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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: elmatador who wrote (135590)9/16/2017 11:18:54 AM
From: Joseph Silent  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217654
 
These two principles seem to operate in a somewhat universal way.

1. When you do or say more than necessary, the things that can go wrong eventually will.

2. Personal greed invariably leads to public loss.

(If you watch administrators, you'll see both at work. I don't know if the idea of being a "steward' of public interests ever had any real meaning to so-called stewards, but it seems not to exist anywhere now. These losses mount as communication improves and you learn the wrong lessons from other places).



To: elmatador who wrote (135590)9/17/2017 6:35:46 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217654
 
a more credible source would have been ... well, more credible

re <<a member of the Council on Foreign Relations>>



To: elmatador who wrote (135590)9/17/2017 8:39:00 PM
From: Arran Yuan  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217654
 
China's publicity stunt
What is the stunt?
Bridge to Nowhere
Invisible could be observed as evidenced by Smith's Invisible Hand.



To: elmatador who wrote (135590)9/20/2017 6:05:46 AM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217654
 
watch & brief - we approve of localisation, especially when superior products can be had at 1/4 the usual price

had some before, preferred the taste, but did not realise it be the ranked better ones, as not expected china team soon to out move japan team even as japan started trying much earlier

The World’s Best Caviar Doesn’t Come From Russia Anymore
bloomberg.com

Though no one wants to say it, China is producing some of the most delectable fish eggs available.

By Kate Krader

September 19, 2017, 2:45 PM GMT+8

Photographer: Ted Cavanaugh for Bloomberg Businessweek

Mention China alongside almost any food product, and people get nervous. After international incidents involving bleach-soaked meat, antifreeze-laced apple juice, and pine nuts “unfit for human consumption,” the country “is known for tainted food because of repeated quality-control scandals,” says Shaun Rein, managing director for the China Market Research Group.

Kaluga Queen, which produces its caviar about 300 miles southwest of Shanghai, is mindful of these associations.

“The biggest obstacle is the low trust of Chinese food safety,” says Lily Liu, marketing manager for parent company Hangzhou Qiandaohu Xunlong Sci-tech Co.



And yet after the first tin was shipped in 2006, Kaluga Queen began to build a distinguished fan base. It’s now the caviar of choice for 21 of the 26 Michelin three-starred restaurants in Paris, including Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athénée Hotel. Seafood specialist Eric Ripert serves it at Le Bernardin in New York. Lufthansa offers it in first-class cabins. The company’s sturgeon roe was even part of President Obama’s meal at the 2016 Group of 20 summit.

But because most consumers still associate Chinese brands with inexpensive knockoffs, the provenance of Kaluga Queen caviar is rarely mentioned. Alexandre Petrossian, vice president of the namesake caviar purveyor, sells Kaluga Queen-sourced products at the company’s boutiques worldwide but doesn’t label the caviar as Chinese on its tins, where 30 grams can average $150.

“Chinese caviar was very hard to sell for the first three years,” he says. “It was difficult to convince people that it was not a cheap product. There is cheap Chinese caviar, but what we carry is one of the best on the market.”



Sturgeon pens in Qiandao Lake in the Zhejiang province of China. Photographer:

Russia and Iran have long dominated the caviar export market, harvesting the delectable eggs from beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Overfishing there eventually landed them on the endangered species list, and as supply dwindled, other nations, including Japan, Israel, and China, have started to fill the gap.

“Exports of Chinese caviar will boom because of sanctions and limited supplies from Iran and Russia,” Rein says. “Many restaurateurs will buy Chinese caviar because of good quality, reasonable price, and ample stock.”



Caviar processing. Source: Kaluga Queen

Even so, Petrossian notes that his company takes multiple quality-­control trips each year: “We check the water, the fish. Anything that we get from China we make especially certain that it conforms to our standards.” At a tasting, the Huso Hybrid caviar proved exquisite. The large gray eggs have a softly saline taste and a terrific pop.

The list of top chefs buying Kaluga Queen continues to grow. At the new Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire in Shanghai, Kaluga’s product is featured in multiple dishes such as a slow poached egg with Champagne sauce. Le Comptoir chef Romain Chapel says it “tastes more refined and pure compared to a lot of imported ones.”

But to find out where it’s from, guests still need to ask.



Kaluga Queen’s line of premium Chinese caviar.
Source: Kaluga Queen



To: elmatador who wrote (135590)10/29/2017 6:31:44 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217654
 
Re <<China's publicity stunt ... The world has seen wasted infrastructure spending in unstable regions and a seemingly rising power spend itself to death in an effort to project a larger image on the world stage. Now it’s China’s turn to make the same mistakes.>>

i get it. china is making a mistake to construct while others are doing right to destabilise, bomb, and destroy.

and as africa should say 'no' to hospitals so should syria refuse a helping hand.

yes?

the article below mentions brazil and china as a footnote to russia and iran. am wondering which natural-scale entity shall end up doing more.
what do you suppose?

foreignpolicy.com

Syrian Reconstruction Spells Juicy Contracts for Russian, Iranian Firms
Bombed-out cities meant death and destruction. Now they promise billions of dollars — for new construction.
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
October 20, 2017, 1:42 PM



The worst violence of the six-year-long Syrian civil war is winding down, as government forces under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have reclaimed large swathes of rebel-held territory and the Islamic State has been pushed out of its major strongholds.

But where millions of Syrian civilians have seen destruction and hundreds of thousands have died over the last six years, companies inside and outside of Syria now see dollar signs. Almost every destroyed bridge, road, building, and power plant will be a chance for a potentially lucrative government construction contract, which the regime will soon start handing out.

In August, companies from almost two dozen countries flocked to Syria for the Damascus International Fair. The first such expo since the start of the war in 2011, it essentially declared the country open for business again. Well, not entirely — companies from countries that fought Assad’s regime aren’t invited.

Reconstruction contracts are likely to go largely to firms linked to Russia and Iran, which support Assad, though China and Brazil also aim to throw their hats in the ring. Most Western companies aren’t invited, not that they were going anyway: During the United Nations General Assembly in September, 14 mostly Western and Gulf nations opposed to the regime indicated that they would not participate in Syrian reconstruction until a “political process” to get Assad out of power was underway. U.S. national security advisor H.R. McMaster reiterated that position at an event on Washington on Oct. 19, saying, “We should ensure that not a dollar, not a dollar goes to reconstruct anything that is under the control of this brutal regime.”

As early as April 2016, not long after it jumped into the Syrian war, Russia had already signed almost $1 billion in infrastructure and other contracts. In November 2016, Damascus pledged to give Moscow priority in awarding contracts, according to RT. A pair of Kremlin-linked energy firms have already started doing business in oil, gas, and mining in areas just cleared of the Islamic State. The two countries are even considering creating a new joint bank to smooth such transactions.

But Damascus is also turning to another longtime backer for help. Earlier this year, Iranian firms linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps signed deals to rebuild phone networks and mines, and last month Iranian companies signed a host of preliminary accords to build new power plants in a handful of Syrian cities, including Aleppo and Homs. Iranian oil officials have also said the country will build an oil refinery in Syria.

Other countries want in on the action. On Oct. 19, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes said that Brazil intended to re-establish full diplomatic relations with Syria and open its embassy, which it had closed in 2012, in order to give Brazilian businesses a shot at participating in reconstruction there. And even some small Western firms attended the International Fair last month, hoping for a shot at what aid groups estimate will be at least a $300 billion rebuilding effort.

The reconstruction won’t benefit all Syrians, though. Elites who opposed the regime have mostly fled, leaving Assad supporters who are already positioning themselves, by starting new businesses and construction companies, to obtain as many contracts as possible alongside international firms. And not every part of the war-torn country is going to be showered with largesse from Damascus: The regime wants to punish the regions that rebelled by denying reconstruction funds, said Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

“The Syrian regime is not interested in reconstructing the whole of Syria, but only the loyalist areas,” she said.

Aid groups are worried that the rush to rebuild the loyalist core of postwar Syria will only cement the same kinds of divisions and abuses that have been on display during the six-year conflict. Several aid organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children, and CARE International, issued a joint statement this spring warning that “a move towards reconstruction assistance risks doing more harm than good” if it takes place within a Syrian government framework that does not respect human rights.

By Taboola