India had an option to accept the invitation extended by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the Belt and Road Forum meeting in Beijing on May 14-15. Modi, in turn, had an option to depute a dignitary – a cabinet minister or a special envoy – to represent him. …
Continue reading India Waits for Trump to Revive Obama-Era Policies
At the two-day New Silk Road international forum in Beijing, President Xi Jinping set out to establish China as the flagship of a new, benign trade-focussed world order. This was, said Xi, a “new model of win-win and cooperation” that will prevail over gunboat diplomacy. At the start of the conference, China’s state broadcaster Xinhua …
History will record the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing marked the juncture where the 21st century New Silk Roads assumed their full character of Globalization 2.0, or “inclusive globalization,” as defined by President Xi Jinping in Davos earlier this year. I have dealt with the monumental stakes here and here. Terminology, of course, remains a minor …
Continue reading Putin Aligns with Xi in Crafting the New World (Trade) Order
China's Belt and Road summit has begun—and its outcome will put another nail in the petrodollar's coffin Marcellus’ famous one-liner to Horatio—“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”—could be updated in 2017 as “something is rotten in the state of the Union”. Does anyone else find it odd that one of the broadest geo-economic projects in recent …
Continue reading US in Denial as Beijing Lays Groundwork for New Economic Order
Let’s cut to the chase. China’s new ‘Silk Road’ initiative is the only large-scale, multilateral development project that the 21st century has seen so far. There is no counter-offer from the West. Which is why the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, starting this Sunday in Beijing, is being set up as a …
The Chinese government newspaper, Global Times, made public that a Hong Kong-based company called Frontier Services Group (FSG) will build two operational bases in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Xinjiang and Yunnan provinces are at the heart or geographical pivot of China’s vast, developing One Bridge, One Road high-speed …
Continue reading Beijing Hires Princely Fox to Guard their OBOR Henhouse
Andrew just returned from Pakistan's National Defence University where he was lecturing on the geostrategic significance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and he's eager to share his insight with Sputnik's readers. The world order is going through profound changes in transitioning from the Western-controlled unipolar system to the non-Western model of multipolarity, and the ongoing multifaceted friction between the opposing forces …
Continue reading What’s CPEC, and How Does the Future of the Multipolar World Depend on It?
Ask anyone on the streets of Kabul about the revolutions that in recent years transformed huge parts of Latin America, and the chances are you’ll encounter a blank stare. Perhaps mentioning Cuba could evoke at least some recognition, but definitely not Venezuela, Ecuador or Bolivia. I know because I tried on several occasions, and I …
Continue reading Afghanistan in Ruins: ‘Small’ Western Propaganda Lies, Huge Impact
Two notable events of late March of this year on the European and Asian continents provide a good reason to once again turn to the current state of China-EU relations. The main issue here revolves around the EU Rome Summit that was conducted on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the document …
Continue reading Will the New “Great Silk Road” Connect Europe and China?
