The Jim Parys Pages

Posted By jimcwaters on June 23, 2013

China –Russia:  The radio Station Ekho Moskvi had a great interview  (Cvoimi glazami—in our eyes) on the on-the-ground state of trade and relations in two towns along the China Russia border, chock full of all the common Russian views of the Chinese.   While in the western press there have been a long-running theme of the political relations between these two countries, and previously, which one had taken the proper route for reform from communism, there have not been that many stories about the situation along their long border in the Far Eastern region of Russia.  Any aerial picture will show just how unequal the two places are:  Russia looking nearly untouched small villages and forests while China is developing factories surrounded by well plotted out farms.   The Amur (Russian) or Heilongjiang (Chinese) river forms the border for most of the way.  Control of some of the islands in the river has been a dispute; nearly ten years ago there was a large benzene spill from a Chinese factory that polluted the river and the river still suffers from pollutants in China.  The radio piece focuses on the two towns across the river of Heihe and Blagoveshchensk. Some of the tidbits of views:  The Chinese work much harder;  it’s cheaper to live in China but much better to earn money in Russia; the Chinese all like the strong man Putin; people in this Russian city are some of the best dressed with Chinese fashions, though the clothes only last a year or two;  northern Chinese are of a more strong stock than the southern Chinese and they can put down the alcohol, though they prefer beer to vodka….

Bantering about the Nile basin: Both Le Monde (Geo & Politique) and the BBC had stories about disputes along the water use of the Nile.  For the first time the new nation of South Sudan was participating in the forum of nations (actually hosting the meeting in Juba).  This comes a few months after the Entebbe Accord where a number of upstream countries agreed to no longer agree to respect the colonial accords of 1929 and 1959  that gave Sudan and Egypt  22% and 66% respectively of the water from the river.  Of particular note is Ethiopia which is building a new mega dam just before the Blue Nile enters Sudan.   The Ethiopians think this is at the heart of their development strategy.  Egypt views this as an aggression against their country.

Southeast Asian integration?:  Radio Australia in its Asia Pacific show gave the latest dispute among the group:  What sports to include in their upcoming  games in Myanmar.   It’s emblematic of the way this and ASEAN (the political and increasing economic grouping) have been run:  friendly consensus and non interference in each others internal affairs.   So, there is no set list of sports for each time the games are held;  the host country has been allowed to make the list.   This time the Philippines are up in arms about the nixing Olympic sports as gymnastics in preference to previously unheard of Chinlone, a Burmese dance sport and vo vinam, a Vietnamese style of martial art.   The Philippines is thus sending a small delegation in protest and appealing for a set list of sports to be established before the next games in Singapore in 2015.

French depression/recession:  Le Monde had a piece titled:  Liberte, egalite, morosite.   More than even the Afghans and Iraqis, the French are more pessimistic about the future.  Though this may be nothing too new, there is no improvement in the way they feel.   Some argue that it all starts at school, weeding out kids along the way, making the notorious “bac” the road to success or ruin depending on your result.  My host last year in Nice fit the mold well too, complaining about all the neighbors, the Armenians, and the Russians who take advantage of what France has to give. The immigrants come, stay  illegally, get into crime, work for low wages and leave the French with high unemployment.   The BBC got at one contradiction that France is caught in here:  “how are you ever going to be competitive if you insist on a 3,000 page labor law that protects workers and punishes investors.”  The BBC story centers in on a comparison between two tire plants in Amiens:   Goodyear plant that is closing and a former Dunlop factory that is making it through.  Granted the American executive of the former wrote just about the silliest letter about his French workers;  still, it’s true that the French consumer does not care much about where his tires come from, as long as they’re quality and affordable.

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