If you are in Iceland and you see someone who may look like an Eskimo dressed in fur against the bitter, winter cold, look twice. That person may be a Chinese oil worker or the crewmember of a Chinese icebreaker.
Icebreaker
The reason is simple. As China brings its 1.3 billion people into the modern age so all Chinese may live like Americans, it takes oil to make that happen. China’s critics, of course, will find fault no matter what. If China does nothing to improve the lifestyle of rural Chinese, the government will be blamed. If the air is polluted from all the carbon exhaust from middle-class Chinese driving around enjoying their new Western lifestyle, China will be criticized for that pollution. If the price for gas and diesel goes up at the pump in Europe or America, China’s hunger for oil will get the blame for that too.
However, China’s government could care less about any foreign patootie’s complaints, because the people they serve in China come first if they want to stay in power. It’s nice to have money, and the Chinese government has it while the rest of the world is in debt.
See “China’s Oil Hunger Grows”
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.
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