Debilitating debt traps by IMF and World Bank destroying African and Latin American countries

 The 'debt traps' used by the USA and the West via the IMF and World Bank had marginalized Argentina and to a lesser extent Indonesia among others, like Pakistan and Bangladesh. This predicament is not lost on the rest of the world.

AIIB was set up to provide an alternative for Asian countries to finance their infrastructure development, hence the name 'Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank'. This puts it in direct competition with the IMF and World Bank.

There have been claims by certain countries that the IMF prohibit its loans to be used for infrastructure development. I do not know if this is true. The IMF and World Bank just wants to extend loans to poor countries to induce a 'debt trap' that these countries find it hard to get out of. Forced devaluation of the victim country's currency was the modus operandi of the West to control the ever-unpayable debts.

That the West still had a strong hold on countries in Africa, Latin America and Middle East is not divorced from the fact that most of these poor countries have taken loans from the IMF or World Bank and have to follow the stringent conditions dictated by the West via the IMF and World Bank.

In that context, the BRI also extended loans to poor countries to build infrastructures for progress and uplift their living conditions, which is in competition with and contrary to what the IMF loans are generally for, which is buying weapons to fight wars created by the USA. That is why the BRI is being demonized by the USA and the West as 'debt traps' for poor countries. Fancy that!

Anonymous

Being friends of the Americans is fatal

 The number of catastrophes inflicted by the USA, on itself and others, is mind boggling. And that it is coming from the USA is unthinkable.

Just take the recent sanctions on Russia alone, which is killing Europe's industrial reputation in one fell swoop. Not only that, the economies of the EU countries are also going downhill and sinking like the Titanic. Instead of Russia suffering or collapsing, it is the EU that is taking the hit. And the USA is laughing all the way to the bank, with its oil and gas sales to the EU at exorbitant prices, and Europe's manufacturing being lured to the USA using subsidies. Talk about taking advantage of another's misery.

The Chips war is going to kill off the Chips Alliance. It is a blessing in disguise for China, as otherwise it will always be subject to blackmailing in the chips sector by the USA, Japan and South Korea. China has been forced to be self-reliant and is prioritizing its chip ventures. Never bet against the Chinese when they start to be serious about any new venture. China will dominate the chips sector the same way they dominated EVs.

However we look at it, or think about it, the Chips Alliance can never fulfill its objective of stifling China. When China controls the raw materials, the advantage of manufacturing scale and the domestic market, who can compete on the global market that it is also moving into? Remember that China controls the rare earth supply and processing facilities which the Chips Alliance does not have that big supply chain advantage.

But those Europeans, with their incurable stupidity, never learn. It is an irony that Africans are learning fast from their past under colonial rule, but the Europeans, supposed to be more intelligent and more advanced than the Africans are really turning into zombies. And that is never more evident than having leaders like Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock and Ursula von der Leyen leading their country or region.

The same can be said of the USA itself. Just imagine two dementia tainted rusty old dinosaur are the best they can find to run for President from a country that is touted to have the best education facilities in the world. Oh, lest I forget, the best that came out of those highly touted Universities are almost always foreign students, not locals to be realistic. And they cannot be part of 'the cream of the crop' for the political establishment to choose from.

Even then, such talents may be accused of spying for China, in research facilities, academic institutions and in Government, at the whims and fancies of the USA Government. The moment those countries that these students came from are rising to compete with the USA, they are targeted. It does not matter whether they are from China or India. That is the reality and must not be forgotten.

Anonymous

Japan is fast becoming the 'Sick Man of Asia'. Karma works in mysterious ways

 'The Sick Man of Asia' was how the Japanese looked down on China. Today, Japan is fast becoming the 'Sick Man of Asia'. Karma works in mysterious ways indeed.

Thirty long years of stagnation after the asset bubble burst of 1992, Japan never managed to recover. There were frequent bouts of stimulation that resulted in Japan having the biggest debt to GDP ratio in the world. Those stimulations did not help.

There was the much-touted adoption of Abenomics with much talked about arrows to stimulate the economy, that also failed miserably. We now have Kishidanomics where the Japanese Government tried to move away from their zero-interest rate environment, which resulted in even more problems with the Yen sinking even further down the sewers. The stupid Japs still tried to play the hero by rising to become the top holders of US Treasuries. Japan is suffering just like the Germans being taken to the cleaners by the USA by trying to follow their dictates.

Today, Japan is facing even greater problems with its economy apart from the sinking Yen ha. Economic sectors that they had dominated over the decades had earlier been cannibalised by South Korean and now by Chinese manufacturers.

Consumer electronics which Japan was the kingpin after having destroyed USA and Western manufacturers was to be in turn decimated by South Korean manufacturers, which in turn is falling into the hands of the Chinese. Japanese cars that were to dominate Global Vehicle sales years ago has also been falling to Chinese carmakers.

Japan is in a desperate situation. And a desperate Japan is a dangerous animal if we look back towards the two World Wars.

Anonymous

Anglo-Saxon Imperialist would have gotten rid of the Blacks in Africa

 The Anglo-Saxon Imperialist would have gotten rid of the Blacks in Africa had the Blacks not been the majority race in all of Africa. By sheer weight of numbers, the Blacks were able to mount rebellions against colonial rule.

This was when outside help from Russia, China, Cuba and even North Korea were instrumental in their anti-colonial fight. The Blacks survived, unlike the Native American Indians fighting their own battles. Today there are more than 1.4 billion Blacks in Africa. There is nothing the Anglo-Saxon Imperialist can do to overturn the table.

China also had a large population to confront the Anglo-Saxon Imperialist during the Opium War era, and China too managed to survive. Today China is free of the shackles of Anglo-Saxon tyranny, and Africa is following suit. Very soon the Muslims in the Middle East will do the same. That is why the USA and the West need Israel to survive as that is their only outpost left to control the region.

Today, Russia and China are still helping Africans to free themselves from the evil clutches of the devil. In fact, China is doing much more today than in the past, building infrastructures like roads, rails, ports, airports besides building joint ventures in mineral extraction and passing on expertise to the Africans.

One thing though, the UK is intent on sending migrants to Rwanda, probably hoping to do a revival of its fortune. Little Britain and Little Sunak, as George Galloway calls him, is having big plans when the UK is now just a little poodle hiding behind the USA, squealing when the USA tells it to.

Anonymous

Blinken's trip achieved nothing

  Blinky's trip to China achieved nothing. China is not going to cut off trade with Russia, nor is China cutting industrial overcapacity. China even warned Blinken that it is either 'co-operation or confrontation' on the cards. In other words, China is ready to work its way around the financial sanctions that Yellen had threatened earlier.

Any financial sanctions against Chinese Banks will backfire. China's trade with partners will, in the face of such financial sanctions, be all denominated in Yuan, putting additional pressure on the US$ and assisting de-dollarization. It is going to make the Yuan more prominent in China's trade with the Global South and other countries in BRICS. Russia has shown China that sanctions on its banks and cutting off its relations with the Western banking system have not stopped Russia from growing.

Could this escalate into what the West is doing with Russian assets in Europe and USA? There are indications that this might happen as the USA is desperate and at a loss as to how to deal with China. China sold off another US$22.7 billion of its treasury holdings in February 2024, bringing down its holdings to US$775 billion.

Countries and Investors are watching closely the US$300 billion belonging to Russia, that the West has frozen and threaten to confiscate, and any attempt to officially seize it is going to have serious consequences for the USA. Even more consequential is when the USA and the West starts to do the same to China's assets in the West, which will likely trigger the demise of the US$. No country outside US allies will ever again want to invest in US treasuries and assets in the USA and the West. And some of those countries will instead park their reserves in Chinese banks and institutions.

Prepare for an elephant fight that the rest of the world will suffer in one way or another.