US Strikes Iran!

[FCD]

....

So, it's a different conversation really, but China's "Belt & Road initiative" is a really BIG deal, and something which could easily change the trading dynamics all over the European and Asian continent(s).  The initiative is actually far larger than what is shown in the diagram above, and it's not only about oil; it's about all kinds of different goods and commodities.  It has the potential to have dramatic impacts to international trade across the entire region.  And what's even more surprising is that most people have no idea this has been under development for decades, and only recently come to light in western media.  I can remember reading bits and pieces of the plan when I was working over in SE Asia, but the 'big picture' of the overall plan was never presented, only just elements of it.

The route shown in the diagram above is only one of about three to four different major routes out of China overland rather than by sea.  About a year ago I ran across a fantastic expose on YT about some absolutely crazy international political gyrations and negotiations in Djibouti and Ethiopia.  And when I say "crazy", I mean it.  It was full of intrigue, secrecy, global mind-fk's and much more,  almost beyond imagination.  China is not going at this in a small way (at all).  They are effectively propping up the economies of entire countries just to make this happen.  And the craziest thing about this video I came across was that it dove into only just one tiny piece of the overall objective...something other countries thought would be impossible to even attempt (and the Chinese not only attempted it, but succeeded at the impossible).  I'll have to see if I can find that YT piece again; I wouldn't even mind watching it again myself.  

We often hear people say things like..."China is trying to take over the World"...and I've always taken that with a grain of salt, but to see the master-plan of the Belt & Road initiative is a real eye-opener!  China is banking their entire future on this working, and as it stands right now about 2/3rds of it has already been completed...without most of the rest of the world even knowing it was happening.  I mean, this isn't small development here and there either, the entire program is trillions upon trillions of dollars.  It's actually pretty staggering when you look into it.

I loathe wikipedia as a source, but here is a wiki link to a summary of what's going on at a high level.  It's a decent primer to figure out what elements you might want jump off and look into in more detail (non-wikipedia of course).

China's Belt and Road Initiative

I'll see if I can scare up the video I referred to above and if I find it I'll add and edit including the link for that.