Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Rob Long ·
Jun 16, 2010 at 11:10am
Bringing democracy to Afghanistan is a good thing to do. (It had better be. It's cost us a lot of scratch.) But shouldn't it be a good thing to do for Afghanistan?
So why are the Chinese getting rich?
I hate to be crass (actually, I don't really hate to be crass), but where's our slice?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
When has the United States ever asked for a slice?
May '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
This is one of the points that John Derbyshire continually makes. I don't always agree with his views on foreign policy, but I think that asking "What's in it for us?" is a legitimate question.
I don't know what we get out of it. A stable Afghanistan, free from terrorists? An ally rich in opium and rocks? From a self-interested point of view, I'm not sure.
Jun '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Afghanistan is a democracy? How can that be when it's not even a nation? Afghanistan is a tribal badlands inhabited by feuding clans. No one gets rich. The wealth will be looted by whatever kleptocrat has the most guns. Don't sweat it if America doesn't get a slice. Afghanistan is nothing but a tar baby.
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Hmmm. Afghanistan may indeed be a nasty place, but apparently it's got some loot, too. Which would be nice to have a little taste of, as mobsters say. Or at least, not totally hand it over to the Chinese.
Jun '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Okay, Rob, I suggest we round up da boys and go into bidness. Let the Chinks invest, and den we sell dem insurance. "Nice lithium mine you got here, Mr. Wu, shame if someth'n got broken." Den we hire us some locals try a little hijacking. How 'bout we open some opium dens? Opium dens with hookers from eastern Europe! Someone's gotta service dem miners.
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
˜Paules:
I like your scenario. The percentage business is a pretty good business. But, seriously, I'm talking about a royalty deal. Happens all the time with natural resources.
Jun '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Rob:
I understand the nature of mineral royalties. I live in a western state dependent on them to fund state government. But royalties are dependent on contracts, and contracts need the rule of law before they are enforceable. You think the Taliban are going to honor contracts? They neither respect nor want modernity. You've heard of the so-called blood diamonds? You'll see a civil war over this new wealth only with multiple factions and better weapons. No thanks.
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
˜Paules:
I agree with you. I guess I'm just thinking more abstractly. The Chinese are making giant moves in Afghanistan -- and the rest of Central Asia -- and essentially profiting from the (relative) stability we're paying for and delivering. Maybe in the end it'll be the Chinese who are the chumps, if, as you suggest, whoever controls the region refuses to honor any contracts. But right now, in the most crass way possible, it feels like we're the ones wearing the chump hat.
May '10
Re: Making the world safe....for the Chinese to get rich.
Well of course, we don't want to be called "imperialists" by Susan Rice.
But you have to admire the Chinese. They are willing to step out- they bought an iron mine in Minnesota, tried to buy SoCal, bought IBM's PC business. They are not pushing Cap'n Trade- even those vaunted "green energy investments" are facilitization and capitalization of photovoltaic factories so they can sell us what we need for our green energy program goals (meanwhile, of course, they like crazy for oil).
Selling us the noose-rope..... but we elected these people.