sigh .... I hate to say even with - asteroids hitting the earth, - virus alpha beta charlie ... versions - tsumani here and there - volcano here and there - war here and there ----- population keep on increasing exponentially, and CO2 keeps on increasing. No wonder people keep on planning to stay on Mars. Or perhaps God waiting for someone to press the very big red button for Nuclear bombs to destroy the whole world?
population keep on increasing exponentially, You'd think somebody should have invented rubbers by now.
Problem with Afghanistan is there is no economy to speak of in which to build propserity. First of all religious rule is never beneficial to an economy, it just ends up as cultural control and stifles any economic growth. Afghanistan terrain means no significant crop exports. Their main exports are carpets and rugs... not quite the same as oil and natural gas. Afghanistan is always going to be a backward country with no real economy which makes it susceptible to religious fanatics because you can have people living in tents and tiny cement buildings and they beleive they are happy.
It has tons and tons and tons of precious minerals and rare earths. China and Afghanistan will benefit by mining those things.
China really really hates opium because of what UK did decades ago. But China loves rare earth. It will be good partnership between China and Afghanistan
@Overnight does have you here. The US could absolutely not pay. Don't push this line of thought further without thinking it through.
I'll give you a point for realizing if you owe the guy 100 bucks it's your problem but if you owe the guy 100M it's his problem. But on the underlined and bolded above, I would wager if you asked a random mainlander who should be giving orders in China, they would prefer the orders come from Beijing and not Washington.
Lol, I take it you aren't familiar with Russia's repudiation of its debt? When the communists took over Russia, they told the Brits and French (among many others) to go f*** themselves about repayment of Russia's multi million dollars debt, pretty much like @Overnight suggests America to do regarding its debt to China. The reaction from the global financial community was swift and Russia/Soviet Union was basically unable to borrow unless it also made payments to its debt, which was finally paid off in the 1980s if I remember correctly. The very foundation of international trade is countries meeting their financial obligations. There's a reason NK is outside the global system and I can assure you that one of the conditions for that country to one day rejoin will be payment of that court fine. The US and China will renegotiate payment terms, but the debt will be paid, this, next and future generations. America may have the world's greatest military machine, but it can't afford to operate it!