All Aboard! Ride Down the New Silk Road

[Oscar]

All Aboard! Ride Down the New Silk Road


From Exotic to Everyday: The New Silk Road Shrinks a Continent

http://www.ceu.hu/node/34428

12/02/2013

Central Eurpoean University - Business and Management Studies Research Focus

The Silk Road may conjure up images of the exotic exchange of spices and gold, and arduous camelback treks across the desert. But we will soon associate it with trade in computers and cars, and one day, with travel from London to Singapore in just 72 hours, says Paul Lacourbe, associate professor of operations management at CEU Business School.

This is the New Silk Road, which has already cut cargo transport times between China and Germany from five weeks by sea to two weeks by rail. A train link from Chongqing to Duisburg, completed in September 2011, makes that possible, and more routes are planned.

“The New Silk Road will shrink the Euro-Asian continent,” says Lacourbe, who is slated to speak on the subject at the TEDx Danubia conference in Budapest March 22.

Hungary could play a key role, if it plays its cards right. While the current route passes through Belarus and Poland, a southern route could pass through Ukraine, with the option of continuing via either Hungary or Slovakia without a significant difference in travel time, as Lacourbe wrote in The Role of Hungarian Railway on the New Silk Road, a chapter in the book Managing Supply Chains on the Silk Road: Strategy, Performance, and Risk.
[ http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Supply-C ... 1439867208 ]
China has long viewed Hungary as the region’s logistics hub; it has a Chinese population and a Bank of China presence, so there is reason for optimism.

“China is the factory of the world, yet the transportation route is the bottleneck,” says Lacourbe, whose research focus is supply chain management. He is part of CEU Business School’s new initiative with the University of Tennessee College of Business and Administration called the Global Supply Chain Forum,
[ http://business.ceu.hu/the-global-supply-chain-forum ]
which hosts its first learning and networking event Feb. 22 at CEU Business School. The two schools are also teaming up with ESSEC Business School to offer a Global Supply Chain Executive MBA
[ http://globalsupplychainemba.utk.edu/home_page.aspx ]
with study in Paris, Budapest, Singapore and Shanghai as well as Knoxville, Tennessee.

The ancient Silk Road brought silk and porcelain from China to the West, while horses and precious metals were delivered East. Originating in the 1st century B.C., the Road had its heyday during the Byzantine Empire, and later during the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Then Ottoman rulers shut down trade routes, and Europeans began developing routes to China by sea.

Today, more than 90 percent of trade volume between Europe and China is shipped by sea routes, over which China has little control, and which are subject to threats of piracy, terrorism, and political conflict such as China’s dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines. China considers the land routes as a key strategic objective, essential for national security as well as economic development.

Along the current route, trains travel once a week, bringing high value-added goods such as laptops produced for Hewlett-Packard in Chongqing, central China, to Germany (4 million notebook computers have already been shipped by train so far), and returning with car parts from BMW, Audi and Volkswagen. The frequency is expected to increase to three trains a week by the end of this year, and daily by 2014.

European manufacturers must make a better effort to take advantage of this opportunity, says Lacourbe. Otherwise, the New Silk Road may be perceived solely as a way for goods marked “Made in China” to flood the European market, drowning out European competitors. European producers are often hampered by regulatory issues and difficulty ramping up production quickly, whereas Chinese manufacturers are ordered to comply with decisions made centrally, and respond rapidly, he said.

The New Silk Road is not only about China, Lacourbe emphasizes. “It’s a strategic concept envisioning a land connection among all Asian countries and linking them with Europe,” Lacourbe said. “It’s an entire structure, including rail and highway connections, from the Malay peninsula to Britain. One ultimate goal, which is possible with high-speed rail, is for passengers to travel from Singapore to London in just 72 hours. That’s the New Silk Road.”

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(2010) Building the New Silk Road Leads to Tehran (Map)

< http://ipezone.blogspot.ca/2010/10/buil ... ehran.html >

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Having attended an interesting [to say the least] conference on multiculturalism in Tehran over the summer, I of course took notice of another event going on there concerning the rebuilding the New Silk Road. Since it doesn't look too exciting, the Western press has not paid much attention to a gathering ostensibly concerned with customs regulations, but its implications may be far-ranging indeed in the near future. For, another post I made spoke of the Chinese spearheading this effort to establish a New Silk Road by relinking the Silk Road via their high-speed rail technology. The reasons for doing so are obvious. In contrast to naval routes that are under the watch of the US Navy, overland ones are not as susceptible to Western machinations and intervention as has been the case for several centuries now. Also, the Chinese are keen on infrastructure being the springboard to economic development as evidenced by their own emphasis on ports, highways, and so on linking Chinese production to the world's markets.

So, having literally conquered Western markets with merchandise exports, the wily Chinese are setting their sights on the trading routes of yore. Also, the Turks warming up the Iranians cannot be viewed very positively by the West. Colleagues here at LSE IDEAS are even planning an event on how the West lost Turkey [!] should it tilt further away from the NATO sphere. With the EU treating Turkey with what I regard as barely concealed prejudice in its application for EU membership [1, 2], the message of "you're not of us" is unmistakeable. I further understand that Turkey is not very happy with the US client state Israel. Perhaps its current feeling is that its near neighbours won't treat them with similar contempt:

MORE:

http://ipezone.blogspot.ca/2010/10/buil ... ehran.html

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The New Silk Road: Canada joining the U.S. In exploiting Afghanistan's resources

By Michael Skinner CCPA Monitor, Vol. 19, No. 9 March 2013 Pg. 1

QUOTES:

“The New Silk Road Initiative will invite corporations to exploit Afghanistan's vast resource wealth, estimated by the U.S. To be worth $1 trillion, but believed by some experts to be worth as much as $3 trillion.”

“Under U.S. pressure, Afghanistan has fostered what the U.S. State Department calls 'a business-friendly environment for investment', including a law that allows 100% foreign ownership and provides generous tax allowances to foreign investors.”

“The exclusion of Iran from further developing Afghanistan's rich resources is a liikely source of future conflic. Many Afghans fear their country could become a battleground in a U.S.-Iran war.”

“The U.S. considers Afghanistan, because of its strategic location, to be the 'heartland' of Eurasia, and believes that whoever controls it will dominate the world. Hence, even after the scheduled withdrawal of its troops in 2014, the U.S. will leave a sizeable contingent of its forces there indefinitely.”

- - - -

(Michael Skinner is a musician, composer and human rights activist. . . . This article includes material from his chapter in the recently published anthology, Empire's Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy and the War in Afghanistan.

[ Title changed to: Empire's Ally: Canada and the War in Afghanistan.
The best price for the paperback version is currently at Amazon.ca $20.65.
< http://www.amazon.ca/Empires-Ally-Canad ... 1442613041 >

And/or ask your local library to order the book.
It is one of only two books that critically analyse Canada's role in Afghanistan and Central Asia since 2001. ]

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Permanent Afghanistan Occupation Planned

< http://www.globalresearch.ca/permanent- ... ed/5318721 >

By Stephen Lendman Global Research, January 13, 2013

America came to stay. Accelerated withdrawal claims reflect subterfuge. Washington officials and media scoundrels don’t explain. Msinformation and illusion substitute for reality.

- - - -

On January 11, Obama and Karzai’s joint press conference was more surreal than honest. Duplicitous doublespeak substituted for truth.
“(T)ransition is well underway,” said Obama. Plans are for Afghan forces to replace Americans. By yearend 2014, they’ll “have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end.”

- - - -

A previous article discussed Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis. He assessed conditions accurately. His 84-page unclassified report called them disastrous.
[ http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030 ]

“How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding,” he asked?

His report’s opening comments said:

“Senior ranking U.S. military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the US Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable.”

“This deception has damaged America’s credibility among both our allies and enemies, severely limiting our ability to reach a political solution to the war in Afghanistan.”

His classified report was more explicit.

“If the public had access to these classified reports,” he explained, “they would see the dramatic gulf between what is often said in public by our senior leaders and what is actually true behind the scenes.”

“It would be illegal for me to discuss, use, or cite classified material in an open venue, and thus I will not do so.”

He traveled thousands of miles throughout the country. He spoke to US commanders, subordinates, and low-ranking soldiers. He talked at length with Afghan security officials, civilians and village elders.

What he learned bore no resemblance to rosy scenario official accounts. Insurgent forces control “virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a US or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base.”

Everywhere he visited, “the tactical situation was bad to abysmal.” [ . . . ]

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Truth, lies and Afghanistan - How military leaders have let us down

< http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030 >

By LT. COL. DANIEL L. DAVIS February 2012

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.
What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level. [ . . . ]

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China’s Latest Piece of the New Silk Road

< http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cac ... s%5D=40291 >

By: Alexandros Petersen

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 10 Issue: 4 January 10, 2013 05:37 PM Age: 64 days

Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Economics, Foreign Policy, Central Asia, Kazakhstan , China

While the concept of a “New Silk Road” of trade, transport and telecommunications connections across Eurasia was formally endorsed by the US State Department, it is Beijing and Chinese companies that have taken the lead in realizing the immense infrastructure projects that will tie the mega-continent together. The latest is the completion of a second railway link between China and Kazakhstan at the burgeoning Khorgos crossing point and Special Economic Zone. This nearly 600-kilometer section is part of a larger project that connects China’s eastern port of Lianyungang with Kazakhstan’s rail system and points west toward Russia and the Caspian region. Chinese officials refer to it as part of the New Eurasian Land Bridge from China’s ports to Western European ports such as Rotterdam (Global Times, December 22, 2012). [ . . . ]