delphiandomine
10 Feb 2021 #1891
and we need to all wake up to the threat.
Yes, a lot of it is incredibly clever as well. They come in with very cheap loans and generous repayment terms, offering to build critical infrastructure as long as their companies are involved. Once the infrastructure is built, they've got a stranglehold on the local economy through very long term concession. I think Sri Lanka has done this with their ports?
A brilliant example is the motorway they're building in Montenegro now. Montenegro is essentially now in the position that if the motorway doesn't pay for itself, then they're going to end up having to mortgage some of their most important assets just to pay the bills.
IMO, the Americans need to use their economic power to start doing exactly the same. It's not too late, and your average third world dictator will be delighted to play off the superpowers against each other. Even in Europe, there's a lot of infrastructure that could be built by the Americans in that way - for instance, a tolled Kraków-Banská Bystrica-Budapest highway would really help this part of the world.
Leaving Serbia and Montenegro to the Chinese was an awful mistake on the part of the US and Russia.