Sunday, November 18, 2018

Pence Vs. Xi at APEC — Trump decides to skip


Is accusing China of using debt as a weapon capitalist chutzpah on the part of Pence, when it's SOP under neoliberalism — "free markets, free trade, and free capital flows" — to put less powerful countries in debt to powerful countries to the degree that they need to go to the IMF for funding to meet debt obligations, the strings attached being giving up control of their institutional arrangements, fiscal policy and national sovereignty? 

I doubt Pence will fool anyone on this, but some countries will "go along to get along" with the US.

Reuters
China says no developing country will fall into debt trap by cooperating with China

For the Chinese idiom, see

Language Log
"China has no intention to touch the cheese of any country"
Victor Mair

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Yahoo!
APEC leaders divided after US, China spat
Ayee Macaraig, Andrew BEATTY | AFP

See also

The Week
Pence vows more trade war 'until China changes its ways'
Bonnie Kristian

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Sputnik International
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit Reveals Depth of US-China Division

See also

"We suggest a certain country matches its words with its deeds, rather than wag the finger at others," [Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying] said in the statement. "The country should treat all countries on an equal footing no matter big or small, respect other countries' right of following a development path that accords with their own national conditions and make real contributions to developing countries."
Ecns
China urges U.S. to stop wagging finger at others
Xinhua

See also
Xinhua
Tyler Durden

also

SouthFront
US-Chinese Trade War Is To Escalate Further As Both Sides Are Not Going To Make Concessions

also

Reuters
APEC fails to reach consensus as U.S.-China divide deepens

also

Sputnik International
APEC Participants Adopt Final Declaration Excluding Some Controversial Issues
Related
Eisenhower's worst nightmare has come true, as defense mega-contractors climb into the cockpit to ensure we stay overextended....
The dependence on the private sector in the Pentagon and the intelligence community had reached such a point that it raised a serious question about whether the workforce was now “obligated to shareholders rather than to the public interest,” as Priest and Arkin reported. And both Gates and Panetta acknowledged to them their concerns about that issue.
Powerfully reinforcing that privatization effect was the familiar revolving door between the Pentagon and arms contractors, which had begun turning with greater rapidity. A 2010 Boston Globe investigation showed that the percentage of three- and four-star generals who left the Pentagon to take jobs as consultants or executives with defense contractors, which was already at 45 percent in 1993, had climbed to 80 percent by 2005—an 83 percent increase in 12 years.... 
Longish historical article putting things in perspective.

The American Conservative
America’s Permanent-War Complex
Gareth Porter

See also

Did "we" get our money's worth? It all depends on the meaning of "we."

Military Times
Price tag of the ‘war on terror’ will top $6 trillion soon
Leo Shane III

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