In the KT, Assistant Managing Editor Oh Young-jin — talking with Daewoo Logistic’s Richard Shin, the manager of the company’s project to develop commercial farms in Madagascar — attempts to analyze the Daewoo’s African project from the perspective of “Korean psychology.”
Which is to say, it can’t be neocolonialism, because we’re Korean.
My conclusion is that whether one calls the Daewoo project an act of neocolonialism or not starts with “Korean psychology,” an amalgamation of several elements. One such element, as Shin indicated, is food insecurity. Some say Korea’s grain self-sufficiency rate is about 50 percent but this figure can be deceiving, considering much of it accounts for rice and virtually all stock feed, which is imported.
A large number of cattle and pig farmers went under during a food crisis last year. With the situation being as it is, Korea is not safe from “food riots” that took place in Mexico and Thailand. Besides, it was less than a half century ago that Koreans had to eat unripe barley, porridge made from it or forage for anything in the forest to eat and survive the spring when their staple food, rice, ran out, and nothing else was available.
Korean mountains are another element. Korea is a small country with one of the highest population densities in the world, and 70 percent of its land is mountainous. And some wonder why Koreans appreciate the vast flatlands in Texas or undulating green pasture in Australia so much.
Daewoo’s Madagascar project started with a similar set of psychological elements.
OK, so Koreans need stuff they don’t have, and Madagascar has stuff Koreans need. And this is different from other colonial/neocolonial exercises how? Besides, as we’ve seen — quite visually, in fact, in my posts on colonial Gunsan and Iksan — one of Japan’s primary exports from its Korean colony (and its Taiwanese colony, for that matter) was food (namely rice), and its colonial ambitions in Northeast Asia were influenced by the psychological effects of the 1918 Rice Riots.
Unfortunately for Daewoo, though, Oh reports that few Korean companies want to fund this “uniquely Korean dream,” as he calls it, although foreign firms seem to be more enthusiastic. More damaging to the project, however, is political unrest in Madagascar:
Most importantly, Madagascar is in political turmoil, setting the governing body against the opposition. Their clashes culminated with scores of protestors being killed.
I cite this part simply because mentioning the protests in Madagascar without noting that the Daewoo deal is partially to blame for them (or, as the Foreign Policy blog points out, at least there to take the blame for them) is like mentioning last year’s anti-government protests in Seoul without mentioning US beef.
Anyway, after talking to Shin, Oh felt “more convinced than before” that Korea needs Daewoo to succeed in Madagascar… to show how different Korea is from all those mean colonial powers:
A week after the interview, I called Shin for more details. He told me that he was waiting for his ninth trip to the Island of the Moon, sounding more upbeat than during our meeting. Maybe it was not Shin but I that had since changed. I feel more convinced than before that Korea needs Daewoo’s success in Madagascar, not only to prove that its model is different from the models of Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan during their colonial pasts, but also that it is setting a new precedent for both African states and outside investors to benefit from.
Besides, it’s only farmland the size of a small nation. It’s not like Korea’s including Dokdo in their schoolbooks or anything.
PS: I actually wish Daewoo well in its project. But it’s a business project like any other, not some grand experiment in Korean overseas benevolence derived from uniquely Korean psychological traits. The fact that it’s foreign companies, not Korean ones, that seem most keen to invest should tip you off.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
Comment about Mr. Oh’s email in 3… 2… 1…
Uh… a “uniquely” Korean dream? Have any of these officials taken a basic world history course?
So how is the “please understand us because we’re so special” argument playing in Madagascar?
Nice write-up, until the little piece of doublethink:
I guess that means we can just recast King Leopold’s little adventures in the heart of darkness and — wait for it — Japan’s early 20th century frolic in Korea as business ventures gone a bit over the top – not that the two were otherwise comparable, the former being of such a different magnitude of horror as to constitute something distinctively different (much as some Koreans – the one afflicted with the psychology referenced in the article – would like to believe otherwise) .
Then there]s the inconvenient fact that in the case of Korea’s own quasi-Leopoldian ambition the head of the project and a Korean cultural flak are both on board touting this bit of neocolonialist exploitation as representative of a shiny new “Korean model” of enlightenment and progress, better than all the bad old imperialisms of the past – never mind that each successive wave of those held itself out as the latest, greatest and purest too, and in the case of Imperial Japan, justified by shared racial and cultural affinity.
Talk about (selective) historical amnesia, indeed!
Something Robert may have forgotten in his fisking:
is Belgium really the same size as Gyeongsang province? I would have thought Belgie was bigger. Can someone wiki up the stats?
Oh yeah, and what a silly email. Foolsdie! Puhahaha.
Your intuition serves you poorly Hamel. From wikipedia
Gyeongbuk 19,440 km^2
Gyeongnam 11,859 km^2
Belgium 30,528 km^2
And I believe the above exclude Daegu, Busan and Ulsan.
In my own attempt to join the list of fools pending execution I offer this.
Belgium? Serbia? Turkey? Even France was a Roman colony at one point. The United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa would be former colonies, but they are not sandwiched by big powers.
Oh Young-jin should just be honest. What Daewoo is trying to do in Madagascar is neocolonialism, but it’s not colonialism.
Colonialism is direct rule, something Britain did in their colonies and Japan most certainly did in Korea.
Neocolonialism is the implied control of resources, not necessarily the government, by an outside power, not necessarily by direct means, but also sometimes indirect means.
Oops, add me and Oh Young-jin to the list of fools. In the article it says
Yes, that seems to be a popular opinion… and perhaps one that will be reflected in the blog design shortly. It would be better if the last comment nest responded to was placed automatically at the bottom.
Eujin: the Netherlands – wedged between England, France and Germany, and at war with all three at some time or other – has been, in turn, colonized and colonizer. The former did not make the latter any less exploitative or, at times, cruel.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, in life so often the oppressed becomes the oppressor.
The Netherlands has also been invaded X hundred times.
Maybe Korea can learn something from the Dutch.
Oh and Eujin: thanks for putting up the stats.
I am sorry to say but I can not share Mr. Shin’s comments when the record of Daewoo has been so poor in terms of its sense of ethics. While it is true that their goals are more ambitious than just building apartment buildings, they are not a good representative of any admirable virtues.
Consider, once again, this comment and I think it demonstrates that Daewoo’s goals are most likely less inspired than one would hope for.
As much as I love Korea, it is kind of annoying how often it shows up late to the party only to find out that fat girl it was making jokes about died only two hours earlier in a car crash. In this case it is likely to make some horrible human rights error only to be publicly embarrassed by the U.N. and not powerful enough to bribe its way out. At any rate we can hope for candle light protests in the streets of Antanarivo with maddened Madagascans selling t-shirts at dunkin donuts that say “Do you know Madagascar?”
I agree – I do not like this new comment system; finding recent comments is difficult especially on the posts that have a lot of feedback
Robert,
Great fisking of Oh’s propaganda piece. The real story here is why the Times has decided to carry water for Daewoo. Even as an opinion piece, Oh’s article smacks of boosterism. It is certainly not journalism.
DLB
To be frank, I sympathize with a lot of the comments here that what Daewoo Logistics is doing in Madagascar does seem strikingly parallel with that of say imperial Japan, Britain, and Belgium.
On the surface, it does seem that Daewoo, and by extension South Korea, is engaging in the sort of geopolitical acts that have largely been discredited following the end of the WWII.
All that said, however, facts on the surface can be misleading if one does not carefully interpret those facts within a careful set of definitions. For instance, when the pejorative appellations such as ‘imperial’, ‘neocolonial’ vs. ‘colonial’ are tossed about it would be helpful if the commentators signal precisely what they mean by such terms. To go about calling Daewoo Logistics’ commercial venture in Madagascar a redux of past historical actions is rather sloppy.
In that spirit, I would like to forward my definition of “imperialism” (actually, another persons) and then attempt to qualify how Daewoo Logistics’ Madagascar venture sizes up.
To my mind, the most lucid and cogent definition of imperialism that I’ve come across is from Louise Young’s “Japan’s Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism”. According to Young, “Imperial domination implies that the dominated society is not only altered by interventions of the dominating society, but loses its ability to reject those interventions.” (p. 11) (This passage can be read on Google books)
From reading about Daewoo’s lease in Madagascar, I find it difficult at this point to definitively conclude that this is a case of either ‘imperialism’ or ‘neocolonialism’. From the reports I’ve read illustrating the massive demonstrations and the fact that the whole enterprise seems to be essentially on the rocks, Madagascar society hasn’t been altered significantly nor has it lost its ability to reject Daewoo Logistics’ interventions. As Robert pointed out this is a business deal.
Now, the jury is still out. Conditions can change. It could transpire that Madagascar finds itself in such a dire situation that it is all but powerless to stop the impositions of major foreign firms and is in turn forced to adopt political, social, and economic changes of the drastic and fundamental sort (a la Korea in 1905). But until that day arrives, I am going to refrain from the sort of easy and comforting hyperbolic cri de couers.
Finally, I would like to hear what other commentators definitions of ‘imperialism’, ‘colonialism’ vs. ‘neocolonialism’ are and how they think those definitions apply to Daewoo in Madagascar.
That is the problem. The people who are in charge of this project are woefully ignorant of history and public relations.
My conclusion is that whether one calls the Daewoo project an act of neocolonialism or not starts with “Korean psychology,”
This is a ludicrous and backward way of proceeding. It starts with “African psychology” not “Korean psychology”. They’re dealing with people of a continent who had a long ongoing history of exploitation from European powers. The question should be “what lessons do we need to heed from the history of European colonialism in Africa to apply to our business dealings with Africans of today who are understandably wary of what looks like more exploitation?” No one seems to be asking this question.
Most importantly, Madagascar is in political turmoil, setting the governing body against the opposition. Their clashes culminated with scores of protesters being killed.
This project will never succeed if the Madagascar public remains vehemently opposed. There has been no effort to sell this to the locals as a WIN-WIN proposition for both Madagascar and Korea.
I feel more convinced than before that Korea needs Daewoo’s success in Madagascar, not only to prove that its model is different from the models of Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan during their colonial pasts, but also that it is setting a new precedent for both African states and outside investors to benefit from.
This business venture is flawed for the same reasons why many of the Korean Christian missionary expeditions to places like the Middle East are flawed. They never took the time to understand the local culture and mindset of the people they are dealing with.
Every time something shit has happened to me, or I have seen or experienced shit in Korea, somebody is always ready to excuse or explain the behaviour. There is never a throwing up of hands in apology, no condemnation or remonstrance. Always an excuse, often it’s because I’m not Korean and don’t understand their ways.
The problem there, is, that by excusing bad behaviour, Koreans are tacitly admitting that they know that the behaviour is bad, and are aware of thr offence that non koreans can take at this.
I feel that Mr Oh and many others know that what they are doing will be viewed by many as neocolonialism, rightly or wrongly, and are ready with the excuses. Don’t blame trying to advance your nation in the world by looking elsewhere for resources on unique psychology etc etc ad nauseum. Just admit the truth, you’ve had centuries of sucking it up, now it’s someone else’s turn!
Korea, hub of excuses?
“Every time something shit has happened to me, or I have seen or experienced shit in Korea, somebody is always ready to excuse or explain the behaviour. There is never a throwing up of hands in apology, no condemnation or remonstrance. Always an excuse, often it’s because I’m not Korean and don’t understand their ways.”
Well, it happens to Korean gyopos too. The odd thing is, I often observe some Korean gyopos engaging in the same behavior, especially those who have had a stricter Korean upbringing abroad – and they are ofter more shocked than the foreigners when it happens to them. I’m sure there are many who can relate to this. It’s a “uniquely Korean” abrogation of personal responsibility for one’s actions that sometimes manifests even in the illogical thrashings of some posters on this blog, and it’s amusing to a point. But the poor souls don’t realize what fools they make of themselves.
Mea culpa, I know, but some eventually give that shit, especially those who are exposed to it firsthand.
I said this before and I will say it again:
Everyone is getting worked up over a nutcase at a newspaper that few Koreans read. Oh Young-Jin has no representative capacity for Korean public opinion, nor does he have any capacity to form Korean public opinion. He is totally, utterly, unequivocally irrelevant. I really have no idea why Robert insists on talking about him.
Maybe not representative in any capacity, but I would say his views are fairly representative of Korean public opinion. I can only go on what I hear and see, though.
I agree with theKorean. But my question is, why can’t we find some crazies out there in Korean media who DO have that capacity to form opinion and therefore would be worth getting all roused up about? Surely there’s gotta be? I mean, here in the U.S. we got nutjobs like good ol Rush Limbaugh and his ilk to get ticked off about. Why can’t we find the same kind of people in Korea?
“Syngenta and its predecessor companies have been involved in numerous legal actions over the years.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngenta
The measurement is only as good as its ruler.
Thats the problem, what is really being seen and heard sounds more like a cirlce jerk from a bunch of cynical expats, which serves to reinforce that one or two times seach one heard a Korea use that argument (which they will really claim is “all-the-time”).
I have never heard any Korean express such a view. The expat community is just as vulnerable to incestuous amplification as the Koreans.
Here’s an example of Rush Limbaugh that passes for mainstream republican opinion making commentary
You really don’t have to focus on the fringe lunatics. There’s gotta be someone like Mr. Limbaugh in Korean media.
Because I want to.
Seriously, Korean, as I’VE said before, we all know the KT has no clout. Not Jon Huer, not Oh Young-jin, not anyone there. Still, when people say stupid shit, I find it fun to write about it. Besides, just because it’s in an un-influential forum (like the KT) doesn’t mean the issues aren’t worth discussing. Or at least fun to discuss.
BTW, as I’m sure you know, even though the KT has no clout domestically, as the English-language face of Korea (with the KH), it does have some clout internationally. Not a lot, granted, but still, some.
Kim Gura, Shin Haechul, Do-eul, Korean-Obama (Noh Moohyun)
Yeah, alright. I guess I did know that reason.
so are you saying that isn’t the purpose of feminism?
There we go. That’s more like how Koreans are thinking about this situation. See below editorial at Joongangilbo for instance
http://article.joins.com/article/article.asp?Total_ID=3387223
I see you added an elaboration, so I’ll add just a little bit as well. The reason why I keep on expressing the same view is that I find those articles — Oh Young-Jin, John Huer, and the general crap on KT — to be beneath you. They are so stupid that they deserve nobody’s time, especially not you. I say this out of respect for you. I agree that it is an interesting issue to discuss, but I just don’t see the point of lowering yourself to Foolsdie’s level. Discussion on this topic can be made without doing that.
I would like to point out once again that Mr. Foolsdie Oh Young-jin was once the man at the Blue House (under President Roh) in charge of press relations. It was he who chose not to invite the correspondents of the WSJ and the Financial Times to certain Blue House press events. So sure, he might now be working for a two-bit expat rag equivalent to a newsletter at a summer camp for troubled youth, but he *WAS* somewhat influential until just about a year ago.
Here again lies a problem regarding the media coverage in Korea where certain things go unreported or under-reported. If they pertain to the actions of government-sanctioned chaebol, they will simply not receive the scrutiny they would if they were the actions of another organization. This is part of the criticism that some people made during the mad cow protests, that the “big three” papers were chaebol instruments and not the best source of truthful news.
Additionally, when I go to naver.com and there are no real articles on the deal that I can find. It is very quiet. I also asked around to a variety of Koreans, of different ages and income and * surprise* they had not heard of this deal either.
There are pieces — you have to look back a bit.
Heck! Okay, thanks Robert.
Part of my problem is that I read Hangul really s-l-o-w-l-y.
#25 – “Here again lies a problem regarding the media coverage in Korea where certain things go unreported or under-reported. If they pertain to the actions of government-sanctioned chaebol, they will simply not receive the scrutiny they would if they were the actions of another organization. This is part of the criticism that some people made during the mad cow protests, that the “big three” papers were chaebol instruments and not the best source of truthful news.”
Yep. And there happens to be a scandal involving Korea’s most important company, there’s a decent chance the English language edition of a certain paper than appears in the IHT won’t even print it.
Scrutiny is not what we are looking for. It’s the raving loonies in the mainstream who are in support of this deal that I’d like to hear about, and which would be worth a fisking.
Sp who is the ROK’s Korean equivalent of Thomas Friedman or Maureen Dowd and is she/he translated?
My Korean too is too slow and side-by-side articles help a lot.
Why can’t people see the benefits that the Daewoo project can bring to the people of M/car?
I guess at least half of the amount of money of the project (3 billion) will be invested to construct schools, hospitals, etc, and hundreds of people will be employed for the project.
Why do you think the M/car government wanted the deal? For bribery? No! For the development of the country. It is absolutely rational for a government to have the undeveloped land utilized by a foreign company who pays the tax that will contribute to the nation’s economy.
What’s wrong with this WIN-WIN deal? Why does this purely business deal have to be related to the preconceived “neo-colonialism”?
Maybe ask Korea Beat. I dunno whether they take requests, though.
Probably worth noting that if the old colonial powers could have simply purchased what they wanted, they probably would have. They would get the resources and whatever else they wanted without having to maintain colonial armies and navies. In this sense, South Korea is getting a much better deal than the old colonial powers.
Obviously I’m having a slow day to be replying to such density. Anyway:
A “purely business deal” is one which involves two or more businesses. This deal involves a deal between Daewoo (nominally a business, which in this case is acting with a very high level of involvement by the Korean government), and the Madagascar government, and so is therefore emphatically NOT a purely business deal.
Your logic in making this guess eludes me. One of the problems Western companies have when investing in Africa is that the deals, again, are made with governments, not companies. These have the effect of entrenching the governments. Nigeria and Sudan are excellent examples. When governments can derive their funding by selling their resources to foreigners, they don’t need to spend those resources on such things as schools and hospitals for their people. (Aside: this is actually an argument in favor of personal income taxation in rich Western countries. By keeping our governments reliant on us for their money, they have to give us something back.)
When Nigeria and Sudan talk to Western companies about investment, or even when they talk to the World Bank, Care or Unicef about getting money for infrastructure and social welfare projects, those governments find themselves facing huge pressures for accountability, transparency, environmental protection, fair trade, progress on human rights, etc. On the other hand, some official from China just shows up and says “I only want the oil. Here’s $50 billion.” THAT kind of deal is win-win: win for China, and win for the African government. But time after time we have seen that the money does not result in a win for the people of the country receiving the investment.
Hey Linkd, since you’re bored, what do you make of this?
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/02/18/afx6068969.html
Why would the Central Bank being trying to underwrite bonds that the Treasury is trying to issue? Is the government less likely to default if the Central bank underwrites it? It doesn’t make any sense to me.
And what it is saying about the market’s appetite to snap up some new Korea issuance?
Why would the old colonial powers feel the need to purchase anything when they can simply take it using those colonial armies and navies? But you’re right, South Korea is probably getting a better deal than the old colonial powers, at least in the sense that they won’t have to deal with the historical baggage of having killed millions of innocent people to achieve their economic goals.
Sure, but you have to tell me what it is with this Korean love for single sentences that contain over 5 phrases and ramble on for 4 or 5 lines? What Dong-A is doing to my writing right now is so horrendous that I won’t be able to use their annual report in my portfolio…
The Treasury in the government’s money. the Central Bank is the nation’s money. These must be kept separate – another topic, but the main idea is that a government facing electoral defeat would just spend everything to buy votes.
During recessions, when private spending drops, governments usually have to step in with increased spending to keep the economy going. To raise that money, they borrow, issuing Treasury bonds. The interest rate they have to pay to investors is a measure of how much faith the market has in the government, and indirectly, how much faith they have in the independence of the Central Bank, which is supposed to protect the currency against dropping in value.
What’s happening now is that private spending AROUND THE WORLD has dropped like a stone. So, governments AROUND THE WORLD are faced with having to borrow zillions of dollars to fund spending programs, so as to effectively take the place of ALL OTHER private spending (OK, that’s an exaggeration).
The amount that governments need to spend, and therefore the volume of T-bills they need to issue, is unprecedented. Even US T-bills, seemingly the only asset anyone wants right now, are going to be coming out in such huge volumes there is concern that they won’t be able to sell them all. This has already happened in Korea, where the Treasury’s last attempted bond sale didn’t find enough buyers.
So that puts central banks in a highly unenviable situation. Their job is to protect the nation’s currency. If the markets don’t trust their government enough to pay back the loans they’re requesting, this means that their own currency is looking like a pretty bad investment. When Country X’s central bank becomes the only buyer for Country X’s government bonds, it could mean that the Central Bank has lost autonomy, and is now letting its government have control of the currency. It could also mean that the government’s borrowing is so large that the markets think the nation’s economy can’t grow fast enough to pay it back, and there will be a soverign default. (I have to admit I don’t understand the financial implications of this at all well.)
A final thing to point out is that most of what people think they know about economics and finance assumes that markets are functioning. Right now, markets are not functioning, and the normal rules are being suspended and a whole lot of leeway is being granted.
Congratulations! You’ve just produced a summary of typical Eulsa collaborationist/traitor apologia for the Japanese colonisation of Japan. Are you channeling the spirit of Lee Wan-yong?
Probably worth noting that even when the old colonial powers simply purchased what they wanted, they still needed to maintain colonial armies and navies to settle all the resulting disputes that ensued. The Anglo-Maori wars of the 1860s and 1870s for example, which saw amongst other things, the first ever overseas military operation by an Australian unit, were largely fought over who owned what and who was entitled to sell what to whom. Or had you forgotten about that?
The 1848 Kemp Purchase alone was three times as large as the current Madagascar deal.
Right. Do you think they’re suggesting that some of Korea’s foreign reserves should be sold to raise money for government spending? Or are they talking about increasing the money supply directly by printing currency to hand over in return for government paper? Or can the Central Bank underwrite the whole issue in the secondary market like an insurance monoline? That sounds very strange to me.
Presumably the Bank of Korea has no expertise in underwriting new issues in the way that an investment bank would have, so the fact that they are even talking about this doesn’t sound good. Why can’t they just raise the rate if they can’t find enough buyers for their bonds? OK, I’m getting worried now so I’ll stop.
“OK, so Koreans need stuff they don’t have, and Madagascar has stuff Koreans need. And this is different from other colonial/neocolonial exercises how?”
The use of force.
Quite frankly, I can’t believe anyone would overlook that key component. Are human lives worth nothing? Not only is this attempt at moral equivelance unethical and myopic, it rewrites history and whitewashes past colonial atrocities as mere business deals.
Um, tiny, regarding the phrase “colonial/neocolonial” how about looking up the definition of neocolonialism before going off on yet another tangential rant on an unsustainable solipsistic opinion that you lack the intellectual rigor or honesty to support?
Over and out.
How about not conflating colonialism and neocolonialism in the first place?
Name one colonial power that did not use force, or the threat thereof, to achieve their economic goals.
The problem is the sloppy use of the terms colonial/neocolonial interchangeably, as if they were morally equivalent. And people like mizar brainlessly continuing to conflate the two terms in the same sentence(!) even after it’s been pointed out that they are not the same in the post immediately preceding.
Yes, why don’t you pursue that red herring for a while? Or else, try ritalin.
By the way, whereas it is flattering to have admirers like you who hang on my every comment and frustrate themselves to the point of losing their cool trying to outsmart me, and whereas I generally enjoy deconstructing logical fallacies, I’ll have to place my sock puppets on hold. Bye.
Not only are we conflating colonialism and neocolonialism. I just noticed that the post title uses the much stronger “imperialism” to describe the deal (which I hardly support). It’s funny and ironic to have people telling me to look up definitions when clearly, words have lost all meaning when people discuss this issue. Imperialism = colonialism = neocolonialism = business deal.
LOL. Don’t get all butthurt now mizar. I like you. Really, I do.
Do you think your analogy works?
Eulsa traitor agree to succumbing to the political powers as it is only the option to survive in the dog-eat-dog world.
However, every politicians in M/car knows the benefit that the Daewoo project will bring to the economy – the people of M/car. (I have M/car friends)
Don’t you know that M/car gov’t just doesn’t have resources(financial) or money to develop the area, while Daewoo will invest money to construct SOC infra-structure to help people there.
Who can help people there, You or the Daewoo project?
What is it? Is it colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism? Confusion abounds. Maybe this will help:
The length of the lease for the Madagascar deal was purported to be 99 years. What other example is there of this in history?
Let’s say the budding Dae Han Min Guk Empire engages in a highly lucrative trade whereby the Koreans effectively force the natives of Madagascar to buy narcotic drugs. Great Chosun goes to war twice (putting the Dokto and KDX destroyers to good use) with the Madagascar for refusing to buy said narcotics. Madagascar is defeated, of course, and treaties are signed whereby Great Chosun helps itself to large quantities of Madagascarian land….etc.
I believe if this were to happen, then one may properly call it Imperialism. Colonialism is when one doesn’t even go through the formalities (Treaties, etc). Think Spaniards in the New World. Neocolonialism…well that is the word the West uses for whatever it is that Asia is doing in Africa. When the West does the same thing, it is called Globalization.
Or maybe this will help:
Eddie Izzard – Flags
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEx5G-GOS1k
Eddie Izzard – Empires
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K9811LaivA&NR=1
History lessons are good but reading the current news may be more pertinent to the here and now. Maybe Daewoo and other Korean and foreign firms new to Africa can learn something from China’s enormous and current investment strategies there.
No, obviously the analogy is not on all fours; at least, I haven’t any idea whether Mcar has its own incarnation of the Eulsa “traitors” or not. The point is that it is exceedingly naive – not to say simply ignorant – to make believe that this is nothing but a plain vanilla “business” deal.
I opened those links in another tab, and the audio started playing in the background. Funny stuff. Then I clicked over to the page, and I threw up a little, in my mouth.
Eddie Izzard is one of those men who looks quite sexy in drag…I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Reality check time. Here’s the REAL face of imperialism today
A “purely business deal” is one which involves two or more businesses. This deal involves a deal between Daewoo (nominally a business, which in this case is acting with a very high level of involvement by the Korean government), and the Madagascar government, and so is therefore emphatically NOT a purely business deal.
–> Are you a 10th grader? You are just blind to the meaning while sticking to the literal appearance.
In your logic, any deal that involves is NOT a business deal? So naive!!
The US government can make a contract with Hyundae for its local construction. Would you say it is not “pure business deal” either?
Just think with your head why people and politicians there want foreign investors like Daewoo.
They need others to come and develop their land.
It’s not like Japan came to Korea despite the Korean people’s opposition. Neither was there such a threat that Japanese colonialists used when Daewoo reached an agreement with M/car gov’t.
I hear from the insiders in the project. In fact, every politicians in M/car is well aware of the benefit of the Daewoo project. That is what brought this project to existence, not the Daewoo or Korean government’s threat or evil coaxing!!
Actually, penis-breath, I was just writing to show off yet again how smart I am. Sort of complementary to the way you write just to show off what a retard you are.
You’re pretty much over my head now, eujin. The answer to your first question is that that is impossible. I can’t explain why, but this blog post can.
The answer to your second question is that the result is pure inflation. See Zimbabwe, where Mugabe took power and then just printed money to give all his supporters. When it ran out, he printed more. Now they have ten-trillion-dollar bills in circulation.
The answer to your third question is that sovereign bonds are ultimately “underwritten” by the taxing authority of the government (or in some countries’ cases, by resource revenues). Credit default swaps on sovereign debt used to exist in the normal mix of financial instruments, but that market has pretty much collapsed. Don’t get hung up on the word ‘underwriting’. What you’re talking about is the central bank BUYING the treasury bonds.
And as for raising the rate – because they have to make interest payments on those bonds. If those future interest payments would be too high, then they’ll just wait for a more favorable market. Sometimes the market is so tight that you can’t borrow at any reasonable price.
Go look up neo-colonialism, and come back when you’ve demonstrated an understanding of the concept.
I think if I reply to your reply we just get pushed further and further over to right-hand side. If I reply to my own comment it just gets placed below yours.
So how does the Central Bank pay for these bonds? Where does it get the money from? They’re not using the reserves because they’re not allowed to, right. They’re not printing money because that just causes inflation, OK. Do they have other pots of money they can use to buy the bonds? Can they exchange bonds they’ve repo’ed in from commercial banks for government paper? That sounds daft. Isn’t most of the stuff they repo in government paper already?
And why would they come up with the cunning plan that if the market won’t lend to us at any sensible rate, we’ll basically just lend to ourselves?
I’m surprised you say that the sovereign CDS market has dried up. On the source of all that is truth and goodness, Arirang News, they were saying a couple of days ago that the Korea CDS rate had gone through 400.
This got me thinking to how the Chosun Ilbo’s hypothetical buy Korea, sell UK, pick-up 300 trade was doing. If we say they put the trade on for five years they’ve probably made close to a 4.5% loss over the last four months. Not bad at all, although not necessarily underperforming the market.
let’s pick this up tomorrow. i’ve got my eye on a grill full of pig ribs and a few 오백cc’s.
This is being blown out of proportion. Colonialism is an act of subjugation complete with the subjugation of culture, language and independence. None of which are affected by this Korea-Madagascar deal.
But i need to congratulate the Koreans on taking the Japanese bait, hook line and sinker. What do I mean? Do you think the Brits really give a damn especially given their history? Its the Japs who are pushing for this in the same way they got the British papers to print articles about dead dogs right before the 2002 world cup.
If you want to be a global player learn the game.
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