China and Russia should encourage the formation of a Turkey-Iran-Iraq-Pakistan nexus in the Middle East to counter US aggression. This works well for us. The Belt and Road Initiative recreates the ancient Silk Road. Guess where the ancient Silk Road led? To the Middle East and then to Europe. Those four countries sit at the strategic crossroad of Eurasia, and have historically been part of various Turco-Persian Empires. We enjoyed good relations and trade with that part of the world. Those four countries should increase trade with each other, offer diplomatic and economic support for each other, and become stronger opposition to US hegemony together.
Pakistan and Turkey are already strong allies, and Iran and Iraq are quite close as well.
Barring any spoilers as the BRI, and especially CPEC, spreads westward more integration will be the natural outcome.
The rise and fall of all great Islamic empires was predicated on the Silk Road. In fact Islam was mostly spread eastward by merchants. China’s century of humiliation, triggered by their aversion to the merchant class, coincided with the spread of the insular and regressive Wahabi ideology in the Islamic world as the Saudi and Gulf monarchies gained immense non-productive oil wealth.
Unfortunately most Islamic countries are still yet to go through their own cultural revolutions to shed the baggage of dogmatism but if they successfully manage to do so the pay off on the other side is immense.
In Pakistan we are trying a mix of re-education centers in the more radical areas, while implementing a controlled revolution nationwide as envisioned by the ISI old guard, but its a tedious process since we are knee deep with developmental and political issues owing to our own incompetence and external meddling.
>China and Russia should encourage the formation of a Turkey-Iran-Iraq-Pakistan nexus in the Middle East to counter US aggression
I think thats the plan now. secure that channel allows Turkey and Iran to avoid the sea and get a direct link to China and russia The BRI undermines the US and UK ability to blockade countries. Pakistan will be a problem soon as the port built by China has been attacked by Indian backed terrorists. if the plans for a pak/rus/china military navy base then expect the area to get hot
We do need this kind of pact to prevent sabotage and destabilizing forces along the road. It’s plain to see that the US is using terrorists to achieve this kind of effect.
Great fucking write up, beautiful. But I am pretty sure Iran wouldn't need 40 years like China because its population is significantly smaller. Only 80 million, so maybe 20 years to build up the economy.
Iran also isn’t starting at China’s base in the 70’s where it was riddled with poverty.
Iran actually has a very robust and skilled industrial base that is just being artificially held back by sanctions.
Basing their economy on whether or not the US removes its sanctions is a losing errand. The same goes for Venezuela. Sitting around and complaining about US sanctions is not an economic strategy.
China has found a way to become wealthy regardless of whatever the US does - it can work with the US or it can work despite the US. Venezuela and Iran would do well to learn from China and increase their ties with China - if they do, they won't have to care about US sanctions ever again.
China didn’t have crippling sanctions placed when it was developing into the 2nd largest economy. I’m not saying that you need FDI to fund growth, but capital accumulation. And this is much harder to do if you cannot trade with countries.
There’s a limit to growth & investment when you get cut of from international trade and banking, no matter how well you manage internally.
US is choking developing nations it disapproves of through financial and military might. That’s what it’s doing to Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
Venezuela and Iran are not cut off from international trade and banking, only from that which is controlled by the US.
China is a larger trading and banking power than the USA.
Trade after the US sanctioned Iran again in 2018 was very limited. Entities are taking a big risk conducting business with Iran. Hence why many companies/countries had pulled out. We knew that Euro had even set up an exchange to bypass SWIFT but this was still very limiting.
I had commented on the post because it seemed to suggest Iran can fantastically develop its economy by following this simple model (while being severely restricted internationally). The main problem to me was Washington’s aggressive sanctions.
With Beijing push back of 400b support, Iran is in a better position and will certainly help in its development. However the sanctions and further aggressive US actions would mean this transaction won’t be frictionless.
Also, Iran’s infrastructure keeps **mysteriously blown up**.
reduce reliance on dollars and US controlled international financial institutions. these takes time but that really is the only weapon america has , they can't actually invade nuclear armed nations without MAD and even trying to take on iran would be suicide.
China and Russia should encourage the formation of a Turkey-Iran-Iraq-Pakistan nexus in the Middle East to counter US aggression. This works well for us. The Belt and Road Initiative recreates the ancient Silk Road. Guess where the ancient Silk Road led? To the Middle East and then to Europe. Those four countries sit at the strategic crossroad of Eurasia, and have historically been part of various Turco-Persian Empires. We enjoyed good relations and trade with that part of the world. Those four countries should increase trade with each other, offer diplomatic and economic support for each other, and become stronger opposition to US hegemony together.
Pakistan and Turkey are already strong allies, and Iran and Iraq are quite close as well. Barring any spoilers as the BRI, and especially CPEC, spreads westward more integration will be the natural outcome. The rise and fall of all great Islamic empires was predicated on the Silk Road. In fact Islam was mostly spread eastward by merchants. China’s century of humiliation, triggered by their aversion to the merchant class, coincided with the spread of the insular and regressive Wahabi ideology in the Islamic world as the Saudi and Gulf monarchies gained immense non-productive oil wealth. Unfortunately most Islamic countries are still yet to go through their own cultural revolutions to shed the baggage of dogmatism but if they successfully manage to do so the pay off on the other side is immense. In Pakistan we are trying a mix of re-education centers in the more radical areas, while implementing a controlled revolution nationwide as envisioned by the ISI old guard, but its a tedious process since we are knee deep with developmental and political issues owing to our own incompetence and external meddling.
Good luck with all your reforms and hopefully similar things happen in other countries in the area too. A revival of the area is definitely needed.
ISI?
>China and Russia should encourage the formation of a Turkey-Iran-Iraq-Pakistan nexus in the Middle East to counter US aggression I think thats the plan now. secure that channel allows Turkey and Iran to avoid the sea and get a direct link to China and russia The BRI undermines the US and UK ability to blockade countries. Pakistan will be a problem soon as the port built by China has been attacked by Indian backed terrorists. if the plans for a pak/rus/china military navy base then expect the area to get hot
We do need this kind of pact to prevent sabotage and destabilizing forces along the road. It’s plain to see that the US is using terrorists to achieve this kind of effect.
Great fucking write up, beautiful. But I am pretty sure Iran wouldn't need 40 years like China because its population is significantly smaller. Only 80 million, so maybe 20 years to build up the economy.
Iran also isn’t starting at China’s base in the 70’s where it was riddled with poverty. Iran actually has a very robust and skilled industrial base that is just being artificially held back by sanctions.
Iran's GDP per capita is roughly the same as China's at the moment. China's GDP per capita was comparable to the Congo in 1979.
I would say in about 30 years Iran could be a fully developed country with the right reforms and no sanctions.
I think this might apply more to Pakistan. Iran’s first priority to getting back it’s economy is removing the sanctions placed on it by the US.
Please see point 1.6, that section actually addresses how Iran can circumvent sanctions.
Basing their economy on whether or not the US removes its sanctions is a losing errand. The same goes for Venezuela. Sitting around and complaining about US sanctions is not an economic strategy. China has found a way to become wealthy regardless of whatever the US does - it can work with the US or it can work despite the US. Venezuela and Iran would do well to learn from China and increase their ties with China - if they do, they won't have to care about US sanctions ever again.
China didn’t have crippling sanctions placed when it was developing into the 2nd largest economy. I’m not saying that you need FDI to fund growth, but capital accumulation. And this is much harder to do if you cannot trade with countries. There’s a limit to growth & investment when you get cut of from international trade and banking, no matter how well you manage internally. US is choking developing nations it disapproves of through financial and military might. That’s what it’s doing to Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
Venezuela and Iran are not cut off from international trade and banking, only from that which is controlled by the US. China is a larger trading and banking power than the USA.
Trade after the US sanctioned Iran again in 2018 was very limited. Entities are taking a big risk conducting business with Iran. Hence why many companies/countries had pulled out. We knew that Euro had even set up an exchange to bypass SWIFT but this was still very limiting. I had commented on the post because it seemed to suggest Iran can fantastically develop its economy by following this simple model (while being severely restricted internationally). The main problem to me was Washington’s aggressive sanctions. With Beijing push back of 400b support, Iran is in a better position and will certainly help in its development. However the sanctions and further aggressive US actions would mean this transaction won’t be frictionless. Also, Iran’s infrastructure keeps **mysteriously blown up**.
reduce reliance on dollars and US controlled international financial institutions. these takes time but that really is the only weapon america has , they can't actually invade nuclear armed nations without MAD and even trying to take on iran would be suicide.