Courtesy of the Financial Times, a report on the new Silk Road: Illustrated map depicting the journey of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) along the silk road to China If the ancient Silk Road developed to enable trade in fine cloths and spices, the new one will transport computer equipment and frozen […]
Read more »Via The Financial Times, a look at Beijing’s ’One Belt, One Road’ initiative: The ancient trade in silk, spices and slaves between China and Europe turned central Asian oases into wealthy business hubs. Now, with China seeking to rebuild the Silk Road as its signature foreign policy initiative, countries across post-Soviet central Asia, the Caucasus […]
Read more »Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), detailed analysis of the evolving China-Pakistan economic corridor: The partnership between Pakistan and China is one of the strongest in Asia. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once said that his country’s ties with Beijing are “higher than mountains” and “deeper than oceans.” In May 2015, those sentiments were given form […]
Read more »Via Foreign Policy, an interesting article on a handful of ambitious U.S. veterans are launching start-ups in Afghanistan: “This is the valley where I learned empathy,” says Matthew “Griff” Griffin, a former Army captain, holding a photograph of a procession of Army Rangers winding their way through Afghanistan’s snowy Korengal Valley. In November 2003, Griff […]
Read more »Via The Globe & Mail, an article on Mongolia: Chimgee remembers the days people crowded in front of her meat market stall, waiting to buy from her storage locker jammed to the ceiling with beef, goat, sheep, camel and horse carcasses. “It was full, and people would line up here to buy from me,” she […]
Read more »Via the World Economic Forum, a report on the new Silk Road: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will help fund a highway in Pakistan, a road project in Tajikistan, and a ring road in Almaty, Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the projects and tender documents. The AIIB was formally launched in January after attracting dozens […]
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