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The Great Game Changer: Belt and Road Intiative (BRI; OBOR)

Russia can give us all we need (all kinds of resources) and we can give her all she needs (high class consumer products), while the US is using our so called elite as some cheap whores. Without the military, your dollars would be worth less than used toilet papers.

BTW, you are a mere slave of your own oligarchy. :)


When you have to cozy up to Russia, you're ALREADY fucked. How does it feel to be SO militarily weak and resource poor that you need to kneel for your 'sugar daddy' Vladi ? Europe is like the smallest guy in prison. OUCH !!! And you talk of 'oligarchy' while at the same time you spread your cheeks for Vladi ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!
 
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European NATO members aren't spending the required 2% of GDP on their defence. As always they figure that the U.S. will pick up their 'slack'.

United States did asked NATO allies to increase thier defense expenditures.

5 Days back this statement was issued by NATO's Secretary General

At Wales, NATO Heads of State and Government pledged to stop the cuts in defence spending, to aim to spend 2% of Gross Domestic Product on defence within a decade, and to spend that money more efficiently.
 
Russia can give us all we need (all kinds of resources) and we can give her all she needs (high class consumer products), while the US is using our so called elite as some cheap whores. Without the military, your dollars would be worth less than used toilet papers.

German favoring Russian over American:cheesy:

I thought Russian and Germans doesnt meet eye to eye due to their Past encounters and their consequences. Remember east and West Germany....As for Russian they are Opportunistic lot just like their Soviet predecessor they dont care who is Allay and who is not when they find benefit for themselves while USA on the other hand are better to reason with and to have meaningful negotiation on any issue....
 
When you have to cozy up to Russia, you're ALREADY fucked. How does it feel to be SO militarily weak and resource poor that you need to kneel for your 'sugar daddy' Vladi ? Europe is like the smallest guy in prison. OUCH !!! And you talk of 'oligarchy' while at the same time you spread your cheeks for Vladi ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!

The alternative is cozying up to the US or what? :lol: How about we want a good neigbourhood withou you uncouth ex-emigrants meddling in our backyard?

Unitl now, I have not experienced any threats or other malices coming from Russia but plenty of those from the US, starting with installing Nazis in our neighbourhood to spying all of us.

German favoring Russian over American:cheesy:

I thought Russian and Germans doesnt meet eye to eye due to their Past encounters and their consequences. Remember east and West Germany....As for Russian they are Opportunistic lot just like their Soviet predecessor they dont care who is Allay and who is not when they find benefit for themselves while USA on the other hand are better to reason with and to have meaningful negotiation on any issue....

How about you inform yourself on the internet (not the mainstream)? The relationship between Russia and Germany stretches centuries, even our royal families were tighly connected.

Guess with which word Prussia is related to!

Gosh, when ignorants open their mouths. :disagree:
 
China Supplies Air Defense Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Uzbekistan
14:47 02.02.2015(updated 14:49 02.02.2015)

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China has supplied its new generation medium- to long-range HQ-9 air defense systems and its percussion unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Pterodactyl (Yilong-1) to Uzbekistan; similar deliveries have been made to Turkmenistan.

MOSCOW, February 2 (Sputnik) – China has supplied its new generation medium- to long-range HQ-9 air defense systems to Uzbekistan, according to the country’s news website 12news.


Tashkent has also received at least one percussion UAV, the Pterodactyl (Yilong-1), which was developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group.

Similar deliveries have been made to Turkmenistan, the website quotes Chinese newspaper "Huantsyu Shibao" as saying.

The contracts for the provision of defense equipment to these Central Asian countries were signed back in 2013.

The purpose of delivering weaponry to the countries is to reduce the price China has to pay them for natural gas, according to WantChinaTimes, a news website operated by The China Times group.


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I love your military products, they are so qualified.
 
The alternative is cozying up to the US or what? :lol: How about we want a good neigbourhood withou you uncouth ex-emigrants meddling in our backyard?

Unitl now, I have not experienced any threats or other malices coming from Russia but plenty of those from the US, starting with installing Nazis in our neighbourhood to spying all of us....


Well, you have to sell your sorry @ss to someone. You'll ALWAYS be someones bitch. Open wide...... And wait till you piss Vladi off a bit and he turns down the heat next winter. BRRRRR !!:rofl:
 
Well, you have to sell your sorry @ss to someone. You'll ALWAYS be someones bitch. Open wide...... And wait till you piss Vladi off a bit and he turns down the heat next winter. BRRRRR !!:rofl:

Russia never turned off the gas we bought from them, not even during the height of the Cold War. They have always been faithful to their contracts … unlike the US that has repeatedly breached international laws.

OTH, your post reveals more the way how you see your country and the world functions. Poor boy!
 
lol this is the draw back of being the best military in the world , people start depend on you, as an Australian, i would not want Australia to spend more then now and start putting money in the piggy bank, but as an American, I want China tospend more to catch the gap, only then will the EU wake upand stop depending on American for their defence, its like they are milking US where on one hand they close their base and cut the troop and on the other they ask for more US present in the region.

The Chinese in me swing either way tho

You must have a very interesting biography.
 
UnionPay eyes Russia market


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A woman walks past a UnionPay International advertisement in Seoul, South Korea. The Chinese bank card service company plans to expand its business in Russia. [Photo/Xinhua]


Third-largest card issuer continues its expansion of overseas network

Russia's move to reduce its reliance on major Western payment services may benefit China's market players, including China UnionPay and its subsidiary UnionPay International.

According to a report broadcast on the Voice of Russia, UnionPay has its eyes on a bigger market share in Russia. The broadcaster quoted an employee who is in charge of UnionPay's card business in that country.

UnionPay International, the UnionPay subsidiary that focuses on overseas business, declined on Wednesday to comment on the report.

In July, UnionPay International reached an agreement with Russia's Vostochny Express Bank, which will issue high-end card products, the UnionPay International official website said.

UnionPay services in Russia started in 2006, four years after the company was established. The card organization has cooperation agreements with more than 10 banks and financial institutions in Russia, according to UnionPay data.

Russia has tens of thousands of point-of-sale terminals and automatic teller machines that can accept UnionPay cards, according to UnionPay data.

Analysts said it is a commercial choice that more people are using UnionPay cards outside China, because the company has developed overseas networks and expanded its facilities to serve cardholders and enable smooth transactions.

Market observers said that it is not surprising that UnionPay cards are more widely used than ever, given the company's expanding global network.

"Like many other financial services, payment services need to be fast, safe and easily accessible. It is not surprising that UnionPay cards are getting increasingly popular outside China, considering the expansion of its networks," said Yang Minji, a Shanghai-based consumer choice analyst with Fulun Consultancy.

Peng Yuan, a 24-year-old engineering student at a university in Moscow, said using UnionPay cards is convenient, and there are often discounts and other benefits for cardholders at airports and duty-free shops.

The official website of UnionPay International said its network has expanded to cover more than 140 countries, and UnionPay cards have been issued in more than 30 countries.

According to the California-based The Nilson Report, UnionPay had the world's third-largest market share of credit and debit transactions (7.7 percent) in 2013, after Visa Inc (60.5 percent) and MasterCard Inc (26.9) percent.
 
China plans airport in border city near Russia
CRI, February 13, 2015

Chinese authorities have announced plans to build a new airport in the city of Suifenhe, which is on the Russian border in Heilongjiang.

The project is worth around 150-million U.S. dollars. It's expected the new airport will be able to handle 450-thousand passengers a year by 2025.

At the same time, Chinese authorities are also planning to expand the Shuifenhe border crossing area.

Suifeihe is in the southeast of Heilongjiang, near the border with both Russia and North Korea.

About 80 percent of cargo imports and exports into Heilongjiang go through Suifeihe.

The city is best known as the crossing point where the former China Eastern Railway would go through into Russia.

It's currently the only city in China where cross-border trade can be done using the Russian ruble.
 
Man, this city is so far out there! Great to see an airport being build, that is one place you may not want to use the railway because it's the snail train.
 
China plans tourism zone with Russia, DPRK
February 13, 2015

China is planning an international tourism zone in its northeastern border area with Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Tumen River Delta international tourism area will include part of China's Hunchun City, as well as a 10 sq km plot each from Russia and DPRK, said the government of China's Jilin Province. The three sides will jointly build tourism facilities.

At the ongoing annual session of the provincial legislature, Jiang Chaoliang, governor of Jilin, said the province would draw up a blueprint for the tourism area this year and explore a management model that would involve the three countries.

The initiative was put forward by the Hunchun City government in 2013 and has drawn interest from authorities of the border areas of Russia and DPRK.

Visitors shall enter the tourism zone without visa and shopping shall be duty-free, according to officials.

In the long run, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia will join the tourism area via highways, railways and air routes, said Zhao Xiaojun, director of Jilin Provincial Tourism Administration.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) in 1995, which provides a multilateral forum for its member countries to tap potential economic opportunities.
 
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As the tumult continued into 2015, discerning emerging-markets investors saw opportunity, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its March issue. They're bullish on China, South Korea and, despite a 50-plus percent drop in the oil price in 2014, the Gulf nations.

South Korea tops Bloomberg Markets' fourth annual ranking of the most-promising emerging nations in which to invest in 2015, with Qatar No. 2, China No. 3 and the United Arab Emirates No. 4. Saudi Arabia heads the list of the most-promising frontier markets.

"Both Korea and China look attractive at this stage," says Mark Mobius, who oversees $40 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group.

Noting that China and South Korea are oil importers, Mobius says, "Both markets will benefit from low oil prices and relatively high economic growth."

More than half of the market capitalization of South Korea's Kospi Index of stocks consists of exporters, says Hartmut Issel, head of Asia-Pacific investment at UBS Wealth Management. Samsung Electronics Co. alone accounts for 17 percent of the market.

"The fate of Korean stocks is thus largely determined by how big customers such as the U.S. are doing," Issel says.

Optimism about Korea is tempered by its competitive weakness against rival Japan.

"A major issue for the Korean market is the relative value of the won versus the yen," says Jim O'Neill, retired head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The yen fell 11 percent against the won in the 12 months through Feb. 2. A weak currency makes exported goods cheaper.

The South Korean economy grew at an anemic 0.4 percent pace in the three months through December from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea.

China's markets were unaffected by the emerging-markets crisis, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 58 percent in 2014, including reinvested dividends, after slumping 3.9 percent in 2013.

"I don't understand why people are so negative about China," says O'Neill, who coined the term BRICs in 2001 to highlight the rising economic power of Brazil, Russia, India and China. "I assumed China would grow by 7.5 percent a year this decade," he says. "So far, it will have averaged 7.9 from 2011 to 2014."

The Bloomberg Markets emerging and frontier markets rankings are based on 19 measures of the investing climate, from forecasts of gross domestic product growth for the next two years to the ease of doing business.

MSCI Inc., a New York–based publisher of equity indexes, designates countries as emerging or frontier based on a variety of criteria, including trading volumes, restrictions on foreign investors, corporate governance, and currency and political stability.

In 2014, MSCI moved Qatar and the U.A.E. from the frontier to the emerging index, which helped them pull in $3.5 billion from global emerging-markets funds, according to EFG-Hermes Holding SAE.

South Korea, widely considered a developed market, remains on MSCI's emerging list because of limits on the convertibility of the local currency and restrictions on access to its markets.

Saudi Arabia is classified as frontier because it limits direct investment in its markets to the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC. Others can invest only via swaps or ETFs.

In July, Riyadh announced it would remove those restrictions. It may do so in April, according to two people familiar with the matter. That will set the conditions for it to be designated an emerging market as early as 2017, Sebastien Lieblich, head of MSCI Index Research, told Bloomberg in July.

The Saudi stock market had a market cap of $537.36 billion as of Feb. 2, making it the biggest market in the Middle East by far. The Tadawul All Share Index rose 3.1 percent in the 12 months through Feb. 11. Among its listed stocks are Saudi Basic Industries Corp., one of the world's largest petrochemical producers; Al Rajhi Bank, the biggest Islamic lender; and Kingdom Holding Co., the investing vehicle of billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud.

The oil price plunge is certain to carve a hole in the budgets of the Gulf oil and gas exporters. The government of Saudi Arabia is already projecting a budget deficit of $39 billion for 2015. Yet the government of the late King Abdullah refused to countenance a reduction of oil production to drive up prices in meetings of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The king died at the age of 90 in January and was succeeded by the crown prince, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Analysts didn't expect the kingdom's oil policy to change under Salman, 79.

Money managers point out that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations can easily fund their ambitious domestic development projects by drawing on the dollar reserves they built up while petroleum prices were high.

"GCC governments have accumulated massive surpluses in the past decade thanks to elevated energy prices," says Dubai-based Rami Sidani, the head of frontier markets investing at Britain's Schroder Investment Management.

The reserve amounts are $726.5 billion for the Saudis, $74.7 billion for the U.A.E. and $42.2 billion for Qatar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"The main growth driver in this part of the world is government spending," Sidani says, "and we expect these governments to proceed with that in order to diversify their economies."

That makes consumer companies, real estate and the banks that fund them a good bet, says Hootan Yazhari, managing director for global frontier markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He recommends Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC and Abu Dhabi–based Aldar Properties PJSC, First Gulf Bank PJSC and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC.

In Saudi Arabia, clothing retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Co. and bookstore chain Jarir Marketing Co. are among Merrill Lynch's top picks.

Elsewhere in the developing world, the crisis has opened a rift among the BRICs.

"These four countries could hardly be more heterogeneous at this point," says UBS's Issel. He sees continuing turmoil in Brazil, No. 16 in the ranking, and Russia, No. 22, in 2015.

"In Russia, recession is inevitable," he says.

At the same time, investors glow with enthusiasm for the other two BRIC nations.

"We are most excited about the new governments in China and India, who have put reforms in place that will benefit the economy and financial markets in 2015," says Pearlyn Wong, a Singapore-based investment analyst for Switzerland's Bank Julius Baer & Co.

Narendra Modi took over as India's prime minister with a reformist economic agenda on May 26. Since then, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex stock index was up 16 percent as of Feb. 11.

China's equity market should get a boost in 2015 from the stock-connect program that allows foreign investors to buy mainland shares through the Hong Kong market, says Adam Tejpaul, head of Asian investments at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. China will also benefit from lower energy prices and a dovish monetary policy by the People's Bank of China, which will provide liquidity to the country's markets, Tejpaul says.

"Company fundamentals in the mainland are increasingly positive," says Andrew Gillan, head of Asia (ex-Japan) equities at Henderson Global Investors. "Favored holdings include Baidu, which dominates the Internet search market."

Henderson also likes Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd., a joint venture partner with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, and Dongfeng Motor Group Co., which has partnerships with Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.

China is the world's biggest auto market.

Long-term investors shouldn't be deterred by the current turmoil, Mobius says.

"Three key themes remain in place," he says. "Emerging markets' economic growth rates in general continue to be markedly faster than those of developed markets, emerging markets have much greater foreign reserves than developed markets, and the sovereign-debt-to-GDP ratios of emerging-market countries generally remain much lower than those of developed markets."

Even with major nations like Russia and Brazil hobbled by low commodities prices, scandal and sanctions, Mobius concludes, growth rates -- and share prices -- in developing markets will outpace those in the U.S., Europe and Japan in 2015.

Gulf Nations Defy Oil Rout to Top List of Best Emerging Markets - Bloomberg Business
 

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