Niger is a landlocked country on the African continent slightly less than twice the size of Texas. Its economy is based primarily on agriculture but the country has mineral assets consisting of uranium, coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt and petroleum. Only 11.43% of the land is arable. It is predominately desert (Sahara).
It is one of the hottest countries on earth. It is also one of the poorest.
The male life expectancy is 51.39 years. Female is 53.85 years.
Infant mortality is 116.66/1,000. 5th worst in the world.
CIA ranks risk of major diseases as very high.
The country has a 28.7% literacy rate.
The country is currently in a political crisis. The President, Mamadou Tanja, is seeking to extend his term as President. He is limited by the constitution, but recently fired all cabinet and elected officials and called a Constitutional Convention to change the constitution to allow additional terms in office. The people seem to support him in this. The Convention has until August 4th to come up with a new Constitution.
The country is one of the poorest in the world.
It is being slowly invaded by China who has its eye on the uranium deposits -- some of the largest in the world.
When I flew into the country a few weeks ago, I would estimate there were at least 30 Chinese mining engineers on the flight with me. Locals told me that such events were commonplace.
I saw Chinese made tractors in the hands of at least one regional governor. Hmmmm.
The U.S. had better step up quickly or the Chinese will control the minerals of this poor and desperate country.
What better way for a political leader seeking to extend his power than to provide gifts to the poor of his country -- gifts that cost him nothing (tractors) yet are signs of an attempt to influence the bidding of contracts for the few resources the country has that have significant value on the world market.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, June 15, 2007
The China Closet
Two very important stories today -- one out of the UK and one out of the Washington Post. Read them fully.
America prepares for 'cyber war' with China
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 2:42am BST 15/06/2007
China is striving to overtake the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, according to a senior American general, in what is emerging as a new theatre of conflict between nation states and a growing priority for the...(follow link for full story)
_________________
Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz
June 15, 2007
China arming terrorists
New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.
U.S. government appeals to China to check some...(follow link for full story)
_______________________
Are you nervous yet?
America prepares for 'cyber war' with China
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 2:42am BST 15/06/2007
China is striving to overtake the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, according to a senior American general, in what is emerging as a new theatre of conflict between nation states and a growing priority for the...(follow link for full story)
_________________
Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz
June 15, 2007
China arming terrorists
New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.
U.S. government appeals to China to check some...(follow link for full story)
_______________________
Are you nervous yet?
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
It's Going to Take One Big Mole!
This is interesting in light of my previous post this morning concerning China.
Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska (Update3)
By Yuriy Humber and Bradley Cook
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.
The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow today. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.
A 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S.
``This will be a business project, not a political one,'' Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, said at the media briefing. Russian officials will formally present the plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments next week, Razbegin said.
The Bering Strait tunnel will cost $10 billion to $12 billion and the rest of the investment will be spent on the entire transport corridor, the plan estimates.
``The project is a monster,'' Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with Trust Investment Bank in Moscow, said in an interview. ``The Chinese are crying out for our commodities and willing to finance the transport links, and we're sending oil to Alaska. What, Alaska doesn't have oil?''
Finance Agencies
Tsar Nicholas II, Russia's last emperor, was the first Russian leader to approve a plan for a tunnel under ......
_________________________________________
Follow the link and read the entire article. A tunnel under the Bering Strait? I suppose it is better for us to beat the Chinese to the vast repository of raw materials in Siberia. I can't see them sitting still for it when they will desperately need these materials and the energy over the coming years. It is going to become a matter of priorities for them. Do they invade north into the "storehouse", or head west to the "powerhouse"? If they go north, they get both. Will this country be willing to go to war as an ally of Russia against China to prevent it? We'd better be becoming energy independent quickly!
Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska (Update3)
By Yuriy Humber and Bradley Cook
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.
The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow today. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.
A 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S.
``This will be a business project, not a political one,'' Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, said at the media briefing. Russian officials will formally present the plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments next week, Razbegin said.
The Bering Strait tunnel will cost $10 billion to $12 billion and the rest of the investment will be spent on the entire transport corridor, the plan estimates.
``The project is a monster,'' Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with Trust Investment Bank in Moscow, said in an interview. ``The Chinese are crying out for our commodities and willing to finance the transport links, and we're sending oil to Alaska. What, Alaska doesn't have oil?''
Finance Agencies
Tsar Nicholas II, Russia's last emperor, was the first Russian leader to approve a plan for a tunnel under ......
_________________________________________
Follow the link and read the entire article. A tunnel under the Bering Strait? I suppose it is better for us to beat the Chinese to the vast repository of raw materials in Siberia. I can't see them sitting still for it when they will desperately need these materials and the energy over the coming years. It is going to become a matter of priorities for them. Do they invade north into the "storehouse", or head west to the "powerhouse"? If they go north, they get both. Will this country be willing to go to war as an ally of Russia against China to prevent it? We'd better be becoming energy independent quickly!
The Slumbering Giant
China makes me nervous. The article below points out just one of the issues that bother me. This is one big sleeping giant that is waking up.
China's Rural Poor Will Be Most Hurt By Econ Downturns
WASHINGTON (AP)--China's currently booming economy over the last quarter century has brought wealth to hundreds of millions but left one out of five Chinese in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day, a joint Chinese-U.S. report released Tuesday said.
It is that 20% of China's 1.3 billion people who will be most affected by the economy's health in the next 15 years, said the study, titled China's Economic Prospects 2006-2020.
"Despite unprecedented progress in reducing the most severe poverty, about 70% of the population still survives on very low incomes, defined at the World Bank standard of $2 per day," the study said.
Most of those Chinese live in rural areas, where the opulence that grew from an average economic growth of 9% a year for the most part has bypassed, it said.
"With about 45% of the work force still engaged in low-productivity agriculture," it said, "the Chinese economy needs to create hundreds of millions of jobs in higher-productivity sectors to enable these workers to earn their way out of poverty."
China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 generally benefited the economy, the report said, but again mainly for urban dwellers, not those of the countryside. It said accession increased employment by about 13 million jobs, or 1.4%. The government estimates 300 million were needed for full employment, which it said proves that "trade alone cannot solve the country's employment challenges."
The study came to its findings by considering three scenarios: current trends continue; world trade continues to grow, and China improves its resource allocation; and risks become more dangerous, with trade tensions increasing and government policy changes that reduces the quality of modernization in the economy.
- Continued current trends would maintain an annual growth rate of about 8% over the next five years. Based on 2002 constant prices, that would mean a $3.6 trillion gross domestic product in 2010, which still would be less than that of Japan in 2002. Per capita GDP would be about $2,670, comparable to current incomes of Brazil, South Africa and Turkey. Growth would slow slightly after 2010, and the GDP by 2020 would be $7.5 trillion and per capita GDP about $5,300, comparable to incomes in Poland and Hungary today.
- In the other two scenarios, the rural poor would be most damaged by the pessimistic scenario, the study said. As trade disputes and government policies had increasingly greater impact, fewer opportunities would exist for agricultural workers to find jobs in cities, and their earnings in the countryside would stagnate, it said. China would be importing fewer agricultural products, and agricultural production would decline in China and hit rural incomes.
"China's continued development will require a reasonably benign international environment if recent rates of growth are to be maintained," the study said. "However, policy choices by the Chinese government will determine whether living standards rise throughout the country, whether productivity increases to smoothly compensate for the aging of the population and whether the economy evolves in a balanced and sustainable manner.
The study's authors are Sandra Polaski, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Li Shantong, a senior research fellow, and He Jianwu, a researcher, at the Development Research Center of the State Council of China.
____________________________________________
"Free-market-like" initiatives within this communist country are fueling the majority of the growth in their economy. However, the government attitude to these initiatives is often capricious. China is searching for its path to the future and it walks a fine line between old and new thinking. Every country throughout history that has made this transition has gone through periods of extreme political unrest. A significant downturn in the Chinese economy could easily result in widespread rioting and potentially, civil war. It is certain the Chinese government is considering solutions in such an event that would include heightened military activity -- not just against their own people, but against neighboring countries as well. Such activity would provide employment for the population both directly through military service and through increased economic activity within their military/industrial complex. Thrown into this mix is the Chinese dependence on foreign energy sources. With the political unrest in the Middle East, I'm certain they are already considering, or have, contingency plans for intervention to insure their energy supplies are uninterrupted.
China's Rural Poor Will Be Most Hurt By Econ Downturns
WASHINGTON (AP)--China's currently booming economy over the last quarter century has brought wealth to hundreds of millions but left one out of five Chinese in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day, a joint Chinese-U.S. report released Tuesday said.
It is that 20% of China's 1.3 billion people who will be most affected by the economy's health in the next 15 years, said the study, titled China's Economic Prospects 2006-2020.
"Despite unprecedented progress in reducing the most severe poverty, about 70% of the population still survives on very low incomes, defined at the World Bank standard of $2 per day," the study said.
Most of those Chinese live in rural areas, where the opulence that grew from an average economic growth of 9% a year for the most part has bypassed, it said.
"With about 45% of the work force still engaged in low-productivity agriculture," it said, "the Chinese economy needs to create hundreds of millions of jobs in higher-productivity sectors to enable these workers to earn their way out of poverty."
China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 generally benefited the economy, the report said, but again mainly for urban dwellers, not those of the countryside. It said accession increased employment by about 13 million jobs, or 1.4%. The government estimates 300 million were needed for full employment, which it said proves that "trade alone cannot solve the country's employment challenges."
The study came to its findings by considering three scenarios: current trends continue; world trade continues to grow, and China improves its resource allocation; and risks become more dangerous, with trade tensions increasing and government policy changes that reduces the quality of modernization in the economy.
- Continued current trends would maintain an annual growth rate of about 8% over the next five years. Based on 2002 constant prices, that would mean a $3.6 trillion gross domestic product in 2010, which still would be less than that of Japan in 2002. Per capita GDP would be about $2,670, comparable to current incomes of Brazil, South Africa and Turkey. Growth would slow slightly after 2010, and the GDP by 2020 would be $7.5 trillion and per capita GDP about $5,300, comparable to incomes in Poland and Hungary today.
- In the other two scenarios, the rural poor would be most damaged by the pessimistic scenario, the study said. As trade disputes and government policies had increasingly greater impact, fewer opportunities would exist for agricultural workers to find jobs in cities, and their earnings in the countryside would stagnate, it said. China would be importing fewer agricultural products, and agricultural production would decline in China and hit rural incomes.
"China's continued development will require a reasonably benign international environment if recent rates of growth are to be maintained," the study said. "However, policy choices by the Chinese government will determine whether living standards rise throughout the country, whether productivity increases to smoothly compensate for the aging of the population and whether the economy evolves in a balanced and sustainable manner.
The study's authors are Sandra Polaski, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Li Shantong, a senior research fellow, and He Jianwu, a researcher, at the Development Research Center of the State Council of China.
____________________________________________
"Free-market-like" initiatives within this communist country are fueling the majority of the growth in their economy. However, the government attitude to these initiatives is often capricious. China is searching for its path to the future and it walks a fine line between old and new thinking. Every country throughout history that has made this transition has gone through periods of extreme political unrest. A significant downturn in the Chinese economy could easily result in widespread rioting and potentially, civil war. It is certain the Chinese government is considering solutions in such an event that would include heightened military activity -- not just against their own people, but against neighboring countries as well. Such activity would provide employment for the population both directly through military service and through increased economic activity within their military/industrial complex. Thrown into this mix is the Chinese dependence on foreign energy sources. With the political unrest in the Middle East, I'm certain they are already considering, or have, contingency plans for intervention to insure their energy supplies are uninterrupted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)