China unlike the Soviet union is mostly homogeneous and has the population to sustain its own growth. It's also mastered state capitalism where it let's some sectors of its economy go almost full capitalism without going rogue. Another thing they are good at is buying influence. Europe cannot have a united stand against China because they have so much economic power starting with Germany, Greece and Hungary. The US can only supply weapons against a nuclear armed Russia while the Chinese are providing real investments in Europe and the rest of the world. If we position ourselves well in this superpower fight we might be the biggest beneficiaries. China got the US and G7 talking about infrastructure gap in the developing world. That is an achievement worth celebrating.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/11/1005467033/chinas-new-anti-foreign-sanctions-law-sends-a-chill-through-the-business-communi
Here we go again. Such was the theory during the Cold War. Instead of Africans thinking and working on what they could do for themselves, they saw themselves as a pretty woman being fought over by two strong men (USA and allies, USSR and allies). They would surely be huge beneficiaries, right? Just sit back and reap the benefits ... free lunch, etc.
Fast forward to the end of the Cold War, and, quite appropriately and ironically, given how they had perceived themselves, it turned out that the only thing Africans got was .... fucked.
And this time it will be worse. Already many are neck-deep in Chinese debt but yet some appear
to be hoping for (or even begging for) more Chinese tarimbo ... Ati "if we position ourselves well ...."!
That aside, I am amused by the number of people who keep singing Kung Fu's praises. I wonder how many of them have actually spent a non-trivial period of time in China. First, anyone who has would have a more practical view of the great Chinese advances. Second, and perhaps more important, they would get a very rude awakening on what Kung Fu really thinks of the black person. As it is, bizarrely as it sounds, Africans in China have even had to fight against the perception (among significant parts of the general public) that they are the source of the Covid-19 problem.
Most of Kung Fu's fans would hardly last a month there .... Many of the "Africa for China!" crowd don't even care to be in Africa! But never mind ... Kung Fu will conquer the world, and, in the process, save Africans for free. Right? There was a time when thinking Africans could at least contemplate the idea of "neo-colonialism". These days, it looks like all thinking has been set aside!
It's nice to see that once in a while there's something here that does not involve the endless petty stuff about tribal politics ... led by some semi-illiterate guy whose main mission in life is apparently to be the first in line to suck the dick of a "President Ruto".
But it's most really tiresome stuff here lately... Really depressing shit actually, given the potential for a forum like this to be an opportunity for people to share and show some real understanding of (and the desire to do something practical about) Africa's endless woes. One wonders where some people here went to school ..
Africa will be saved by Africans. When Africans wake up to that fact. Tarimbo in the butt is tarimbo in the butt, whether it is from the West or from the East. Doesn't matter how well you position yourself!
That's it from me for a while. Back to hibernating.