For years, the World Bank’s has been the go-to lender for developing countries has given them huge influence, and that’s just the way the US likes it, since they’ve got a considerable plurality in voting on all World Bank institutions.
China has proposed the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an alternative for developing nations, and one less dominated by the US and its allies.
The US, happy with the status quo, has been fighting tooth and nail against the AIIB, trying to convince everybody to shun the competing financial system. It’s not working.
Britain announced it was on board last week, in a blow to the US. Now, France, Germany, and Italy are all coming along, and that’s a sign US diplomacy has failed and the bank will very much be a thing. Australia has also agreed to talks on joining the bank as well.
So far, South Korea is the only of the major nations the US has been lobbying that hasn’t gotten on board, and even they say they are in talks with China, despite the US warning them to “think twice” before agreeing to anything.
Since the US government is not part of this new bank, the US government has no right to even have an opinion on what other countries should join or not join.
Anti Gov Rebel : You do not understand USA decide who is good and who is bad.They are the best (please refer to the us defence strategy doctrine).
It is all over except for the crying.
If Putin had any brains, Russia would be joining the AIIB too, but of course he takes all his advice from the neo-liberal, America-loving oligarchs.
Notwithstanding Putin's obvious lack of brains, Russia will very likely join soon enough, although in Chinese eyes , Russia, with its 145 million people, of whom about 30 million are conquered colonial peoples who will sooner or later want their independence, its technological backwardness and its lack of anything to sell other than non-renewable energy (which comes mostly from the lands of the conquered peoples anyway) is a fairly small fish. Joining would certainly undermine Putin and the crooked oligarchs he fronts for and bring it closer to decolonising its empire. At that point, it could serious look to joining the EU, in which even without the empire, it would still be the largest Member State.
Interventions are always awkward.
But USG, your friends are concerned about your growing multiple addictions. Your reliance on secrecy, bullying, greed and selfishness are feeding your instability and lack of cohesion at home and leading you into many, many ill-considered actions around the globe that lead both your country and the areas you visit into dysfunction, at best, and, more often than not, into chaos and disintegration. Finally the cascading lethal effects of you primary addiction to fossil fuels must be obvious even to you.
Please cooperate with this well meaning gesture from those who want to be able to respect you again and come back to the meetings.
China and the EU have always been on good terms. China has put up money to back the euro, for example, and this is probably the "payback" for that. China also wants to trade with the EU. There is much talk of a new "silk road", which looks like an attempt to squeeze out the uncooperative Russian middleman. And, of course, Obama's capitulation to Putin has undermined US credibility worldwide, hugely strengthening both the EU and China.
China "squeezing out" Russia is wishful thinking. They are founding members of BRICS and are both joined at the hip as a counter to Washington's quest for remaining the world's ONLY big bully on the block. There is absolutely no foundation for the contention that Russia is an "uncooperative middleman", as Russia and Germany are seeing eye-to-eye on the Ukrainian problem.