leaders, work with each other more on the BRI, closely coordinate their macroeconomic policies, and expand trade and investment partnership.

"China and the UK should foster new highlights in financial cooperation and improve global economic governance to inject new vitality to our bilateral relations," Hu said.

Hailing the fruitful cooperation since the first economic and financial dialogue, Hammond said the UK has unique advantages in participating in the BRI and will be ready to boost trade, investment, finance and energy cooperation with China.

The UK will work with China to safeguard multilateralism and multilateral trade system, Hammond said.

Following the dialogue, Hu and Hammond attended a joint press conference, after which Hu also met with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

On Monday morning, prior to the dialogue, Hu and Hammond attended the launch ceremony of the Shanghai-London Stock Connect, under which Shanghai-listed companies can list on the London Stock Exchange via Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) issuance, while British companies can issue China Depositary Receipts (CDRs) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The launch of the mechanism marks a crucial step in China's capital market opening-up and a major part of the China-UK pragmatic cooperation in the financial sector, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Monday.

Nanjing-based Huatai Securities became the first Chinese company to list in the UK via the long-awaited mechanism."

China, UK pledge more cooperation on BRI, support for multilateral trade system - Global Times

Myanmar's economy to grow at 6.5 pct in current fiscal: World Bank

Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/6/20 10:42:05

---

"Myanmar's economy is expected to grow at 6.5 percent in the fiscal year 2018-19 (October-September), said a report of the World Bank carried on state media Thursday.

"Growth continues to be broad-based, supported by the industrial and service sectors. Industrial activities revived, supported by strong performance in the garment sector and construction activities," said the World Bank's Myanmar Economic Monitor Building Reform Momentum Report launched on Tuesday.

"Acceleration of the reform agenda as envisioned in the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan, along with targeted public investment and private sector participation, will lead to a consolidation of macroeconomic stability and help Myanmar maintain its momentum and meet its long-term growth targets," said Gevorg Sargsyan, head of the office of World Bank Myanmar.

With growth expected to rise to 6.7 percent in 2020-21, the World Bank report projects a positive outlook for Myanmar's economy despite a deteriorating global environment, due to accelerated implementation of reform, infrastructure spending and investment in sectors such as wholesale and retail, insurance and banking that are undergoing liberalization.

The external risks to the economic outlook include slowing global and regional growth and escalation of trade tension and possible revocation of preferential European Union market access, the report said.

The report estimates Myanmar's inflation to stabilize at 6.6 percent in the medium term, saying that inflationary pressure could increase due to volatile global energy prices and the possibility that the government may raise electricity tariffs to bring them in line with the cost of power production.

"There are signs that market sentiment is rising due to the new laws being passed and starting to be implemented," said Hans Anand Beck, a leading economist with the World Bank Myanmar.
In the power sector, the report argues that Myanmar needs to invest twice as much and implement projects three times faster to meet growing demand. "

Myanmar's economy to grow at 6.5 pct in current fiscal: World Bank - Global Times

Originally Posted by OhOh

Only the Chinese would do such a thing eh.

Oh FFS Omo could there be just once when you don't obfuscate? Sorry, I beg your pardon, the obvious answer is no. Carry on.

It was in reply to one of 'arry's. Rebuttal subdues others to think he has knowledge to back up his fake news.

Originally Posted by OhOh

It was in reply to one of 'arry's. Rebuttal subdues others to think he has knowledge to back up his fake news.

Don't be fucking silly you snivelling chinky sycophant.

Posting state propaganda off China Daily isn't "rebuttal".

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Don't be fucking silly you snivelling chinky sycophant.

Posting state propaganda off China Daily isn't "rebuttal".

....as opposed to Eurocentric state/corporate sponsored propaganda, heh Harry?

Originally Posted by HuangLao

....as opposed to Eurocentric state/corporate sponsored propaganda, heh Harry?

Fuck off Jeff.

Modi wades into Eurasianism

Posted on June 17, 2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR



"The Bishkek Declaration, issued after the summit meeting (June 14-15) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation devotes one sentence praising China’s Belt and Road Initiative: “The Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan reaffirm their support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and praise the results of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (which was held in April 26).”

India kept aloof. Any surprises here? Not, at all. In broad daylight, India had been shouting and screaming from the roof top that the BRI was no good, that it led to ‘debt trap’. India’s condemnation of the BRI was so impolite bordering on crass rudeness in the pre-Wuhan era with then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar once even called Chinese President Xi Jinping by name at an international conference in New Delhi and counselled him as to how to go about executing his pet project.

But times have changed. Neither did India block the Bishkek Declaration nor did other member countries try to shove the Chinese project down the Indian throat. They didn’t even have to agree to disagree. The fact of the matter is that India’s condemnation of the BRI got toned down to criticism over time and incrementally mellowed to a deafening silence through the past year or so. PM Narendra Modi paid no attention to the BRI in his speech at the SCO summit.

Modi preferred instead to work on the “Wuhan Spirit”, conveying to Xi Jinping at their “extremely fruitful” meeting in Bishkek on June 13 that in the period since April last year, strategic communication between the two countries has “improved” at all levels and in that context only some of the long-pending issues such as Masood Azhar’s designation as global terrorist could be resolved.

Curiously, when the Indian media insists that it is the ubiquitous Americans who swung the Azhar designation for India by coming down hard on Beijing, Modi gives credit to the India-China strategic communication! The winds of change are palpable. To quote the Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, “So we see this (Modi-Xi meeting in Bishkek) as the beginning of a process after the formation of government in India, to now deal with India-China relations from both sides in a larger context of the 21st century and of our role in the Asia-Pacific region in this regard.” (Transcript)

The SCO summit has been an eye-opener. Modi had two outstanding ‘bilaterals’ — with Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin respectively and they highlight that India’s relations with these two countries have been put on a high trajectory. Modi and Xi are to meet thrice during the remaining six-month period of the year alone — plus, of course, Xi’s expected informal summit with Modi sometime in autumn (in Varanasi?).

Equally, Modi has accepted the invitation from Putin to be the Chief Guest at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September and the two leaders are also to meet each other at Osaka at the G20 Summit and at the BRICS summit. Indeed, Putin is also due to visit India this year for the annual summit and there is also some talk in the air regarding another “informal” summit.

Without doubt, the little-noticed vignette out of the SCO summit is that the leaderships of Russia, India and China have agreed to have a trilateral meeting within the RIC format, too, alongside their summits on the bilateral track. And, the venue will be the Osaka — on the sidelines of the G20 summit (which will be attended by President Trump and where a galaxy of western leaders is expected.)

If international diplomacy indulges in symbolism, this must be one of the most poignant ones in world politics in the recent times. The RIC has always been a red rag for the US — ever since the great Soviet strategic thinker and Kremlin statesman Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov first proposed the tantalising idea in 1999. The profound symbolism cannot be lost on Trump that India is consorting with the two “revisionist powers” on the planet (Russia and China) which, according to the US, are each working its way toward making a power grab on the world stage.

The SCO summit in Bishkek becomes defining moment in India’s foreign policy. Modi has wetted his toes in Eurasianism. His disenchantment with the “defining partnership” with the US can only partly account for it. The crux of the matter is that Modi is taking Indian diplomacy away from its obsession with geopolitics and making it a handmaiden of his national policies. Both Xi and Putin sense this.

The Xinhua report on Xi’s meeting with Modi harps on geoeconomics. Equally, one of the highlights of the Putin-Modi meeting is the Russian invitation to India to get involved in cooperation in the Arctic. Now, China also happens to be a key partner country for Russia to create a “Polar Silk Road” in the Arctic Sea. Beijing has announced that China would be pursuing investment across the Arctic Route to encourage commercial shipping through Russia’s Northern Sea Route as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

This is indeed a massive undertaking involving investment programs worth trillions of dollars, which will go toward connecting Asia and Europe by sea to promote more trade between the continents. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that

"China is breaking into Arctic transport through a joint venture between the country’s biggest ocean carrier, Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., and its Russian counterpart PAO Sovcomflot to move natural gas from Siberia to Western and Asian markets.”

The report adds, “The new venture will ship liquefied natural gas from central northern Siberia’s gargantuan Yamal LNG project to a laundry list of destinations including Northern Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China. The initiative will begin with a fleet of a dozen ice-breaking tankers, and Cosco’s China Shipping LNG Investment Co. will reportedly operate another nine tankers.”

Foreign Secretary Gokhale disclosed at his media briefing in Bishkek that Modi has decided that India should engage with Russia in the Arctic region oil & gas “and we have already began that engagement. A delegation from Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has already had discussion with the Russian side last month and this is something that the leaders felt we should take forward.” The Russian Deputy Prime Minister and the Special Representative of President Putin for the Arctic region, Yury Trutnev is arriving in India on June 18 for talks in this regard. The Indian-Russian Strategic Economic Dialogue, which from our side is headed by the Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, will take place in July.

Suffice to say, the big picture that emerges out of all this is that Modi is connecting the dots and creating synergy between India’s strategic communication with China and Russia respectively. It is an audacious strategy but holds infinite possibilities. Consider the following.

China-Russian entente is rapidly developing into a quasi-alliance. On the other hand, India’s relations with Russia have not only recovered from the neglect of the UPA era but are blossoming into a truly strategic partnership attuned to the 21st century, thanks to the warm friendship between Modi and Putin. Succinctly put, Russia is uniquely placed to help strengthen the incipient signs of the Wuhan Spirit maturing into an enduring strategic understanding between India and China as two emerging powers with great many common interests.

The fact that Modi and Xi exuded confidence to accelerate the negotiations for a border settlement alone underscores that the Russia-India-China triangle has become very dynamic. Truly, the RIC summit in Osaka provides underpinning for the concert of the three Asian powers. To be sure, the West won’t like what is happening. "

https://indianpunchline.com/modi-wad...o-eurasianism/

Discords with US are more than moving parts in a transactional relationship

Posted on June 20, 2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR


"The Indian analysts view US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s forthcoming visit to New Delhi early next week through the looking glass of the ‘tariff war’ between the two countries and / or India’s purchase of the S-400 anti-ballistic missile system from Russia. However, this gives a tunnel vision. The point is, there is the much bigger question of where the defining partnership between the two countries is heading to.

For the US, the trade disputes or India’s S-400 deal with Russia are not just moving parts in a transactional relationship. There is a complex combination involved here. Take trade issues. Without doubt, a long-term perspective is called for, since contradictions are arising not because of any wilful actions but due to the wider changes in the international system as such.

Major historical shifts are taking place in the global power balance and the Western domination of the international system is drawing to a close. Countries such as China and India are steadily reviving, shaking off the stagnation of the colonial era. This is prompting an overall rethink in the US’ attitudes. What is unfolding has parallels in modern history. (See the essay titled A Manufacturing War Between the UK and Germany in the 19th Century Set the Stage For Today’s Trade Crisis.)

Thus, in the case of China, more hardline approaches are already quite visible. We should note carefully the controversial remark made recently by Kiron Skinner, the director of policy planning at the US State Department (and a Harvard-educated foreign affairs specialist), that Pompeo’s team is developing a strategy for China based on the idea of “a fight with a really different civilisation” for the first time in American history.

“This is a fight with a really different civilisation and a different ideology and the United States hasn’t had that before. The Soviet Union and that competition, in a way it was a fight within the Western family,” Skinner said, noting Karl Marx’s indebtedness to Western political ideas. “It’s the first time that we will have a great power competitor that is not Caucasian,” he said.

When it comes to India, however, the paranoia has not reached anywhere near to this point. The US assumption still remains that it is possible to win India’s acquiescence to the so-called liberal international order that came into being in the post-World War 2 era, characterised by a set of rules and institutions in order to legitimise the American dominance of the international order. But the US is getting impatient with India’s perceived ambivalence.

The point is, President Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ emanates out of the premise that the surge of countries such as China and India poses formidable challenges to the preservation of the US hegemony. Thus, a more nationalistic and unilateralist US foreign economic and strategic approach has appeared. And India too will come increasingly in the US crosshairs if it insists on maintaining its strategic autonomy.

In this backdrop, two elements in the recent testimony by Alice Wells, the Senior Bureau Official for South and Central Asian Affairs in the US State Department before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Asia in Washington on June 13 become noteworthy. In her written statement about the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, Wells said:

“At the same time, the United States, alongside India, Japan, Australia, and other trusted allies and partners, will support the political and economic autonomy of the Indo-Pacific countries to ensure they can chart their own path to freedom and prosperity as satellites to none. We cannot allow China, or any other country, to subvert our partners through unsustainable push economies into unsustainable debt, or by contributing to an erosion of transparency and democratic norms.”

Indeed, this viewpoint is diametrically opposite to what PM Modi had outlined in his landmark keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue last June in Singapore where he had said that as far as India is concerned,‘Indo-Pacific’ is not a strategy. Modi instead called for an inclusive approach to regional cooperation where India attributed centrality to the ASEAN.

Furthermore, elsewhere during Wells’ testimony, she also spoke about India-Russia strategic relations. Expressing deep concerns over India’s decision to procure five squadrons of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems, Wells said the purchase could limit burgeoning India-US military relations. She added that the induction of the new long-range air defense systems “effectively could limit India’s ability to increase our own interoperability,” and the US has “serious concerns” about the long-term strategic implications of the purchase for the bilateral ties between the US and India.

Then, came a stunner. Wells said, “At a certain point, a strategic choice has to be made about partnerships and a strategic choice about what weapons systems and platforms a country is going to adopt.” Two things emerge out of Wells’ testimony. First, the US stands in the way of any improvement in India-China ties that is not in conformity with the dynamics of the US-China relations. Second, the US sees Delhi’s S-400 ABM deal with Moscow as an assertion of its strategic autonomy.

Meanwhile, according to reports lately in the Indian press, the US may consider India’s inclusion on the US’ International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which would put India on par with America’s NATO allies for the export of high-level military technologies including ballistic missiles, drones, spacecraft systems, nuclear weapons simulation tools, and directed energy weapons, et al. Through such legislation, Washington would hope to fasten India firmly to its ‘Indo-Pacific vision’ while also induce India to roll back its military partnership with Russia."

https://indianpunchline.com/discords...-relationship/

Oh fuck, hoho's found another whackjob website.

Expect a flurry of bollocks until he gets bored with it.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

whackjob website.

The sites has already been honoured on TD, keep up. You must be tired after your trip.

Any comments on the two article's contents?

Originally Posted by OhOh

The sites has already been honoured on TD, keep up. You must be tired after your trip.

Any comments on the two article's contents?

You posting a load of bollocks from a new whackjob website you've found counts as being "honoured" does it?

How wonderful that BRI is turning out. Whilst those nasty western banks require such unreasonable things as cost benefit analysis and other due diligence from Montenegro, the Chinese have no such qualms in supplying another debt trap.... Another road to nowhere.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKBN1K60QX

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

How wonderful that BRI is turning out. Whilst those nasty western banks require such unreasonable things as cost benefit analysis and other due diligence from Montenegro, the Chinese have no such qualms in supplying another debt trap.... Another road to nowhere.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKBN1K60QX

Hoho will be along in a minute to tell you how this debt diplomacy raising the living standards of the country receiving the loan. Of course he always fails to mention that this only applies to the crooked fuckers that took backhanders to accept the absurd debt and conditions in the first place.

A Chinese loan for the first phase has sent Montenegro’s debt soaring and forced the government to raise taxes, partially freeze public sector wages and end a benefit for mothers to get its finances in order.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Another road to nowhere.

You would prefer to keep it a nowhere place or allow them to try and improve their lot?

The Europeans have failed to raise a fellow European countries population for 50 years and intend to keep Montenegro as a begging bowl/source of cheap labour allegedly another 20 years.

A different country, which has a track record of improving it's citizens lifestyles dramatically, is willing and able to invest in a development scheme which may lift it's million or so citizens out of poverty. Unemployment has gone from 30+% to now 15%.

Montenegro has mineral wealth to dig, utilise and export. A link to Serbia will equally allow Serbians and other landlocked and ignored European countries, goods a new market and it's citizens to benefit.

You either allow the locals to earn a living where they are or they migrate to other European countries in a now politically unacceptable way or by them walking though the forests and mountains illegally.

But as is illustrated by some here we know historically what has occurred but are unable to allow some to take a risk to improve.

Some appear to believe the western method of rape and pillage, illustrated by it's failed state now, should be adopted. The world has seen through that lie and is changing.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

forced the government to raise taxes, partially freeze public sector wages

I suspect there aren't many Chinese citizens in the Montenegro government, cabinet, ministries or parliament, voting these policies through.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

end a benefit for mothers

Possibly the "mothers" need to stop pushing more out, until they can afford them

Originally Posted by OhOh

You would prefer to keep it a nowhere place or allow them to try and improve their lot?

The only ones whose "lot" is being improved are the ones trousering the bribes from the chinky parasites, you fucking imbecile.

The rise and rise of Bangladesh


Posted on July 10, 2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR



Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, center, and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina review an honour guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, July 4, 2019.The Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent official visit to China on July 1-6 highlights a new template in regional politics — the rise of Bangladesh as regional power.

Last year Bangladesh outstripped India as the fastest growing economy in South Asia — at 7.3%. Hasina has set the compass to navigate her country to the status of a middle income country by 2021 on the path to ‘Sonar Bangla’ and a developed country by 2041.

To my mind, the three main ‘takeaways’ from Hasina’s China visit are: one, Bangladesh is stepping up its participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-ER); two, Bangladesh’s receptiveness to boosting cooperation in the digital economy — what President Xi Jinping called the ‘Digital Silk Road’ dovetailing with Hasina’s blueprint of ‘Digital Bangladesh’; and, three, China’s promise to facilitate the ‘early, safe and dignified return to Myanmar of the displaced people who have entered Bangladesh from Rakhine State’. (The joint statement issued after Hasina’s China visit is here.)





Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 5, 2019.

China appears satisfied with the sound momentum of the bilateral relations and feels reassured about Bangladesh’s independent foreign policies. Beijing is comfortable with Hasina’s pragmatism — perceived as ‘pro-India’ but staying out of Indian orbit and receptive to forging close ties with China and yet, siding with neither neighbour.

There’s really no contradiction here since Hasina’s focus is unwaveringly on Bangladesh’s economic interests. China appreciates Hasina’s disinterest bordering on indifference toward the ‘great game’ in the Indian Ocean with Washington pushing hard to extend its cold war in the South Asian region.
Fundamentally, China anticipates that ‘Sonar Bangla’ is a dream that may come true. Bangladesh with a market of 170 million people offers to China huge untapped potential for economic cooperation, investment and trade. If Bangladesh keeps growing rapidly, the economy will need better infrastructure, more investment and technological support. And China can provide loans and technology transfer and be a key partner in the construction of infrastructure projects in fields such as transportation, power distribution and telecommunication.

Equally, China factors in the potential of Bangladesh as a gateway to the Indian market, the last frontier in Beijing’s regional strategies. Against this backdrop, India needs to rethink its South Asian strategy. Clearly, it will not serve Indian interests to bandwagon with the US’ new cold war agenda in South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The recent rebuff to the aggressive US move to force Colombo into a security pact underscores that the regional states in South Asia are following the trajectory of the ASEAN countries in refusing to identify with the US’ containment policies toward China. The elected governments in the South Asian countries prioritise their development agenda. They seek an external environment that is conducive to growth and development and give primacy to regional security and stability.

India could play a leadership role. But aberrations have crept in. In Sri Lanka (2015), Indian diplomacy tasted blood by collaborating with the Anglo-American project at ‘regime change’. The ensuing headiness led to a failed project to transform Nepal as a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (2016-18) — with disastrous consequences. But then, a replay in the Maldives (2018) met with success — although the arrangement in Sri Lanka unravelled.

Does it make sense for India to practise from the American rule book in Latin America? The US’ neo-colonial practices in Latin America are riveted on a weighty mercantilistic agenda. From banana plantations to copper mines to oil fields, from Argentina to Mexico, US multi-national corporations are driving the US policies in Latin America. On the contrary, Indian diplomacy is indulging in esoteric pastimes, marking time. The Colombo leadership that succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015 didn’t award a single major project to India. Meanwhile, the US used India as a door mat to make inroads into Sri Lanka. And the result is Sri Lanka has been seriously destabilised, thanks to intrusive US policies.

China is a stakeholder in the security and stability of South Asia, which borders some of its own least developed regions. And India should take a fresh look at the BCIM – EC. In a dispatch from Beijing on the meeting between Xi Jinping and Sheikh Hasina on July 6, the Hindu newspaper’s veteran foreign corespondent Atul Aneja wrote:

“After flagging last month (June) the revival of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) during talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek, Chinese President Xi Jinping joined visiting Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to accelerate the project with New Delhi’s support… The revival of Chinese interest in the BCIM-EC in coordination with India was evident when Mr. Xi singled out the project as an example of expanding the India-China ties, which had entered a “new phase” after the Wuhan informal summit held last year in April, following last month’s talks with Mr. Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek.

“In tune with China’s intent to engage with India to spur the BCIM-EC, President Xi and Prime Minister Hasina acknowledged that “the initiative would have to be revived working together with India,” the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported on its website.”
The BCIM-EC should be a test case of the efficacy of the ‘China-India Plus’ concept of cooperation that Beijing has been advocating. There is much that can be achieved for strengthening regional stability if India were to join hands with China. The Rohingya crisis is a case in point.

Why can’t India and China adopt a joint approach? In fact, the US is playing devious games on the Rohingya issue. On Monday, at a press conference in Dhaka, Hasina tore into the explosive proposal floated recently by the US Congressman and Chairman of the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Brad Sherman to the effect that Bangladesh should annex the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Hasina hit back: “This is a flagitious and unjustified proposal. It is never acceptable… we are happy with our 54,000 square mile or 1,47, 000 square kilometre territory… Fire has engulfed wherever they (US) gave hand … peace didn’t come anywhere and militancy and unrest were created. We are trying to maintain peace in the region but there are efforts by them (US) to light fire … it’s never acceptable.”

https://indianpunchline.com/the-rise-and-rise-of-bangladesh/

PM slams US congressman’s proposal to annex Rakhine


PM slams US congressman?s proposal to annex Rakhine | theindependentbd.com

Trump’s volte-face on Pakistan is a moment of truth for India


Posted on July 11, 2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR





A Taliban delegation led by Abdul Ghani Baradar (centre) visited China recently, according to Beijing.

The announcement in Washington on Wednesday regarding Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’ visit to the United States cannot but be noted as a watershed event in regional politics.

At its most obvious level, the announcement coincides with the news coming out of Doha that the US and Taliban have resolved their differences over the four issues that were discussed through the seven rounds of talks in the Qatari capital — counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, a ceasefire and intra-Afghan talks.

Taliban’s chief negotiator Abbas Stanekzai told reporters in Doha on Monday, “We do not have any disagreement with Americans. Only there is the draft [agreement] which needs to be finalised. When it is finalised, we will share it with media.” The White House announcement on Wednesday signals that a draft peace agreement between the US and the Taliban regarding US troop withdrawal and ceasefire is indeed ready for signature in the near future.

Alongside, the rival Afghan sides have also come up, following the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha on Monday sponsored by Qatar and Germany and under the watchful eyes of American diplomats, with a ‘road map for peace’ which aims ‘to reduce civilian casualties to zero’.
The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has left Doha for China en route to Washington. Clearly, Beijing played a key role in the peace talks and the visit of Taliban leader Mullah Baradar to Beijing last month probably became the turning point in the negotiations in Doha. This underscores once again the growing complexity of the US-China ‘rivalry’, which we in India blithely tend to overlook at times.
Within six weeks of the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, making wholesome condemnation of China as a ‘revisionist power’ that the US is determined to counter on all fronts (in league with partners such as India), we have the curious gesture by Khalilzad to show appreciation to Beijing as an indispensable interlocutor for bringing the ‘endless war’ in Afghanistan to an end and to create conditions for the orderly withdrawal of US (and NATO) troops from that region. Indeed, it is an incredible spectacle of how priorities shift in the US diplomacy when its self-interests are involved.

The heart of the matter is that President Trump’s invitation to Imran Khan goes way beyond a show of token gratitude for Pakistan’s cooperation in making the peace agreement with Taliban. Actually, Pakistan has not made any major concessions on its Afghan agenda. It simply facilitated the peace talks by leveraging its influence on the Taliban. The Pakistani objective of restoring the Taliban to mainstream Afghan politics — highly likely with a lead role — and creating ‘strategic depth’ vis-a-vis India is very much intact.





Make no mistake, the leitmotif of the US-Pakistani rapprochement is that a new regional security paradigm is taking shape. Pakistan is being assigned a pivotal role to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be a ‘lab of terrorists’ (to use Trump’s words) threatening the western world. Pakistan is hugely experienced in handling its relations with the US and it will of course make sure that the US reciprocates — politically, financially, militarily.

If Trump had praised India as the ‘critical part’ of his unfolding Afghan strategy in August 2017, he is now replacing India with Pakistan in a most curious reversal of roles in South Asia’s regional security paradigm. The White House announcement says explicitly that Imran Khan’s visit will ‘focus on strengthening cooperation between the United States and Pakistan to bring peace, stability, and economic prosperity to a region that has seen far too much conflict.’

It goes on to say that the US is meeting Pakistan’s longstanding demand for a wide-ranging, full-bodied relationship on par with US-Indian relations, ‘including counterterrorism, defense, energy, and trade.’ More importantly, in what can only be regarded as a veiled reference to the Kashmir issue and India-Pakistan tensions, the White House says that the US will keep in sight ‘the goal of creating the conditions for a peaceful South Asia and an enduring partnership between our two countries.’
To be sure, Washington has marginalised India and ignored its sensitivities regarding the Afghan situation by choreographing the post-war scenario in Afghanistan almost exclusively with Pakistan (and China.) And, yet, India-US relationship was supposed to be one between ‘natural allies’ and was described until fairly recently as the ‘defining partnership’ of the 21st century.
From the Indian perspective, therefore, Trump’s invitation to Imran Khan to visit the White House is a bitter pill to swallow. At best, it can put a brave face on the colossal setback to its regional policies during the past five years, which stubbornly refused to engage Pakistan in dialogue, strove to ‘isolate’ Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism, regarded Afghanistan primarily as a proxy war with Pakistan, refused to regard Taliban as an Afghan entity and fantasised an Indian-American convergence over regional security in regard of Afghanistan.

Clearly, when it comes to Afghanistan, Pakistan is Washington’s preferred partner, while India’s assigned role will be to serve as a doormat for the US’ containment policies against China, bandied about as its ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’. The Indian foreign policy elites owe an explanation as to how this bizarre situation came about. The entrenched Sinophobia in the Indian mindset has clouded rational thinking.

The emerging regional security scenario thoroughly exposes the myths shrouding India’s ‘defining partnership’ with the US and scatters the delusional thinking that what is quintessentially a transactional relationship rests on the bedrock of ‘shared values’ and ‘common concerns’ between the two countries. It was never really an equal relationship based on respect and trust or transparency — leave alone strategic convergence.

In retrospect, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative through the last year and a half to build a warm personal relationship with President Vladimir Putin with a view to revive the India-Russia relationship that was systematically atrophied as a matter of Indian policy during the past decade (with an unspoken agenda to give more ballast to the budding military ties with the US), and to expand and deepen the strategic communication with China following the Wuhan summit with President Xi Jinping with a view to improve India-China relations came not a day too soon.

That providential transition — for which wide acceptance is still lacking within our strategic community — significantly enhances India’s capacity today to adjust to the emerging US-Pakistani entente over post-war Afghanistan.

https://indianpunchline.com/trumps-v...uth-for-india/

Originally Posted by OhOh

Since Iran refused to be provoked, Britain made a false allegation that Tehran made an abortive attempt to “intimidate” a British oil tanker.

It seems neither you nor the window licking author of this rabid nonsense understand how many countries track shipping activity in this strait down to a floating coke can, making it impossible to invent imaginary Iranian skiffs.