Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
By Tom Phillips in Tashkurgun for TheGuardian.com, May 11
The ‘Belt and Road initiative’ could see hundreds of billions spent from Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand to Turkmenistan and Indonesia to Iran
also see the followup story @ The Guardian
China's Xi lays out $900bn Silk Road vision amid claims of empire-building
By Tom Phillips in Beijing, May 14
Global leaders attend ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure summit to praise plan Xi Jinping says will bring a new ‘golden age’ of globalisation
Comments
NYTimes' Business Day on same:
Behind China’s $1 Trillion Plan to Shake Up the Economic Order
By Jane Perlez & Yufan Huangmay from VANG VIENG, Laos, May 13
and then there's Boomberg:
Xi Opens China Globalization Forum With $78 Billion Pledge May 14
by artappraiser on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 4:35am
Clueless deceptive articles that ignore the damage that's been done with Han expansionism and despoiling natural beauty whether the Karakorum, Laos, Pakistan... There's no mention of past projects, nor more than a brief scribble over displacing Uyghurs to claim every place a Chinaman's walked or sailed as part of China. What seems like could pull together cultures ignores China's treatment of Tibet and Xinjiang, shutting down the speaking of native languages and ignoring the rights of people who've long been there, instead creating multiple Disneylands connected by rail for the amusement of Chinese tourists.
Why no mention of how well the Qinghai line (opened in 2006) has helped Tibet?
From the Economist:
Gone so swimmingly they approved a new line from Chengdu (Sichuan) to Lhasa in 2016 to open in 5 years, though they may actually complete early. Sure, a cookie-cutter model to carry to the rest of the world - what could go wrong?
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 7:27pm
Ah, Tashkurgan - nothing illustrates the complex conflicted intricacies of progress like the Million Man Army doing morning exercises to The Sounds of the Seventies Whistled piped through the whole town at 6am. I still can't hear "Feelings" without breaking into laughter.
Other than that, turning the desert around Kashgar into rice paddies and destroying the winding passageways of the old city with lots of standard fare Chinese high rises and big squares and orthogonal layouts and simply enough concrete to build several reactors gives an idea how unattractive this approach may be to countries that aren't occupied. Ditto for Urumqi and Lhasa, et al. Combine that with heavy immigration of Han Chinese, and it will be as welcome as Republicans welcome Mexicans or China welcomed Tamerlane. Even payoff money can't cover up the reality of an invasion. And China's been doing so well in international policy up to now.
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 1:55pm
Both very good comments PP. I just don't have a lot to add. Nod, nod on this whole thing especially lots of standard fare Chinese high rises and big squares and orthogonal layouts.....the whole "culture killing" thing, pave paradise and put up a parking lot...throw in "central planning" even if not commie, many still rue the legacy of small-ish regional equivalents like Robert Moses...
but mostly what pops into my mind is "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way"
by artappraiser on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 5:27am