China has established the Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB) and went ahead with plans for a so called “New Silk Road”, a huge
infrastructure project, connecting China with Europe via a new land route and a
maritime equivalent. Steen Jakobsen from Saxo Bank mentioned a while ago that
this could be a game-changer - particularly in regards to the demand for
commodities as much of the work and investment needed is in infrastructure,
buildings and railroads. What do you think?
Well I think there may be some euphoria about this
infrastructure building and the ´New Silk Road´. My sense is that yes, some
investments will take place but we have to recognise that first of all it will
take time. It is not going to be built overnight. Whether it will be really so
profitable is another question and the other question is will China have the
money to do it?
We are moving here into geopolitics, basically, because of
the antagonism of the Western world towards Russia specifically Mr Putin, whom
they portray as a villain when in fact he wasn’t the aggressor, it is NATO and
the Neocons that essentially pushed the existing government out in Ukraine and
began to create the whole problem that we have. If you look at the map of
Europe and Eastern Europe it is very clear that Russia will not allow NATO to
be east of the Dnieper River, in other words in eastern Ukraine nor will they
give up the Crimea, this is strategically of great importance for Russia, has
no strategic value for anybody else except for Russia. So the tensions have
arisen and because of this hostility of the West towards Russia, Russia has
been pushed closer to China.
They share very substantial borders areas with each other
and because of the proximity of the two countries and the nature of their
economies, Russia possessing the resources and China largely technology and
consumer goods which Russians don’t necessarily produce, there is a symbiotic
relationship going on. The Chinese and the Russians want to exploit this
strength, what they call the hinterland essentially and the rim land in
geopolitics.
Of course the US is completely against it because the
containment policy was precisely directed against the major power emerging
again in Central Asia and Far East Russia and in Russia. So this Silk Road initiative
in my view is far from being a certain thing that it will succeed because there
are also political obstacles and you know, when the Americans want to create
trouble, that they excel at, they are very good at doing that.
When the Americans want to create trouble, that they excel
at, they are very good at doing that.
Instead of building nations they destroy nations, from Libya
to Egypt to Syria to Iraq and Afghanistan. Whatever they touch, they mess it up
or in good English F* up!
What about Europe and Russia? E.g. many German
industrialists don’t seem too happy with the current sanctions regime.
Not at all. Actually, you ask ordinary people in the whole
of Europe about the policies of the governments towards Russia, 90% of ordinary
people disapprove of the politics and policies that have been implemented and
with the way European governments behave as if they were feudals of the United
States and vassals of the US.
The reality is that Europe should be very close to Russia as
it was in the 19th and 18th century, with very few exceptions like for example
when Napoleon attacked Russia or when Hitler attacked Russia, but ordinarily
the two regions, western Europe and Russia were much closer than say western
Europe and the US because of the proximity and also culturally they were quite
close.
Interview conducted by Johannes Maierhofer and Peter Matay
Full Interview - http://www.marcopolis.net/the-big-pic..."
at http://www.marcfabernews.com/2015/10/marc-faber-new-silk-road-demand-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MarcFaberBlog+%28MARC+FABER+BLOG%29#.VhLIb_nzq00
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