Ted Rall for February 17, 2023

Except there are too many strings attached to count. China is loansharking to most of the African continent.

They should know there’s no such thing as free infrastructure.

“No strings attached.” Very sinister.

Tell we why factories are not being built in Africa.

The first one’s free, kid.

The stereotype of the 20th century communist China stubbornly hangs on in people’s minds despite the obvious evidence that this superpower has learned the power of money from Wall Street. Bad? You bet.

No strings? You got to be kidding me.

I believe the people of Tibet and the Uyghurs have a different view of Chinese benevolence.

Too right. China built a ‘free’ football stadium in Costa Rica, promising thousands of high-paying jobs, kept those promises, too- except the high-paying jobs went to imported Chinese workers and engineers. Some Costa Ricans were allowed to push brooms around the site.A Chinese promise is worth slightly less than a republican politicIan’s.

I’m actually slightly surprised to see Rall shilling for bloody Putin’s BFF.

What happens one day if China just decides all factories built on their soil belong to them?

The US is eager to “help” China in the same way as it helped Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.. Are they forgetting that China has nukes too, or do they see that as a positive?

China basically picked up the mantle of green energy while Republicans were still arm and arm with coal companies and ran with it, capturing the market.

Too simplistic, like a fairy tale.

Works for us on this side of the fence. Our politicians don’t seem to care where the money comes from.

I don’t know where you get that “no strings attached,” Ted.

Spending money is not the same as loaning money.

Loans are “strings”. “You have to pay us, just not immediately,” is a “string”. In fact, it’s a “string” that “ties” the borrower to the lender for a significant period of time into the future.

In other words, it’s a kind of indentured servitude.

By the way, I maintain that that’s true, no matter who the lender is. It applies to the US, Russia, Germany… also the World Bank.

China built a high speed rail system that covers the whole country.

Republicans stole all the tax dollars they could and gave them to billionaires who built rockets to give themselves joy rides.

Ask Ecuador what they think about the infrastructure help they have received from china. Devastating is an understatement. Same everywhere else they are attempting to buy influence, shoddy work on major projects that create more damage than problems ever solved.

And they don’t export their religious fanatics……………………..

A pointless comparison. The China-USA competition is primarily economic, from both sides. The wildcard in this may be Taiwan.

Rall’s mission is to prove the USA has not been angels—an easy target, actually. If he had a sense of humor he would find humor in facts. We can discuss his art another time.

The Chinese economic imperialism strategy is pretty darned well documented.

Nice painting

Russia was like that under Kreuschev.

To paraphrase DeGaulle: Nations don’t have friends, they have interests. Sometimes it’s about money, but usually that’s used for corruption.

In the other hand is an iron fist.

And to the tRumps