Reverse Takeover: A Post-Imperial World?
January 6th, 2008I read today of Tata’s impending purchase of 2 of Ford’s great brands, Jaguar and Land Rover. Only last year Tata Steel paid $12bln for Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus. What’s going on here? What happened to the East India Company and all that? Queen Victoria would be spinning in her grave. It seems the plunder of Asia is over. And now it’s payback.
The Arabs are at it as well having bailed out Citibank not long ago and lets not forget the Chinese pumping in $5bln to keep Morgan Stanley afloat.
Those trade and petro dollars are finally being put to good use. The Arabs in the Emirates are showing their cousins the way foward by buying real assets instead of partying away the cash as they did in the 80s. The Chinese, always astute and long-term, are making obvious in roads into the US whilst continuing to make it hard the other way around.
Reverse colonialisation anyone?
Tags: banking, china, colonialisation, credit, india, investing, usa
January 6th, 2008 at 7:51 am
what goes around comes around huh?
how fortunate for you Raf that you jumped ship from the coloniser to the colony - you can now join in the reversal
January 6th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Exactly….and there could be a few more shiploads on the way
January 6th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Hi Raf,
Thats what I call poetic justice.
In the past I had thought of reverse colonisation in terms of immigration rather than investment. I’ve always thought that its ironic for white New Zealanders Brits to resent immigrants from from former colonies like India, Hong Kong, the Pacific and Carribean Islands, etc
Its about time since colonial policies, particularly the plantation system, reaped havoc on the economies and populace of former European colonies. Its been calculated that India’s percentage of world GDP fell sixfold between 1896 and 1947 according to Mike Davies’ Late Victorian Holocaust and he also cited an article in the 1878 Journal of the Statistical Society that concluded that there were 31 famines in India during the 120 years of British Rule, but 17 famines in previous two millenia.
http://india_resource.tripod.com/development.html
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/12/27/how-britain-denies-its-holocausts/sm-as-a-cause-of-income-inequality/
January 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Look absolutely….a point brought home by the recent film, Amazing Grace. The wealth of certain nations has been built on the backbones, blood and resources of others. No one can deny that.
Nor can we role back the past. Maybe we must accept it as part of our spiritual evolution….from beasts to angels. Karmic retribution is always in play. Are we going to pay for our terrible ways? Who knows.
But the subtle shift we are seeing now suggests that the game is up or should I say the Great Game continues but with different players. Still we should not forget that many countries are still feeling the heat of resource exploitation.
Cambodia for one is in the grip of corporate mining and drilling interests as is Afghanistan…..and many others. Same old, same old. The Lords giveth and they taketh away.
So the story repeats. When will it end? Hopefully here in New Zealand which can be a model nation. But it will probably be “taken over” before it really achieves that
January 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
No. Society has not changed as much as most people assume. Even during the 17th (Levellers/Diggers) and 19th Century (Liberals) there were progressives that challenged the arrogance and conceit of the ruling classes, which is perfectly illustrated by the controversy surrounding the Governor Eryrie controversy.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/LevyPeartdismal.html
I think its closer to home as well. I don’t think Australian and New Zealand intervention in East Timor, Bouganville (Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands were solely on altruistic grounds do you?
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2005/625/34780
“The Solomon Islands’ main industrial prospect lies in its mostly undeveloped mineral resources. Gold mining is now important and is set for further expansion; in addition, there are confirmed deposits of copper, lead, zinc, silver, cobalt and other ores.”
April 26th, 2008 at 5:08 am
[…] That’s a big statement. We’ve already seen this approach with stakes being taken in US banks and industries but these guys are not messing around. With $1.6trln in reserves they can pretty […]
June 13th, 2009 at 2:16 am
[…] in 2008 I commented on the shaping of a post-imperial world where the flow of investment funds, and coporate takeovers, was coming from the East to the West, […]