Posted on 04/23/2021 1:05:35 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
Empire building has long relied on bullying and deception, as well, of course, as a ruthless willingness to take advantage of the hopes and fears of vulnerable peoples. Britain built its great empire on a clear military advantage but even more so on the ability to leverage the eagerness of local leaders to seek protection from and advantage over their neighbors. The mob, in Brooklyn or Chicago or wherever, bullies and intimidates, but gains its advantage mostly by offering help to those in need. As the saying goes, “borrow from the mob, and they own you.” So it is with China’s Belt & Road project. It is as if Chairman Xi Jinping first read British history and then turned to Mario Puzo.
Chinese propaganda describes the project as building on a fabled past. As did the “Silk Road” followed by Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, the Belt & Road will connect China over land to Europe and the Middle East, as well as to Africa. Unlike the original Silk Road, this new effort will have a maritime aspect to connect China to Australia and the western Pacific, as well, perhaps, as to India. According to the plans coming out of Beijing, it will exceed the old Silk Road in yet another important way. The original was simply a way to get products back and forth between east and west. The Belt & Road will constitute what Beijing describes as “economic corridors” through which goods will move but also in which China and cooperating countries will acquire complementary economic specializations.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Let’s belt em and kick their ass on down the road.
Bkmrk
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In the history of the earth, there has only been ONE Sugar Daddy Uncle Sam.
Benevolence is not a dominant trait.
As I learned hanging out down in the gutter; nice guys finish last.
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