Bulgaria's use of agricultural land...

[Pascalcho]

Sell Overseas Property

The Chinese don't invest in countries....They Pillage

Its nothing to do with buying land as an investment for the future. They want to produce produce produce and ship back to China.

Watch the BBC programme "The Chinese are coming", bit of an eye opener. There are very few countries worldwide now where they aren't extracting as much natural resources as they can, all to ship back to China.

1,000lvs bet that they are also angling at reopening all the old Uranium mines in Bulgaria to get the uranium. With 60 Nuclear reactors currently being built worldwide and 27 of these in China, uranium is going to be high on their shopping list.

They already have all of that in Africa.

[scot47]

Sell Overseas Property

It seems that Brian takes the "Yellow Peril" seriously !

[brianj42]

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Nothing personal towards the Chinese, its the bigger picture I see.

Unfortunately our Chinese brothers are just doing what comes naturally in the world of supply, demand & self preservation. The West is demanding more and more cheap manufactured goods due to growing population, and the Chinese are supplying this however they can. Due to a lack of the natural resources for the manufacturing process in China they are branching out and getting elsewhere......On a grand buying spree

I must say though, I prefer the Chinese/Russian approach of negociated pillaging rather than the US/Viking one of taking by force.

What I see as a Layman is the 3 main powers US, China and Russia all have a struggle going on in order to ensure supply of materials and resources for their own ever rapid growing population. The problem is, that the extraction of such resources is now gaining such pace expotentially that even to the layman, there will come a point soon where the shelves are bare. The planet does not have a infinite stock replenishment system.

The more I read about the future problem of "over population"....and such solutions as "useless eaters".....the more it actually makes sense.

B

PS: Imagine whats going to happen when resources do become scarce and the Chinese look at the US/Viking method of procurement

This is Brian Jones, reporting for Sky News, hiding in a spare cave in Afghanistan

[scot47]

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Kaiser Bill always got very agitated about the "Yellow Peril". Brian is in good company.

[brianj42]

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But it won't change the fact that they do such amazing things with crispy duck pancakes

[Liliana]

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crispy duck pancakes

Oh what I'd do for a crispy duck pancake...

[owain]

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The Chinese have been very clever in their "procurement" of parts of the World. As Brian has pointed out, they've used a "give and take" approach rather than being forceful and enslaving Countries.

In parts of Africa they've built modern villages with schools,hospitals and jobs for the residents. When Argentina was in financial dire straits, the Chinese came along and invested there.Now Argentina grow's China's Soy Oil.
Brazil is the same, China has invested alot there and now China is Brazil's main trading partner.

You can now see the Chinese using Bulgaria as a way into Europe- Car manufacturing,farming etc. I'm sure that soon China will be Bulgaria's main trading partner, much more so than the rest of Europe.

All the countries they have traded and invested with have had problems with poverty and China has taken full advantage of this whereas the Western powers have just ignored these Countries. They've sat back over the years and watched how capitalism works and now they're taking full advantage.
The West has probably been too arrogant with it's dealings with the rest of the World and China have taken financial advantage.

They may take over the World but maybe they deserve it, they're outsmarting everybody else

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/BulgariaAndWorld/Pages/1609china.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5296515/China-overtakes-the-US-as-Brazils-largest-trading-partner.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12098204
http://www.ntn24news.com/latinamericanews/51311-soy-oil-trade-resumes-between-china-argentina

[fred]

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Brianj42 said "The more I read about the future problem of "over population"....and such solutions as "useless eaters".....the more it actually makes sense. "

Now that I know you are in favour of murdering two of my children I must confess to having gone off you a little bit Brian.

For more info about the solution to "useless eaters" follow the link.

http://www.regent.edu/acad/schedu/uselesseaters/

Peace all Fred.

[Moscow_Wolf]

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Media coverage!! If I had written about the Chinese angle, I no doubt would have been deleted and told to stay ON THREAD.

If YOU actually talk to your local Bulgarian Village neighbours you would most probably find as I have that they do OWN parcels of land that they were allotted during the communist period. The problem is, they either join a cooperative that is working or, they just let the land sit as they don't have the money or the time or strength to work it the way that they did now for a profit.

My village cooperative takes in THREE villages where somebody works out whether it will be corn/wheat or sunflowers. They bring in helicopters to spray the fields and they work it as necessary with a small army of old and more modern tractors.

However, I still have to work out where the END product goes. I don't know about others, but I am seeing increasing activity in the grape and fruit growing sectors both at an 'commercial' and private individual basis.

The workforce is there and not expensive, just give them the tools and the markets to see them realise a profit for their toil.

[brianj42]

Sell Overseas Property

It should be interesting to see what happens when China starts its move on Construction projects, firstly in BG and then Westwards. The BG construction market, roads, hospitals etc etc is a very closed shop, and as we all know it is run by fat blokes with short haircuts driving Black 4x4's. Chinese construction companies have a very "protectionist" approach to their building projects , which is why they are managing to win so many contracts in Africa. Chinese plant, Chinese labour, even to the point of importing food to feed the labour, low costs, low tenders, more wins.

At the end of the day what you have said Owain is right. The West has sat back for far to long and expects the "monopoly" gravy train to run forever. The Chinese have very cleverly watched and waited and now have stepped in. Western Europe has todate still managed to keep the Chinese construction companies out of the EU by citing safety standards as the main block. Once the Chinese construction companies get past this and into Europe it will open the flood gates and EU construction companies will have something to worry about as they cannot compete on a level playing field.

I did work on a tender for a power station in Wales where the EU prices were circa $2 billion, a Chinese construction company said it could do it for HALF that but was very cleverly sidelined and kept out. For how long this can go on, who knows.

That BBC 2 part series I quoted "The Chinese are Coming" is really well worth a watch. It does show the downside and negatives to the whole thing, not just the niceties of investments which do tend to profit a few rich people and not the general population.

Next phase in all this. Moving from resources and food to buying industries and consumer businesses. My brother-in-law owns a very large motor parts business in the Uk, and has now been approached by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in London if he is interested in selling. This will cut out the middle man and Chinese products will then go direct to the consumer.

Where this is heading, I don't have a clue, but I am damn sure, the Chinese have a long term plan well in hand.