3 ms·

Zambia, just like Venezuala or Cuba, or North Korea, is free to leave whatever system was forced on them by the west. And they can probably steal western trade

Zambia, just like Venezuala or Cuba, or North Korea, is free to leave whatever system was forced on them by the west. And they can probably steal western trade secrets without many repercussions. Hungary and Poland can test whether they can get outside of the EU's legal jurisdictions and whether they can lead decent lives doing that. Just to reitirate, ultimately these things are actually voluntary. But they come with consequences. And it's not like these western values of trade, and individual rights are really western any more, when Japan and Korea has had success with them, arguably China was well (before Xi). But there are consequences if you want to go it alone, and it's questionable whether other economic systems actually work as well.

bilbo0s 5y ago
The Zambians have opted out. Have you been there recently? The people there have taken the Chinese opportunity and run with it, probably because of what they perceived to be a lack of opportunity in the Western system. I think as the West attempts to keep some of these nations in Western orbit, we need to more openly acknowledge some of the issues our system has caused them in the past. Then we should lay out for them a credible reset that compares favorably to their Chinese opportunity. Absent that, the Chinese will continue to gain outsized influence across Africa because Africans will continue to make decisions that really are just common sense in the current context. Larger point being that we can't simply claim we have not forced anything on people and these places are acting irrationally. From the perspective of a lot of places outside of the West, things have been forced on them, and they are beginning to take what are, from their perspective, perfectly rational actions to rectify these issues.

3 ms·

Zambia, just like Venezuala or Cuba, or North Korea, is free to leave whatever system was forced on them by the west. And they can probably steal western trade

by cloutchaser 5y ago

bilbo0s 5y ago
The Zambians have opted out. Have you been there recently? The people there have taken the Chinese opportunity and run with it, probably because of what they perceived to be a lack of opportunity in the Western system. I think as the West attempts to keep some of these nations in Western orbit, we need to more openly acknowledge some of the issues our system has caused them in the past. Then we should lay out for them a credible reset that compares favorably to their Chinese opportunity. Absent that, the Chinese will continue to gain outsized influence across Africa because Africans will continue to make decisions that really are just common sense in the current context. Larger point being that we can't simply claim we have not forced anything on people and these places are acting irrationally. From the perspective of a lot of places outside of the West, things have been forced on them, and they are beginning to take what are, from their perspective, perfectly rational actions to rectify these issues.